Livestreamers Unite
A crowd of technophiles sat in a fluorescent lit basement filled with folding chairs and tables, a couple of old couches and posters on the wall commemorating homeless men that had passed in the city on Monday night.
Almost all of them had cell phones in their hands. Most of them were known by their Twitter handles.
There was @occupyfreedomla, @punkboyinsf, @oakfosho, @cross_x_bones, and @korgasm among others.
When Dan from Portland stood up to address the crowd he told them, “Stay calm and keep filming.”
It’s perhaps the first rule of livestreaming. Don’t stop.
The 30 or so livestreamers that had converged in Washington D.C. arrived for the January 17 #occupycongress event. On Monday night they were gathered in a church basement swapping tips before the big day.
There was talk of which batteries to use, costs of monopods, description techniques, how to speak with police and about Android vs. IPhone.
The IPhone app was better, said Spencer from Oakland, @oakfosho, because it was the only app UStream developed to work in Hi-Def, although Cross_x_bones said he had broken down the Android app and was working to improve it.
Of course, the authorities also dominated the conversation.
@Jiraffa said the other 99 team, which helps support Tim Pool, @timcast, said they had a hotel were they would be managing a system of radio feeds in case cell towers go down.
“We’re in D.C. you never know, with the Secret Service and stuff,” said Raffa.
A protester from Portland emphasized the importance of the buddy system in case a livestreamer’s phone goes down, they’ll still be able to send live tweets about the action.
Nick from the #ows livestream team said he was arrested filming an action on December 17. He said the buddy system allows you to hand off your equipment to avoid it being inspected by authorities in case you’re arrested.
Vlad Teichberg from Global Revolution called in via Skype. He reported that he was unable to come down because his team is still dealing with legal issues related to the eviction from their NYC studio.
“What we’re going to do for you is we’re going to try to edit together a coherent story without being there,” said Teichberg, “We’re going to be your offsite video editor.”
When @korgasm, an occuwriter spoke, she told the crowd she didn’t like to be in front of the camera. Nonetheless the content-hungry livestreamers encircled her.
You can’t get away from the stream.
Donna Piranha, from San Diego and owner of the best name of the night, said that everyone should make sure their information is available for the j17live.org website that was being developed.
The site will allow viewers to easily switch from the available streams that are up the day of the event.
“It shows variety and gives people choice. It will spread quickly,” said Piranha, who seemed kind, despite her name.
As the meeting wound down, Tim Pool arrived just as the streamers were about to take a group picture. He stood off to the side, just outside the shot.
“You don’t want to be in the picture?” I asked.
He shook his head, no.
-
beat--rice reblogged this from thepeoplesrecord and added:
I remember meeting Tim and crossbones. Cool guys. Keep up the good work.
-
idleoctopus liked this
-
decentralize1 reblogged this from thepeoplesrecord and added:
this inspires me to write journalistic pieces.
-
thepeoplesrecord reblogged this from ajwatchdc
-
thepeoplesrecord liked this
-
ajwatchdc posted this
