Lena Zúñiga

* Web video refers to video in digital format, transmitted over the Internet. The increasing availability of bandwidth, high speed Internet connectivity, the improvement of methods for compressing and transmitting video files and the ubiquity of digital video cameras have contributed to an explosion of this media over the last years.

* Part of the popularity of web video is due to video hosting services such as YouTube, Blip.tv and others. These services allow users to upload short videos without worrying about compression formats, compatibility with different players or server bandwidth. They also offer features such as the possibility to embed video in web pages, rate and comment videos, subscribe to video channels or send “video replies”.

* Web video is often produced at low cost, using consumer digital cameras, webcams or mobile devices, and edited with user-friendly software. TV and media clips are also digitalized and posted on the web, raising questions about copyright violations and privacy concerns.

* Web video has become an essential element of social networks, not only the ones dedicated exclusively to video (Youtube), but also more general services such as MySpace and Facebook. It is because of the community links and the easy sharing mechanisms that a video can reach high visibility and become “viral”, shared rapidly over the Internet and achieving notoriety.

* According to Pew Internet, a 57% of Internet users watch or download online video. In the age group of 18-29, the number goes up to 76%. An 8% of the users have also uploaded video to the web. 27% of online video consumers say they watch or download video from YouTube. More than half of the video users said they share the videos with other people and the majority also said to receive links to online video regularly.

* Many online services such as Youtube, social networking sites and blog platforms provide the tools to produce a video blog or a video cast. Users can subscribe to a channel through RSS and keep updated on the latest postings or episodes. Another way to use online video is providing a live transmission of an event is shared on the web.

* Large video files and limited bandwidth had always been an obstacle to high quality video and long video features over the web. Bit torrent technology and peer to peer networks brought thousands of users the possibility of sharing large files from computer to computer by distributing them in a network. Today ,many people download (often copyrighted) material such as TV shows, movies, animation etc.

* Video is a versatile media that allows a variety of formats. Some of the popular formats for user created content include interviews, documentaries, storytelling, alternative news casting, animation or just loose clips from mobiles and handheld cameras. Users also upload clips from music videos, movies, cartoons, ads, news and TV shows.

* Web video is being incorporated by traditional media both offline and online. Many TV channels distribute clips of their programming on the web. Traditional media such as the New York Times or the Washington Post are incorporating video in their websites, to complement their written news offering. Notorious web video clips that appeared originally on the web have also reached the mainstream media.

* Web video can present a change of perspective from traditional TV coverage. Web video can be generated by Internet users from all over the world, bringing different angles, languages and symbols into the public discourse. Web video allows people from around the world to give first person accounts of current events.

* Because of its potential, web video is regularly used for political activism. Parties and politicians now recognize the value of social networking communities and the value of immediacy, intimacy and low production costs of web video, and have used it intensively for their campaigns.

* Web video can highlight issues that are not featured in regular news. News sites, bloggers and other users can find old media clippings, expose shallow or incorrect coverage of an event, expose contradictions and gaffes. Some political bloggers also select interesting bits from C-Span and post them with commentary, making them more accessible to a larger audience. For example, see MediaMatters.

Telling a story and getting direct audience involvement. A well crafted story with a carefully designed message can move the audience to action. The story can be told in many different formats but it must have originality. The audience can be involved not only responding, spreading the message or sending feedback, but also contributing ideas and modifying the original video. (For example, see Hometown Baghdad)

Creating dialog and debate with video responses. Video sharing platforms can be used to generate dialog about an issue. If you plan and facilitate carefully, individuals or organizations can post their own video responses and offer diverse points of view. You could also use online debate points and questions to feed into a real life event. (example: http://www.youtube.com/debates )

Improving a website with multimedia. An organizational website that contains too much text, research reports and press releases can be highly improved by adopting web video. Showing what the organization does and the context in which it carries its mission is an effective way to create a more personal and emotional relationship with the audience. (example: unicef video podcast )

