Thanks Asaf, very true: I can totally see how the copyright issue would
remain a big problem, even if you solve the technical challenges...
I can see one solution to that (albeit farfetched): an analogue to a super
rigorous referencing approach. I am imagining it's possible to verify in an
automated way that an edited video is exclusively constructed out of a list
of cited materials. So if we would be able to build a database of freely
licensed raw materials that can be sourced from (HUGE if, I know!) I
imagine that video editors could possibly limit themselves to that and
credibly claim free licensing that way? But I'm guessing that the typical
youtuber won't be very excited about that prospect with severe limitations
on their creativity. You may still have to deal with a bunch of edge cases,
but it would give a starting point.
Another way would be if we force creators to edit their videos all the way
from the raw materials on a platform controlled by us, rather than upload
the end product - resulting in an edit history that can trace back what
materials were used and that they were freely licensed. This is very much
in line with our traditional Wikipedia approach, but would be impossible to
sell unless we have a pretty awesome video editor. Which brings us back to
the start of this conversation :). In a way, the Kaltura editor felt more
advanced than what we currently make available.
The downside is, as long as we remain copyright sticklers, it'll not be
very 'fun' to develop videos for us, let alone with us. Any solution will
have to be a combination of massive technical improvements, a change of
attitude and an increased library of free raw materials.
Lodewijk
On Mon, Jan 29, 2024 at 3:24 PM Asaf Bartov <asaf.bartov(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Jan 29, 2024 at 10:29 PM geni
<geniice(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 at 05:07, Samuel Klein
<meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:
? Many creators say they are glad to relicense
their existing
fantastic work, but don't have time/will to overcome the current
obstacles
to such reuse that they have to [personally] overcome for each video. So
we only get bulk contributions, through a third-party who is familiar with
the wikis, once in a while... a modest homegrown example: depthsofwiki has
a range of great short videos that are partly educational and mainly
inspiring to delve into the wikis and learn things. I suspect none of them
are on Commons despite obvious relevance to the movement for outreach,
illustration, and the like.
I suspect we are dealing with Stated vs. Revealed Preferences. Saying
no to wikipedia has more of a social cost than talking about technical
issues. Converting to something wikipedia will accept is fairly
straightforward. Handbrake has a GUI and pops up in creator workflows
as a convient way to compress B-roll. Uploading presents more of a
challange than most areas but that would be because we care more about
copyright than most so probably unavoidable,
A bigger issue with a random YouTuber or other individual video creator
re-licensing their work is that *very* often, their "own work" is not
purely "own work"; rather, they use non-free music as background,
incorporate clips or memes in their video, etc., making the video
potentially *unacceptable* on Commons, even if the author of the full video
represents that they are willing to license their work under a free license.
This is a sticky issue, because there is no easy fix, technological or
otherwise, for clearing those copyright concerns. If a video creator has
their contributions wait in some review limbo for weeks (or months), and
then has, say, four out of five of them rejected on copyright grounds, they
would be overwhelmingly unlikely to keep contributing.
(I'm just bringing up this issue that doesn't seem to have been mentioned
as a factor. I do agree and wholeheartedly support the need to accept more
formats and take on the burden of determining whether videos are usable
(what SJ above called "a stickier ingenstion process"); even if it won't
attract hordes of YouTubers to contribute, it could allow those of us
already involved with and interested in free knowledge/culture to
contribute more easily and frequently, and that itself could be
transformative, in terms of the presence of video content on the wikis
compared to status quo.)
A.
(in my volunteer capacity)
--
Asaf Bartov <asaf.bartov(a)gmail.com>
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