It’s actually a lot like the stuff Dr. Tanzeem Choudhury was working on when I interviewed her for a Technology Review video back in 2008. In fact, when I first read about the Fitbit (thanks to friend-of-Candleblog, Robot Kasten), I assumed it monitored other sorts of telemetry too, like your heart-rate, skin temperature, the local barometric pressure, etc. As Dr. Choudhury showed me, with those additional data points and some clever software, you can learn all sorts of fascinating stuff about how you’re living your life day-to-day.

The implications for this sort of technology are pretty amazing. Yes, it can encourage us (through a combination of social-networked peer pressure and sheer geeky awesomeness) to live healthier lives, but it can also keep us honest with our doctors when they ask us how active we’ve been since our last visit. It can tell us other unintended interesting things, like how often we have sex and for how long. I can imagine Fitbit data being subpenaed in legal cases involving violent crimes or even car accidents. And this is just one data set involving an accelerometer. Imagine what these things will be like with microphones and video cameras gathering data and generating reports about our activities. Now imagine all that data searchable via an engine like Google (searchable by you — nobody is forcing you to publish this data, though there is a privacy can of worms here too, obviously) — how useful would that be?

What did I eat for dinner last week? click. What was that book the guy at the coffee shop recommended a few days ago? click. What was it my boss wanted me to do again? click. How many calories did I consume in 2012 compared to 2011? click. How many times did I ride the elevator last month vs. taking the stairs? click. What percentage of my life is spent sitting in front of a screen? I dare not click.

When we look back at the lives of our parents and grandparents, we see them through photographs, letters, maybe some home movies if we’re lucky. From here on out, the definition of what we mean by “history” changes. Future generations will have more data about the lives of their progenitors than they will know what to do with. What will your data stream say about you?

• Best rundown I’ve seen yet of where Apple went wrong with the release of the much-reviled Final Cut Pro X. (This issue caused NYTimes tech writer David Pogue to call me “snarkyface” on Twitter.)
• Apparently I’m the only person in Burlington, Vermont (who isn’t a city counselor, that is) who thinks giving city counselors free parking downtown isn’t the worst idea in the history of humanity.
• Steve Benen and Matt Yglesias point out that policy making is a lot easier when the institutions lawmakers work in are not broken.
• The SCOTUS yields yet another 5-4 conservative ruling, this time taking the definition of “free speech” and twisting it into a corporate pretzel. Justice Kagen’s dissent is worth a read.
• Delicious timelapse, motion-controlled astrophotography (which will be featured at the Vermont International Film Festival this year).
• All four parts of Dan Harmon’s exhaustive walk through Community season two are worth your time (link to part one). He pulls no punches about the sausage-making nature of network TV.
• What? Vermont has a toy museum? How awesome is that?

Some time ago I switched my work schedule and began working primarily day shifts at my job, and the blog took an immediate hit because I was just busier than I had been working nights, and my Internet surfing and posting schedule couldn’t be maintained. A big part of producing content at Candleblog relied on my ability to spend a fair chunk of time surfing around and finding things to link to and write about. That time is just harder for me to come by these days.

Also, social media and micro blogging via Twitter and Facebook has replaced much of the online interactivity that the blog used to provide me. And it’s not just me that’s been affected by this shift — my readers are mostly engaged in these social media outlets too, so Candleblog largely stopped serving the purpose it once had as a link filter — those links being disseminated faster and more efficiently via these other means.

I’m not going to stop blogging. Candleblog still serves one important function for me — it’s a place where I can post longer pieces that wouldn’t be as appropriate on Facebook or Twitter — it’s a place I can write. However, if I can barely find time to surf the ‘net, you can bet my writing time is fairly precious too. So don’t expect a high volume of output from me from here on out at this address. Subscribe to the RSS feed or my Friendfeed to stay up to date, and of course my blog posts get auto-updated on FB and Twitter.

