Our EPIC FU Plans -- Need Your Feedback!!!!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Woolf on May 28, 2009 at 2:46am

thanks for always offering such well-thought out stuff, tubejay.

i think the only thing we'd have ratings on would be a new submssion feature. i really don't want people's personal stuff voted on -- it's not really relevant to anything. so we're on the same page there.

the main thing we want to offer that Ning doesn't really have just yet is to blow out the blog network idea. i think we'll have some kind of phased process where we first redesign epicfu.com with a news submission engine, then roll out the blog network, and then figure out how to integrate the discussions that happen on Ning.

more to come this weekend, though. we're not far away from having a detailed blog post with the way this can all work.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Vincent on June 2, 2009 at 5:03pm

Oh, hey, I just read that last sentence about the book, thanks! I'll keep you posted on books in the works. More are coming!!!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Professor Imagine on June 3, 2009 at 3:03pm

AMEN!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sarah Atwood on May 26, 2009 at 2:39pm

this sounds EPIC!!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Will Dearman on May 26, 2009 at 2:42pm

I love your concept for the future of Epic Fu and Mix; participatory cultural journalism is absolutely the way to go. I watch the show regularly and am constantly astounded by the cool stuff you guys dig up. A well rounded community with a diversity of views would provide much appreciated depth to all of the cultural tangents introduced during the show. I do have three notes of caution though:

Engagement Preferences & Content Accessibility - I love Epic Fu; I've been watching regularly since hearing Zadi speak at SXSW 2008 and haven't missed an episode. It has introduced me to a lot of things that I would not have otherwise discovered. I enjoy the (nearly) weekly bite-sized chunks of early adopter culture from a single, easily-accessible source. With that being said, it is highly unlikely that I would participate in any online community, or readily adopt a format that required more effort to access or even register (yes, I realize this post makes me a hypocrite). If the content of a week's episode was in five clips instead of one, or were simply entries in a long list of links, it is unlikely that I would be a viewer/user. It is largely because the format and content of Epic Fu is so accessible to me that I view it so regularly. I imagine there are a large number of us that are merely content consumers that are interested, but have no desire to participate. So in developing the community, ensure that there is enough high-level content that easy to access and digest for non-paticipatory members of the community, while allowing active members of the community to really develop the depth. To sum up this point: don't bury the cool stuff :)

Community Diversity - In the time I have been on the Internet (1997, Netscape 1.2) I have watched a number of communities rise and fall (Kuro5hin and Slashdot come to mind) and the pattern seems to be the same: they start with a very diverse community inside a niche and then over time that diversity lessens until everyone is the same and there is no real reason to come back (unless you like echoes). I have no idea how to maintain diversity over time, but I think it is very important.

Essence - I suspect that temptation will be to devote all of your resources to building the community and to let the community to largely drive the content of Epic Fu: please don't. You two made Epic Fu very cool; your decisions have been right and we the community trust and respect your point of view. I am all in favor of using the community to source to new cool stuff, acknowledging the source and listening to feedback, but keep the content of the show your own. If you don't like something, don't put it in the show just because it got ten trillion votes. Where would you be now if you just listened to what everyone else said?

Finally, if you are still reading I have two ideas for the new community:

• Incubate other shows - I love Epic Fu a lot, but realistically you can't capture everything cool with just one show about only art, tech and music. I think it would be pretty awesome to have other shows with different perspectives but a similar feel. You have so much knowledge and experience to share, you could really start some new talent in the right direction; bonus points if if adds diversity to your new community.
• Capture everything awesome on the Internet - You could probably pretty easily duplicate the 'bookmarklet' functionality of Friendfeed for the new community. Each community member would have their feed about what they found that was cool and could collaborate on each other's feeds. Sure, this would be similar to Digg, but it would be focused on emerging culture, which would be awesome. This would provide a number of things for the new community: 1) give people a reason to come back, 2) virtually infinite source of show content, 3) provide room for niche communities within your community.

