> Writes Nelson Pavlosky on our blog:
>
> During my time interning at [SPARC][1] this summer, I've been working on
> getting them involved with online video in a free culture compatible
> fashion. In an effort to make sure they remain ideologically pure and
> practically well-guided, I've written up a "best practices for online
> video" document for them (republished below) which contains all of the
> goals I think an organization should pursue when
> creating/publishing/using video online.
>
> What do you folks think? Anything I missed? Anything you disagree with?
> If other SFC members and the Internet at large agree that these are good
> practices that SFC should follow, perhaps this could be adopted as an
> official SFC document?
>
> ### Best Practices for Online Video
>
> * **Exercise your fair use rights -** If you don't use it, you lose
> it! When you need to quote something or reference something, do it,
> don't be scared. Just follow the Center for Social Media's "[Code of
> Best Practices in Fair use for Online Video][2]".
>
> * **Open content licenses -** Make it obviously legal to share, cut up
> and remix your content. Use a [Creative Commons][3] license that allows
> for remixing. (All current CC licenses allow for sharing, at least for
> noncommercial purposes.)
>
> * **Encourage remixing -** Provide a copy of the video in an
> uncompressed, unedited form somewhere. This can make it easier for
> people to reuse your content in future projects.
>
> * **Provide a copy in an open video format -** Use the [Ogg Theora][4]
> video format! It's an open standard, meaning we know exactly how it
> works, and it is not patent-encumbered, meaning we don't know of any
> patents that would prevent you from using it however you want, and
> nobody can force you or anyone else to pay royalties for the "privilege"
> of using the format. See [Xiph.org's page on Theora's benefits][5] and
> [why Ogg Theora matters for internet TV][6]. [Blip.tv][7] allows you to
> upload in Ogg Theora and it will attempt to play Theora videos in your
> browser using the [Cortado java video applet][8] (see the [Inquirer
> article][9] on this).
>
> * **Provide multiple formats -** That said, you should try to provide
> as many video formats as practical. Give people options, in case they
> have trouble playing or using one or more of your formats. Just make
> sure one of those options is always an open format.
>
> * **Open source video editing - **When possible, capture and edit your
> videos with open source tools, and promote those tools to others.
> Unfortunately, it is currently difficult to do FOSS video editing on Mac
> OS X. It is slightly easier to do it on Linux with tools such as
> [Kdenlive][10], [Kino][11], and [Cinelerra][12], and Linux distributions
> dedicated to working with multimedia such as [Ubuntu Studio][13]. Also,
> the next version of [VLC media player][14], 0.9, is expected to make it
> easy to do screencasting / screen capturing on any platform, with a nice
> GUI / wizard to walk you through the process.
>
> * **Open source media server -** Use open source software to serve up
> your video. This is easy if you are video podcasting: any blogging
> software that produces a [web feed][15] with [enclosures][16] will do,
> such as [Wordpress][17]. In fact, with Wordpress, all you have to do is
> link to your video file in a format WordPress knows about (MP3 and MP4,
> from quick testing). This automatically packages the video in an
> enclosure in your RSS feed so that anyone with a smart feed reader can
> automatically download the video. The [Podpress][18] plugin for
> Wordpress should make this even easier. An open source media server for
> streaming video can be a bit more complex. The option I am helping SPARC
> pursue at the moment is [ePresence][19], an apparently mature open
> source project which unfortunately requires a Windows computer at the
> moment, but which is supposed to be migrating to Linux in the distant
> future.
>
> * **Open source client -** People should be able to view the video
> using 100% open source software, and you should encourage them to do so.
> [Miro][20], a free / open source internet tv and video player, is great
> for podcasting. As for streaming media, just make sure it plays in
> [VLC][21].
>
> * **Offer a downloadable format -** Sometimes people want to access
> video while not connected to the Internet. Offering a download link lets
> people with slow connections watch your high resolution video through
> the power of delayed gratification. Also, letting people download your
> stuff aids distributed preservation.
>
> * **Decentralized distribution system -** Services like Youtube offer
> convenience, but we at Students for Free Culture believe any one player
> monopolizing video distribution is bad. It's good to preserve options of
> self-hosting and self-aggregating available, and to use them in parallel
> with other distribution methods.
>
> * **Redundancy and long-term preservation -** Post your video to
> multiple locations so if one goes down it will still be available. Be
> especially sure to use the [Internet Archive][22], as that is meant for
> long-term preservation. ([Blip.tv][23] will crossload video to the
> Internet Archive for you.)
>
> * **Provide good metadata -** Tags and other descriptors can make it
> easier for people to find your video. Thumbnails can make it easier to
> skim through your content (automatically provided by Internet Archive).
> Categorize! Annotate!
>
> * **Write out a transcript -** Gives you more googlejuice / makes your
> site more attractive to search engines! Also more accessible for the
> disabled.
>
> * **Provide feeds and other ways to subscribe to your content -** If
> people like what you have, make it easy for them to get further updates.
>
> * **Bookmarking / social networking / embedding -** make it easy for
> people to save the location of a video, and to share it with others.
> Naturally, try to support open source tools when possible, such as the
> [Connotea][24] scholarly bookmarking software.
>
> [1]:
http://www.arl.org/sparc/
>
> [2]:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/fair_
> use_in_online_video/
>
> [3]:
http://creativecommons.org/
>
> [4]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theora
>
> [5]:
http://theora.org/benefits/
>
> [6]:
>
http://maketelevision.com/log/why_ogg_theora_matters_for_internet_tv
>
> [7]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blip.tv
>
> [8]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortado_(software)
>
> [9]:
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2006/05/31/bliptv-
> to-become-an-open-youtube-alternative
>
> [10]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kdenlive
>
> [11]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kino_(software)
>
> [12]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinelerra
>
> [13]:
http://ubuntustudio.org/
>
> [14]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player
>
> [15]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_feed
>
> [16]:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_Enclosures
>
> [17]:
http://wordpress.org/
>
> [18]:
http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress/
>
> [19]:
http://epresence.tv/
>
> [20]:
http://www.getmiro.com/
>
> [21]:
http://www.videolan.org/
>
> [22]:
http://www.archive.org/details/movies
>
> [23]:
http://blip.tv/
>
> [24]:
http://www.connotea.org/
>
> URL:
http://freeculture.org/blog/2008/07/31/best-practices-online-video/
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