If you clicked on the page tabs at the top of the blog, you’ve probably read that my social media activities for the past few years have involved lifecasting.
Lifecasting involves blogging or videoblogging about different events in your life, and just as there are A-list bloggers, there are also A-list lifecasters. iJustine comes to mind. She’s made herself almost into an A-list celebrity thanks to her web presence, which she built through video blogging and use of video sharing sites.
True lifecasting involves strapping a live camera to yourself, and streaming its feed to the Internet. Justin Kan started lifecasting his view of the world in March, 2007, and by the following summer, he received funding to launch a lifecasting web platform featuring more than 60 channels.
My lifecasting activities aren’t quite so involved. I like to take video and pictures whenever we do something (hike, bike ride, kayak paddle) and post a short video documenting the day. Sometimes I’ll forgo the video and put up a blog post with some pictures on one of my blogs. Sometimes I’ll tell the story through the voice of my puppy and post it on his blog. Sometimes I’ll make a quick video of something I do around the house, such as this one of me mowing the lawn in our small garden.
I started doing this for fun in 2006, not realizing that three short years later, I would have a nice digital record of my activities, vacations, and getaways.
Lifecasting is not for everyone. Some folks are much too private to put their activities on the digi-waves. If you (or your loved ones) are over-concious about how you look on camera, then lifecasting is not for you.
For me though, lifecasting is a great hobby. As a daytrip or vacation proceeds, I make sure to spend some time shooting video or taking pictures with lifecast media in mind. Sometimes I’ll even do multiple takes. Once I get home, I can’t wait to get the images and video on to the computer. It’s rare that I don’t have something posted by the end of the next day.
These videos and posts are nothing fancy. Just 2-3 minute clips, some pictures, a few video scenes no more then 10-15 seconds. Add some music, transitions, and maybe a title slide or two, and you have a nice record of a wonderful day, or great memories of a few days away.
I would encourage everyone to try lifecasting. Just keep in mind that editing video is time consuming. You can count on at least an hour of editing for every minute in your final video, but its well worth the time. Need some inspirations? Check out the videos and links scattered amongst this post.
