The name of the app I submitted was “Supplemental.” Star Trek fans know it was inspired by a catch-phrase, when Captain Picard would famously update his video log by saying, “Captain’s log, supplemental.” I only had a paragraph to communicate the idea to the developers, so I was hoping one was a Trek fan and would understand the unobtrusive elegance and simplicity of a good vlogging app. Plus, it didn’t sound as generic as “iVlog.”
Of course, iVlog is a much more marketable name. It’s simpler and has the crucial personal element. If there is an app where the “i” is more appropriate, I’m not aware of it. The “i” not only stands for Internet (this is implicit in vlogging), but for an individual and her vlog. Like vlogging itself, the name is an individual personality statement.
What personality trait in particular? Sincerity.
The online world is infamous for the questionable sincerity of its users. Spammers, identity thieves, child predators, people undercover trying to catch child predators. The Web makes it so easy to be someone you’re not. There’s even a thread here at MDA where someone appeared to be impersonating the developers by accident.
What is this strange world, where people impersonate others by accident? “Whoops, sorry, didn’t mean to impersonate you.” It’s a world where people don’t have faces or voices. For most normal people, that is an unapproachable nightmare.
In my previous post and elsewhere, I expressed a desire to give the MDA team a killer app. Not just an app that will sell, but an app that will sell Macs. I’m dead serious about that.
The people I have in mind are not just switchers looking for more reasons they don’t need anyways, but the vast number of people who don’t own computers for themselves and are uninterested in interacting with people online, due to its highly impersonal nature. That Ukrainian housewife whose life is very busy and has opinions about the new Europe. Where’s her vlog? I want to watch it. Let’s not forget the teenagers who want a way to express themselves to the world (i.e. every single teenager).
Vlogging gives us all a face and a voice. And not just any face and any voice. It’s our face and our voice. A good vlogging app will take away the nightmare and make the whole net an approachable and more welcoming place for everyone on Earth.
MDA’s vlogging app would help change humanity, rescuing us from the wilderness of words, elevating all of us to greater levels of sincerity.
While thinking about a new name for the app, I thought about possible icons. Here are two *very* rough sketches for “iVlog.” I am intrigued by the idea that the “iV” can be created by any person with two arms and a face. It can give us back our missing social customs for meeting strangers online.
We can’t shake hands with each other on the net. I’m privileged to have met many people here at MDA so far, but did we really meet? Western custom is to offer each other open hands and the Eastern custom is to bow our heads. Each of them are customary signs for basic trust and honesty. They say to us, “I am a sincere person and it is safe to associate with me.” After these gestures, no matter what we do from then on, we are no longer strangers. Unfortunately, neither of these gestures are possible with text and still images online. The shaking of hands is not possible at all. However, that does not mean vloggers will not develop a custom that is equivalent.
The hands face towards the vlogger in a wordless expression that says, “here I am… this is my heart and mind.” And when the hands come down, they open towards the viewer, and the heart is uncovered.
