<videovortex> after the convergence

[Geert Lovink]

http://digiday.com/platforms/digital-tv-converging-5-charts/

Dear Video Vortex members,

there is a lot of ‘truth’ in stats like this. My question is: does that also mean the end of Video Vortex as a project and the separate treatment of online video as a distinct object of study, for researchers, artists and activists to work with in general?

Here at INC we can observe that ‘new media’ as a seperate discipline has grown to such an extend that it is now integrated in everything and everywhere, and thus disappears as an alien thing that arrives from the future. This also means that there is no need anymore to fund ‘seperate’ projects and that the digital can be handed over to the traditional authorities. Online video (whatever it is or was) is now firmly back into the hands of the old film and television industry—whether we like it or not. For us, the funding situation here at INC is desperate so please do not count on us in the near future. Google and Facebook and telecom industry do not change this overall picture. In practice this means that we can no longer find the funds to host events such as VV and publications like Video Vortex Reader etc. We have to be honest to all of you and will have to scale back Video Vortex. The mailinglist can continue for a while. Traffic here has been low anyway, recently.

Best, Geert