21st Century Philately: The Video Competition

Looking to our future, I once suggested that we add a 'home video' category to our exhibiting & awards. The premise is that a book-based analog hobby competes at a disadvantage in a net-based digital world, and that we can join the latter to good effect.

I'd like to explore what a 'home video' competition might look like, and hope that, together, we can refine the concept to the point where some exhibition organizer might pick it up and run with it.

To get things started, I can envision a wt1-inspired video of someone taking a cover, researching the stamp & addressor & addressee & postmark & slogan cancel, adding related items & ephemera and, finally, creating a 'page' (that's an html page, not an A4A-sized(*) paper page) ... with that entire process recorded & reported via their smartphone video camera.

(*) A4A = 8.5" x 11"

All of the videos would introduce the broader hobby, teach how its done, and speak to a more net-based digital audience than, say, a starter kit with album & tongs.

To take it one step further, the award sponsor could select a single cover, post it on the internet, and accept video entries for, say, 3 days. The best video to document the exploration of the cover wins.

What means 'best'?

- production value (how watchable is the video, period)

- googling (uniquely explanatory data, as opposed to uniquely obscure information)

- how well the video entry covered a set of points (undisclosed until the competition ends) that the organizer considered critical, such as something that makes the stamp rare (perforations, rotary/flat printing), or an obvious mis-match of the perfins & sender, or a pun between two words/elements on the cover, or that the postmark is an incidental EKU in the FDoI city, or ...

Q/ How do you see the rules for a 'home video' competition?

Q/ Do you see it as a useful way to recruit new collectors? From amongst the competitors? From amongst the YouTube crowd?

Q/ Do you see a corollary, eg, philately home videos serving as one flavor of home video scout merit badges, or serving as school term projects for a history class, or ...?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey