Guardian blog has news on social media disaster three days later

Guardian Unlimited Talk deleted on  Friday, so far as I know the first explanation is this blog on Monday

so far the Guardian public has been very understanding, no apparent resentment, quite unlike the flame stereotype assumed in various columns

but I think it is a disaster and that not reporting it is not the only approach from a Guardian point of view.

Jeff Jarvis, where is he now? It is a Monday but he is not in print. His point of view could be timely.   

Guardian Talk cancelled, no warning no backup

Just tried to update Guardian Talk. It has been terminated.

No warning. I personally think Guardian Talk has always been much more useful than Comment Is Free. We choose the topic.

Why not put it back for a week so we can copy the story so far and move it somewhere else?

Meanwhile Peter Preston states that "citizen journalists" are unreliable and it needs a proper war correspondent sent from London to anywhere in order to make sense of anything.

If they can afford journalists outside of King's Cross they should think about a talkboard instead. Just my opinion.

Vimeo Arts Council Creative Commons Isca Obscura Exeter Cathedral projection #animatedexeter

There is now a much better version than mine on YouTube. Seems a bit dark when viewed on Vimeo directly, but it can be downloaded then works fine full screen. You may need to register for Vimeo to get this option. It is clearly Creative Commons so ok to remix including the soundtrack. Official Arts Council policy so this is very welcome. Lots of people could have a version of this public event but few with the skills to get this result. Kevin Clifford has other work on Vimeo as well.


I have been thinking about a mix  with something more on the Green Man, including a different sound. The graphics change to a different mood but the sound is still the same.  So far I have asked Hum for suggestions and he has linked me to Gaia, but this is almost as long as the original. I don't mind the emphasis in the piece, just feel it needs a bit of a lift at the end. Not sure how many photos or video of the Green Man phase exist. Creative Commons source for the sound is welcome. Hum usually agrees to most requests. But I will take this a bit slowly. I don't have the skills really but may meet a VJ.

IDAT projection Exeter Cathedral, set Flickr slideshow to fast could be animation?

my photos from last Sunday. Tends towards animation if the slideshow is fast enough. Needs more work with the lighting levels. What else is out there?

more from Animated Exeter / Isca Obscura is turning up. Creative Commons is the way forward, I think. These also available in higher res, could be a CD somewhere in Exeter.

Arts Council backs digital future for Animated Exeter #AnimatedExeter #IscaObscura

Arts Council England’s South West Director Phil Gibby said: ‘Animated Exeter encourages new audiences to experience digital arts and is an important event for the creative economy of Exeter and further afield. I think that the historic cathedral building will provide a spectacular backdrop to cutting edge digital art, making an impressive start to an exciting programme of workshops, films and events.’

I have now got the email with some proper copy. Just cut and paste at the moment. There will be a tidy up version next week. But the support for digital is clear enough. Just visit Spacex for a solid set of video, each with digital process in the edit. Phoenix still in a book / illustration / model tradition. Nothing wrong with that but it is welcome for the digital aspect to be recognised also.

So next week back to Paul Gillard, Sundown and other aspects of digital animation in Exeter or nearby (Penzance is not that far and Paul used to visit) For this weekend I plan to concentrate on video. VJ on Saturday by which time there should be much online from the cathedral.

More cut and paste

EXETER’S incredible history, from the Vikings to Second World War bombers, comes to life with spectacular animation projected onto the Cathedral on the 18, 19, 20 Feb. The evening extravaganza, a centrepiece of the Animated Exeter film festival (14 – 26 February), lights up the historic building with jaw-dropping images with exclusively composed music.
 
Funded by Arts Council England, the free event is produced by internationally acclaimed London artists Tundra*, who are producing an incredible audio-visual celebration of Exeter entitled Isca Obscura. A play on words, meaning secret or hidden Exeter, with a nod to the Camera Obscura - Isca is the Roman/Celtic name of Exeter and means flowing water while Obscura (Latin) means dark. The work will be projected across the Cathedral’s north aspect covering up to 80 x 30 metres of the ancient building’s outer walls, while interactive projections take place on the West Front.
 
