Books I Am Reading.

Byrichard

I usually read several books at a time. This is because I start books but find that my interest is drawn to another topic. As these are usually factual books I can afford to take a break from one book and return to it later.


The Aeronaut: Travels in the Air


I started reading this book last night. A meteorologist from, the mid 1850s wanted to study the weather more accurately and in order to do so he wanted to measure the weather from a variety of altitudes. De Saussure’s climbing up the Mont Blanc to measure climate data is interesting.


My interest in this book was peaked when I saw that Amazon Prime wanted me to watch the film. I saw in the title sequence that it was based on a book so I looked it up and now I’m reading what promises to be an interesting book.


Divided: A Walk on the Continental Divide Trail


I am now over halfway through this book. I have been reading this book as the last thing I do every night for a few days. I like reading these books, about journeys, about taking a break from the world, about filling the gap between one winter contract and another. I also like the idea of going for a multiday hike. One multi-day hike I’d like to embark on is the Via Alpina, a 6000-kilometre journey from Slovenia to Monte Carlo across the alps.


To The Limit, An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam.


Whereas I usually read books on the Vietnam war I am now listening to this book as an audiobook. The experience of listening, rather than, reading a book on this topic is noticeable.


Usually, as I read I visualise the experiences being told, and I’m drawn into that reality, for the time I’m reading. I find that with an audible book I am more distant. Whereas I’d be in a dark room, with just the e-book reader as a light source I’m up and doing things like cooking, or walking when I listen to an audiobook, so it’s easy to half-listen. I don’t know whether I notice because I’m so used to the genre, or because I’m used to reading, rather than listening.


Digital Apollo: Human And Machine in Space Flight


Although I recently finished reading this book I’ll mention it. When we watch the Right Stuff, or when we read about the space program we hear about the pilots, we read about The Trench, and we read about reaching and punching through the sound barrier. What we don’t hear about is the evolution of technology, to assist pilots with flying their aircraft.


It discusses the process by which pilots and engineers ran simulations on the ground, to develop the software, that would help pilots fly their planes. In effect it covers the development of flying instruments and Instrument Flight rules, before helping humans break the sound barrier, and eventually pilot capsules, that would be renamed spacecraft, as they are flown. I found the book really interesting and recommend it.


A break from Marketing


Social media, radio, television and other facets of life are filled with constant adverts. Twitter is no longer about conversations between people working on projects, Facebook is no longer about conversations between friends and radio and television want you to spend minutes an hour watching or listening to ads.


By grabbing a book and reading you cut out all the noise. You’re focused on the book for minutes or even hours, and you might even miss sleep because you’re so engrossed, and when you put down your book your mind has relaxed. I’ll leave you with this article titled How Reading Books Helps Your Brain Recharge. I’ll see whether this becomes a regular blog post.

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A Homemade Electric Car – Youtube Video

Byrichard

On one side of the Channel, you have people like Colin Furze building fun machines that have the fatal flaw of having an internal combustion engine. On the other side of the Channel, you have people like Marc Gyver building an electric car with easily bought components. The video below shows the construction process without talking, and without music.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FIznSec7BA


For about 2000 Euros, with bike parts, and the right skills, you can build your own cars. You have four powered bike wheels to power the car, two solar panels on the roof to generate 200W and a charge time of two and a half hours for a range of 20 kilometers and a top speed of 50 km/h. The range is perfect for when you need to do things within a short distance.


Four young people riding the electric car.


Within the video, you see quite a few shots of four people sitting in the car at once. I especially like this because it illustrates that young people are not limited to protests, skipping school and more. With the right skills, they build their own electric car to get around, even if it is on private property where it’s legal.


The project discussed above was uploaded seven months ago and since then he has made a car with a body, indicator lights, a windscreen and more. It looks like the cars you see in old films and cartoons. (Some of the cartoons are old). It is slowly getting closer to being road legal.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Smo1q9MbSg


What I love about these homemade projects is that they show that self-driven cars still have a future. With electric cars, we can still do small journeys without ecologists being mad with us for combusting fossil fuels.


Electric Car Adventures


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4ulkuEIDA8


If we go off on a tangent of electric cars then you have electric cars like the one above. It’s designed so that you get the pleasure of driving a car, but without the internal combustion engine. There is an entirely new niche of projects to be thought up and programs like The Grand Tour and others could play with these devices.


For years I thought that Top Gear, Motortrend TV, and The Grand Tour were outdated and old fashioned, bound for the video archives of culture. With electric bike technology plenty of new opportunities are being created for electric cars, and in the process for our pleasure.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo3JzateMM4


An interview with the creator.