Now please join me as I enter this new, more mature phase of Internet content-creation: the I-used-to-be-a-blogger-when-blogging-MEANT-something phase. Also, get off my lawn.

1. I’m presenting this year, which means there’s an added level of nervousness and excitement right there. Plus I have to, you know, prepare for that.

2. A TON of Vermonters are going this year, which is awesome. I remember back in 2006 when it was just me, a couple of jerks from Union Street Media (I kid, they are my best SXSW buds) and one lone staffer from Norwich University. Now it’s a party, by jeezum crowbar! The added local social scene is awesome, but requires more social organizing.

3. Social media is actually really useful this time. Last time I went to SXSW was two years ago when I was but a Twitter noob. Now I have a Twitter list devoted to SXSWers and it’s much easier to keep tabs on folks’ comings and goings, BUT it also means that on top of all of the usual organizing and schedule-making, I have to organize my social media life. And yes, I’d like some cheese with my whine.

If you’re going to be in Austin this weekend, you can stalk me in the following ways:

• Watch this blog. I don’t know how often I’ll be blogging during the trip, but if anything REALLY awesome happens, you can bet I’ll post about it here.
• Follow me on Twitter, and consider following my SXSW10 list. It’s a group of Vermonters, awesome people, and awesome Vermonters who are at the conference with me.
• Join the Vermonters at SXSW Facebook group.
• Check out my SXSW schedule (note that these are tentative – they’re things I’m interested in attending, but I’m also going with the flow, as it were).
• Come to my talk about community media on Monday afternoon!
• And if you REALLY want to send me letters written in your own blood, shoot me an email so we can exchange cell #s.

Now I have to go pack!

Still, watching the video, made by the folks at the social media marketing online magazine, Social Media Examiner, it occurred to me that one thing I do know a thing or two about is film & video production. This thought occurred to me because I found myself rolling my eyes and making some snarky judgments about the video I was watching. Then it occurred to me that if was so smart I should stop muttering judgmental comments at my monitor and use that energy for an entertaining (doubtful) and useful (hopefully) post about something I actually know about.

So here’s the video:

Darren Rowse Interview from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo.

First off, let’s talk about what’s right about the video. Technically speaking, there are two main things that are good about this particular production and they’re both biggies: The picture is clear (decent exposure, in focus, not back-lit, etc.) and the audio is excellent. I tell my students this all the time and even though I’m more of a cinematography nerd than an audiophile it’s true: the secret to good web video is good audio. Viewers will forgive all kinds of bad picture before they’ll suffer through bad, muffled or echo-y audio. The other kind words I have to say about this video are content-related. Social Media Examiner has interviewed some big names in web content and social media, and while I haven’t watched all of their videos, if this one is any indication, the content is actually fairly useful — in other words, they’ve taken Darren Rowse’s advice to heart and are delivering content that their readers and viewers want.

Okay, now onto my nitpicks (and for the Social Media Examiner folks who will inevitably read this post [nobody can trackback like a social media blogger], I intend these remarks to be constructive and useful, not just snark-filled rants filled with invective):

*First off, there’s :34 of lead-in before any content starts. That’s even long for TV these days, let alone the web. Get to the content, we’re busy web surfers out here.

*Secondly, the title of this piece is “How Bloggers Should Use Twitter.” The length of the entire video is 12:27 but it’s minute five before Twitter is even mentioned and minute seven before anything resembling the subject of the title enters the conversation. If this was a written blog post I’d accuse the writer of burying the lede.

The basic problem here is that the interview is simply unedited. It’s a 12-minute talking head without a single cut, which is fine as an archival document of the conversation, but it leaves the work of finding the relevant bits of the interview entirely in the viewers’ hands. Imagine if this was a text post containing the same interview, but written out instead of being a video. You’d expect the writer/editor to provide some context, highlight the relevant parts and get rid of the deadwood — that’s what editors do. You might even expect the questions to be re-ordered so that the really meaty, interesting stuff is up front. There’s a reason video editors and text editors share a verb — they’re very similar jobs.