Thank you for all of the great work you do on Epic Fu and everything else. You guys rock!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve Woolf on May 26, 2009 at 6:03pm

Thanks for the great comments, Will. Especially the "Essense" part. :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve Woolf on May 28, 2009 at 2:49am

mixing the show with an online tools would be amazing. we might have to wait for some better tools to come along -- we're not too crazy about what's out there right now.

but the idea of incubating other epic fu shows through the new tools we're rolling out is *exactly* what we've wanted to do for a very long time. in fact, we were getting ready to roll out stuff new stuff right around the time the economy crashed and we had to end our relationship with rev3.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Derek on July 18, 2009 at 7:40am

Spinning off other mini-shows is a great idea. Kinda like what TWIT (Leo LaPorte) is doing. EpicFu doesn't have the resources of a TWIT, but they definitely have the talent in the audience.

With EpicFU show being short (< 5 minutes), maybe the mini-show would be shorter. I don't know, really. Just an idea.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Christian Einfeldt on May 26, 2009 at 3:50pm

You could help create more interest in using Free Open Source Software (FOSS). While FOSS is not right for everyone, almost anyone can learn to feel more empowered by using Linux as their operating system. Linux is like a car. Some people enjoy working on cars. Most people just want to drive their cars. But if their car gets a flat, or needs gas, or needs oil, most people will want to at least one of these things themselves, rather than wait for someone else to get paid to do the work for them. Linux lets you decide how much control you want.

Since your focus is on helping communities to empower themselves, having segments on Linux and FOSS would be good for that. Most people know a car mechanic, and most people know a Linux geek. Communities that have active Linux geeks have more control over their computing future.

Here's an example. I volunteer for a public middle school in San Francisco. California is having big time budget problems, in case you haven't heard, and so this school likewise is just having its budget cut, cut, cut. So they only had about one-tenth the money that they needed to start a computer lab, but with Linux, that was more than enough money! All they needed to do was get a server and some computers for editing videos, and the rest of the machines were cast-off computers. Now a whole classroom of kids can get on-line at the same time. This was made possible because some Linux geeks built the network. That kind of work would not have been possible with Microsoft Windows or Apple, because there were some maintenance tools that we created that could not have been created with Windows or the Mac; plus, they would have had to pay a per-seat license for Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Office for each of the computers. With Linux, they can just use OpenOffice.

There are lots of examples like this all over the world. I think those would make great segments.

Christian Einfeldt,
Producer, The Digital Tipping Point

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Professor Imagine on June 3, 2009 at 3:21pm

yes, yes, yes! I'm a HUGE open source advocate and aggressive windows opponent, preaching the gospel of open source to whoever will listen and trying to clue them in to how much more fulfilling their computing experience could be. in fact, for my final speech in oral communications this semester, I chose the topic "Abandon Microsoft!" if I'm on someone's computer who still uses IE, I'll download firefox for them! epicfu and open source are complimentary philosophies in many respects, and I definitely agree with you on the "technological empowerment" tip.

I firmly believe that open source software is the way to change truly change world. microsoft will only do what's best for their corporate interests (and in the case of vista, hamstring themselves in the process) but a bottom-up approach to technology is already in progress and an entire culture exists outside of the mainstream. this fits right in with the "early adopter" "emergent tech" vibe of epicfu.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cyberviking on May 27, 2009 at 7:09pm

I think Epic Fu represents the new media, the new world, quite well. You have really managed to create a high quality, high relevance stream of bits with an increasing global community patiently waiting for their weekly dose of the Digital World as Seen By You.
I have repeatedly referred my students in Interactive Media and in Digital Media Design to be inspired by you.
I'm delighted to hear that you're moving on towards more community content, and I think your editorial authority should be carefully maintained. When looking into my silicon-based crystal sphere (a.k.a. laptop), I see a world where the "old" media is gone and new and interesting media mixes, created by you, me, etc. is on the rise. The eventual money will follow the mouse-clicks.
My only complaint, so far, is that Epic Fu is slightly too US-centric. An increased involvement of the Global Village might help to improve on this.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve Woolf on May 28, 2009 at 2:51am

I'm on the same page with both of you guys. We need to be more global and we also need to make sure we keep the voice of Epic Fu. Definitely priorities going foward. Thanks so much for the feedback and encouragement, it means a lot!

▶ Reply to This

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last