I attended the inauguration with a great group of folks (about 2 million of them). We couchsurfed in DC with Dan, who hosted about 15 other couchsurfers from around the world. There were many other people in DC who hosted 10+ people.

Read this great CNN article on Couchsurfing + the Inauguration.

I’ve included a rundown of my own personal experience, along with a rundown of interesting takes on the inauguration from the mainstream media.

Personal Videos + Photos (shot by Rob Moon)

Photos of the Inauguration on Flickr

Video of the Inauguration on YouTube

I love this video – we saw this amazing woman from Memphis after the Inauguration speech. She sang to us.

My Photos on Facebook (uploaded from my iPhone)

I also shot video on my iPhone + uploaded it to the web using Qik. For more videos of the inauguration, visit the Qik Inauguration Page.

For a fascinating look at Obama’s speech, simply type in a keyword in the video player below, courtest of Delve Networks

Below is a tag cloud of keywords Obama said in his Inauguration Speech, courtesy of Read/Write Web.

Mainstream Coverage

And now a rundown of great inauguration mainstream media + resources

The Inauguration Speech on NYTimes.com

Washington Post’s Moving Video of the Inauguration and Beyond

Online Video of Inauguration Sets Records (NYTimes.com)

400 Newspapers across the world featuring the inauguration (going.com)

China Censors Part of Obama Speech (NYTimes.com)

CNN’s AMAZING Photo-Multimedia Collage of “The Moment” – a must view

Incredible Hi-Res Photos from The Boston Globe

And finally, a roundup of resources I found on AlumniBlender:

Data Visualization of the Inauguration speech

An analysis of CNN Live’s integration with Facebook

As lots of videoBloggers know, YouTube is great because of the large audience. However, the quality lacks, and users can’t download any of your videos directly from the site.
(You can however use a service called DownloadYouTubeVideos to do this – but the quality is still poor)

What else is out there? I’ve briefly reviewed some good video solutions that I personally use. If you see something missing, or have a question, please let me know + leave a comment. My goal is to compile a comprehensive resource for content producers, hosts, designers, and curators of video content. Hope this list helps!

Vimeo
Great for programmers, developers, bloggers, and others who want their videos downloadable. Nice design + social networking capabilities. The nicest feature I like is the friend updates. Whenever a friend of yours leaves a comment, or gives some ‘net love to another video, you’ll see the instant feedback on your account. Good way to discover new video.

BrightCove
A Great solution for internet television, but not so great for video bloggers. Allows you to create your own custom channel. Here’s an example.

Another great feature is the customizable upload forms. You can create these custom upload forms and embed the form into your site. This way, visitors can upload videos to your custom channel without leaving your webpage.

BrightCove offers desktop software to help you manage your online media. Part of the software includes a batch uploader which allows you to upload multiple files at once.

Revver
Revver is also popular but I do not use it. They allow visitors to download video, but I don’t really know enough about Revver to be writing about it.

Blip.Tv
Blip.Tv is probably one of my favorites. They offer visitors and content producers high quality video, downloadable content, and the ability to create iTunes podcasts. They also offer content producers the ability to create a custom channel. Here is an example I created a while back.

Blip.Tv helps your content go beyond the web. The site helps you convert your videos for viewing on cell phones, video iPods, and many other formats.

Like Brightcove, Blip.Tv also offers a batch uploader, so you can upload many files at once, saving content producers and publishers LOTS of time.

I’ve embedded a video to give you a taste of the quality :

Pando
What if you just want to send video back and forth without hosting it publicly?
Use Pando. Pando allows you to send 1GB files & folders via any email or IM.
Think of it like YouSendIt, but for video and way cooler.

Phil Hansen makes some nice stuff – definitely good material for a Pixel by Pixel class. The Clip below was seen on his website, Phil in the Circle:

This is not news. But this article breaks it down real well.

Small Dance Companies in NYC: The Economic Reality
by Natalie Bostick

http://www.ballet-dance.com/200708/articles/NYCDance2007.html


In this article, Natalie pulled out some facts from a recent survery by Dance/NYC, Her research shows that, “Small modern/contemporary companies collectively reach as large an audience as do the 3% of New York companies with budgets over $1 million. That’s an impressive 50% market share.”

While these numerous companies have a huge collective market share, they do not have a huge share of the resources. Even when they are working, dancers usually do not expect to make a living off of dancing alone. Many work other jobs to make ends meet. Choreographers face similar financial problems.

The difficult questions are:

“How do you support your work? In other words, how can you create work if you or your dancers are expected to lose money on a show?”

“How do you present your work with limited financial resources?”

There are no simple answers here. However, there is a great opportunity in showing excerpts of work online. Or simply create work for an online venue. Currently, there are a few online “venues” (think YouTube) but they do not focus on the arts.

What if there was a place to see the performing arts online? Why are the performing arts so behind the curve technologically? Is it a money issue? A skill issue? Do companies and artists know how to use webtools to show or document their work online?

It’s time artists begin creating work for an online audience. With enough artists doing this on a consistent basis, there would be enough content to create regular programming for either an internet audience, or an IP Tv audience.

This July, I am working with Misnomer as a video blogger and documentarian. This week, Chris Elam (the choreographer for Misnomer) is teaching a class at Concord Academy as part of Misnomer’s residency there. Dan Wagner (a former dancer for Merce Cunningham) is also teaching a class. I was lucky enough to be able to take his class. Here are some my first impressions:

Thank you, Dan.

This is a video I shot with Hatti Lim for Planned Parenthood.

To celebrate the 34th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the Knitting Factory hosted a benefit for Planned Parenthood. Bands playing that night included World Without Magic, Takka Takka, and The Wrens.

This is the final edit I put together for Planned Parenthood. Watch for more music from The Wrens and World Without Magic (including a few bonus tracks from the Wrens and World Without Magic) on my YouTube page. I’ll be uploading certain songs from that night’s set.

I first saw the article on the video below via NewTeeVee…

Below is a link to a site about a boy who went to YouTube headquarters (from NYC 2 CA) to get his idea heard.

http://www.canyoutubehearme.com/

1. The project idea is actually good.
2. So is the product.

The thing I find really admirable about this whole endeavor, is that he really put his heart into this entire project (and part of the project was actually getting to YouTube HQ).

For the actual project, see dateunknown.com