I love this concept. I love the concept of young people, rather than owning conventional cars like my generation have used, owning or renting devices as we see in the video below. Too often we watch news and current affairs programs about environmentalists and the future and we think we’ll be trapped on trains and in buses with no scheduling freedom. With these machines we preserve the freedom that we’ve been used to for years, but with technology that is sustainable.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB_yqSuaEFE
“Where we’re going, we don’t need rails”


The future of exploration is on foot, by bike and for those who want to cover different distances by Swincar. Cycling and walking are great when you’re not in the middle of a heatwave like we’ve experienced for two or three summers. In a heatwave, vehicles like this are nicer. As you’re rolling over earth, grass or stones you’re cooler than if you were on the tarmac. Because you’re outside you have the breeze. I would like to play with one of these.


The Negative side


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zWpyiLOutk


There are a few concerns with these machines. The first is that they still need to be parked somewhere and these take up as much space as a car. The second concern is that these vehicles can go anywhere but this doesn’t mean that they should. If they go on hiking paths, if they go on slopes, on skip pistes, and in other places then they’re going to come in conflict with other users of the same area.


We see a shot where these vehicles are beside horses, but if you have cycled near horses you’ll be told by the rider to make noise so that horses know you are there.


Off-Roading without the Carbon Footprint.


I enjoyed watching Dirt Every Day and programs like it but I never saw myself as ever trying offroading because of the carbon footprint. I’d rather hike, cycle or climb. I am tempted to play with the electric version. No need to worry about planting a forest after each outing.

Interdependence – An environmental film in eleven parts

Byrichard

Last night I went to see Interdependence, an environmental film in eleven parts. It is a collection of short films that explore environmental themes around the topics of air, water, and earth.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSKBBztInug


When I watched one part it reminded me of , a french film from 1953. It looks at a dystopian vision of the future where people go to the zoo to see animals on screens and inflatable balloons serve as sea mammals. At one point everyone puts on a gas mask because of the pollution.


The theme of polluted air is in two other short films. Olmo, is about a grandfather who told his son about a tree he planted as a child. At the end of this segment, we see him go up to it. The notion of planting a tree as a child and going to see it as an adult is a good one.


Megha’s Divorce also explores the theme of air pollution but this time in Italy. A city is so polluted that a woman wants to divorce her husband, so that she may take her son to a city that is less polluted. In conclusion, the judge states that they have a six-month suspension of divorce, so that people may stop polluting as much, and see if things improve.


I often hear that we should replace the car with buses and public transport but this is a flawed solution. A better solution is for people to walk if it is within walking distance, or take a bike if it is not. Too often the conversation focuses on one machine being replaced by another. The conversation does not see the opportunity presented by our own legs, for walking and cycling.


Although it wasn’t the aim I liked The Hungry Seagull for the way shots were framed. I liked the shot where we are behind a seagull chick, looking out to sea. In Natural History documentaries by the BBC, the voice-over usually tells us this. For once we see it, feeling empathy for the seagull waiting to feed.


Qurut explores the notion that if we are not careful we will find that ingredients are missing for specific recipes. When I listened to this podcast episode it spoke about replacing animal meat with lab-grown meat and two themes came to mind. The first one is related to jobs. How many jobs, traditions, and species of cattle would be lost if we stopped the raising of cattle. How would the production of milk for cheese, milk and ice cream change? Simultaneously how would the rural landscape of so many nations change if we stopped eating specific animals?


When a species that was bred by man is no longer needed it dies out, as various breeds of cattle did, after either the First or Second World War as they shifted from using animals to do work to using machines.


At the end of the screening someone when people were speaking after the film someone asked “How can we get more people to see this film?” and my first thought was that it would be easy to share this on YouTube but another way to share these films would be as video podcasts. Each podcast could include a panel discussion to discuss the themes explored by each individual film. School children, University students and people with an interest in the topics could watch each episode and develop their understanding of each theme.


Imagine for example that Olmo is combined with a discussion about Ecosia, the search engine that plants trees, imagine that A Sunny day is used to discuss plastic pollution and extinction. Imagine that Qurut is used to discuss sustainability.


The film has been out for about three months, screened at various film festivals and events. Interviews and television appearances are here.

An Ingress Bike ride that passed by bisons

An Ingress Bike ride that passed by bisons

Byrichard

Yesterday I went on an Ingress bike tide that passed by bison. I went from Nyon to Mies and from Mies up towards Gex, and before getting to Gex, I turned towards Divonne where I met an Ingress player before heading home, as the sun was setting.


