It seems that more and more people are talking climate change these days, but why is it important? How will global warming really affect us? Moving the global warming conversation from the esoteric to one that requires everyone's immediate attention, Link TV's new series Climate Change Hits Home brings you weekly stories of climate change's direct effects on us. As we inch closer to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, check out the facts, videos and action ideas for improving the adverse impact of climate change on our planet.

Chris Anderson's recent book release "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" has been garnering a lot of vitriolic attention in the press, voiced most prominently in Malcolm Gladwell's critical article for the New Yorker. Anderson, Wired's editor-in-chief and author of "The Long Tail," looks at the history of free models in business, as a lens through which to view today's proliferation of free content online. At Link TV we offer all the videos we can online for free, but we're constantly dealing with the struggles of broadcast TV, documentary filmmakers and other content creators.

We were recently in New York for the Open Video Conference, where Wikipedia announced its plans to add video support. Check out my article "Free and open: video's Cambrian explosion" at SF360, which talks about Anderson's book, free content online, the future of video, and Wikimedia's plans. From the article:

"In the next few months Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows anyone to edit entries, will start allowing visitors to add videos to articles. Users will be able to click on that edit button and add some demonstrative video to illustrate the point at hand, and then any other user will likewise be able to delete it. But then there’s a Wikipedia twist: anyone will also be able to edit that video, or create it from scratch using in-browser video editing, and any other user will then be able to say, that sucks, and re-edit it however they like. Don’t like that title card? Bam! Gone! Bad timing on that close-up? It’s off to the History scrap pile, just like any other piece of text." Continue reading...

For Chris Anderson's take on the future of news and newspapers, check out this video from Link TV partners ForaTV:

Open Book is a new show premiering on Monday: each episode focuses on a single neighborhood or community to introduce you to the musicians, actors, poets and other storytellers whose work reminds us we're all connected. This premiere episode takes place in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn, a neighborhood with a rich cultural heritage.

Guests include former child soldier Ishmael Beah, award-winning novelist Jennifer Egan, legendary jazz musician Bill Lee, Walt Whitman-devotee Daryl Blaine Ford, creative genius Carl Hancock Rux, Def Jam poet Suheir Hammad, singer Nucomme, and star of stage and screen, and actor Jeffrey Wright.

I had the good fortune of being in a small, 20-person interview/seminar with Carl Hancock Rux back in 2004. He talked about his experiences as an artist, and read excerpts from his book, Asphalt. It was pretty incredible. I'm really excited to see this show, if only to see Rux speak again!

Learn More about Open Book here