Improving internal communications. From communicating what is the status of a project to transferring knowledge and building capacity on the staff, web video is a versatile and economic way to create dialog inside an organization and encourage creative outputs from projects and actions. Web video can also improve the communication with remote staff or people doing field work. (example, witness.org training videos )

Creating a video channel, a videoblog or videocast. Having a periodical and constant video presence on the web can be beneficial to establish a longer term relationship with the audience and get them involved through a narrative around your mission or your campaign. A serialized video gives you the opportunity to adapt your content according to your feedback and to introduce audience participation, i.e. reply questions from the public. (example, the Greenpeace channel)

Asking for video submissions from your audience. You can build a video feature by collecting video clips from a target group. Try to engage your audience by proposing them to create and participate in their own terms. Establish loose but clear rules for submissions and be ready to deliver a satisfying and meaningful final product. (example, http://www.24hoursfordarfur.org/, Amnesty intl. close guantanamo )

Streaming live events on the web. You can include a wider audience by posting your event videos or by broadcasting directly on the web. Provide your online audience with enough tools to have a meaningful participation, i.e. provide a chat room or a mechanism so the online audience can ask questions on a live panel, etc. (i.e. live earth webcast)

Create a media archive for journalists, academics and other organizations. Collect, tag, categorize and publish video clips that are relevant and illustrative of your cause. These videos can be available from your website as informative material, media archive and knowledge base. You can also use video as a way to release quick response messages to the public. (example, http://fora.tv/)

Use feedback and stats to modify your content strategy. You can start your video interactions with a pilot project and gather qualitative and quantitative information about your audience response. You can use web statistics, surveys and viewer’s feedback to direct and modify the way the message is being delivered, the channels of delivery or even the format and quality of the video files.

* The difficulty of production, cost and quality of equipment and other technical details varies widely according to budget and how elaborate or professional the video intends to be.

* Web video, as more traditional formats, also involves preproduction, production and post-production. Pre-production refers to planning, scripting, finding locations, setting up all equipment, arranging for sound and props. Production often involves shooting on different locations, setting lighting, doing interviews, directing actors, camera angles and takes. Post-production includes editing, adding titles, credits, opening and closing screens, mixing the sound, compressing and uploading the video files. A great source for information on how to produce web video is: http://makeinternettv.org/

* The minimal equipment involved in video production is a camera, a microphone (often included in the camera), and video editing software. Depending on budget and production objectives, it is recommended at least to use a tripod for the camera, adequate lighting and a higher quality microphone. Video editing software usually requires a computer with good processor speed and ample RAM memory to run smoothly.

* For video uploading and downloading it is recommended to have a high speed Internet connection. Dial-up connections and those that charge for the minute may not be cost effective.

* Different video services such as YouTube, Blip.tv and others offer different conditions for hosting online video. When considering free services it is important to understand the terms of service, limits to file size or duration, formats, advertising, copyright and privacy considerations. Hosting videos on a web server can also be done with the appropriate software, taking in consideration that most hosting companies charge extra for the use of excessive bandwidth.

* Major video sharing sites: Youtube.com, Blip.tv, Vimeo.com, VideoJug.com, Revver.com, Ourmedia.org, Google Video, Dailymotion.com (more here)

* It is important to consider that users will play video in different applications (on a web browser, on a media player, even on a mobile device or an iPod). This will determine in part what formats and encoding is chosen for an online video. Lately, most video services and websites convert other formats to Flash video (FLV) because it allows rapid downloads by relatively lowering the quality of images, and Flash player is available for most web browsers, but may not work with iTunes/iPod.

* When producing a series of videos, or when planning to upload video periodically, it is a good idea to either use a video service or setup a video blog that generates RSS to allow users to subscribe to video postings. In Youtube, users subscribe to a channel and see new videos on the web browser. In the case of a video blog, software such as Miro (formerly Democracy Player) and iTunes allow the easy downloading and viewing RSS video channels.

* Some types of video may require the inclusion of subtitles, voice overs and other measures for internationalization. This is important to include from the planning stage, since it requires special software, translation and additional voice recordings. For quick, easy subtitling on the web, visit DotSub or explore the subtitling features in Youtube.

