However, I would suggest looking hard at the stats on how often videos are
viewed (and if there is a way to know if they are viewed all the way
through or not).
For Wikimania 2014, the Youtube page
<https://www.youtube.com/user/WikimaniaLondon/videos> and livestream
<https://livestream.com/wikimania> show some stats (videos are also
available in Commons so some views may not be captured in the former
pages). On livestream, were videos were shared first, the most viewed video
shows 2,359 views, it is not hard to find videos in the 100-500 view range,
and others just have less than 20 views.
Personally, even though I attended Wikimania this year I'd like to have
recordings available in order to (a) view sessions I was interested in but
I had to miss due to parallel tracks, and (b) be able to distribute the
recordings about the projects I'm involved in with the people that are
interested in those projects.
Pau
On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 12:13 AM, Kerry Raymond <kerry.raymond(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
As someone who has never attended a Wikimania but
would like to, I don’t
think videos are the solution. As someone who has organised conferences and
had this issue of videoing come up, again I don’t think videos are the
solution.
Folks who can’t attend events for whatever reason do ask for videos (I’ve
done it too!). However, I would suggest looking hard at the stats on how
often videos are viewed (and if there is a way to know if they are viewed
all the way through or not). I know that I might look at videos of a couple
of keynotes and maybe some talk that someone really recommends to me
knowing my interest, but I would be genuinely unlikely to look at a whole
lot of them. When people say “I wish I could go to Wikimania”, I don’t
think they are saying “I wish I could listen to those talks”. Conferences
are much more about the opportunity to interact, including the opportunity
to interact in relation to the talks. Also, when you go to a conference,
you are committed to setting aside those days of your life to focussing on
the conference (well, that used to be the case, now with mobile devices and
wifi, everyone sits in conferences reading their email, checking FaceBook,
and keeping on top of their job back home, and generally misses hearing the
talks even though they are in the same room!). If you aren’t going to the
conference, you don’t have the big block of time in your life set aside to
watch all the videos. Also a conference generates its own excitement,
you’re there and your endorphins are working overtime. With watching videos
after the event, you don’t have that buzz. When I watch videos, I know I
often give them my attention for a couple of minutes, then have them going
while I read email or whatever – the video finishes and I haven’t heard it
as my mind has been elsewhere.
And, no matter what people say, there is a lot of work involved in
creating videos both during the event and in postprocessing after the
event. People say “quality doesn’t matter” in advance but then people
complain afterwards if the quality isn’t perfect (can’t see the speaker
clearly, can’t hear the speaker clearly, can’t see the slide projection).
Again people say this can be done with volunteers, but actually your
volunteers are wanting to engage with the conference, not spend the whole
conference messing around with video equipment. And if the videos are not
captured well in the first place, it’s hard to fix those problems after the
event.
Also video postprocessing is mostly done after the event (it’s too busy
during the event). What people (who don’t organise conferences) don’t seem
to understand is that for organisers, the end of the conference means a
return to their normal activities. For months, they’ve been putting off
their boss, colleagues, family and friends with “please, can this wait
until after the conference”. Of course, there are post-conference actions
that have to be done (payments and accounts finalised, thank you letters
written, reports written, etc) but, as far as your
boss/colleagues/family/friends are concerned, the conference is OVER – you
have no favours left, you have to make it up to them. It’s hard enough to
fit in the minimum post-conference actions that you have to do, let alone
extra things like high quality videos. And the adrenaline that allowed you
and your volunteers to get everything done before and during the conference
has now deserted you; you’ve run your race and have nothing left in your
tank.
So videoing and postprocessing often ends up being done by professionals,
meaning a lot of money spent. It’s so easy to say “use volunteers” but the
thing about volunteers is that they do the things they want when they feel
like doing them to the extent of their ability. And doing them in the
middle of the conference and after the conference is not a great time for
that (they want to engage with the conference and they need to return to
their normal duties after the event too). And you might have the volunteers
but who just don’t have that skill set. Also unless you get those videos
out quickly, nobody will watch them – the momentum is lost.
In summary, I think it is much cheaper and easier to collect presentation
slides or speaker notes or whatever other material the presenter has and
make them available as a way to get conference content to non-attendees and
this should be the preferred strategy for the bulk of presentations. Videos
should be limited to keynotes or talks expected to be of particular
interest. Stats on viewing and perhaps surveying on how much of the videos
are being viewed should be collected to see how much the videos are
actually used. And look at using professionals to do the video work, unless
you really do have suitably skilled volunteers available (and not committed
to other tasks), if you want the videos to be of good quality and be
available quickly.
Kerry
*From:* wikimania-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:
wikimania-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *??????
*Sent:* Tuesday, 4 August 2015 4:22 AM
*To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription) <
wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
*Subject:* Re: [Wikimania-l] Video recording of Wikimania sessions
Andrew++
I find it odd that we are willing to have a huge budget for Wikimania and
none for recording videos of talks for non-attendees to view. I think we
owe it to them. It can be crowdfunded if need be.
An interesting idea perhaps is to group video if we have a reliable way to
crowd source this.
I did notice a video cam recording the talk after mine. I am unsure if
mine was recorded as well. Does anyone know who was operating the tripod
camera? I seen it in other talks too.
-- とある白い猫 (To Aru Shiroi Neko)
On 18 July 2015 at 23:17, Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Andrew++.
A.
On Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 9:52 AM, Andrew Lih <andrew(a)andrewlih.com> wrote:
I'm trying to guerrilla video record as many Wikimania sessions that I can
attend, so I cannot respond at length.
But I do want to say: the cost/benefit analysis needs to consider the
quality of the viewers and not just the quantity.
When a Wikipedian in Residence can show their institution the video of
their Wikimania presentation as evidence of impact and engagement, it can
lead to renewal of their positions and more initiatives.
When the video of a Wikimania panel on COI and PR editing can convince
more multi-billion dollar PR firm to understand our guidelines and terms of
use, that's a major outcome.
When someone talks about Wiki Loves Earth, #100wikidays or other
grassroots projects, video provides a unique window into the emotions and
motivations you cannot capture in a mailing list or blog post.
When in 10 years, we want to know the passions and personalities that led
us to where the movement is, where will we look?
If we're expecting Wikimania videos to rack up the same views as LOLcats,
it ain't going to happen. It has always been a very small core community
does a massive amount of the innovation and work that keeps the projects
going, and the ability to talk to each other in deep, complex and
accessible ways is vital.
For a movement dedicated to capturing the sum of all human knowledge, it's
surprising how blasé we are in letting our own community history fall by
the wayside.
-Andrew Lih
Associate professor of journalism, American University
Email: andrew(a)andrewlih.com
WEB:
http://www.andrewlih.com
BOOK: The Wikipedia Revolution:
http://www.wikipediarevolution.com
PROJECT: Wiki Makes Video
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wiki_Makes_Video
On Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 9:31 AM, Nkansah Rexford <nkansahrexford(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Recording video* is easy; you can do it on most mobile phones these days.
And on that note, the wiki indaba conference was recorded solely on a
mobile phone[1]. Although sound quality wasn't the best, with considerable
thought on getting an appropriate accessory to handle sound, phones are
also an alternative worth looking into.
[1]
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTdU_5c77__7y3igaHAauOyAvo2crj2cp
--
+Rexford <http://google.com/+Nkansahrexford> | khophi.co
<http://khophi.co/about>
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
--
Asaf Bartov
Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
https://donate.wikimedia.org
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
_______________________________________________
Wikimania-l mailing list
Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l