March 21, 2005, 9.54pm • 13 comments » • 2,557 Views

Ourmedia launches

After nine months, JD Lasica and co. have announced the launch of Ourmedia - “a free global repository for grassroots media, allows anyone to upload, store and share digital works”.

“The site is open to all kinds of works but will focus on videoblogs, podcasts and other emerging types of media” said the press release.

Now Ourmedia - planned by wiki intends to earn nonprofit status, so chance chance of it being sold to a big player a la Flickr.

Says JD, who has a book coming out soon and whose partner in the site is Mark Canter:-

“The biggest hurdle people face today after creating a really cool movie or taking some really amazing photos is: What now? Where do I put it? How do I share it?” Lasica said. “We say: Put it here and we’ll store it, safeguard it, and let you show it off. Free. Forever.”

It’s not as if Ourmedia hasn’t been advised by some of the brightest of citizen media minds - check out the advisory board list.

So, sounds and looks mighty interesting. It will be interesting to learn whether Ourmedia’s breadth (it allows submission of most media types and many download forms) will spread it too thinly (Flickr works because it deals in photos and only photos) - but then, being all things to all men never stopped Yahoo!, and Ourmedia.org looks like the practical realisation of all the hypothetical grassroots media promise. It’s lovely; at the very least, Ourmedia will be a good way to consume some great alternative music videos and independent creative media. News? We’ll see…