Over the three February nights fantastical imagery will illuminate the cathedral with the city’s history, fables, and poetry, drawing on ground-breaking techniques, ranging from shadow-theatre, paper cut-outs to groundbreaking CGI.
 
Exeter sources have been used widely to produce the narrative. Examples include the 10th Century Exeter Book donated to the city by the first Bishop of Exeter, Leofric. The work is an ancient cannon widely regarded as the largest known collection of Old English literature, dating from 960. Other sources include local literature – such as Nicholas Orme’s Cathedral Cat, Death and Memory in Mediaeval Exeter, the Exeter Book of Riddles and Ghosts of Exeter.
 

Printweek still moving online but Haymarket bans "routine" Facebook

As far as I know there is still very little coverage of the Printweek redesign that marks a distinct move online. Search on Google blogsearch finds me and me linking to me from another blog. The print journalists on Observer business pages or Guardian Media have not mentioned this so far.

Edition two of the new look print version has now arrived. Still looks fairly thick but no Jo's Helpline and "Seven Days in Print" is very brief items with bit.ly links to the website.

Maybe the news is not reported because of the balancing items. There is limited enthusiasm in a briefing on social networking, seen as "all the rage for the under-30s" but unproven viability for B2B. Jo Francis mentions one reason marketing through Facebook might fail - that "plenty of companies, Printweek's publisher included, do not routinely allow staff to access Facebook on their work computers."

There is no link to the blog on Printweek website. And no mention in print of the Twitter feed (presumably also banned at Haymarket except for the person who sends out Tweets)

This Posterous site is set up so that each blog post starts as email and sends the subject as a tweet, Facebook update. The Printweek blogs could do something similar. Only Jo Francis seems to be posting at the moment. What is the current Matt Whipp take on video?

The briefing mentions LinkedIn and is a bit more polite. The IPEX pages include a topic around B2B publishing but I cannot find this at the moment. May turn up in an archive later. So i have started a new topic meanwhile

more later

Virtual Dance Venues, moving ahead with 2008 #animatedexeter #xtreamlab

The elements of Will's Wonderful World of Digital Music Video are now falling into place.

Official promo on YouTube from Exeter City Council. there is nothing left for a blogger to rave on about.

So time to go back to the marginal elements that have not yet been fully considered.

 In 2008 there was a VJ event in Bristol and in Second Life. On screens at Trinity Church. and recorded for YouTube etc. I know there is similar content from Twinity where I have spent more time as I like the connection with real places.

But I have not heard more on this recently. Not sure what is happening with Xtreamlab.

Is it time to go back even further, to the '80s? I still think about a development from the Failure Celebration, Laura Kikauka at Spacex. Disco was part of the failed public taste but I think there could have been a  related temp club, not a gallery of course just a design application. Rights to record a chat show could contribute to costs. The music era where nostalgia kicks in has moved on. Maybe Twinity Berlin is a location, it is where Laura is based. Maybe someone else could think about it. Princesshay could be open space in the summer. It is designed for ease of Second Life / Twinity replication, something about the computer models used by architects nowadays. So another mix possible of online and actual?

Animated Exeter #animatedexeter official YouTube video, official Twitter tag

A search on Twitter reveals that the City Center Manager has started a proper #tag - #animatedexeter

And that finds an official promo video on YouTube. 

OptixSolutions 
Exeter Cathedral as you've never seen it before
 
#animatedexeter  

So although for bandwidth reasons Exeter City Council is not a Flash haven, atleast Youtube is somewhere in the scope

So that's alright then. 

blog updates - animX - animation and wifi in Exeter

Two blog updates

"wifi Exeter" needs an update. Getting better but still no change on Flash policy from Exeter City Council.

May not matter if Facebook links are an option.

Animation talk now an "event" .

Twinity London links to Berlin

Mostly London but a few back in Berlin. Will still has a place near the Sony Centre in Berlin. Some film content there but not sure how it links to the Berlin Film Festival.

Dubious Source is a new recruit for Rougemont Glogal Broadcasting. His flat on Fleet Street has not been decorated but he can find st Pauls which is fully developed. There are still some gaps in London.

Bitropolis works as far as the Animx booth but the main area scrolls past too unstable at the moment.

More in Twinity later.