| march
29, 2007 |
||
6:40pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83LW2tVMRWs
3:33am
my interview with jornal do brasil (i'll let you know when it is out)
1) How do you evaluate JustinTV? Is that project viable only in a web 2.0 context?
i hadn't heard of justinTV until you told me about it via this interview.
but then i see he was only doing it for 8 days so far, and that is probably
why :)
i went there and watched it on and off the last few days and i am happy to
see the technology is still there to do things like that. webcam technology
is dwindling all the time and being replaced by things like youtube and such.
not many people broadcast a live webcam image anymore. either it is all about
placing streaming video which is not live on a page, or else it is just about
videoconferencing within a small and exclusive bunch of people/friends/family.
i remember that a man did exactly as justin is doing now way back in the early
90's, but the technology was not really there yet for everyone to be able
to view it. it's nice to see someone doing it again.
i'm not really sure what you mean by web 2.0, tho, i'm not ever up on the
latest web lingo. do the "experts" agree we are now at a web 3.0
context? hehe :) what was web 1.0? and what is the timeline for this sort
of thing to occur?
2) Compared to your experience, what are the differences between JustinTV and AnaCam?
there are huge differences. one is i have been doing it for 10 years and
he has been doing it for 10 days :)
my cam is pointed at me (my face, my body, etc) and my life, whereas his camera
is stuck on his head and always pointed at everyone else around him but never
him.
also mine is an ongoing art project (my cam has even been in the MoMA in NYC)
and he appears to want to represent himself as a tv "show". also
he wants to please his audience and he asks them what do you like or not like
about the "show"? my cam is not a show, although there are small
shows sometimes WITHIN it, the entire piece is not a show and it's not ever
about what "the audience" wants nor do i care to even ask them.
it's purely done organically and it unfolds as it will, just as life is. because
it is life. there is no line between art and life, for me. it is all one and
not a show. for instance, in july, i am expecting to have a child, i am 5
months pregant right now and i am going to deliver my child at home, on my
cam, and this will not be a "show" this will be my life, and about
another life entering this earth :)
also, so far, his cam is not very personable. maybe this will change later
as it evolves. i cannot seem to garner any information on who justin is, as
a person. all he says about himself, via his space is that he is a cancer
sun sign, he doesn't want children, and he graduated from yale. when i listen
to him speak on his site, so far all i have heard him talk about is the business
of his cam. i can't seem to get any idea on who he is besides that. and i
never see his face. his blog entries are what he is doing that day but never
about who he is and what he is feeling. my cam is more emotional than that.
also, although i have dabbled in streaming video and sound, that is not my
main medium i choose to express myself in. i find that a single still photo,
uploaded every 30 seconds is the best way for me to get across things how
i wish.
i see myself as more of a live photographer than a videographer. i like how
a still photo that changes slows a person down from the freneticness of the
internet where bigger, better, faster and novelty are usually what people
gravitate towards. i like to take a more zen-like approach and let people
ponder a more stillness. and i also think that the "spaces" inbetween
the cam photos, the 30 seconds in which you wait for the next image, are giving
a person a time to reflect and slow the mind down and concentrate more on
how the light is hitting the wall, and the silence allows a person to interject
their own personal life story into the photo. so the photo, in the end, really
has nothing to do with me but everything to do with the viewer. as i like
to say over and over throughout the years, anacam is a giant inkblot projecting
back to the viewer their own psyche. what you see in my cam is yourself. how
you see it is how you view yourself, ultimately. i have learned this throughout
the past decade from all the various feedback i have received about my cam.
in the end, i have become the one who is viewing you and not the other way
around. it is very interesting and a twist i could have never foreseen when
i started the project back in 1997.
it will be interesting to see how justinTV evolves and for how long he can
keep it up.
i will keep tuning in from time to time to check up :)
3) Why do you believe internet users are so seducted by "broadcast yourself" and webcam sites?
because people love themselves!
4) In your opinion, what does make a ordinary life interested to be watched as a soap opera?
every life is different. and people are going to be interested in some and
uninterested in others, for the same reasons some people you are friends with
and others you are not.
so the reasons behind people's interests are as varied as people themselves.
you cannot really summarize it. but if i had a gun to my head and had to,
i would say because real life has no plot and no one ever knows what will
happen next.
