Community Is Everything
As we enter 2011, it's become obvious how important Facebook is to enabling a community of like-minded people to interact with each other around things they care about. Very few people want to maintain multiple profiles on multiple social networks anymore.
MIX has been an amazing place for Zadi and me to get to know the people who care the most about Epic Fu and to create amazing projects together. You guys have been with us through thick and thin the past 3 years since we created the site, and it's been incredible.
NOTE: the main discussion around this blog post is taking place on Mix. Please go there to participate!
Zadi and I spent a lot of time the past two weeks thinking about what the next iteration of Epic Fu needs to be and how we can do it. Then we had another conversation tonight and it all changed... for the better.
It seems like the longer we make the Epic Fu web show, the more it becomes clear that there is a vast but disconnected sea of people who have a passion for the way global culture is influenced by what is happening on the web. We tend to be the ones who are a couple steps ahead of our friends and families, the ones that the people in our lives look to in order to find out what's coming next.
Re-blogged from the Smashface blog.
We came, we interviewed, we edited! During the three days of PBS's SXSW online video studio, we shot 31 interviews, featuring an all-star assortment of filmmakers, online video creators, and social media visionaries. They're all handily embedded above in the YouTube playlist player (click the control button to the right of the "play" button to bring up a menu). Our interview with Felicia Day has nearly 70,000 views alone!
Hello there! Lots of you have been asking on Twitter and through email about the status of the show, so we wanted to get some info out there! First of all, check out our awesome 2009 Sizzle Reel embedded above!
We've been spending a lot of time going to meetings and figuring out what the next move will be from a business standpoint for the show and for Smashface. From June 2008 to January 2009 we did 46 shows in 30 weeks, so we also needed a little break from the regular show schedule to keep our heads clear and to keep our energy level up around EPIC FU and the other projects that are in the works.
It's always great to hear that peeps met each other through the EPIC FU community. These are two of our favorite guys - @giannii and @mediamisfit.
Let us know if you have any meetups!
I'm not sure how I happened across Zoomdoggle, but I remember being immediately impressed with the design and the richness of the visuals. As I started looking through the posts, there were tons of fun videos and images. I knew I'd be adding it to my RSS reader when I saw the social projects in which creator Jake Bronstein was inviting his audience to participate.
MIX member DeadPianoPlayer asks the question "So whatcha gonna be on Halloween" on one of our MIX threads. Some very amusing responses have floated around already, including an unshaven swimmer (just insert wig in said place), and a human tornado (just pin little houses and animals on self and do a 360 turn).
So what are YOU going to be for Halloween? Join in on the discussion.
If you're anything like me, you probably haven't decided just yet. So in service to those of you out there who are struggling for ideas, here are our top 10 Internet themed costume ideas:
Our friend Brian Lerner co-created and writes a new web series that has been showing some damn funny promos the past few weeks, and today the first episode launched! We always get excited any time people associated with the show do their thing. Let's not forget that Brian was part of the team for the first few months when we rolled out Jet Set Show back in June, 2006, and recently did a correspondent interview with the band Drive A. So we go waaaaay back!
Zadi interviews Eric Steuer, Creative Director of Creative Commons
The web was built by people sharing content and information. Years ago if you saw something cool in a website's design, you'd view source, copy and paste, and tweak it to make it your own. It was exactly this collective pool of available knowledge that made the web grow quickly and exponentially. The same went for hip-hop music in its early days -- artists regularly sampled other artists like James Brown and Parliament Funkadelic.
The creators and artists who were sampled could benefit by being promoted, even if there was no monetary compensation. But at a certain point, content creators get understandably upset when others take their work without permission, potentially for profit. Unfortunately, the traditional copyright system fails to support the flexibility needed in the digital age where the sharing and proliferation of media is paramount. It's either Public Domain or All Rights Reserved. This is where Creative Commons comes in, offering a spectrum of licensing options for content creators.
There's something about sneaking a peak at a person's desktop that seems a bit voyeuristic. It's almost as if you're getting an inside look into their mind - how they organize information and why.
Last night I showed people on Twitter my desktop and asked them to show me theirs. Above is my desktop and after the jump are the responses. Pretty awesome to look at. It's like a gallery of the mind.
This week we're spotlighting several members' videoblogs on MIX. First up, ksawyer does a weekly music round-up show called New Sound Now. In this first episode, he showcases some great music videos, sources for free music, and discusses the usefulness of artist videos. I love the video he features from the Raveonettes, the chorus from "Dead Sound" has been stuck in my head since. ksawyer also fosters some thought-provoking discussion on censorship.
This week we're spotlighting Vincent, who has been a long-time member of EPIC FU's MIX community.
Vincent recently wrote a novel titled After Were Free , a story loosely based on his experience in Iraq as an American soldier in his early twenties. He says he threw in a lot more to exemplify many of the things he learned from the people.
We've mentioned this on the show a couple times, and the response has been so great I had to blog about it. Last January, MIX member Michael Jahn created an interactive Google map to show where EPIC-FU viewers live around the world, and the project is still going strong. Anyone can add their location, and Michael even created a tutorial for those who aren't familiar how Google map markers work.
It's really amazing to see the global impact of the show. As of right now, almost 13,000 people have viewed the map. So if you haven't already, please add yourself and let the community know where you call home. Who knows.. you might find another FU'er in your hometown. Thanks again Michael!
Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo hasn't come without backlash (duh). Fearing the inevitable Microsoft conversion of Yahoo-owned Flickr, almost 3,000 Flickr users have joined the Microsoft keep your evil grubby hands off of our Flickr Flickr group. The above image is 1 of 100's submitted to the group's photo pool.
I'm not thrilled at the idea of Microsoft owning Flickr, but I'm not ready to stop using one of my favorite social networks just yet. How about you guys?
Semanal, is a group of dedicated videobloggers inspiring each other to post just one video per week for the entire year.
Started by Rupert Howe of Twittervlog.tv,the idea is to just pick up a camera and start filming. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to move. And don't worry if you're late, people will be joining throughout the year. Just tag your video semanal08 and you're good to go. It also helps that there are already over a hundred members - you'll have plenty of people inspiring and pushing you to create. So go and create!