I went out in the morning, dressed warmly. It was warm. Warm weather means less clothing on the bike ride. With such a great opportunity I decided to go for a bike ride.


I set off with no destination in mind so I skimmed Nyon and went by the lake road. Cycling along the lake road is good because there are cycle paths for almost the entire length. The drawback is that the bike lanes have obstacles. In some places the paths are not cleaned as often as roads, in others, you have road works and in yet more there are cycle lanes but the transition from one surface to the other is not smooth. In one case you would have to stop and lift the bike onto the cycle lane.


As I cycled I hacked certain Ingress portals along the way, linking, and liberating others. As I was hacking one portal after Mies, someone on a bike asked me if I had a pump, so I cycled back to where I had been and lent it to them. After a few minutes, the flat was resolved and I could continue on my way.


I could have continued cycling towards Geneva, but as I saw a snicket I chose to go up the path. It took me to an unusual place. I think it is a place for camping trailer homes and fair equipment that is stored when not in use. It’s right by the Centre Sportif De Versoix. It’s a road I have seen plenty of times but never explored.


On the Route de La Viellie-Bâtie I saw bison grazing. I didn’t expect to see them there. They are usually in another field close to the motorway and airport. As I continued along this path I followed the cycle route signs and ended up on a narrow metalled path that took me by walkers.


At the end of the path, there is a barrier and I saw three or four old people making their way towards the barrier. Rather than wait for me to pass they lethargically walked through and I had to slow down and wait for them to pass. If I was in a group of pedestrians, I’d like to think we would let the cyclist pass, rather than force him to slow down or stop. When you are flâneurs what rush is there to get from A to B?


There is a fun segment to ride on a bike. It requires a short climb on the lake side of Cessy before a nice descent towards Tutegny. As there was no traffic I enjoyed riding fast along this segment.


When I got to Grilly I went along the Cycle route 7. This is an old train or tram track that has been surfaced for walkers and cyclists to go along. In theory, it’s a cycle lane but on a Sunday this isn’t the case. Between dog walkers and walkers you’re on a bike ride rather than cycling as a cyclist. I don’t mind slowing down for children on their bikes, or parents with children. I mind adults taking the entire road. I cycled slower than usual along this segment.


One or two weekends ago I was in Divonne on foot to play Ingress and field. This time I was on a bike. Playing Ingress on a bike is great. You can get from one point to another very fast and you can go down roads and other paths that are closed to cars. Instead of a 10-minute walk, it’s a two-minute ride. It’s great for hacking some portals and destroying those controlled by the opposition.


I know of people who like to play Ingress in a car, rather than on foot when the space between portals is long. I prefer the bike. With a bike, you’re having a workout, whilst playing the game. You can get between villages in an instant and so cover greater distances. This is useful when portals are spaced widely apart.


Someone was active in Divonne at the same time as I was riding through and after a few minutes of talking, and sharing keys he asked: “Can you go and link these two portals?”. With a bike such favours are quick.


By cycling frequently I increase my endurance. By combining Ingress I take different routes than I would if I was on foot, by scooter or by car. I get to know the local area and I see changes. I headed home, not because I was tired, as I have been on other rides, but because I wanted to be home before the sunset. I need to find a way to fix the front light to my bike. I could simply wait for the long summer days instead.

Walking And Finding Old Trees

Walking And Finding Old Trees

Byrichard

Walking and finding old trees is still possible if you look around. If you’re attentive you can find trees that are hundreds of years old. They are massive compared to younger trees. Their trunk is broad and their branches are complex.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWb2iO9F0KM


If you walk around the Mediterranean you will find thousand-year-old olive trees and if you walk around Switzerland it is also possible to find old trees. There are two or three parks in Geneva where you can find them. You can find them at the Chateau De Penthes and other places.


The Sequoia that once stood tall and proud in the Chateau de Penthes. It was struck by lightning. This is its stump, with a sapling growing out of its remains.



There was a branch growing out of the tree to the left that was growing sideways and almost touched the floor when we were younger. It was fun to stand on the branch and make it move. Since then that branch has grown and now touches the floor so the game is over. In the background you can see the Lac Léman, with the alps and the Mont Blanc in the distance.


Old trees are instantly recognisable because they are either tall and broad like the Sequoia that used to live at the Chateau De Penthes or the one by the lake in Nyon before it died and was cut down. Others, such as the one featured in this blog post are broad with a complex system of branches. Another one is near the sports centre in Crans. It is located here.


