Studio Visits 2018

Brett Gaylor (Jan 23 @5pm EDT)

Our first studio visit for 2018 is with a video/web documentary producer and internet activist who shares insight into his own digital craft, the way the web works behind the scenes and how it affects us.

We will get to learn more about behind the scenes of making documentaries made for the web, have some conversations about our experiences watching Do Not Track, and learn more about Brett’s work with Mozilla Foundation’s Advocacy Media to find out how it can help our understanding of our own digital lives.

Brett will join the Kean University NetNar class via Google Hangout at 5:00PM EDT (Sorry Norway, this is a bit late).

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

If you want to join the hangout as a participant sign up for a slot. Since we are in class, Kean University students do not have to sign up. We will give preference to University of Bergen Students but will keep a few slots available for open participants.

You don’t need to sign up to watch; the stream will be available here (which will also be the archive after the visit). We encourage, hope, appreciate live tweeting as well via the #netnarr hashtag.

Tweets and Links

About Brett

Brett Gaylor describes himself as “a documentary filmmaker, a digital activist, or an interactive producer. The focus of my documentary practice has always been the Internet.” Or more officially biography wise, from his web site

Brett Gaylor is a documentary filmmaker and the Commissioning Editor for Advocacy Media at the Mozilla Foundation. His most recent project, Do Not Track, is a co-production of Upian, the National Film Board of Canada, Arte France and Bayerischer Rundfunk, in association with Radio-Canada, Radio Télévision Suisse and Al Jazeera’s AJ+ network. It is the recipient of the International Documentary Association award for best nonfiction series, the Prix Gemaux for Best Interactive Series, the International Association of Broadcasters Online Factual Prize, the Deutscher Prize for online communications, and the 2016 Peabody award.

His 2008 feature documentary Rip! A Remix Manifesto is an official honoree of the Webby Awards, was the recipient of Audience Choice prizes at festivals from Amsterdam to South Africa, was broadcast in 20 countries, and seen by millions of people worldwide..

Does Brett have tracks on the web? What can you learn about him? (hint this is a good place to do some web annotation).

We encourage you to explore his many works from his web site to see his range of digital creativity. You can see with Ok Google how he weaves the curiosity of how our tracks left on the internet and a personal perspective

We will be watching and discussing episodes of Do Not Track and students are expected to have watched episode 1 before we talk to Brett. If you need some inspiration and understanding why we are looking at this documentary, watch the series preview

and then watch the first episode on Morning Rituals. While watching on the web, give some thought to how this is different from watching on a movie or TV screen. What do you see weaving into it? How might your viewing experience be different from someone else’s?

Rip! Remix Manifesto poster from brettgaylor.com

If you really want to go deep into the culture of remix and how the internet disrupted the music industry, how it and creators responded, featuring footage from remix artist Girl Talk and interviews with the founder of Creative Commons, then watch the epic Rip! Remix Manifesto. Rightly so, the full video is in the public domain, and available for anyone to watch.

Thanks Brett for making time to talk to our students and NetNarr participants.

screen capture from Brett’s “Ok Google” video

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Featured image: Headshot -4 flickr photo by etherworks shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license