Random Culture

Remembering... Through The Internet

The Internet has a short memory. Every day a new website, new video, a new meme consumes our online conversations, and is gone almost as fast as it came. But each day this happens, the Internet grows in size, because most of it is archived. This same tool that contributes to our short-term memory also allows us to remember, to immortalize.

Sites such as The Holocaust Museum's Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive help us remember. Wikipedia helps us document and remember. News sites, video sites, family tree sites... the list goes on and on.

Case in point... Cam Beck, one of my colleagues, has a great series of posts on Chaos Scenario in honor of memorial day that got me thinking about how easy it is to forget, but how powerful this amazing tool can be to help us remember.

Blog Video Comments

It's too bad I don't have a WordPress blog, because the folks at TechCrunch just announced something exciting! The ability to leave video comments on their complete blog family. The video comments are powered by Seesmic, and you can see examples on this comment thread at TechCrunch. Watch an overview of the offering here:

I can't think of a cooler way for blogging to really move to a "conversation", as it brings a much more personal aspect to the contributions of readers to the discussion.

Kenneth Cole Activist Blog

Kenneth Cole has launched a blog, and it's not about fashion. The Awearness blog is about politics, the environment, social responsibility and much more. The question remains, will users really care what Kenneth Cole thinks about this stuff? Read more at: Awearnessblog.com

Wired Rolls Out New Blogs

Wired has had a few blogs, but they're starting to roll out more, building something reminiscent of a blog network. One of the latest additions that's been buzzing around is Danger Room, a blog about "national security." It has some fun content worth checking out. Of course, some of the blogs are better than others... and a few are surprisingly thin on content.

View a complete list of all the Wired blogs.

Link via The Long Tail Blog.

Blogumentary

The documentary about bloggers, "Blogumentary", is finally available to watch online. It includes interviews with Jeff Jarvis, Jason Kottke and more. Watch it below.

Link via Fimoculous.

I Got Tagged! 5 Things

Giovanni at The Agency Blog tagged me for the "5 Things" meme. Bloggers who get "tagged" are supposed to reveal 5 things about themselves that their readers don't already know. Since I've been fairly anonymous about myself here, I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to know a little bit about me. So here it goes:

5 Things You May Not Know About John Keehler:

1. I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri
2. In elementary school, I was forced to sing a duet with my sister on stage in front of a large audience. I was dressed up like a cowboy, and she was dressed up like a Galapagos sea turtle, and the song was "We Are the World." She forgot her lines and left the stage... but I soldiered on. I still know every word, and neither of us will ever sing in public again.
3. Fishing is one of my favorite things to do. I like every kind of fishing, but fly fishing is something I could do all day, every day for the rest of my life.
4. I have two tattoos, both of which were inked on my body within a month of turning 18.
5. The greatest book ever written is The Iliad. This is not an opinion, it is a fact... experts agree.

I have to pass the love along, so here are the folks I've "tagged"

• Steve or Angela at Adrants
• Jane Goldman from Adland
• Christopher Jagers
• Paul Herring from ChaosScenario (and coworker)
• Martina at Adverblog

Travelocity Blog: The Window Seat

The agency I work for, Click Here, just helped Travelocity launch a blog called The Window Seat. It's written by their travel experts, and I think is a great example of a company providing genuinely good content, rather than trying to use the format to shill products and services. Definitely worth checking out, particularly if you're interested in travel. You can check out a press release for the launch here.

State of the Blogosphere

Dave Sifry has posted a new Technorati "State of the Blogosphere" report. Here are a few high level points from the post:

• 100,000 new blog are indexed daily
• Over 70% of pings are from known spammers (yikes!)
• 1.3 million blog posts daily
• Top 50 blogs are dominated by traditional media companies

View the entire report here

Link via Micropersuasion.

DEMOfall 2006: uControl

uControl is one of a select few companies that were invited to present at the prestigious DEMOfall conference this week in San Diego. Over the last few months, I've been lucky enough to work with them. They truly are poised to revolutionize the home security industry. If you have a home alarm system and VoIP, check them out! If you only have a home phone line because you have an alarm system, check them out! If you want to make sure that your home is REALLY being monitored, check them out!

You can learn more about uControl by:
Watch video of the uControl presentation at DEMOfall
Visit the uControl website: www.ucontrol.com

I'm also excited that uControl has decided to become involved in the blogosphere. They recently launched a blog at: blog.ucontrol.com.

NY Times US Open Blog

The New York Times has launched another blog, this one for the 2006 US Open. It's written by Michael Kimmelman and a number of other staff writers. Does anyone else wish this blog had some images on it?