millsworks

12Seconds.tv is shutting down. As of the end of today their web site will be no more.

They’ve been around for about 3 years and it was a bit of fun while it lasted – one of those not-gonna-be-huge-but-certainly-an-exemplar-of-how-the-net-is-chewing-out-the-ass-of-top-down-media kind of things.

I wasn’t a heavy user – and I suspect the reason they’ve folded their tent is because not many others were either – but I enjoyed playing with it when it first emerged and kept a little sidebar link to my short video posts right here on this blog.

Nothing I said within my video constrained equivalent of Twitter posts had much depth – occasionally there would be brief bursts of emotion or humour – but it was cool to be able to create short snapshots, video doodles, of moments (real or contrived) in our lives. I was never much of a social participant in the 12Seconds community – the feature of being able to offer video comments on other users submissions (since adopted by YouTube) was something I never took advantage of. As I said, it was one of those brief flirtations with the ability to make something new – the child-like equivalent of playing with two tin cans and a string: “Can you hear me now?” – and then it passes and we move on to other things.

Thankfully, the operators of the site set it up so users could export their video offerings so they wouldn’t be lost forever or only semi-archived in the WaybackMachine. I have mine online here now – not that they hold any significance or special merit but, just like old photos in a dusty album, I didn’t want to lose them.

With the possible of exception of this early one, scribbled out and sent from my second office – the Rhino Bar & Grill:

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Thanks 12Seconds.

Cheers.