*Another issue is the on-screen graphics. It’s a good idea to use on-screen graphics to add meta-information to the video you’re making, but in this case, all we get is an occasional standard lower third identifier, telling us who it is we’re looking at. But this information is already available to us. This isn’t TV. There’s a contextualizing web page that the video is embedded in that almost certainly contains the same info in multiple places. In the case of a Vimeo embed like this, it’s right under the video frame! So use the lower third convention to give us useful info at points in the video where it makes sense. For example, when Rowse (finally) talks about getting addicted to Twitter, throw his twitter ID up on the screen! Maybe we want to start following him.

*As long as we’re talking about visual content, I’ll point out that video is a visual medium. I know it seems obvious, but when you produce a video for the web (or anywhere else) it’s a good idea to consider how the content is enhanced by having a picture rather than just being an audio track of someone talking. If all you’re giving us is a talking head for twelve minutes, there’s not much purpose in me continuing to look at the picture. The video frame is a different medium of information into which you can channel all sorts of useful stuff without breaking up the flow of the audio content. Ideally, the picture and sound complement each other — like showing cutaways to images that relate to the content being discussed. Without leveraging the visual part of the medium, all you’ve really done is made a podcast that won’t play very well in iTunes.

Of course, all of these issues take time to correct. Video editing is nothing if not time consuming.

To be fair, Social Media Examiner is not a video blog, per se. The video content is added value to an otherwise list-heavy social media magazine. I’ll also add that the issues I’m discussing here are not unique to SME — they can be found in video all over the web. This just happened to be the video I was watching when I decided to write about web video dos and don’ts (thanks, Darren Rowse!).

In fact, the article’s author admits that FB’s numbers are actually up, meaning the piece is nothing more than a list of some of the reasons why some people choose to quit FB, despite its ever-increasing popularity. Really, NYTimes? Will you also run a story on why “some people” choose to avoid the most popular restaurant in town?

This analysis of the use of various social media platforms is fascinating. The short version:

• Online social networks are much better at certain types of person-to-person networking than meatspace social networks are.
• The thing that social media users do more than any other thing with these services: look at pictures of other people.
• Twitter attracts people who like to communicate in words (hence 10% of twitter users accounting for 90% of tweets).
• Dismiss MySpace at your marketing peril. MySpace is so 2005, but there are still 70 million users who log on once a month or more — way more than Twitter has and only 20 million fewer than FB. It turns out all those MySpace users are in geographical areas away from mass media markets so the action there doesn’t get as much play in the press, but that’s a huge number of folks actively using the service.
• Marketing-wise, just being in the social media space isn’t enough. “A good analogy is to imagine sitting at a table with friends when a stranger pulls up a chair, sits down, and tries to sell you something while you are talking to your friends. You will not get far with a strategy like this.”

BTV’s own Gahlord suggests some reasons why engaging in “the big three” social media networks is a good idea for your business. My only reaction comes from the HBS piece linked above. MySpace is bigger than Twitter and probably bigger than linkedIn in terms of raw users — it’s just passe these days. Is it more important to appear to be cutting edge or to reach more eyeballs?

From the “no duh” department of social media marketing advice comes this article about 3 Things to Tweet That Aren’t About Your Brand. If you’re seriously confused about what to tweet about that isn’t specific to what you’re selling, then you obviously haven’t even spent ten minutes cruising around Twitter. It’s a conversation — it’s not rocket science. When you’re chatting with someone you just met IRL, are you at an utter loss of what to talk about unless it’s related to your business? Same rules apply. The wheel need not be reinvented. (As a side note I’ll add that in the list of 3 things suggested in the piece, numbers 1 and 2 really are about your brand.) (Side note #2: I don’t mean to pick on this piece’s author — he was asked to write about this — he’s just more tactful than I am about answering the question.)