It’s easy to drive or cycle by this tree without noticing. When you stop and stand next to it you see that the trunk is broad and the branch system is interesting.


Sequoias by the Parc Mon Repos in Geneva.


If you walk by the lakeside in Geneva you can see a few old trees. These sequoias are by the road that enters or leaves Geneva, depending on whether you live inside or outside of Geneva. If you’re ready to walk a few minutes you will find them easily.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00H1_MLTfWQ
Flying around a tree in Eysins


Of course one of the advantages of old trees that are in the middle of fields is that you can get footage of them from various angles that would only be accessible with a crane camera or other tools. With video you will see the complex branch system, the width of the trunk and if you’re filming at the right time of year, the biome that lives within it. I flew around this tree in spring, when it was flowering. Enjoy the majesty of this tree.

Of Twitter Threads (mice) and Blog Posts (Humans).

Byrichard

With the sentence “Of Twitter threads (Mice) and Blog Posts (Humans)” you’ll see that I’ve done two things. The first is that I’ve modernised a well-known book title to draw parallels with the practices of writing Twitter threads and blog posts.


People write twitter threads because they think that it’s fast, convenient, will draw an audience and it’s trendy. It keeps people within the same site. No browsing between platforms and websites. There is the notion that people do not want to leave the social networks where they find themselves. Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks are portals, except that once you’re inside your trapped.


The beauty of writing threads is that it’s easy. You only need two hundred characters per tweet. You don’t need to develop and justify your ideas as you would with a blog post. Twitter threads are fleeting. Within a few minutes, they’re gone.


Blog posts, in contrast, requires your inspiration to last. You look at that empty window and you see an insurmountable challenge. You see three hundred words as a challenge not worth attempting. That’s how I often feel about blogging, and that’s why I usually write after a day of sports or other activities. It’s easy to write when the story exists and you’re just remembering it.


By blogging rather than writing twitter threads you’re pushing yourself to learn to write. The more you write the more ideas flow, and the more ideas flow the easier it is to go back and edit. The fear of the blank page dissipates, as does the lack of consistent inspiration.


Another feature of writing a blog post rather than a twitter thread is that you have time to think. There are no updates, no “press to refresh” and other distractions. From the moment you start to write until the moment you run out of momentum you are focused.


The length of my blog posts, and the quality of my writing have improved. I’m taking longer and longer breaks from social media. I’m reverting from a distracted individual who doesn’t follow curiousity to one that explores more.


If you’re worried about being distracted then reading twitter threads will not resolve this issue. You read two or three posts in a thread and see a reply that will take you in another direction, before returning to the original stream of thought.


Contrast this to a blog post. If, and when you skim Wordpress and other websites you’re seeing each post and their description before clicking and reading that post for a few minutes. You are fully engaged with the message that the writer wants to share. You then share that post, and people will read it as easily as you did.


Jaiku had threading, but similar to bulletin boards. Twitter’s algorithm fed threads promote the people and threads that make noise without anyone conversing, rather than the other way around.


If you’re inspired and have something to say then blogging is a fantastic avenue because as you’re learning to write with a voice there is a small audience, and as your voice gets stronger, and as your writing improves, so will your audience. In contrast, writing twitter threads gives the illusion of being a writer. You’re getting the attention, but writing snippets.


There is an exception to that rule, of course, poetry. If you’re a poet, and I am not, then Twitter might be an excellent avenue.

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Ingress Walks – A 12km path to Level 13

Byrichard

I stopped playing Ingress a few years ago because of how much time it requires. I have started going on Ingress walks again – a 12km path to level 13 in yesterday’s case, because I’m combining the daily walk that I would do anyway, with listening to podcasts and audiobooks, anyway.


By walking and listening to audiobooks and podcasts I am constantly learning about new things. Recently I’ve been listening to current affairs podcasts, I listened to 13 minutes to the moon, I listened to podcasts about the Swiss Watch Industry and more. Every walk is a journey in learning. I also learn about the fifty objects that made the world and more.



I also listen to books when I walk. These aren’t the most inspiring of books but four of them were free, as part of the books I get by being an audible member via Audible originals. Every walk I go on is an opportunity to learn, without feeling that I am not as productive as I could be.


According to my blog stats, I should have lead with writing about the game Ingress, which I took a break from for years, because of how much time it takes to level up, especially when you live in the countryside.


Luckily as time has progressed so has the ability to suggest and have new portals approved. A 12-kilometre walk had three or four portals. Now it has twenty or thirty. This means that during a walk in the countryside it is worth playing Ingress. Going to a polluted city is no longer required. Even country bumpkins like me can play and progress.


By having portals in the countryside it also opens up the prospect of Ingress bike rides. Last week I cycled from Nyon to Rolle, and from Rolle I went up into the vineyards and I destroyed and captured portals. My health benefited because it was a 40km bike ride with four hundred meters of climbing in between vineyards and some of these climbs are steep.


That’s where you see that cycling in Spain has its advantages. I cycled up steep inclines without suffering or worrying I wouldn’t make it. I also cycled up those steep inclines clipped in. I don’t feel comfortable with cycling up steep hills when clipped in because I’m afraid that if I lose power in my legs I will lose forward momentum, not be able to unclip and fall.


Having said this the swiss hills are nothing compared to the Cumbre Del Sol climb. As you cycle up from Mercadona there is one bit of road that is so steep that you can’t start up again. I know because I made the mistake of stopping there and had to walk a hundred meters or so before I found a portion flat enough to start up again.


In Switzerland, you almost never find such gradients on roads, for the simple reason that it snows and water freezes. Snowploughs and other machines need to go up and down Swiss roads.


The graph shows my Ingress progression from 2015 to today.


To get to level 13 I participated in an Ingress Saturday for the first time in years and I participated in two fielding events, to get one of the medals I was lacking the first time, and for the Didact Field Challenge medal currently taking place.


This month I visited 735 unique portals, discovered one portal, collected 4.7 million XM, walked 117 kilometres (low because most of my walking is without playing ingress) and more. I could bore you with the stats but I’d bore myself too. I also spent three weeks in Geneva as part of a favour for a friend so during my daily walks I got back in the habit of playing Ingress.


I don’t make time to play Ingress. I take advantage that my walks and bike rides take me by Ingress portals and play. By combining Ingress with cycling I go down many more roads than I would otherwise go down. I explore villages that I have no reason to stop in. I treat cycling as a journey, rather than a challenge to get segment personal records. I slow down., to experience the locations. It results in me having a more relaxed bike ride.


Ingress walks are also interesting because local people, who know about features that could be portals suggest them, and as a result, we see a portal off to the side of where we’re going, and we investigate. We capture the portal but we also increase our mental map of the area where we are walking.


Ingress, for a while, was a game for people who lived in town and cities. If you lived in the countryside you had to make time to play. Today Ingress can be played in short bursts and yield better results. It has been from a “chronophage” (waste of time/time consuming)activity, as french speakers would call it, to being, for lack of a better word, integral to our daily activities.


The Return on Investment of time, and distance traveled, to play Ingress, even in the countryside has decreased to the point where it is feasible to level up, without devoting half a day. One hour yields the same result.

Video Podcasts as a way to avoid Algorithms

Video Podcasts as a way to avoid Algorithms

Byrichard

Today I opened YouTube, looked at the choice of videos and thought “I don’t feel like watching any of this content because of its headlines”, whilst eating lunch. Instead, I tried something less habitual. I opened the podcast app on my laptop and looked for videos that might be interesting.


I ended up watching one about air pollution in Geneva. I found the use of drones flying over Geneva interesting because I’m not allowed to fly in Geneva due to it being within a five-kilometer radius of Geneva but also because it’s a populated area and it’s illegal to fly over people without authorisation.


As video producers and content providers we always think of sharing content on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and algorithm-driven websites rather than RSS driven ones. With algorithms, we’re stuck competing with clickbait headlines, celebrities and content producers more popular than us.


It’s not unusual to see organisation websites with hundreds of videos but hardly any views. Unless you want to see that content it’s going to go unnoticed.


That’s where podcasting comes in. Instead of sorting through thousands of clickbait headlines, celebrities, personalities, and viral content I would get the content I subscribed to with a minimum of effort. It would also help to break away from the GAFAM monopolies. Headlines could be written for motivated readers with an interest in the subject, rather than sensationalist cinema review style writing. Content creators could return to treating their audiences like adults. We could go back to being treated like adults.


These shows are available as videos and podcasts.


Whereas video podcasting was unfeasible due to bandwidth limitations the situation today has changed. Mobile devices can now have over 256 gigabytes of space. 5G will make downloading content almost instant and screens are good enough to watch content comfortably.


COOP video recipes


The market for video podcasts is still small so if people want to produce video content without the limitations and challenges of YouTube and social media then this is an ideal platform.



