Camera & Video Phones Play Role as Communication Tool in the 2006 U.S. Election as Veeker and Youth Noise 'Veek The Vote' Nationwide.Over 750 Mobile Video Messages Show Americans Discussing Voting, Political Choices, Opinions and Analysis SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden -- Veeker (www.veeker.com), a leading mobile video message and photo website, believes that the mobile phone as a video capture and communication device had its coming out party during this year's U.S. election. "Veek the Vote 2006," which received over 750 mobile video messages and photos from Americans using the video camera in a mobile phone to show the world where they stood on Election Day, represents a new milestone for citizen journalism News and commentary from the public at large. Using wiki sites and blogs, anyone can contribute information about a current event. Also known as "collaborative citizen journalism" (CCJ), "grassroots media" and "personal publishing," the concept behind citizen journalism is that many in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . "Veek the Vote 2006" was the result of a partnership between Veeker and YouthNoise (www.youthnoise.com), the Internet's first social network for youth dedicated to social change. On Election Day, mobile video messages and photos arrived every few minutes from various states across the nation, including Virginia, Missouri, California, Pennsylvania California is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, along the Monongahela River. The population was 5,274 at the 2000 census. It includes the campus of California University of Pennsylvania. , New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , New Jersey, Tennessee, Florida and Ohio. In local races, one video message showed San Francisco School Board candidate Jane Kim (http://www.janekim.org/) making the rounds with her campaign posters. On a state and national level, there was a 'VEEK' ("video peek") of a Claire McCaskill Claire McCaskill (born July 24, 1953) is an American Democratic politician, currently the junior United States Senator from the state of Missouri and former State Auditor of Missouri. She defeated Republican Senator Jim Talent in 2006 by a margin of 50% to 47%. supporter participating in a 'Get out the Vote' initiative. McCaskill eventually won this particular race by a small margin and contributing to the Democratic parties' eventual control of Senate by majority. Other video messages were from YouthNoise's CitiJo (i.e., Citizen Journalist) NOISEmakers who were reporting on the most important issues this election. News of "Veek the Vote 2006" spread through the political blogosphere The total universe of blogs. See blog. , further demonstrating the impact of the blogging community in this election. "College kids and senior citizens alike joined together to use the cameras in their mobile phones to communicate their experiences and opinions on Election Day," states Veeker Co-Founder Rodger Raderman Rodger Raderman (born August 22, 1968 in Los Angeles, CA) is an American media and technology entrepreneur. As of 2006, he is co-Founder, Chief Marketing & Product Officer of Veeker, co-Founder & Chairman of Obscura Digital, and Founder of IFILM. . "People felt empowered by the ability to express themselves in this way to other Americans. Taken together, all of these videos present a richly textured view of Election Day in America." The history of mobile video capture has evolved globally from a first look media capture of tragic events to an effective tool for citizen journalism. December 26(th), 2004 - Southeast Asia/East Africa - Real-time footage of the Asian tsunami was brought to global news outlets via the video images of mobile phones capturing waves as they hit beaches in various countries. July 7(th) 2005 - London, United Kingdom - 20 pieces of mobile videos shot by onlookers are uploaded to BBC.co.uk website capturing footage minutes after the London terrorist bombings. July 7(th) 2006 - Mumbai, India - Near-simultaneous blasts went off during the rush hour in the suburbs on the Western Railway. Hundreds of mobile videos capture the explosion and aftermath and are sent via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) An enhanced transmission service that enables graphics, video clips and sound files to be transmitted via cellphones. Developed as part of the 3GPP project, MMS phones are generally backward compatible with SMS and EMS. to the CNN-IBN news network. July 24(th) 2006 - Gurgaon, India - Merinews.com India's first all citizen-journalism website launches and invites Citizen Journalists to upload clips via MMS and other major broadcasters follow suit. October 13(th) 2006 - London, United Kingdom - BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. UK Online does an open call for citizen journalism submissions via MMS. November 7(th )2007 - Nationwide, United States - Over 750 mobile videos are uploaded to Veekthevote.com and capture footage around polling locations in seven states and voters who voice their opinions and analysis of the 2006 U.S. Congressional Election. "I appreciate the work that activists