Together While Apart: Virtual Families and Friends

How to Maintain Close Relationships Despite Distance

To watch this video on YouTube.com, click. When you live apart from your child or parent, there are still ways to maintain close bonds. Share

Videoblogging a Vacation

By Jim Buie

I videoblogged my family's summer vacation out west. Not in real time -- that would be too much like work. But in the weeks since we returned from Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, I have re-lived the vacation and re-explored online some of the sites we saw. I've also published on my blog excerpts from my wife's journal and video clips of my son. I've educated friends and family about fantastic places, so that they are putting such places on their future vacation itineraries. I'm sure that video-blogging a vacation will become a cultural phenomenon.

Basic video-editing software like Windows Moviemaker comes free with most computers these days. It's pretty simple to use. Drag and drop photos and videos and music clips, push a button to snip or edit a clip. Judge for yourself my results. I'll get better at it as I use it more.

Drill Deeper Re Videoblogging A Vacation:

• Guess Where? Basic Geography Lesson
• Bears and Us
• Traversing the West, Encountering Wild Animals, Participating in a Rodeo, Sleeping in a Teepee, Whitewater Rafting
• On the streets of Helena, Montana, 'Pogoman' Draws Attention to Homelessness, Affordable Housing
• Saving Money on Road Trips
• Lure of the Open Road Is Quintessentially American. I've Now Visited 39 States. How Many Have You Visited?
• Northwestern Montana Feels Almost Like Another Country
• Spectacular 12-Mile Hike in Glacier National Park, Montana
• Falling in Love with the Crown Jewel of the Continent, But Fearing for Its Future

Good Morning America Report on Virtual Visitation

Chuck Mason and his nine-year-old daughter Arielle were interviewed in a segment for ABC's Good Morning America to illustration the power of maintaining family relationships by webcam. Click to watch.

Washington, DC TV Station Does Second Report on Virtual Visitation

WUSA TV, Channel 9, in Washington, D.C. has broadcast a second report on virtual visitation in less than two months. The second video is a moving piece about one family's experience. Charles Mason III of Warrenton, Virginia and his 10-year-old daughter, Arielle, who lives in Colorado, are interviewed for this segment, along with David Levy of the Children's Rights Council. Mason says: “I can watch her grow. I can watch her change. I can watch her experiment with her hair style,” he said. He can also help Arielle with her homework and even play games. Arielle adds: "I'll tell you right now, the telephone is boring. And with the telephone you can't see him. And with the computer it's more fun than just saying, hi, how's your day been.”

Previously, when the station did a report on legislation in Virginia, I and Michael Vaughan of Takoma Park were interviewed. Here's the link for that clip. -- Jim Buie   

Father in California Virtually Visits With Daughter in England

David List of Santa Cruz, CA. discusses how he virtually visits two or three times a week with his five-year-old daughter in England. He was interviewed by Fox News 35 in Santa Cruz. Click to watch.

First Video Blog with Vlog

I tried VLOG IT, a tool to easily create professional-looking video blogs in a matter of minutes. The format is a little cheesy, but there are other formats to choose from. (I originally posted the video clip here as part of the trial, but when the trial expired, so did the hosting of the clip.)

Virtual Parenting: WUSA-TV Channel 9 Reports

My friend Michael Vaughan of Takoma Park, MD, his son Alex, a student at St. Marys College, and I were  featured in a two-minute story on "virtual parenting" by WUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, DC. The story was done because a bill encouraging the right to "virtual parenting" just died in the Virginia legislature for this session. The bill will be reintroduced next year, and my guess is that it will pass, as similar legislation has already passed in Utah and Wisconsin.

Here's the direct link for the WUSA9 Video Clip.

Audio Recording of Presentation to Maine Lawyers

In June I participated in a workshop held by the Maine Bar Association on "Tools to Utilize in Difficult Divorce Cases." We set up a video-conference using Logitech webcams, MSN Messenger (clear, crisp picture) and Skype for audio, and plugged in a LCD projector to show the attorneys just how easy it can be. I was invited to speak about "virtual visitation" ("Internet parent-time" is another name for it) based on my decade of experience as a long-distance dad. Michael Gough has posted the audio from the session, along with our Powerpoint presentation, at:

http://legislation.internetvisitation.org/maine

The session was lively and interactive, and is well worth listening to. Click.

Wisconsin Television Covers Legislative Campaign for Virtual Visitation

Milwaukee's TMJ4 News, Carole Meekins does a story on our Virtual Visitation efforts.

• TMJ4 News story

Video Blogging Takes Off

The new medium of video blogging, or "vlogging" is mushrooming, "thanks to improved streaming video technology, faster Internet speeds, new Web sites that will host the video free of charge and new cellphones and other popular devices designed to play video," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Vlogs are essentially publicly accessible Web logs, known as blogs, where authors can post video as well as text entries, and viewers can give feedback."

Check out these vlogs mentioned in the Journal article:

• vlog aggregator, mefeedia.com
• blip.tv hosts video blogs
• on travelvlog.blogspot.com, Canadian Graham Walker displays videos of his travels through the world