Filmmakers, videobloggers, podcasters, pirate & low-power radio jocks and public access TV producers are all creating content in your local community, but they often don’t collaborate or even talk to each other, despite using the same tools and sometimes even seeking the same audiences. A 15 year-old videoblogger and a 50 year-old technical director at a local network TV affiliate may have a lot to learn from each other, but in what context would they ever meet? How can you engage local content creators and build a vibrant media community? Panelists will discuss how they helped create (and utilized) healthy, sustainable local media scenes in their communities, using community media centers, creative salons, non-profit media arts foundations, citizen journalism organizations and grass roots organizing principals.

There’s a public voting period for all of the panel submissions (that ends Sept. 4th), the results of which the conference organizers take into account when picking what panels will run in March. You need to create an account in order to vote and leave commnets, but it’s very quick and painless.

Please consider voting for my panel and if you really like it, you might consider encouraging your friends to go vote for it too!

NOTE: This panel is really appropriate for both the SXSW Film AND Interactive Conferences, so on the advice of the conference organizers, I submitted it to both conferences. Meaning you can actually vote TWICE for my panel and not even feel guilty about it!

Click here to vote for my panel in the SXSW Film festival and Conference,

AND

Click here to vote for my panel in the SXSW Interactive Conference.

Thank you. You are sexy.

Wednesday 7/15:

• Flew from BTV to PDX. Arrived at 1AM local time. Sat next to ACM sisters and brothers from Great Neck and The Bronx, NY on the plane.
• There was little food to be found anywhere near the hotel. Had to scavenge.

Thursday 7/16:

• First day of the ACM conference. Pleased to run into Elliot Margolies right away, whom I remembered fondly from past ACM events (check out his interviews with PEG luminaries here).
• Attended a panel on the Denver Open Media Project, which was the buzz of the conference from my perspective.
• Lunch at a lovely Vietnamese place with Spine.
• Following the conference I met up with my (ex girl) friend Deb for drinks. Spine joined us after he got out of work. (Note: most of my old friends here have become athletes — planning for marathons and triathlons and talking about running/biking half of the time.)
• Ended the day by taking in the new Harry Potter film by myself (Bear elected to stay in), which was surprisingly good.

Friday 7/17:

• ACM day two. The morning session was about building sustainability through documentary work. It was an inspiring panel and I came away with lots of notes to try and implement at VCAM.
• Got interviewed by Elliot for his afore mentioned interview series. Talked about videoblogging classes at VCAM, social media outreach and New Media Office Hours.
• Lunch with Spine, Carolyn and little Jolie at an Ethiopian place.
• In the afternoon I went to a (literal) nuts and bolts presentation on video engineering. I left early because I was losing steam and not getting much out of it.
• Bear and I attended the Hometown Video Awards, at which Bear accepted RETN’s Overall Excellence award. We were seated at the same table with Bill Nolan, author of Logan’s Run.
• After the awards, We avoided the inevitable karaoke. Bear went back to the hotel and I hooked up with Daniell from Telvue and Forrest from Manhatten Neighborhood Network. Thus began my long evening with ACM 2.0 folks — the young guard of community media — comprised of Denver Open Media whiz kids and 20 & 30-something staffers from NY, MA and OR. A hotel room at the Ace Hotel in downtown PDX (coincidentally where I’m typing this post right now) was our locale, and as Daniell said the next day, what happens at the Ace Hotel stays at the Ace Hotel (but of course, I have video).
• I made it back to my hotel at 2AM or so and learned there was a shooting nearby and that Snoop Dog was apparently staying at my hotel (these two events were unrelated as far as I know). Spent 30 minutes relaxing with some ACMers in the lobby before crawling into bed for a short nap before morning.

