Greetings, Welcome to the group.
Im just about to eat dinner but here is a brief start at replying to the questions youve raised. I havent seen the features you need in a CMS. I havent seen a CMS thats truly built video into the heart of its system. Drupal and wordpress video modules do work, but they are far from a polsished and hassle free experience for the user. Part of the revolution in text blogging was how easy and intuitive the publishing tools became, I dont think we are quite there with video yet. How big will the videos people upload be? Uploading via a browser has seriously problems when files start getting bigger than 10 or 20MB or so. Ourmedia is a good example of a community site using drupal, but also it would seem a possible example of one of your fears, being a victim of own sucess, in terms of available server capacity not matching demand etc. Id start small, whatever solution you go for, take it in steps and see how well it scales to increased numbers of publishers and viewers. In the absense of an existing CMS with amazing intuitive and flexible video features, you can either find ways to encourage such developments to happen, or try to dodge the issue. Use a CMS for the site, but make use of a seperate service provider who hosts the videos and has an easy publishing/upload feature for video. Im really out of date when it comes to how good the video publishing features of services are, rather than available opensource DIY systems. But maybe there are some that are great, if you are prepared to pay a little. Whats that audioblog.com or whatever its called like? Se I dont even know the right names, Im just saying you may have luck with combining a CMS with an external video service. Also agree with you that the solutions for saving bandwidth mostly too clunky and spoil ease of use for users. Is sign language fast enough that youd want to use 25/30 frames per second for video rather than the more typical 15 fps that a lot of videobloggers use? Video formats are a nightmare, there is no universal agreement, luckily your situation probably still fits most encoding advise that people will give you, just maybe not framerate. Im out of time for nowm my pies are cooked Good luck with this stuff Steve of Elbows --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Brein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Let me introduce myself here, as I'm new to this group. > I'm Brein Mcnamara, a 28 year old new transplant to the wilds of > minnesota. The most interesting thing about me is the main reason I'm > sending this message. > > I'm Deaf. > > The majority of deaf people communicate in a visual medium. That is, > sign language. Videoblogging seems to be a great medium for > communicating in sign language. The trick is to find a way to take > full advantage of the medium, and to encourage more use of it. Deaf > people are an odd mix when it comes to technology. Many are not > exactly technically inclined, but at the same time very eager to use > tools that make it easier for them to communicate. (for example, many > deaf people use video relay services...like http://sorensonvrs.com > for one). > > As a solution to this, my thought is to create a video news site in > ASL(American Sign Language) that is community oriented. This would > both provide a beneficial use of video in ASL, and allow user > participation and learning about the medium. > > At the risk of being redundant, I'd like to ask this group some > questions, (I've looked through the archives, but asking in the hope > of getting answers more specific to my needs can't hurt). > > Which content management system would be recommended in this > situation? to clarify, I would need: > > * community focused features, not just for a single blog. > > * EASY ability to upload and post videos. Posting videos by hand > isn't enough, there has to be an easy work flow for users to be able > to do this on their own. I will provide a tutorial on how to create a > video, but after that, its best if it requires zero intervention on > my part. > > * user friendly enough for it to be accessible to those with lower > technical literacy. > > I'm looking at drupal now, but the video module being in beta isn't > exactly encouraging. > > What type of videos would be recommended? > Four fold requirements here.. > > *With the least bandwidth.. I'm looking at potentially providing a > large amount of videos, so a free provider would not likely be an > option. Thus, serious bandwidth issues will kick in. > > *with the most accessibility.. for people to view without problems, > or complicated steps. > > *with the ability to easily create and post. .. essential if I am > going to allow others to provide their own videos. (read: no > conversion steps on my part required after I receive them. ) > > * the best quality... sign language has relatively fast motion, and > also requires the need to clearly see facial expressions and body > language. (audio would likely be tossed out the door since its not > needed). This is a different and more strict set of requirements from > most videoblogs. > > My first thought is to use either either the mpeg-4 or 3ivx codecs > with quicktime streaming (more accurately, progressive downloads) as > it seems less bandwidth intensive while at the same time being very > accessible. > > Is there any alternative way to cut down on bandwidth thats still > easy to use? > If i can get away with using the free video hosts, i'd try it, but I > don't think thats an option. I've been looking for a torrent > solution, such as broadcast machine (http://participatoryculture.org/ > broadcast/) but I haven't seen anything that is easily incorporated > within a CMS system. Torrents are a kind of manna from heaven > solution of bandwidth, but unless its easy to use, It's not useable > with a deaf audience. > > I hope I've provided you guys (and gals) with an interesting > challenge and not bored ya with newbie questions. My needs are a > little beyond the videoblogging most people do, since I want to have > a community oriented video blog, and its also a niche I'm sure many > haven't thought about. Although I have asked questions more suitable > of a newbie, I think my approach kind of requires re-evaluating the > basic videoblog needs here. > > Thanks, > Brein > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/T8sf5C/tzNLAA/TtwFAA/lBLqlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! 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