Ali Bongo And The Three Purple Hearts
April 24, 2008
I am writing this aboard an aircraft thirty odd thousand feet above the atlantic, halfway to New York on a ticket bought for me by Seesmic.com
After podcasting for over two years and blogging for nearly 6, it looks like the subject of money is creeping into more and more of my online conversations.
And why not?
Recently I have found an increasing amount of my working life is being taken over by the two activities I had thought of only as passing interests or hobbies.
In January of this year I found myself sponsored by the United Nations to go to Jordan to photograph the plight of Iraqi Refugees fleeing the war in Iraq. I now see this trip as a turning point in my working life as up until then I had operated primarily as a photographer. With the assistance of people I had networked with online like Bill Cammack this project crossed over into new media on many social levels. It was compiled, edited, uploaded, to then be viewed online, downloaded, blogged and, podcasted about, all in the space of a few weeks.
I was no longer thinking solely about taking photos to deliver on a CD. My hobbies had suddenly become combined with my trade. Two months later I was being sponsored along with Phil Campbell to visit South By South West (SXSW) in Texas to produce video content for Pulver.tv. Once again I had to take a step back and think about my job title and where I needed to focus.
Although I am yet to make any real profit out of social/new media, I feel that day is not too far away as more and more often I am approached by people who are taking an interest in me and my skills as a content creator.
I feel I am standing hesitantly at a crossroads looking at a few different options, a few different directions, a little uncertain as to which way to head.
Can my integrity be kept intact as I rent my opinions and time out to the highest bidder?
As I write this I am thinking that perhaps my fears are unfounded.. If i eventually do start to get paid to talk about something, surely it’s fine as long as I am honest whist doing it. Honest, but tactful with it.
Transparency seems to be the key. It seems to be the magical ingredient that social media has over all other forms of media.
I am not saying you have to expose everything to everyone, warts and all. You can still keep personal stuff personal and still be professional.
Maintain your transparency and you maintain your integrity, this is the key.
Right now I am heading to Podcamp NYC with the loan of a Macbook Air and a plane ticket courtesy of Seesmic. I have been using Seesmic’s video conversation site since just after they started pre-alpha testing in 2007.
I approached Seesmic and asked if they had anyone going. Vin Vin said no, but he’d be happy to send me over if i Seesmic’ed what was going on.
“Anything else?” i asked.
“No, just be yourself and cover what you want.” He said.
Fantastic. That’s the best brief ever. I really appreciate their support in helping me get out to New York for this conference.
During SXSW Phil Campbell and myself spent a good few nights within Seesmic’s hospitality batting around ideas and chatting about this brave newmedia world.
There are so many new and amazing people arriving everyday into my social media circle but it’s the original contacts I made in the first few months on Seesmic and Twitter that I really want to hang onto.. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but perhaps it is more like a hope that these inspirational few survive to ‘cross the chasm‘ that Seesmic is on the edge of and the ‘early adopters’ can make it to the other side and continue the video conversation.
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Reading this back, i think that Bloody Mary’s and Gin and Tonics at altitude have a tendency to make a blog post meander. Sat across the isle is Ali Bongo the famous Magician*. Sat intoxicated beside and behind me are two returning Iraq war vets, one with three purple hearts.
This is proving to be an interesting flight. I can’t wait for the next few days.
*Ali Bongo (in the feature photos) was a magician that played a big part in my childhood. He seemed to be always on TV and was one of the main reasons I spent a large part of my younger years playing with magic tricks. I thought he had died years ago. It was so nice to meet him today (aged 79) and hear stories about his long and magical life.
Episode 42 - Life In The Shadows
April 7, 2008
Sorry for the delay in getting this into my podcast feed. I had some strange issues with the way i had encoded it and it took a little bit of time to get the file just right so as it would show up in my feed.
I am guessing many of you have already seen this. To you guys I say once again, thank you for your support and also for passing this on to others..
To those that haven’t, and I know there are many who download the podcast that never visit any of my sites, here is a brief outline..
The fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War has just passed, and there is speculation that the engagement may continue yet another five years, if not more. To date, approximately 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in combat.
While the loss of combat troops is certainly tragic, even more stunning is a recent World Health Organization report based on Iraqi Health Ministry figures which estimates that 151,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between March 2003, the start of the invasion, and June 2006.
Many of the reports of civilian deaths are disputed. What cannot be argued, however, is another grave consequence of the Iraq War: the displacement crisis as a mass exodus of Iraqis flee the instabilities and ever-increasing sectarian violence at home, tearing their families apart.
In mid-January 2008, with the support of the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), I traveled to Amman, Jordan to photograph and record a few of these families trapped in a no-man’s land; asylum seekers looking for refuge, too afraid to return to their blood-soaked country.
Here are a few of their stories:
The film can also be viewed as a .wmv file here.. http://www.unhcr.org/video/iraqi-refugees-in-jordan.wmv
…and downloaded as a real media file here.. http://www.unhcr.org/video/iraqi-refugees-in-jordan.rm
For more information please check out.. The UNHCR Multimedia pages
To download this film to your ipod or mobile device please subscribe to the podcast at The Documentally Podcast Feed
Iraqi Refugees: Life in the Shadows
March 17, 2008
The fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War is upon us, and there is speculation that the engagement may continue yet another five years, if not more. To date, approximately 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in combat.
While the loss of combat troops is certainly tragic, even more stunning is a recent World Health Organization report based on Iraqi Health Ministry figures which estimates that 151,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between March 2003, the start of the invasion, and June 2006.
Many of the reports of civilian deaths are disputed. What cannot be argued, however, is another grave consequence of the Iraq War: the displacement crisis as a mass exodus of Iraqis flee the instabilities and ever-increasing sectarian violence at home, tearing their families apart.
In mid-January 2008, with the support of the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), I traveled to Amman, Jordan to photograph and record a few of these families trapped in a no-man’s land; asylum seekers looking for refuge, too afraid to return to their blood-soaked country.
Here are a few of their stories:
The film can also be viewed as a .wmv file here.. http://www.unhcr.org/video/iraqi-refugees-in-jordan.wmv
…and downloaded as a real media file here.. http://www.unhcr.org/video/iraqi-refugees-in-jordan.rm
For more information please check out.. The UNHCR Multimedia pages
To download this film to your ipod or mobile device please subscribe to the podcast at www.Documentally.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
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