Videos on the artelino Web Site

Welcome to artelino
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Yorie and I remember still well how we launched our first online auction site in December 1997. It was fully interactive, programmed with the latest Microsoft technology and at that time it was Germany's first interactive art online auction and a bit of a technical milestone. The first version was not very user-friendly, but online bidding worked!

The Worldwide Net Constructed on Technology of the 1950s

Nearly 12 years later both the web and the web users have changed considerably. In 1997 the Internet was still a friendly place populated by friendly people. There was a kind of community feeling among the users. "We" - the Internet community - tried to help each other. There was even something that was called "netiquette", a kind of behavioral "order" on the Internet that was respected by all.

On the technical front, developers were trying to use the Internet for things for which it was never designed and for which solid technical requirements were completely missing. Nevertheless the prospects of reaching the whole world encouraged solutions for online shopping, bank transactions, chat forums and alike. The stuff somehow came to life - on shaky grounds. Just the way computer products have always been since the invention of the Personal Computer in the late 1970s.

From a technical viewpoint, the basis in 2009 has not much changed since the year 1997. The Internet still runs on the same technology that was invented in the late 1950s by ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) with the goal to have a military network that was less vulnerable to a potential atomic attack on the U.S.A. by the former USSR. Later the Internet was used by universities and research organizations to communicate worldwide.

Web 2.0 - Don't Make me Laugh!

The field of information technology has always known marketing hypes, created by powerful companies that make their money by convincing people to buy products for which the word immature is blunt flattery. If car makers brought such products to market, they would (hopefully) be accused of thousandfold homicide.

The latest such hype is "Web 2.0". I can only laugh about the degree of stupidity with which thousands of journalists and other professionals spread this mantra as if they had been brain-washed in long isolation captivity in the headquarters of the big computer companies.

For me the technological basis of the Internet is still the same, that is to say crap. A system that lacks such basic features like session management and is not even capable to prevent the spreading of billions of daily spam mails should better be called "Web 0.0", crap version.

And Now Videos

In spite of all its technical shortcomings the Internet is growing and becoming more and more important for our daily lives. I admit it has some wonderful things to offer - small jewels in a large sea of incredible junk.

New media like voice and video are spreading more and more. This is definitely an enduring development. I have watched it for some time. As a former IT expert and manager I have not only reserved a critical attitude but also developed some guts feelings for what is main stream and will be important in the future.

The First artelino Video

In springtime of 2008 I decided to start a project to produce a first video film for the artelino web site. One of our part time employees, a brilliant young student of information technology assisted by the whole team, has realized the project. It lasted longer than I had expected. But I now know what a great job the "kids" have done. It is not as easy as you may think. The "law" of the information technology has proved itself again:

"When new products are launched into the market, they do not work and by the time they work, they are declared deprecated."

To my knowledge artelino is the first company in the field of Japanese prints worldwide that comes out with a video. (Please correct me if I am wrong.)

Our first video titled "How We Work" was launched on January 9, 2009. I still regard it as in test mode. The resolution of the film is not as good as in our test environment. We will hopefully be able to improve this within a few weeks - I hope.

Video - What For?

Technology should always serve a purpose. Legitimate goals are to bring additional benefits to our clients, and of course to increase the sales in our online auctions. Last but not least artelino is not the "Mother Theresa for Japanese Prints" on the Internet (for which many are mistaking us). We are a commercial company. Like any private household or any other companies (with the exception of banks maybe) we must generate enough income from commissions to pay salaries, rents and other growing expenses.

We can imagine a number of useful applications for videos. I have no plans to announce them now. But we will test the new media during the year 2009. And of course, we would like to hear from you whether you like it or not.

Personally I am convinced that images, speech and short movies are a good means to get our message across. More recently I have more and more the impression that conventional web features like text or e-mails have lost their vigor of ten years ago to reach the market. People on the Internet nowadays seem to have more and more the tendency not to read anything anymore. But maybe they like to hear sounds and watch movies; and most like to click buttons. Please click on Welcome to artelino to see our welcome video (.. don't forget to click on the video button!).

Dieter Wanczura
(January 9, 2009)

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