User:JWSchmidt/Blog/20 September 2007

I like the idea of making use of audio and video learning resources at Wikiversity. I previously pointed to Ward Cunningham's comments on collaborative video creation and we now have a working video player for use on Wikiversity webpages. I've been thinking about ways to facilitate collaborative video creation within Wikiversity and I'm starting to think that this is a good example of how we could use the Sandbox Server.

Video collaboration interface
How can collaborative creation of educational videos be facilitated by a wiki? One of the problems of conventional video resource creation is that it is often only the final product that gets uploaded. When collaboratively editing text, every word is available for easy access during the collaborative editing process. During the creation of video, there are often many smaller audio and video clips that get combined to produce the final uploaded video. Collaborative creation of educational videos would be facilitated by having a "bank" of all the small audio and video clips used during the production of videos.

In addition to making small audio and video clips available for use by others, collaborative creation of educational videos could be facilitated by lowering the barriers to creation of new video clips. YouTube provides a simple way for people to upload video from webcams. Wikiversity participants could be provided with a similar "one click" system for capturing audio and video clips with their PCs and uploading them directly to Wikiversity.

Assuming that Wikiversity has a bank or database of audio and video clips, it would then be useful to have an easy-to-use interface for viewing the clips, grouping them according to possible use in specific video creation projects, editing them, and combining clips for use in larger video projects. Just as wiki pages have a "history tab", it would be nice to keep a record of multiple versions of a video. Just as most wiki pages are available for new edits, there should be a simple way for wiki participants to view past versions of a video and then quickly create a new version.

What might be particularly useful is if the video editing interface could be used simultaneously by two or more collaborators who could view a draft version of a video under construction and discuss it in real time via audio chat.

Related

 * Format Conversion - there was a significant amount of discussion in January 2008 about file formats, including video. See also:
 * [Wikipedia Invites Users to Take Part in Open, Collaborative Video Experiment]
 * User:JWSchmidt/Blog/4 September 2007