Streamed videos… what is that? Do I want to know? Is it legal?...
Streaming can definitely be weird, but it can also be educational, creative, profitable, and grime fighting!
What?
Yup. Here’s how:
Streaming media is a sequence of moving images and/or sounds (like movies or television shows or songs) that are sent over the Internet in a special format and displayed as they arrive.
Like a downloaded movie or song?
No, downloading is different. You have to download something in its entirety before you can use it. When you’re streaming a movie or song you can begin to watch or hear it before you’ve received it all. In other words, while you are watching or listening the rest is arriving.
What are you talking about??????
Think of this in terms of milk. Downloading is like pouring yourself a glass of milk, and then drinking it. Streaming is like drinking straight from the carton.
Ew…
When you stream media, the movie or song is sent in one long continuous stream (hence the name "streaming") and it’s played as it arrives.
In order to view the streaming media, you need a player--a special program on your computer that can interpret your movie or song file. The player sends your video to display and your audio to the speakers to be heard. A media player will either come with your computer, or it can be downloaded from the Internet.
OK – do you have a secret love of Dean Martin? Who? Come on, admit it… you have no idea of whom I am talking…. But maybe this is the next Tom Jones – or is that dating myself also…. So, let’s hear from Dean…. Click HERE and then listen to a sample.
Saying the obviuos but you will need sound and/or headphones on your computer to hear the streaming music.
Hey! Wow! I can hear the song!
Now, the Board has a subscription to Naxos Music Library. Here you can listen to thousands of songs – classical, contemporary or even world music. Remember your vacation spot? Go to Naxos Music Library by clicking HERE. You will need to password and logon code (check with your library staff or contact your tour guides) and then search for a song that suits your needs. Look for Bushmen music if you want. Wonderful…
So, nice Tour Guide but I want MORE!
Hold on, hold on. Let me ramble… rambling rose… Quit it… enough…
OK. Let’s move one.. Sound is nice but I want to see. See my ideal island… see where you want to go… For this, we need pictures.. we need videos.. we need (quite needy aren’t we???)
One place that I have always wanted to visit is Africa. The Bushmen of the Kalahari have always intrigued me… especially their music. What? Never heard Bushmen music. Click HERE
Note that this is shown on Youtube. YouTube is a free, online, video streaming service that allows users to view and share videos that have been uploaded by its members. And there's some amazing stuff here: music videos, retro television commercials, funny animal videos, and clips from your favorite TV shows.
I use it a lot for travel. For example, what about visiting Antarctica? Another wonderful trip of mine. Polar bears. Penguins. Have you ever thought of visiting Antartica? Here is a video of a colony of penguins in Antartica. Click HERE to view this wonderful documentary.
Ooo! Aahh! My, that certainly brings back memories…
Or what about this 1950’s educational film entitled, Duck and cover?? Never heard of it? See, the Internet is useful in education!
Safety first…
Of course, like anything on the Internet you’ll also find your fair share of senseless things. You’ll be shaking your head and marveling at what people have time to do! 'The Engineer's Guide to Cat Yodeling,' for example. Click HERE
What tha?
Totally bizarre, right?
But as mentioned, streaming isn't all sweet memories and time wasters. Streaming can be educational. Common Craft is an independent company responsible for dozens of really phenomenal educational videos, most of which are available on YouTube. Check out their video on cloud computing. See you don't even need to know what it is before watching the video!
Wow! So simple!
Now the boring – but necessary – part… Remember that to show a video or a streamed video in a class environment, the video MUST clearly state that the video has PPR (that is the cool short form for Public Performance Rights) included or that you have permission to show this video in a class or school. Without such a statement, you cannot show the video. Well, hold on there… in YouTube if they do not say that?? Well, then you cannot show the video.
Boy, tour guide, you are such a Party-pooper…So after all this, we cannot use them….
Well, hold on now. There are sites to go to. Creative Commons is a site to search for videos that we can adapt or use or copy. Click HERE to go to Creative Commons. Now, enter a term in the search box ... anything at all... come on, you can think of something can't you? Come on... well, use pigs then...Now, select to search one of the media files -- Wikimedia commons, SpinXpress or Europeana. OK... now try ‘vacation’ for example. Search SpinXpress. Now, this gives you some interesting results, including some that are, well, how to put it…. Questionable??? Good site but use with caution.
One of the big problems with streamed videos is the fact that we are viewing them over the Internet. No problem at 2 in the morning, but I want to show the video for my class at 2 p.m…. sorry , no guarantee. Bring puppets as you may have a lot of time on your hand while the video is loading.. So I will save it to my harddrive…As with PPR (yuck, that awful word), you can only copy videos that give you permission to do so. There is an alternative. Digital videos (wow, a new term).. .Yup, digital videos. Think of ebooks… digital books. Well, these are electronic versions of the videos. The board has a license to Access Learning where you can watch over 3000 videos (including all of the Bill Nye). Now, the default is to stream these videos which still puts us under the Internet crunch. However, pull up any video that you like. You can enter Nye in the search box or simply click on one of the default videos on the side. The video will start to play. But wait.. this is where it gets exciting.....Look at the left hand side of the screen. All of the parts of the video are listed. Note that under the title there are three icons. The first is to play. Stream in other words. But the other two allow you to download the video in Quicktime or Windows Media. You can save the video to your memory stick and then play it again when you need to. You do not get all of the bells and whisltes but you do get the video. And since you are simply playing a video from a storage device -- fancy term -- you are not competing with the Internet. WOW! Also, don’t forget that you can make your own videos also. While on your trip, take your digital camera. You have MovieMaker and Adobe Premier Elements in your school to edit the video. Then, you can post it also. Youare now a published author… is it published when you post a video???
Now it's your turn.
Your Task:
Take some time to explore YouTube & have a little fun. Check out videos on your favourite location. Or how about the countless number of videos on how to pack for your trip? Try Creative Commons also.
To complete this assignment:
- Explore YouTube and find a video you'd like to post to your blog.
- Copy the video's URL, found on the right hand side of the page. Note: if you're unfamiliar with how to "copy and paste" click HERE.
- Paste the video's URL into your blog post.
- Answer the following questions: • Did you enjoy your YouTube experience? • Why do you think streaming has become so popular? • Will you continue to use YouTube?
- Click Publish Post.
For the adventurous:
Using the method I've just described, your video will not "appear" in your blog, like the Common Craft video appears in mine. Only the web address (URL) will appear in your blog. To see the video in your blog, use the YouTube help function to search for the word "embed" and learn how to embed your video. But don't worry... this embedding business is not part of your assignment. It's just something for you Keeners who want to learn a bit more... Not sure how to do it… click HERE
Further Reading:
Things you should know about YouTube (Educause)
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