Please circulate this notice far and wide.
Open Video Conference: call for proposals
** Submission deadline: March 19 **
We are now accepting proposals for panels, workshop
sessions, demo sessions, and other programming for the inaugural Open Video
Conference in New York. Join us and over 400 participants during our
groundbreaking two-day conference and make your imprint on the online video
space.
Visit http://openvideoalliance.org/proposals/
to make a submission.
Open Video Conference
June 19-20, 2009
New York City
40 Washington Square South (NYU Law School)
The Open Video Conference
The conference is a co-production of the Yale Law School
Information Society Project, the Participatory Culture
Foundation, Kaltura, and iCommons. The conference will feature talks from internet
luminaries, panels and discussions, screenings of video art, and demonstrations
of the newest internet video technology. We expect more than 400
participants. Here are some goals for the gathering:
1. Bring
together stakeholders in the online video space (video makers, coders, lawyers,
academics, entrepreneurs, etc.) for cross-pollination and development of
the Open Video movement.
2. Raise public interest and awareness around the
Principles for an Open Video Ecosystem, a community effort to define best
practices in online video.
3. Raise the public profile of video creators and
artists working in the online space.
What Types of Proposals are You Seeking?
We are requesting proposals and ideas for panels,
presentations, workshops, and other sessions that will address how we can shape
online video and the public debates around the medium. Proposals may be
intended for the main conference track, or for more focused unconference-style
sessions. Proposal topics may be legal, technical, or cultural in focus, though
we encourage proposals in all relevant areas. The more complete and fleshed out
a proposal, the more likely it will be accepted—but we welcome the submission
of all good ideas.
We are also seeking submissions of video art to showcase
the creative potential of artists in the open video space.
To submit a proposal or idea for Open Video, please
visit http://openvideoalliance.org/proposals/. The
deadline for submissions is March 19, 2009. If you have any questions about the
Alliance, the conference, or the submission process, please contact Ben
Moskowitz at conference@openvideoalliance.org .
Why is Open Video Important?
YouTube and other online video applications are rightly
celebrated for empowering end-users; however, online video lacks some of the
essential qualities that make text and images on the web such powerful tools
for free speech and technical innovation. Email, blogs, and other staples of
the open web rely on ubiquitous and interoperable technologies that have low
barriers to entry; they are massively decentralized and resistant to censorship
or regulation. Video, meanwhile, relies on centralized distribution and
proprietary technologies which can threaten cultural discourse and innovation.
Open Video is the growing movement for transparency,
interoperability, and participation in online video. These qualities provide
more fertile ground for bottom-up innovation and greater protection for free
speech online. Many organizations are already taking steps to change the nature
of video on the web: Mozilla is moving to support open video formats in
Firefox, the Participatory Culture Foundation promotes open source and
standards in video publishing and distribution, and Wikipedia has increased its
focus on the open Theora codec.
About the Open Video Alliance
The Open Video Alliance is a coalition of leading
organizations dedicated to fostering the growth of open infrastructure, tools,
and standards for the online video medium. Yale Law School’s Information
Society Project hosted a stakeholder meeting on October 31st, 2008;
representatives from nearly 30 organizations convened to discuss common goals
for technologists, maker communities, and legal experts.
For more information, see http://openvideoalliance.org.