Dear Mike,
I was interested in your questions as until earlier this year, when I retired, I
was involved on the editorial side of producing audio and video for the BBC News
website. I know it's not the same but I doubt that anything fact based will play
that differently with the audience so I've bashed out some quick and possibly
ungrammatical annotations to your questions below.
FYI I'm on this list as am doing an MA in Archaeology at Birkbeck which has
included looking at how the web can help in the dissemination of information.
Regards,
Paul Clabburn
________________________________
From: Mike Keane <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, 31 December, 2010 9:12:28
Subject: Online video
Dear MCG,
Thanks for the replies to my general question about who was using online video.
The answers opened up some more specific questions.
Any light shed on any of the areas below would be very much appreciated.
Please feel free to reply to me directly if you prefer.
Thanks again for your help so far.
Mike
Audience:
If you want someone to find a particular subject on the V and A website, would
you prefer to use words rather than video so that metadata could be applied to
it for Search Engine Optimisation purposes?
Absolutely use words. SEO is the key. The usual News pattern is for someone to
read something first - as that's the fastest way to obtain information - and
then opt in to the video if they are interested. In my experience it's rare for
the video to be the hook unless it's something spectacular, funny, short, or all
three. Do you know when people mainly use your site? Is it during the day,
perhaps on a lunch break, when they might be at work and pressed for time or is
it in the evening when they may have more time to explore? Or a mix? Knowing
that can help inform your video decisions (and every other decision for that
matter).
Do you think the audience for video is different to that of text and stills? In
News, no. There was a minority who used the video index but most people read
text and then chose to view video. That's why video is much more closely
integrated within the BBC News text pages these days (rather than something off
to one side).
Do you see your YouTube channel as a standalone educational asset or is it a way
of getting people to come to the physical building?Pass. But I see YouTube as
full of fun stuff and make your own stuff. There's a limited market for serious
and News doesn't do very well on it. Neither did fact based programmes. If you
want to encourage people to get involved - as distinct from coming to the
building - you might perhaps encourage them to make their own videos on
subjects you think are appropriate and choose the best to display on your site
etc.
Production:
All I'd say here is that it needs to be as high a standard of production as
possible. Bear in mind the disappointment factor. User research showed clearly
that if people read about something, had their interest piqued and then went to
a video that was not up to the mark, they would be reticent about returning
again. They'd made a decision to invest time in looking at a video and, if it
let them down, they remembered. The script has to be good (forgotten too often,
dull delivery and/or poor writing are killers), the pictures have to be good,
the whole package has to be put together in a way that reflects well on your
institution in terms of the standards you would generally aspire to. It is not a
throw-together, a nice to have or something that you do just because everyone
else is. If it doesn't immediately hit you as "That would make a really nice
video" then it almost certainly won't and you should look at text, stills,
graphics etc, all of which are excellent vehicles for conveying information.
How do you decide a good online video? It's a statement of the obvious to say
it's overwhelmingly something that is visual. Many years ago now we covered one
of George Bush's first State of the Union addresses. The story led on all major
BBC tv and radio bulletins and also online both in text and video. When the
stats came back, in online video usage the story was second on the BBC site to
one of an orphan baby hippo that had been "adopted" by a giant tortoise. This
got us thinking ... Good luck, Paul Clabburn (formerly Editor, Broadband, BBC
News, and Head of On Demand, BBC World)
Do you have a specialist video and production team within the Collection staff
or do you hire an external production company?
How do you decide what subject would make a good online video as opposed to
communicating the material by other online means?
Where does this decision originate?
Do you use one type of camera to make it easier for everyone to use and to
streamline production?
If so what type of camera is it?
Does the Museum own the camera or cameras used to shoot video or are they hired
specifically for the job?
Do the staff who shoot the video also edit it?
Which editing software do you use?
In which format do you supply the edited video to the website development team?
FLV, FLV 4, Quicktime, H264?
Is the format likely to change in the near future?
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