* Video hosting services such as YouTube allow users to upload video directly from mobile devices and phones. Different services support different carriers and options, but in general video is uploaded as a Multimedia SMS, and multimedia charges apply depending on the mobile carrier. There may also be limitations on video size and quality.

* Video hosting services provide basic stats and measurements, normally indicated how many times a video has been viewed, and how users have “ranked” the video on a simple scale. Video blogs and videos hosted in your web server can be monitored more closely using web statistics applications.

Define your objectives and the audience you are trying to reach. Define also what is your budget and how much time, staff and resources can your organization dedicate to producing web video. Define a clear message and find a creative and unique way to communicate it. Find if what you want to do has been done already, and learn from what others have posted on sites such as Youtube and Blip.tv.

Make a plan. Find the equipment, software and skills necessary to produce web video. Be aware of new roles that this task could demand inside the organization: someone with acting or presentation skills, someone with editing knowledge, etc.

Craft a good story. Even very simple videos can benefit from previous scripting and story building. Write down the ideas you want to communicate and find the most natural and comfortable way to express them. Make sure to keep the video short so its easy to download or quick to load on a browser. Decide if you want to create serialized content (with different episodes) and adjust your script to create expectation for the next video post.

Shooting and editing. It is a good idea to learn about camera angles and basic notions on light and sound for video production. Make sure the environment for the action you are trying to record is appropriate (noise level, light or shadow, distractions etc.). In some types of video it is necessary to repeat shots several times. Use creative editing and incorporate appropriate transitions, background shots, titles and still photographs when appropriate. Make sure your organization’s logo or name is visible.

Licensing your content. Many non-profits decide to use Open Content licenses for their web content, including videos. Open content licenses such as Creative Commons licenses allow the public to make a limited creative use of your video material. Assume that online video is dynamic content and it will get reproduced and modified without your permission. You can benefit from Open Content by using other people’s materials in your production process, complying with the terms of the license.

Publishing your video. Find a web server to upload your video. You could start by uploading your videos to a service such as YouTube and then deciding you want more control or different features, in which case you will want to setup your own video blog or channel. Over time you may find appropriate to publish different versions of your video to adjust to user’s players and Internet connections.

Promoting your video. Videos posted on popular sites do not necessarily get thousands of views automatically. You will need to promote your video among your supporters and try to locate bloggers that will find them interesting and post or link to them. If you’re planning to send email promoting your video, send a small written summary or teaser and include a link to the video location on the web. When posting in a web video community it helps to try to build a subscriber set, comment other people’s videos and make “friends” with others. Make sure it’s easy to view and subscribe to your videos from the organization’s website.

Getting feedback form your audience. Try to go beyond the number of views or user ratings in favor of more qualitative data. Read the comments carefully and try to extract lessons from the audience. Make note of positive and negative aspects of the video. If there are no comments, your statement or presentation may not be controversial or stimulating. Try to follow up on your video posted in blogs and other sites. You can even choose people from your audience and survey the group briefly on your video content, quality and effect.

http://www.sulabatsu.com/enredamiento

During February and March 2008, Sulá Batsú developed two workshops on digital tools and learning networks. One of them was carried out in San José, Costa Rica for the Central American participants and the other one in Lima, Peru, for participants from the Andean region. Each workshop brought together over 30 participants from organizations that work on human rights, gender, environment, youth, disaster management and other development topics.

The workshops had a participatory methodology that began with a preparatory process before the participants arrived. A listserv was set up among the participants and the facilitation started a dialogue to warm-up the encounter. There was sharing of expectations, photographs, personal and professional background as well as areas of special interest in the web 2.0 field. This allowed Sulá Batsú to tailor the methodology to the characteristics of the participants.

Each workshop lasted three days and combined conceptual issues, knowledge sharing techniques and hands-on computer training. Among the topics that were approached were: knowledge processes, learning networks, different types of ICTs, facilitation, online & offline interaction, planning and developing networking and knowledge sharing spaces. Some of the tools participants learned how to use were wikis, google documents, blogs, social tagging, photosharing, basic audio and video editing and uploading.

