MyFORA BETA Test launched

Next month will see the introduction of MyFORA, a bold new way for you to publish, manage and share your ideas and your favorite FORA videos. As we finalize the technology and interface, we are inviting registered FORANS to join us as a BETA user for the next 30 days. FORAN is a term sometimes used by our branding and identity strategist Michael Cronan. I've never used it before, but it has a ring to it. We have used Member, or user, or consumer, or viewer depending on the application. I never liked user or consumer in the media biz. Is the exploration of ideas another form of consumer consumption? Anyway....

On MyFORA, you can:

Bookmark long form programs or chapters for future viewing. Upload your own video commentary (video blogs) and original programming. Assemble "Think Tanks" with FORA program chapters and user generated content.

Keep track of recently viewed programs/chapters, recent forum posts, newly added friends. The "News Feed" keeps you connected to your personal activity, as well as that of your friends.

Add friends and colleagues to your FORA network. Find someone interesting in the forums? Become a friend and follow their life on FORA.

Moderate your own forum and invite others to talk about issues and subject areas of vital interest.

Track subscriptions to channels and areas of interest by email/text messaging/RSS.

If you are not yet a registered user, it's very easy to do. Just follow the instructions on the home page, upper right corner. Then join us for the BETA test. Full monty rollout in March along with our fabulous redesign and new user experience.

As they used to say in vaudeville, we think you're gonna love it.

FORAcast Video Highlights

Commencing in the New Year, we began posting a daily offering to the site dubbed a FORAcast. A FORAcast is a concise excerpt cut from our full-length video offerings. The function is simple: FORAcasts provide a straightforward and succinct approach to viewing video highlights. If you enjoy a FORAcast, then view the full-length video from which it was extracted when time permits.

We’re working hard on developing an intuitive User Interface to easily distinguish between FORA.tv’s full-length video programming and FORAcasts. Currently, FORAcasts are identified as such on their thumbnails and show-up throughout the site akin to their full-length counterparts.

All FORAcasts are archived here: http://fora.tv/channel/FORAcasts

FORAcast of Ben Stein speaking at The Commonwealth Club of California:

Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales discusses Wikia

This is a very cool FORAcast (our short form offering) with Wikipedia Founder Jimbo Wales discussing his for profit start-up Wikia. Wikia Search employs a very liberal ethos by sourcing the community to improve the site’s search algorithm.

Check out Wales discussing Wikia:



Imagine a world in that every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge – Jimbo Wales

Most Downloaded Programs in 2007

On the home page we're currently featuring four of the most downloaded programs in 2007, so here on the blog we thought we'd give you the full top 10 (with a nod to David Letterman):

10. The Audacity of Hope with Barack Obama
The Senator talks with New York Times columnist Bob Herbert about his book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. C-SPAN, October 20, 2006;

9. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Senator Clinton discusses foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. at the Council on Foreign Relations on October 31, 2006;

Does anyone else think it's interesting that these first two are basically neck and neck, with Clinton leading Obama slightly in total downloads? Anyway:

8. Will Wright and Brian Eno
Legendary game developer Will Wright and musician Brian Eno giveNot to be missed! Long Now Foundation, June 26, 2006;

7. The Silent Ninth Amendment
Legal scholar Daniel Farber says the express purpose of the Ninth Amendment was to recognize "unenumerated" rights like the right to privacy or the right to marry. Yet this amendment has never been the basis for a Supreme Court decision. Cody's Books, May 1, 2007;

6. Vincent Bugliosi in New York City
Vincent Bugliosi, prosecutor of the Manson family and best-selling author of Helter Skelter, reexamines the assassination of President Kennedy in his newest book Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Cooper Union, May 15, 2007;

5. Taming Gaming in Your Home
A panel of gaming experts covers issues of content rating systems, parental controls in consoles and PCs, advice for checking in and better understanding your family's gaming habits, and how to participate. Commonwealth Club, April 19, 2007;

4. Christopher Hitchens at Politics & Prose
The always colorful commentator Christopher Hitchens discusses his book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Politics & Prose, May 10, 2007;

3. Neil Gaiman
Critically-acclaimed author Neil Gaiman reads from his collection Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders. Cody's Books, October 2, 2006;

2. Philip Rosedale
For this talk the founder and CEO of "Second Life" tried something new: a simultaneous demo and talk. His online avatar, "Philip Linden," was on the screen showing things while the in-theater Philip Rosedale was conjecturing about what it all means. Long Now Foundation, November 30, 2006;

And, the most downloaded FORA.tv program of 2007:

1. Al Sharpton and Christopher Hitchens
A smackdown between Christopher Hitchens and the Rev. Al Sharpton. New York Public Library, May 7, 2007.

Happy Holidays

Speech!, originally uploaded by FORA.tv.

We cut the workday a few hours short yesterday to celebrate another year with FORA.tv. Food, drink and discussion highlighted the event. Hot topics of the evening included cell phone providers, new and classic films and the usual dose of politics – a dangerous topic to engage in with this group!

In the past year our staff has grown significantly, our product has matured and the team has grown tighter. We thank you all for the support and wish you the happiest of holidays - and a great 2008.

Check out the rest of the photos on the FORA.tv Flickr page.

Cheers.

A few of my recent favorites...

Being that I haven't posted in a while, here are a few programs I've really enjoyed as of late.

The first features Daniel Lyons, the man behind The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. This program will gratify your inner geek:



The second features Anthony Bourdain, the bad boy of the Travel Channel and Bravo’s Top Chef. Chapter 4 is definitely worth a watch. Bourdain breaks down which popular chefs are good – and which are evil.

Rachel Ray…good or evil?

Tune in to find out:

YouTube folks!

I was just told that we will go over 1,000,000 views on our YouTube content this weekend. Way to go team. Nick Ryan, our syndication producer, is the one who deserves the credit for reaching this great milestone. The real amazing thing is we are actually using YouTube to post intellectually worthwhile video. Now, I am not saying I don't enjoy a good South Park excerpt every now and again.

Anyway, it is cool to be able to use the YouTube UGC thing to get FORA out there.