A Call to Join and Contribute to the Establishment of a
Video-Sharing Syndicate/Network


Project Description:
For some time now the idea of utilising peer2peer
structures to assemble a user-built distribution
platform has been circulating. Recently, in the run-up
to the G8 meeting in Evian, a concrete proposal has
been made to establish a system for the sharing of
video. Long-term we believe that we can assemble a
sustainable and scalable platform for audio-visual
materials of a critical and independent nature. This
is an appeal to groups/individuals to get involved, dedicate some
resources, support and expand the project generally.

Works to be distributed over the system will vary from
somewhat edited footage suitable for use as a stock
archive to finished documentaries/films. Each file
will be accompanied by metadata in an xml .info file
and produced as an searchable RSS feed for people to
integrate into their own sites and published on its
own website (where there will also be a manifesto,
how-to's. contact info for participating groups etc.)
Amongst the metadata fields will be a specification
for the nature of the license under which the
materials may be used (e.g. Creative Commons
share-alike)

Participants in this project range from SO36 provider
in Berlin to people from the No Borders network,
Candida TV in Rome, New Global Vision (Italy),
Radioserver (Germany), Big Noise Films (New York), Free Speech TV
(Colorado), NoWarTV (Roma) Hackitectura (Spain) and individuals from
Autonomedia, Mute etc. Groups in the UK, Korea, US and Switzerland have also been approached.

If you are interested in the project please get in
touch immediately as actions around the g8 will
commence on May 29th. Responses should include an
email contact, an expression of
general agreement with the aims of the project and expected contribution.
Please email the mailing list at  v2v@coyote1.kein.org.

See below for the call for participation in Geneva and the long-term
project of video file-sharing:

GENEVA03 is a temporary broadcasting studio during the g8-summit
transmitting video and audio streams live from the cultural center l'usine in geneva from may 29 to june 3. The livecast will be streamed on the
internet and picked up and redistributed by local and international
broadcasters as well as projected in the streets and theatres of Geneva.

In order to cover the protests between Geneva, Lausanne and Anmasse in
real time, media activists will work from the "everyone-is-an-expert"
mobile studio van, which - with a self-adjusting bi-directional satellite dish - will provide a mobile internet connection and transmit live-footage from the roaming protests.

The GENEVA03.org project is a joint effort of a growing number of video
activists and independent filmmakers together with dozens of indymedia
reporters, to organize and broadcast independent news coverage from the G8 events. We are currently programming a stream, that, besides the live coverage of the mass-protests, will include movies, concerts, talk-shows, vj sessions, subvertisements and other radically innovative formats.

The project is an exploration of new forms of collaboration in film and videomaking; a hybrid sending and receiving experiment crossing borders between media. In Geneva we will launch V2V, a peer-to-peer video-sharing network, which will work as both a content management and archiving system. Filmmakers, local and remote, can make contributions. They can upload their films, videos reports and roughly edited material onto more than a dozen servers, which will host the material in the P2P-networks.
The V2V standard suggests a set of specifications for the encoding with half of the standard broadcast quality as a compromise between a modest upload-time and a tolerable resolution for screening, in order to facilitate the global exchange of images. At the occasion of the live stream from geneva the V2V virtual video filesharing network will be launched and beta-tested. But the project of an opensource video production and distribution network will be developed further on.

This is an open call to join in the production and distribution of the
GENEVA03 broadcasts and the launch of the V2V network.

1. Take and rebroadcast the stream, or download broadcast quality video of your choice directly from the server, to rebroadcast in community screenings or on local TV, Radio broadcast, or to simply post the URL of the stream on other web-sites.

2. Upload your video and become part of the stream!
Broad themes for content are:
• Freedom of movement and freedom of communication (Migration, Borders, technology, copyright/left…)
• Movement of movements (the view from the ground)
• Control, surveillance, war
We are looking for a range of formats, from documentary to comedy, from subvertisements to talk shows, vj sets to animation, and whatever you can imagine.

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