from across the country, like those on VeekTheVote.com, have done to identify existing problems, and to help protect the rights that we all enjoy," states recently re-elected U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey Lynn C. Woolsey (born November 3, 1937), American politician, has been a progressive Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing California's 6th congressional district (map). (D-CA) about Veek the Vote 2006. How Veek the Vote Worked: 1) An individual shot a video (or photo) using the camera in their mobile phone 2) Individuals sent their video (or photo) from their phone (via MMS message) to vote@veeker.com 3) Less than a minute later, the video (or photo) along with all others could be viewed in a Veek the Vote video player at veekthevote.com youthnoise.com, and veeker.com How to View Veek the Vote: 1) Joining Veeker.com, for free, enables anyone to view all 750+ videos and photos from the Veek The Vote effort. 2) Visiting YouthNoise.com enables anyone to view a selection of videos and photos from the Veek The Vote effort. The Mobile Video Phone Market According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a November 2007 Gartner Research Report, worldwide sales of camera phones will account for 48 percent of total worldwide mobile phone sales in 2006 and grow to 81 percent by 2010. Additionally worldwide sales of camera phones, which have almost tripled since 2004, will reach 460 million in 2006, an increase of 43 percent from 2005. This trend is set to continue, leading to sales of one billion camera phones by 2010. In an October 2007 study, the research firm Telephia reported over eight million U.S. handset owners have captured video on their mobile phones. This marks an upward trend for mobile video as a communication tool as a November 9th Wirefly survey found that 68% of cell phone users rate the camera as their favorite cell phone feature. "Already, one quarter of the cell phones shipped in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. this year have camcorder capabilities and consumers are increasingly experimenting with this new form of self-expression. This is the perfect time for services like Veeker's to hit the market with simple and free solutions for people to upload and share mobile content. Previous to these types of services, many Americans captured content and then didn't know what to do with it," states Jill Aldort, Senior Analyst, Consumer Mobility Applications, Yankee Group (the Yankee Group, Boston, MA, www.yankeegroup.com) A major market research, analysis and consulting firm founded in 1970 by Howard Anderson. It provides general consulting and strategic planning in the computer and communications field. . Mobile Video Blogging Mobile video will also bring new advances to the burgeoning video blogger community (or vloggers). Traditionally, video blogs See vlog. are shot with a digital cameras and footage is downloaded to a computer, edited, and then uploaded to the Web. With the "Veek the Vote" initiative, mobile video was captured and appeared within minutes on VeektheVote.com (http://www.veekthevote.com), youthnoise.com, and veeker.com for anyone to see. About Veeker: Veeker was founded in September 2005 to lead the evolution of mobile communication from audio and text to video. According to IDC, during the period between 2005 and 2009, 2.4 billion mobile phones equipped with video cameras will enter the global marketplace. Veeker believes that mobile video communication will become pervasive, and intends to help the Veeker Generation discover and define this exciting new form of communication. Veeker is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and operates a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. in Beijing, China. The company's team includes executives, technologists, and artists from the entertainment, internet, mobile, and advertising industries. About YouthNoise: YouthNoise is the first youth-based social network for social change. YouthNoise is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, non-profit organization A non-profit organization (abbreviated "NPO", also "non-profit" or "not-for-profit") is a legally constituted organization whose primary objective is to support or to actively engage in activities of public or private interest without any commercial or monetary profit purposes. that brings young people ages 16-24 together to form a global network for sharing and converting their ideas into action to improve the world around them. Featuring 100% youth-generated content, www.YouthNoise.com has registered more than 115,000 youth from all fifty states and more than 170 countries, and welcomes approximately 200,000 unique visitors A count of how many different people access a Web site. For example, if a user leaves and comes back to the site five times during the measurement period, that person is counted as one unique visitor, but would count as five "user sessions. per month. Originally founded in 2001 by Save the Children, YouthNoise later spun off in 2004 and is now based in San Francisco, CA. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion