OS2+-+Frost

Title: Too Much Video (what to do with it?) Convener: Ryan Vemmer

Summary:

Opened with discussion of two different workflows for producing video at schools.

Workflows/who does what: One school had an arts faculty member that produces high quality video of major school performances which are made available via DVD in limited quantities. Other videos are produced by a Communications office that are more newsy/school life-ish. The videos are then first published to the internal community, then some to divisional hubs, some are also chosen for display by Admissions, and yet others are sent to FB, etc. This Communications office also works with some students on some video content which students post themselves to their own profiles on FB… some of these are also shared on the main school website and on FB.

The other school produces a good many videos each year, mostly generated via the school Web Manager. These videos are posted to the site, frequently timed around pushpage blasts to the community. From there they are posted privately, but then spread around to different destinations: public pages, FB, YouTube, etc. The school also has some student-generated videos, and an even smaller number of teacher-created videos.

Storage/digital asset management:

The issue was raised about video storage and how quickly giant external drives are filled up. Some schools without enough funding actually start deleting raw video to make more room for new stuff!! No real solution was found for this in the session, however a number of contributors have looked at tool such as WIDEN which stores and is able to share video in a very dynamic fashion. However, it is costly.

Google video apps might also be a storage option for teachers with video content. Schools can look into that. There is the potential for 10 GB of space in there for school (per teacher), one contributor claimed. Look into it!

Student involvement in creating video

Some suggested that prizes (aka “bribes”) can be used to convince students to create video content for the school, or at the very least share content they have already created that would benefit the school’s site.

One contributor has advised a student club for video creation that has been productive in the past, though it depends a great deal on the students around at the time. The club eventually became a co-curricular option for students and this was an incentive to become productive because academic credits are earned.

Faculty video and photo sharing

Another option is to require faculty members to take a minimal number of photos during events or field trips. One school created a guide for teachers during field trips; in that guide the requirement for photo documentation is clearly listed.

Faculty taking video with flip cameras and then never doing anything with the video, or handing their full cameras over to someone else to edit – such as web people at the school – is also another issue. A means for them to easily edit and share their videos is desirable.

Parents sharing content:

A few schools have implemented ways for parents to share things they’ve captured on the school website, but for the most part these efforts have not been that successful.

Copyright content:

Some schools are more aggressive than others regarding their application of fair use in education with regards to copyrighted material.

There is an expert in this field that might be of some help in understanding all of the rules: Renee Hobbs (currently a professor at the University of Rhode Island).

You can sidestep this issue a bit by using Creative Commons material. []

Specific to music for video, jamendo is a great resource. []