Some of the techniques used to carry out the workshop were simulation exercises, interactive panels with online presenters using video-forum, creation of collective conceptual maps, break-out groups, talk shows and other participatory techniques.

After the workshops interaction continued through the listservs and as part of the documentation process we made available the “yellow pages” of participants, the videos they created, the user guides for the tools as well as a palette we created of basic questions for network development (all available in spanish).

Sulá Batsú developed a course on strategic uses of ICTs for social economy enterprises; the 40 hour course was part of the broader offer of La Catalina knowledge sharing center. The methodology combines formal presentations with participatory techniques, case studies, group work, etc. The target population was senior and middle management of social enterprises that had basic ICT skills (e-mail, web browsing, office suites) and wanted to develop their skills to use ICTs strategically to optimize information, communication and knowledge processes within their organizations. The topics of the course were the following:

* Basic elements of communication for social entrepreneurs.
* ICT for internal communication: constituency, workers and governing bodies.
* ICT for external communication: community, cooperative sector, media.
* History of Internet and web based services.
* The digital gap in the social economy sector.
* Open source software and proprietary solutions.
* ICT tools for collaboration: email, listservs, virtual communities, social networks, wikis.
* ICT tools for communication: image, audio and video editing.
* ICTs as a source of information for social economy entrepreneurs.
* E-management and customer relationship systems.
* Telework and social economy enterprises.

http://historiascomunitarias.wordpress.com

Sulá Batsú is one of the participants of the IKM emergent (Information and Knowledge Management), a global project that reflects about knowledge processes and also seeks to connect different types of knowledge. Within this project we work with partner organizations in local communities interested in using technologies to tap into local knowledge and make it more visible through community digital stories.

We work with different populations (for example children, youth and women) in different types of communities (rural, urban, marginalized). The participants develop the capacities for the strategic use of audiovisual technologies (digital cameras, video, digital recorders) and software programs to manipulate the outcomes. They also learn how to carry out community research, interviewing techniques, observation and development of life stories.

This project combines online and offline outputs, hence there’s a blog that gives an account of the project development but there are also other types of outputs. For example, in a rural community where we worked with children, the photographs taken by the children themselves were transformed into several games: a Bingo cardboard game, a memory card game and a charade card game.

http://centroscomunitariosinteligentes.wordpress.com
http://cecisanisidro.wordpress.com

In Costa Rica, the latest national government telecentre project is called Community Intelligent Centers (CECIs). Sulá Batsú is currently training 300 people in the CECIs of 10 communities in Heredia to use social media tools. Since the groups vary in age and background, the training includes a first approach to the computer, regular office package programs and then a whole web 2.0 suite.

Each group is facilitated by a professional in social sciences with high technological skills. Participants develop both an individual product and a collective one. The individual outcome reflects the types of uses each participant may want to do related to his/her work, studies or bussiness. The collective outcome is focused on the discussion about the community, its culture, its means of production, relevant characters and landmarks. The course has a total duration of 40 hours and in each community the facilitator agrees with the participants how they will approach the knowledge process.

http://gira-lanza.blogspot.com

In this capacity building project, Sulá Batsú provided social media and web 2.0 training to organizations in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Lanza’s objective was to strengthen the capacity of entrepreneurs and the negotiation and deliberative capacity of local youth in five Central American communities, using ICTs as tools for communication.

With a local partner organization in each country, Sulá Batsú was in charge of the monitoring of the overall project, as well as a facilitator for an online learning network.

http://www.imarkgroup.org/

iMark (Information Management Resource Kit) is a partnership-based e-learning initiative to train individuals and support institutions and networks world-wide in the effective management of agricultural information. IMARK consists of a suite of distance learning resources, tools and communities on information management.

Sulá Batsú has been localizing iMark learning modules into Spanish, using local examples and local learning resources. Sulá Batsú was was also involved in the authoring of the Social Networking modules both in English and Spanish, with topics such as Social Media for Development, Privacy, Intellectual property and Security, and practical instruction on Social Media tools and services.