“Clip culture” is the term used to describe the growing popularity of short, home-made video uploads that are being shared on sites like MSN Video and Youtube, according to a column in the Toronto Star.

The writer, Canadian Internet law expert Michael Geist, says the clips fall into three categories: original, home-made content; video montages of broadcast content for satire, protest or amusement; and “clips of network television shows (which have) generated the most controversy.”

I’ve blogged about this short stuff before as, for instance, in a posting entitled “Attention Deficit.” The sociological implications of this short, sharp strong video style are as interesting as the commercial and technological implications of building a network that is either friendly, unfriendly or neutral to this anarchic fare.

Busted for Bittorrent: Cable broadband network operators may already be screening traffic for bootlegged video uploads, according to this posting by a blogger who got a lawyer note from HBO after he hoist some bits into the torrent. Thanks to Unmediated for the pointer. (The link supplied to the lawyer letter didn’t work but in the comments, another person posted the text of a similar cease-and-desist note from their cable ISP. Go here and use the find on this page function to search for “Cox Abuse Tracking System” to read that letter.)

Tom Abate
MiniMediaGuy
‘Cause if you ain’t Mass Media, you’re Mini Media