This is for me, not Philipp. Just to clear up any confusion from the title-- anyways, i remember a while back talking on this forum about me starting my own blog, and Philipp recommended that i do something unique. Well, i think i may have thought of something.

My idea if to make short videos of me interviewing my baby sister (4 years old) and other very young children, on political, religious, and other issues.

1. Does that sound like a cool idea?
2. Do you have any ideas for the title of the blog?
3. Do you have any ideas for the first question or topic i should talk to her about?

P.S. Please do not steal this idea-- i will be very sad if this happens.

interviewing ..baby sister (4 years old) ??

kewll idea..

Title : Babytalk
Question
a) what's her fav cartoon character ?
b) if Santa had to get her a pet what would she like and why?
c) do you like cookies or icecream ??

and while interviewing other young children, I would focus on materialistic things.. like barbie dolls or superman for the kids.. this will enable marketers to actually see/hear what children want... who knows maybe you will get good at it and big companies will contract you. for works :)-

and don't speak about ideas.. just go and do it.. :)-

my 2 cents

.

I was thinking it would be more about how children see the political issues of the adult world through their minds.

"A child sees everything, looks straight at it, examines it, without any preconceived idea; most people, after they are about eleven or twelve, quite lose this power, they see everything through a few preconceived ideas which hang like a veil between them and the outer world." --Olive Schreiner

"Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve." --Roger Lewin

"You never understand a point until you fail to explain it to the child." – Leonid S. Sukhorukov

"You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today's world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms." --Neal A. Maxwell

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Children

First thing came to my mind – "The Nanny Diaries" – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nanny_Diaries_%28film%29

Cool idea but asking 4-year old(s) about politics/political issues? However, if she does know those stuff, that will be really cool (child prodigy!).

... "Asking a 4-year old about politic is like asking Bush about foreign policy." (sorry can't resist)

well i wouldn't be asking her what her stance is on the war on iraq, if she believs in global warming, etc. I would be asking simple questions that obviously pertain to a specific issue

Sounds like a very interesting idea. There's a lot of satire videos around where kids read adult issues from a script which they apparently don't understand, but I take it you want to actually let the little kids talk themselves. You will have to see how that works out. The closest I can think of was this blog cartoon series of things seen through the eyes of a 5 (?) year old. If you go for a title, perhaps give it a flexible title so that it won't restrict you if need to adjust your concept a little.

Also as a suggestion, give your blog a unique template, not a ready-made one, and give it its own domain.

Did you want to upload the videos to YouTube to then embed in your blog?

As for questions... well, I think you need to find out what works :)
If straight talk won't do it ("What would you think if the water level rises in some decades?") you could also hand out dolls representing world issues. "This is Mr. Bush, and he wants X. This is Mr. Sarkozy, and he says Y. Now what could happen with the two?" Kids are good at storytelling, right? Now where to find dolls of Bush and Sarkozy... :)

You may be able to get some ideas from Art Linkletter.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Linkletter

Philipp, i don't think i would be able to put together a good template on my own. Are there places i should go to get other blogger templates, or should i just try to customize a template or what?

> Does that sound like a cool idea?

Short answer: "no" [cool(undefined;)]. It all depends on the level of your ambition:

• "fine," if all you intend is to make a video-record of your 4 yr old sister's mental progress (soon 5-, 6, 7 etc-old.... they grow up fast these years).

• "Tedious," and v. soon "boring," if that is to be the only, or main, content of planned site.

Nor is yours an unique idea – I don't remember how many times I've seen pre-teens being interviewed on "grown-up: topics, television and in print. Audiences can't get enough of infantile cluelessness and/or "clever" inventivness of the kids (plural). SERVED OCCASSIONALLY, and between other entertaintrivia, that is. But to narrow it down to just one individual --unless she's extremely exceptional and a constant fount of quirky sound-bites (which OF COURSE she is! silly me)-- won't wash.

So you say you'd like to extend it to "other very young children." No, you don't. For starters, unless you'd be prepared to involve (and reimburse) their parents/ guardians, you'll soon run into trouble. Parents tend to be pretty defensive about their offspring[*], and, anyway, nowadays any male stranger videofilming others' kids in public runs risk of being a paedophile. You want to prove me wrong – go ahead, video the brats in a playground.

Above all this is not really an idea for a blog – call it a Video-Diary, and --to test its validity and response-- post a few instalments to YouTube (which does have comments). Be sure, however, to post edited/ "choice" quality sequences only, and not simply the raw, off-the-camera-unedited ones (and be very selective!).

So, for now, you wan't need to occupy yourself more with the dreaded template dilemma! ;-)

[*] Study this for starters:
http://www.violentacres.com/archives/78/how-i-almost-got-sued-in-my-first-30-days-of-writing
http://www.violentacres.com/archives/12/shit-eater
http://www.violentacres.com/archives/156/dooce-doesnt-like-me

It's a good idea, don't loose it! But maybe you should interview kids with just topics unknow for them, not politics or something like that. There are three main topics (maybe a couple more) that you MUST avoid on internet: religion, politics, and abortion (and those moral issues).
Good luck with your project!

DPic, IMO it doesn't matter if your template looks professionally designed, as long as it looks unique. If you're very unsure probably minimalist design is best... e.g. all black-on-white with a photo on top or something...

No sure, why a template is so important ?? after all video is the main content. Jus upload into YourTube and use a std template of blogger. When you have enough time and energy tweak your template.

Don't let the small things take you away from the main thing. Keep the main thing the main thing and that is video recording!!

One small thing: I'm sure someone once had all their videos removed from YouTube because they only contained minors (i.e. under 13). I can't find the terms and conditions which say you're not allowed to post videos of minors but it does say you need to be over 13 years old to use YouTube.

Wasn't the key issue whether or not an adult is visible in the video? Indicating that if an adult is there, the kid was apparently supervised, making this OK even for those under 13. Not quite sure.

Yes. That's what I thought – i.e. "because they *only* contained minors..."

If Danny's going to be on camera, it shouldn't be a problem. But if he's behind the camera, that might be an issue – even if his voice can be heard.

yeah he can put up a small blip/into 30 sec with the parents and then stand behind the camera.. or better still have a adult sit next to the kid too.. no biggie.. the focus is still on response of the kid – the adult is a prop

There's a TV show with a somewhat similar idea: Kids Say the Darndest Things.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Kids+Say+the+Darndest+Things%22&btnG=Search
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=%22Kids+Say+the+Darndest+Things%22&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=2

As for having someone above 13 visible in the videos...i'm not sure that's necessary. I've seen a number of videos with kids way under thirteen and nobody else seen, but just heard. And if nobody can find it in the terms of service, i won't worry. I don't think they'll assume my four year old sister recorded herself being asked questions bey some older male, and uploaded it to the internet, and posted it to a blog, all by herself :P

>> There's a TV show with a somewhat similar idea: Kids Say the Darndest Things.

Haha-- that show is infamous and was made fun of on family guy lol

>>There are three main topics (maybe a couple more) that you MUST avoid on internet: religion, politics, and abortion (and those moral issues).

I will most likely avoid abortion, but the whole purpose of this blog will be to make statements about politics and religion and things like that through children. Asking simple questions to come to a conclusion. It will be hard to do but i mean a very simple example is how at first my sister through only girls could wear pink or do ballet. Then i reasoned with her *just by asking questions* that this wasn't true.

>> If you're very unsure probably minimalist design is best...

What about the minima stretch template from blogger? I like that one, but it's not a custom one. I could play with the colors