Saturday 7/18:

• The tension between old guard ACM and the new young turks was palpable at the morning session on open source community media centers of the future, but the moderator (Tony from Denver Open Media) was really great at threading that needle (though his co-presenters were less diplomatic). There is some understandable fear of technological change from traditional CMC folks and some reluctance to embrace a new model of organizing staff and resources — particularly a model that so fervently eschews traditional relationships with technology. It may take some time to sink in, but the DOMP folks “get it” and some older guard folks just don’t quite yet… but they’re coming around.
• The 2nd session I attended was on copyright and creative commons. The presenter was funny and smart, but the information was mostly review for me.
• The keynote luncheon was a panel and I got some good leads there on possible relationships for VCAM to foster and I really think we should have a presence at NAMAC in August.
• Hooked up with Spine in the afternoon and picked up XJ3 and prepped for our excursion to a big outdoor rock show featuring Andrew Bird and The Decemberists. It was beautiful.
• We followed the rock show by heading to a bar where a friend of Spine’s and XJ3′s was celebrating her 40th birthday. I saw a few folks I’d met on previous trips out here and had some yummy mixed drinks.
• We ended the night at a fries cart where I randomly ran into my friend Craig from Amherst Community Television. I enjoy bumping into friends in other cities. It makes me feel connected to things.

Sunday 7/19:

• Slept in, playing catch-up on lost sleep from the previous couple of days.
• Went to brunch with Spine at a great place called The Tin Shed. Best veggie gravy and biscuits ever. Went shopping in a little bohemian district of boutiques and comics shops.
• In the afternoon we met up with XJ3 and Susan at an outdoor theater-in-the-park performance of the classic Trek episode Amok Time. We had great seats and I shot some video, which I’ll post later (it’s on a HD at Spine’s). It was a crowd pleaser. We met up with my old friend Laura there and made plans to reconvene at her place in SE PDX that evening.
• Laura and Adam hosted a lovely summer evening dinner of gazpacho, berries and greens with lots of yummy beer. Deb, XJ3, Spine and some of Laura and Adam’s neighbors enjoyed the cool summer evening together in the back yard. We called it an early evening because Spine had to work the next morning.

Monday 7/20:

• Slept in again (ah… vacation) and spent the day in St. Johns where Spine’s house is. Wandered the village a bit and made lunch in Spine’s kitchen. Read the first volume of Y The Last Man (purchased the previous day).
• Drove Spine’s car into town to meet Spine and take the train downtown to a showing of Moon with XJ3. It was excellent — better than expected even.
• Post-film dinner and discussion was fun and delicious. Said goodbyes to XJ3 and entreated he and Susan to visit Vermont soon.

Tuesday 7/21:

• Today Spine is having his bathroom redone so I left the house with him in the morning and I’ve been spending the day in downtown PDX. Thinking about a matinee, depening on start times.
• Bought a copy of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (finally) and read more than half of it at Powells.
• Our evening plans remain unknown.

I’m taking the red eye home tomorrow night. It will be good to be back in Vermont, despite the despicable weather there this summer (all the more annoying in comparison to Portland’s dry, sunny, breezy summer). See you All back east!

• Attend the national Alliance for Community Media conference
• Visit with new and old friends
• See The Decemberists and Andrew Bird play an outdoor show
• See the movie Moon
• Attend a live theater-in-the-park performance of the classic Star Trek episode, Amok Time. Yes, you read that correctly.

Does that sound like a perfect week or what?

It turns out that Vermont is front and center for some of the more fascinating Constitutional legal questions currently being discussed. Sexting, border crossings and laptop seizures, Al Jazeera-English on Burlington Telecom cable TV, Burton snowboards featuring “indecent” art — these have all been specific issues here in Vermont, though not all of them have invoked actual litigation.

I’ve edited and uploaded the entire conference onto the Vermont ACLU’s blip.tv channel. It’s in seven parts and each part is labeled with the specific issue that’s discussed. I’m embedding my personal favorite segment here. It’s Catherine Crump, a staff attorney for the National ACLU in NYC, talking about privacy and free speech issues surrounding global, instant, digital communications tools. It’s worth your time…