Being Green is Pretty Easy, Actually July 30, 2008
Posted by v2plcmc in Uncategorized.Tags: digital signage, environment, Joshua Allen Harris, libraries, library, New York Magazine, Pocono Record, techology
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As it becomes increasingly evident that our waste and pollution is having serious detrimental effects on the environment, there has been an increase in efforts to reuse and reduce our consumption of disposable items. Many individuals and corporations are making an effort to “go green” and live in a more Earth-friendly manner. They are replacing disposable things such as plastic bottles and bags with reusable items and many artists are finding creative ways to reuse what we would consider trash.
Recently, I found a video on the New York Magazine website titled “Joshua Allen Harris’ Inflatable Bag Monsters.” This video shows how Harris, a NYC artist, creates animals out of plastic bags and tapes them to subway grates. When the trains pass under the grates, the animals become inflated and sway as if animated. I wanted to play it on our TVs in the library’s Virtual Village, but could not find it on my usual video sharing websites. I had given up until a few days ago when a co-worker suggested that I add a slideshow titled “The Dangers of Plastic Bags” she found on the “Pocono Green” section of the Pocono Record’s website about the environmental impact of plastic bags. This wonderful slideshow reminded me to look again for the New York Mag. video on Harris. Serendipitously, the New York Magazine video had been posted on YouTube, so I was now able to display it on our TVs after the Pocono Record slide show, thus creating a “thematic unit”. Isn’t it nice when things work out?
Street Art: Joshua Allen Harris’ Inflatable Bag Monsters – New York Magazine
The Dangers of Plastic Bags – Pocono Green, Pocono Record
What can you do? July 22, 2008
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The goal of our flatscreen TV content is three-fold: to inform, to educate, and to entertain. Often, it is easy to forget that the subject matter that entertains a library employee can be vastly different than the subject matter that entertains a library patron. With that in mind, we have created a form (available at the service desk) that patrons can use to suggest videos and other content that they would like to see on the TVs.
One video that was suggested by a patron, and has been a huge hit in Virtual, is this YouTube clip of Kobe Bryant jumping over a pool of snakes. This is something I would have never found on my own, but our patrons love it! Below the clip is the caption “Kobe Bryant can jump over a pool of snakes, what can you do?” This video was created as a thinly veiled advertisement for a new Nike shoe and Kobe’s jump has not been proven to be un-edited. However, to our patrons, it’s just plain fun entertainment that always gets attention and often starts conversations between patrons.
The timely and the timeless July 14, 2008
Posted by v2plcmc in Uncategorized.Tags: digital signage, fireworks, flat screens, fourth of july, library, technology, youtube
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One of the great things about the flat screen TVs in Virtual Village is that the content can be changed at any time. Most of the videos are not time-sensitive and play in a regular rotation with new videos added periodically. The TVs provide not only videos for education and entertainment but also slides that display up-to-date information on the programs and classes going on in the library. Time or date-sensitive material such as information about library programs or technology classes can be changed or updated whenever needed. Since the TVs are connected to the internet, we also have the capability to show live sports or news feeds when they are being streamed live on news websites. During the recent Wimbledon championship finals, the matches were streamed live through our flat screens and received great interest and feedback from our patrons. We are looking forward to using this feature more during the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
On special occasions, such as the recent Fourth of July holiday, we can add special videos or slides that pertain to the occasion. To celebrate the Fourth, we added a fireworks video that played July 4th-6th. This video, shot in Marietta, GA, was one of the thousands of fireworks videos on YouTube. The quality of these videos varies greatly. Some are shaky and blurry and others are professionally recorded and edited. After sifting through many different videos, I decided upon this one because it not only had great fireworks but also didn’t make you seasick.
4th of July Fireworks in Marietta, GA 2007 – Part 1 by bwboles
A man, a plan, a…commercial contract? July 7, 2008
Posted by v2plcmc in Uncategorized.Tags: libraries, library, plcmc, technology
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These days, all it takes is an idea. If your idea is unique enough, or silly enough, or weird enough, some corporation will ask you to take it one step further and PAY for it! Companies have realized that consumers like to watch regular people and, instead of paying actors to act like regular people, they have figured out that they can pay regular people a lot less to act like actors. Example: Taco Bell just paid Improv Everywhere, a NYC-based improv group that “causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places,” to “freeze” at their new restaurant opening to promote their new drink, the Frutista Freeze. To view that video, click on this link.
Matt, a self proclaimed “31-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut” got just that lucky. You can read his whole story on his website, but basically, he did a silly dance in many different countries, recorded it, uploaded it to the web, and then Stride gum payed for him to do the silly dance in many more countries for their commercial. The result is a fun, sweet video of Matt (and whoever else he could get to join in) dancing in 39 different countries. The dancing is funny, but the best part is the scenery and the kids.
You might also notice that this embedded video is in a different format than the previous videos. Vimeo is a site that allows users to upload high quality videos in much the same way as YouTube. However, the quality is vastly better. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to convert the YouTube videos for display on the flatscreens. As a response to the popularity of Vimeo, YouTube has introduced a high resolution option on their videos (and most videos on Vimeo can be found on YouTube also). However, although you can watch the video in high resolution, you can’t download it in high resolution. We are constantly working to provide our patrons with the highest resolution video we can and hopefully we will figure out how to display the Vimeo-hosted videos on the flatscreens soon.
Music Videos – Seen and Not Heard? July 1, 2008
Posted by v2plcmc in Uncategorized.Tags: flatscreens, libraries, library, music videos, plcmc, technology
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Some of the freshest and most innovative talent in the arts is often produced by students in college and graduate programs. When these artists collaborate across mediums, such as music and animation, wonderful new pieces are created. Music videos are the perfect short, easily shared medium for young new talents to try out cutting edge animation techniques.
I was drawn to this music video for Solar Powered People’s song Commercial Flight because, although it is created with computer programs (Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects) it has an old fashioned, paper-cut feel. The band had their friends, animators Cesar Almanza, Janelle Falcone, and Joel Berroteran create the video for them. Videos like this one are a great opportunity to see fresh new design and computer animation created by young new talented artists.
Thanks to websites like YouTube and MySpace, bands have a place to create and broadcast their music videos. Often, these “DIY” videos that launch the bands into national recognition. This was the case with OK Go and their now infamous treadmill video. The band was relatively unheard of until their video of the band members dancing on treadmills went “viral.” The video has been on YouTube since July 31, 2006 and has had 36,442,402 views. They even performed their “treadmill dance” live at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards show.
Solar Powered People – Commercial Flight by Cesar Almanza, Janelle Falcone, and Joel Berroteran
OK Go – Here it Goes Again
