Nizm: A Video Portal for People with Taste
If your taste in online video-watching goes beyond the viral videos of mass appeal that include things like this drugged-up kid, Where the hell is Matt?, or even the latest internet phenomenon Susan Boyle, then you're going to love the new site called Nizmlab. While its name may be a bit funny, its content is pure sophistication. Instead of just counting down the most popular videos across video-sharing sites on the net, Nizmlab is run by editors who pick the most interesting and unique creations to showcase on the site.
Nizmlab was founded this month by Lukas Dryja and Pawel Ulewicz after they came to the realization that only about 5 to 10 percent of the videos listed in the "Most Popular" section of online video portals were actually worth watching. To improve upon the process of finding quality content, they created Nizmlab, a site powered not by algorithms, but by individuals. The Nizmlab Editors, a hand-selected bunch chosen by the Nizmlab team and the Editor community are the ones responsible for finding and ranking the newest and most interesting videos from around the web. Today, they pull from YouTube and Vimeo, but more sources will be added soon, they say.
When browsing through the available videos, you can choose to view the most popular or the newest, and you can narrow your selection by category. Currently, those categories include business, design, documentary, education, entertainment, film, humor, music, politics, sports, and technology.
As you surf through Nizmlab, you're more likely to find videos of unique animations, artistic inspiration, or - let's be honest - those offbeat and odd art films that frankly don't seem to have much of a point, but are pretty to watch. That's not to say that there aren't humorous videos on the site, but they're more likely to be a dub of a Billy Mays commercial, a comedic work of art in and of itself, than, say, the latest beauty queen to bomb when giving a speech.
Of course, here and there, some less sophisticated videos slip into the mix - like this one of a soccer ball to groin and face - ouch! But, we suppose even sophisticates need a little base humor sometimes, too.
Still, our overall take on Nizmlab is that it easily fits right in with the other sites for visual inspiration, like We Heart It, FFFound, Vi.sualize.us, and others. In fact, we would even consider adding it to our list of sites for finding wonderful things.
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The online video space is so crowded with video upload and serving sites that the rise of sites like Nizmlab is imminent. There is just so much to see and do, you need someone to point you to what is really cool. Call it vertical search, call it curated video, but it's evident road markers are needed.
However, the one thing that bothers me is that sites like Nizmlab are ran buy a team of editors. That seems somewhat old fashioned to me with the rise of sites like Digg and Reddit.
So where is the future in this? Do we still need editors or can we use the wisdom of the crowds to find the best video out there?
@Remco: That's a good point. Are we better served by editors or crowds? Ultimately, that's a philosophical choice. An editorially selected collection may not be as democratic, but at least it will maintain a consistent vision. Traditional news properties like newspapers and magazines have gone the editorial route while social media portals, like Digg, have gone with crowd-sourcing.
That being said, the "crowd" at Digg has developed an editorial taste of their own, wouldn't you agree?
@Sarah: I agree there is much to be said for both the Digg and the Editor model. As you point out Digg has found a style on its own. It's evident when you compare it with competitors like Reddit. Both trend on different subjects which is great to see.
A hybrid solution could work and works for many sites out there. Neatorama is a good example of that.
But in the end there is no eden to be found. It's a choice and there really is no good or bad so there is no point in arguing either for or against it.
That said, I love what I found on Nizm so they are doing something right!
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the site looks great, but I just wonder if they plan to output the data as rss or not. I love the way the page is structure (Business, Design...etc)
Can anyone honestly go to YouTube and surf the "Most Popular" videos and find a video they enjoy? It must be easy for some... but not me. As for editors picking videos for us, I think it could be a toss us. If they can be as unbiased as humanly possible, which I believe to be impossible, then I think it works.
My preference is to find the best looking thumbnail and the best description, mixed in with some popularity or chronologically. HD preferred.
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With so many videos out there on the internet, it’s sometimes difficult to find the ones that are really worth watching. Nizm uses a network of editors from all over the place to select the best videos and give you a great place to watch and share them. Pretty cool.
You must be blind to the full page ads and annoying inserts…
At least online ads (and articles) are not printed on dead trees. You gotta love it when the newspapers print stories about environmental issues. Especially when each day their operations consume tons of paper, ink, and energy for printing, and door to door delivery.
This is one industry where the environmental issues have been 100% solved by technology. Yet there are those who still want to keep this industry alive despite it’s unsustainable business model. Do I sense another bailout coming on?
Hey, I might drive an SUV… but at least I don’t subscribe to the Times.
My preference is to find the best looking thumbnail and the best description, mixed in with some popularity or chronologically. HD preferred.