You could easily see yourself downloading news and current affairs, recipes or fitness lessons without the limitations of other platforms. It’s Video On Demand, that you subscribe to. It’s nice because for now, video podcasting is a niche market.


I would love to see the choice and diversity of content increase. 1 and a half minutes to 5-minute videos, which are standard on YouTube, could easily be repurposed for mobile devices, laptops TVs, tablets and fridge doors. (That last one is a joke although with cooking programs it’s rational).


The time that I used to devote to social media could be reinvested creating content to be shared via RSS rather than social media. The idea of video podcasts is niche. It might be time to take advantage.

It’s my Duoversary

It’s my Duoversary

Byrichard

A year ago today I signed up to Duolingo and started studying German on a daily basis, and occasionally played with other languages. I complimented this with listening to podcasts in German almost daily and making other attempts to learn languages.


I went from trying to get fifty experience points a day per day for months before a conference broke my streak as I was too exhausted by the end of the day to continue learning. Life got in the way. It was more important to spend time with people.


Since then I have kept up the streak for what will be my one hundred and sixty-first day in a row when I complete a lesson today. My goal is ten XP per day, i.e. one lesson but some days I get to one hundred XP and other days I do the bare minimum.


Every so often I hit walls. I want to study and I want to progress further but I just feel lost and just keep making mistakes. It’s at moments like this that I revise what I have already learned, in the hope that with consolidation I make progress sooner.


When I was in Spain over December I took a break from studying German to study Spanish. You might as well study the language of the country where you are at that moment.



After a year of practice, I have learned a theoretical 1600 words but I still feel like a beginner. The app is great at getting you to learn specific words and phrases but it is of limited utility to learn a language properly. First I was going lesson by lesson until I got to five stars before moving to the next and then, before I hit the wall I tried lessons up to level one before moving on and that’s when I hit a learning wall. I struggled with phrasing and word order.


On the plus side, I can understand more and more as I listen to news podcasts although the percentage of words I understand still needs to go up before I can understand half of what they’re saying.


When I took online tests to see what my German level was I am still classed as a beginner and it is frustrating after a year of effort. If I had continued with doing five lessons a day then I’d be further along.


It isn’t the first time that I try to learn German. As a teenager, I had German lessons but I found the teaching method was boring compared to how Spanish was taught. I was given extra English lessons instead.


This second attempt at learning German is going better but I feel that I should work to make more progress. After a year of effort, I should be further along. In two or three weeks I’ll be taking formal lessons and expect smoother progress.

Objectified – A Design Documentary Split Into Individual Interviews.

Byrichard

Objectified is a documentary about industrial design that has been divided into interviews with individuals about a diversity of designs, from the casing of the Mac Book Pro to chairs, a CD player that behaves like a fan and much more.


On Linkedin, this documentary has been cut up and split into chapters so that you can either watch the documentary in its entirety or you can watch it as video on demand with the designers you’re interested in or familiar with. It’s a contemporary implementation of the documentary genre because it assumes that you have five minutes at a time to devote to this documentary.


You also have the option of reading the transcript instead of watching the videos if desired. Some interviews are in French, German, Dutch, Japanese or English so you are not obliged to listen to an actor dubbing the interview or read the subtitles. You can simply lesson.


The reason for which I thought this documentary was blogworthy is that once you have watched the final edit version of the documentary you can watch the rushes. You can watch the interventions that were interesting but that was too long-winded or not compelling enough to make the final cut.


I like this. As an editor, we often work on videos and we rough cut to a video that’s three or four times longer than it should be and we listen, and we remove a phrase, and then another before we finally end up with the short version that is youtube or Instagram worthy. We feel that other sentences were interesting but because of limits with time and attention stay in the rushes bin.



In these clips we see the adjustments in shot size, we hear the person ramble and repeat themselves. We also see the video without cutaways or other embellishments. This lends a cinéma verité/direct cinema feel to the documentary. It’s easy to get half an hour to an hour’s worth of interview with each artist or designer and be forced to keep just the two most relevant minutes for the documentary.


Luckily with platforms like Linkedin Learning we can follow the course, i.e. Objectified, in this case, and call it a day, leaving the rest of the videos unwatched. We also have the option to expand and to learn more. I’m using Objectified as the example but there are plenty of topics and documentaries that would benefit from this approach to film making.


Plenty of Linkedin videos are of people reading from a prompter and you can see their eyes moving across the screen, and you can see that they’re pretending to be spontaneous rather than natural.


Documentaries, and Linkedin Learning are well suited, and more documentaries should make their way onto this platform.