5) Why did you start AnaCam? How did you start the project?
i started anacam in 1997 as an experiment in many things, art/life/emotions/psychology/sociology.
it was and still is fun to do and i, myself, am ever curious as to how things
will unfold and what will happen next :)
so basically, i started it out of sheer curiousity and fun!
i wanted to see what would happen if i did that. i wanted to push the boundaries
of everything and see what i could do with it all. it's been an utterly fascinating
trip!
6) What were the major issues you had to take care of after AnaCam was launched?
basically, just keeping the cams up and running. it's a lot more difficult
than people realize. things were not designed to be on 24/7. things break,
burn out, fall down, blow up. cleaning the floor with so many cords criss
crossing all over is a pain in the butt, to be sure :) i have to keep a constant
eye on things to make sure things are working. computers need rebooting, software
freezes up, dogs chew on cords, things overheat and shut off. also it's not
been the greatest to sleep with the sound of computers constantly humming,
but i've dealt with it. now the major issues are still those things, but also
webcam software (the kind i need and like) is slowly going away and not being
updated anymore. webcam32 has just gone defunct, the creator of koolkam does
not update his site anymore, nor does the creator of chillcam, although you
can still download it off the site (thank goodness!). the old way of the webcam
is just dying off, but i'm quite tenacious, i'll be the polaroid of the internet
:) they can keep slowly discontinuing polaroid products, but there will always
be those who will still love that medium and drive to keep it alive :) i know
if i keep hanging in there eventually people will see that my way of webcamming
is not a "web 1.0" way of doing things but it's own viable artistic
medium in and of itself. just as oil painting did not disappear when the camera
was invented. it was never disposable nor novelty for me.
i am glad the novelty has worn off now so that people can see it in a deeper
way.
7) Did anything in your daily routine changed during AnaCam experience?
the only thing that changed was that i now had a lot of computers and cameras to upkeep. cleaning was more difficult. sleep was more interrupted by the sound of the machines. i had to worry not to trip on cords. and i was able to work from home and do what i wanted, finally :)
8) Jennifer Rigley, other webcam girl, shut her site down. What does motivate you to keep running yours?
the thing that motivates me most is just sheer curiousity :)
also i like absurdity :) i like to see how long something can go on just for
the sake of it :)
9) What are the problems - and the good points - you see when it comes to "broadcast yourself"?
the problems are listed above, the technological problems.
then there are a lot of emotional things to deal with. really nasty people
writing really nasty emails to you. or posting really ridiculous things about
you about the internet. that part about it has not been wonderful. some people
like to view me as more of an internet game than actual human being who feels
and breathes. the fun part is that i get to play/work at home and communicate
with a worldwide audience every day :) i have learned a lot about the world
and people watching their reactions to me. it's been very informative. also
i have met my current boyfriend/future husband/"love of my life"
from it all and now we are having a child :) i'd say that is a huge bonus!
:)
10) Compared to other forms of online communications, like Orkut ( www.orkut.com) and Twitter ( www.twitter.com), that also allows the publicity of daily agenda and personal details, what are the exclusive elements that internet podcast bring?
i am not familiar with orkut or twitter. i haven't kept up on all those kind
of sites.
they all come and go so quickly that it's difficult to keep track of them
all!
i have kept an online journal since the beginning of my cam, and i find that
is all i need in order to let anyone who wants to know anything i choose to
communicate about.
i just write it all in there. having to keep track of all of these sites on
top of everything else i have to keep track of just gets overbearing for me.
it's just too much to maintain and bookmark and keep up to date. i like to
keep everything in one place as much as possible. this way, also, i have control
over all my content because if any of these sites decide to change or go away,
i am not dependent upon them and all my information is still with me, on my
site. and since i am not going away (at least i think not! *crosses fingers*)
people always know where to find me. they don't have to check up on 5 different
other sites to see what i am up to, it's just all on anacam.com
although i do have a few other things here and there, such as my yahoo mailing
list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anacam), and i have some art up on deviantart
(http://anavoog.deviantart.com) and also i post on livejournal (http://ana.livejournal.com)
all of these things are all backed up and archived on my site, as well. i
like to keep things simple because life is complicated enough as it is :)
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http://www.ana2.com/private/2cams.shtml
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