#NeWWWorlDisorder Performance in Brief
14 Artist-Broadcasters will each stream via Facebook Live for a full 90 minutes on their own timeline feeds on Saturday, July 29th, 2017, from 12:00pm – 1:30pm EDT / 6:00pm-7:30pm CEDT. Locate your time zone, we are global!
Live Video Wall
Our team will grab the URLs of each of the Artist feeds and they will be aggregated on the Live Video Wall forming a grid, located at: https://thirdspacenetwork.com/newwworldisorder. We will locate your Facebook video URL on your timeline and it will be incorporated into our super-special WordPress software that forms the grid. IT IS CRITICAL THAT EACH ARTIST BROADCASTS FOR THE FULL 90 MINUTES SO THE VIDEO WALL IS COMPLETE THROUGHOUT THE EVENT. Below is a mockup of the video wall with a Twitter feed underneath tracking #NeWWWorlDisorder tweets. Use the hashtag freely before and during the event!!
Technical Specifications of the Broadcast
BROADCAST ON YOUR TIMELINE, which is the default in Facebook Live. DO NOT BROADCAST ANYWHERE ELSE OR WE WON’T BE ABLE TO GRAB YOUR URL!!!! Be sure to broadcast in the standard 16:9 video aspect ratio in horizontal mode to fit properly in the grid. If you are broadcasting from a cell phone, you must begin broadcasting with your phone in a HORIZONTAL POSITION, otherwise if you rotate it after starting vertically, the image will be sideways. If you are broadcasting from encoding software such as OBS, choose a 16:9 aspect ratio.
When to Broadcast
Please begin your broadcast approximately 10 minutes before the starting time, in case of any technical issues, and so we have time to grab your video URL and place it on the Video Wall. Broadcast continuously for the full 90 minutes of the performance. If for some reason you stop the broadcast, start again as soon as possible. Our team will note that you have dropped out and will grab your new video URL to update the wall.
WE URGE YOU TO PRACTICE PRIOR TO THE PERFORMANCE SO YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE MEDIUM AND HAVE IRONED OUT ALL TECHNICAL ISSUES.
Archiving the Broadcast
When you have completed the broadcast you will be asked if you want to post it. YES, POST YOUR BROADCAST! By posting, your broadcasting will be saved and published on your timeline and will be archived into the Video Wall. This is extremely important because we want to include the performances of all the streams as a permanent project archive. You only have one chance to do this, so please post, otherwise your performance will evaporate in the digital aether!
The #NeWWWorlDisorder Description
Each Facebook Live broadcast will include a description, so that your viewers on Facebook will know it is part of #NeWWWorlDisorder and can link to the Live Video Wall. Below is a starting description. When you start your broadcast, Facebook will ask for a description. Please save the description below as a text file or email it to yourself so you can quickly copy and paste it into your Facebook Live Broadcast when you begin your performance. Feel free to add to this description, but we suggest you begin with the description below:
AGGREGATE THE #NeWWWorlDisorder https://thirdspacenetwork.com/newwworldisorder
What to Broadcast
#NeWWWorlDisorder is intended to be highly subjective, open, and free for all artists to perform the broadcasts however they wish. You can respond to the current geo-political crisis, or you can communicate something that is personal, narrative, emotive, passionate, abstract. You can create an action, shoot on location, broadcast your desktop, or stage a Happening. Anything is possible, THE ONLY REQUIREMENT IS THAT #NeWWWorlDisorder IS PERFORMANCE AND IT NEEDS TO BE LIVE!! Please send Randall Packer (rpacker@zakros.com) a short description of the work as soon as you know what you are broadcasting. We want to compile and distribute artist concepts to help build interest in the project.
The Collective Manifesto of the #NeWWWorlDisorder
We make one specific request: EACH ARTIST CREATES A TEXT IN THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE AND INCORPORATES IT INTO THE BROADCAST. The text can be spoken, written, rendered, processed (or all of the above), and need only be relevant to your performance and the overall concept of the project. This will create a multiplicity of international voices woven together throughout the performance. Prior to the performance, email your text to me (rpacker@zakros.com) or post it on the #NeWWWorlDisorder Private Facebook Group Page so we can assemble the Collective Manifesto of the #NeWWWorlDisorder as an aggregate of artist texts in their native languages. We will post the Collective Manifesto as part of the project archive.
Viewer Interaction on the Live Video Wall
The audience will view all 14 Facebook Live streams playing simultaneously with the sound turned off. They can then control the audio by adjusting the volume for each video independently. They can play as few or as many as they like, creating their own sound mix. If they click on the Facebook logo on one of the videos, it will open up the video feed so they can comment in the Facebook thread of the individual broadcast. This is a total hack of Facebook, it turns Facebook Live into a social broadcasting experience, with multiple streams coalescing into a whole, inviting user interaction in a new way. We are reinventing Facebook as we speak…
Why Facebook Live
We understand that Facebook is a corporate profit making machine, but it is also OUR SPACE, it is where we all are and many of our friends, it is a social commons, and it is there for all of us to take command for a full 90 minutes of artistic activation. It is also, live, immediate, spontaneous, and collectively engaging, especially if we deploy it that way!!
Technical Methods for Facebook Live broadcasting:
Depending on the nature and content of your broadcast, here are the following methods of streaming Facebook Live:
Mobile phone: This is the most common way to broadcast and ideal for location streaming. Be sure you have the Facebook App installed, then click on the “Live” button on the status update, type a description, and click on the “Go Live” button. Here are additional instructions.
Browser: Allows you to stream from your computer browser and Webcam but with the same basic functionality as mobile, unless you use the advanced browser features (see below). Facebook Live broadcasting from the browser is ONLY RELIABLE IN CHROME: go to your Facebook home page, click on the “Live Video” button above the status update, type in a description, and click on the “Go Live” button and you can use your Webcam. Same instructions as above, just scroll down the page.
Advanced Browser Features: Again, only use Chrome. When you are about to Go Live in the browser, there is a button that says: “To share live video from an external device, click here.” This is how you grab the streaming protocols for using encoding software or hardware (see below).
Encoding software: This is more complex but allows you to broadcast your desktop, video clips, and external devices such as capture cards. The two most popular software applications are: (1) Open Broadcast Software (OBS): Free and open source software, download and install on your computer. Here are Johann’s instructions. If you would like additional assistance, contact either of the hosts, Randall Packer (rpacker@zakros.com) or Michael Borras (Systaime) (systaime.systaime@gmail.com), or Johann Baron Lanteigne (johann@baronlanteigne.com). (2) Telestream Wirecast: Costly ($500 to $1,000) but more professional encoding software, with similar functionality to OBS. It is like a broadcast studio on your desktop, with the ability to broadcast external video devices, sequence videos and create complex layerings with graphical control.
Encoding hardware: The Teradek VidiU is the most popular and affordable streaming hardware encoder. It can be mounted on your DSLR or video camera, or it can be used in the studio. The advantage of a hardware encoder is that it frees up your computer from the intensive CPU demand of software encoding. Contact Randall Packer directly if you are interested, as this is how he broadcasts from his studio.
Please let us know if you have any questions, just email Randall Packer (rpacker@zakros.com)