Internet Video Distribution Meeting

On May 7, 2009, MFPL members had a meeting hosted by the Funding Exchange to explore our options for Video Distribution on the Internet. The discussion was initiated with a paper outlining the issues. Members represented included the Funding Exchange, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Paper Tiger TV, Global Action Project, NY Media Alliance/Sanctuary for Independent Media, Indypendent, and Independent Media Center.

Below are the notes from the meeting.

Venting

Problems with current video distribution

• Branded with corporate logos
• Associated with other videos that we don't want to be associated with
• Instructions hard to follow, uploaded video looks crappy
• Missing important features or features hard to find and use (like hit counters)
• Live streaming is hard
• Infrastructure unreliable - threat of content disappearing/censorship - fair use
• Faceless corporate providers
• Difficult to collaborate with others - hard to engage people
• Alternate providers even harder to use than corporate providers
• No universal file format
• Hard to convey to our allies political critiques of corporate tools
• No universal play back software that is free
• Punished for being popular (getting lots of hits)
• Difficult to attract an audience
• Hard to have one system that both streams live and archives
• Difficult to navigate giving videos for free when selling videos is an important source of independent revenue
• Corporate tools are more ubiquitous than free tools
• Unsure what kind of video to make - documentary? feature? short?
• Navigation/searching is bad - hard to find videos
• We're reducing our thoughts to blips
• Thinking in terms of distribution is limiting - YouTube is not a distribution platform, it's part of our culture
• Don't know who is watching our videos
• Still reliant on video experts

What we want

• Alternative ways of production (e.g. cell phones)
• Easy to search
• Access at all speeds - not just people with high bandwidth
• Mass audience
• Good tools for organizing clips
• Methods that support community dialogue
• Non-commercial, unbranded
• Ability to remix clips
• Stream live and archive
• Combine video with other media (photos, audio, etc.) or survey tools, etc.
• Ability to showcase local content
• Simple tools - 1-2-3 production
• Distributed - not centralized
• Open source/free
• Ability to customize tools
• Video conferencing - interactivity
• Aesthetically pleasing
• Promoting a culture of collaboration, not just a tool, but building patterns of collaboration
• Ability to curate
• Easily embeddable
• One package that anyone can install any where (or incorporate in an existing web site like one built on Drupal)
• Training and training centers

What exists now

• ​http://www.archive.org/. The Internet archive is a nonprofit building a library of online artifacts (including video).
• ​http://www.getmiro.com/. Miro TV is an effort to combine a free media player with free software that aggregates existing video on the Internet, providing a "TV Guide" for leftist video on the Internet.
• ​http://www.engagemedia.org/. Engage Media is an activist video sharing site focused on Asia Pacific (based on Australia). They are an example of a YouTube alternative for activists.
• ​http://transmission.cc/. The Transmission Network is an international coalition of groups working on online video distribution tools for social justice and media democracy.
• ​http://openvideoalliance.org/. The Open Video Alliance seems similar in scope to the Transmission Network. They are having a conference in July in NYC.

• ​http://blip.tv
• ​http://sesamevault.com/
• Democracy Now and Grit TV - building national audiences
• ​http://wsftv.net
• ​http://groups.drupal.org/open-media-project

Where to go from here

• Educating arts funders and community organizers
• Ability to send announcements to wide audiences
• Create tutorials on how to do this stuff
• Educate our allies about what we're giving up with corporate/proprietary tools
• Classes on how to do video on the Internet
• Not just educate people, but organize them around free/open source
• Tip sheets on the politics of media
• Better ways to connect with other organizers
• Ways of jointly promoting and organizing screenings