VideoBlogging Wiki - Me-TV.org Shows Way For Virtual-Vertical Community Collaboration

Me-TV's VideoBlogging Wiki is an outstanding example of how online communities can use Web-based collaboration tools to create valuable knowledge bases--for themselves and for others to share. It's also a great resource for anyone tinkering with videoblogging, or vlogging.

The Wiki is the product of a fast growing Yahoo! Group dedicated to all things videoblogging--"We discuss practical issues (bandwidth, process, need for a videoblogging tool) and more philosophical issues (why and what is a videoblog? ...)".

Since June 2004, when Robin Good praised the people behind Me-TV for recognizing videoblogging as the next online trend, their wiki project has developed into an authoritative resource. If you ever need an example of how a virtual group of co-interested individuals can produce and publish valuable knowledge and peer-vetted analyses--this is a good one.

 

 

This Wiki is a good example of how a group of people with a particular interest collaboratively aggregates and arranges all sorts of information. In this case, this vertical online community (some would call it a 'vortal') is comprised of those interested in Videoblogging.

The Wiki officially defines 'Videoblogging' as:

"videoblogging is seen by some as glimpses of personal communication to the world with the use of moving pictures. It is mostly first person, Me talking to the World, but it can equally well be an interview with others, or a story, or an essay delivered in speech."

The Me-TV.org Home Page neatly presents key information categories as:

• How Tos: getting started, equipment, HTML and blog integration, tools


• VideoBlogging: examples of implementations, discussions and manifestos


• Tools & Technologies: advanced technologies, specifications and formats


• VideoBlogging People: links to websites of famous and less famous videoblogging personalities


• Websites: additional links to relevant resources

Me-TV.org is just one of the sites worth a visit if VideoBlogging is your thing. Be sure to check out the following sites:

• mefeedia.com, a web-based RSS aggregator for videobloggers. Another videoblogging community project by videoblogging pioneer Peter Van Dijck, mefeedia is worth a stop-over to find movies by tags, assign your own tags, watch movies, participate in a discussion on videoblogging or read Peter's blog. You may add your own video feed to the vlogger directory, which currently points to over a hundred hyperlinks to videoblogs, including links to corresponding RSS feeds. mefeedia is still in beta.
• Videoblogging.info. This too is a videoblogging community project, from its looks apparently still in its early start-up phase. Here you'll find how-to documents, articles, resources, a community area, interviews, and of course extensive lists of videos and videobloggers. Some areas are still empty. Each area has its own RSS feed.



• ANT. Keep an eye on this desktop-based RSS video aggregator. It's been getting a lot of positive buzz lately because of its Mac version. ANT allows you to subscribe to audio and video content and automatically play back any media format. The ANT website has an area where you can subscribe to receive a notification when the Windows version is released.
• Of course you should go out and open a bunch of videoblogs to really understand what it's all about. A good example is MomentShowing.net, subtitled "Adventures in Videoblogging". This videoblog is authored by Jay Dedman, who is very involved with Peter Van Dijck in the community projects mentioned in this article.

So, go ahead, explore this new trend of videoblogging and share your experiences with us here.