Emerging Instructional Technology/Digital Video and YouTube

Digital Video and YouTube

Introduction and Background

According to an article by Balkanski, A., “Digital video changes everything. From its inception, video has been recorded and transmitted as analog electrical signals. While analog video transmitters and receivers can be built inexpensively, analog video is very expensive to transmit and to store. Further, today's powerful digital computers cannot process analog signals, so analog information cannot be easily sorted, searched or edited”. (1999, p1)

Balkanski, also states, “ Digital video also dramatically increases transmission efficiency, which means that communications networks, from the public telephone system to coaxial cable television systems to telecommunications satellites, will be able to carry from six to ten times more channels of video programming than was possible before, dramatically increasing consumer choice. The ability to transmit video over the public switched telephone network will also allow video conferencing, accelerating the work-at-home movement that is changing the way we are all employed. Digital video changes entertainment, information, work: everything”. (1999, p2)

Three former PayPal employees, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim created YouTube in February 2005. In October 2006, Google Inc. reached a deal to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion dollars in Google stock. This deal was closed on November 13, 2006.

This site uses Adobe Flash technology to display video content, movie and television clips as well as music videos. Registered users are permitted to upload and view a wide range of videos while unregistered users have limited access to YouTube’s videos and music.

Featuring videos it considers entertaining, YouTube has become a destination for ambitious videographers, as well as amateurs who fancy making a statement of some kind. Videos are streamed to users on the YouTube site (www.youtube.com) or via blogs and other Web sites. YouTube provides specific code for playing each video that can be embedded on a Web page of a third-party site.

Once uploaded, videos in YouTube are converted to Flash and viewers must have a flash player on their computer in order to play and view videos on YouTube. YouTube supports the following files, AVI, MOV and MPEG from most cellphones, digital cameras and camcorders.

YouTube’s social impact includes instant fame, band and music promotion, sharing of revenue with popular users and a place for people to network (YouTube Gatherings). The Internet celebrities are those that have acquired fame through YouTube. These individual posted videos, which received so much recognition they became instant celebrities. Unsigned artist can upload their music as well as music videos to YouTube allowing viewers to listen and view their artistic talents. According to Wikipedia, “In May 2007, YouTube invited some of its most viewed users to become "YouTube Partners." This exclusive status, previously only offered to commercial content providers, allows users to earn revenue from advertisements placed next to videos”. YouTube’s biggest revenue gain is done through the advertisements that are found on their site. The YouTube gatherings are used to celebrate the video sharing community.

Definitions

To begin we will break down our two-part presentation. Our presentation started with Digital Video and them moved into YouTube. The first definition provided is for Digital Video the second will be for YouTube. In searching for the definition of digital video I decided to first, define digital, second, define video, and finally define digital video.

First, I began my search for the definition of the word digital. When typed the word digital into the search engine Wikipedia the definition for digital systems came up. It is defined as a “system that uses discrete (that is, discontinuous) values to represent information for input, processing, transmission, storage, etc.”.

Second, Video is defined as, “the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion. Video technology was first developed for television systems, but has been further developed in many formats to allow for consumer video recording. Video can also be viewed through the Internet as video clips or streaming media clips on computer monitors”.

Finally, digital video is defined as, “a type of video recording system that works by using a digital, rather than analog, of the video signal”.

I will now define the phrase YouTube. According to Wikipedia, “YouTube (pronounced /juːtuːb/ or /juːtjuːb/[1]) is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips”. Another definition comes from the pcmag.com site. They define YouTube as, “A popular Web video sharing site that lets anyone store short videos for private or public viewing. Founded in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, it was acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion. YouTube provides a venue for sharing videos among friends and family as well as a showcase for new and experienced videographers.

Ethics

With the vast amounts of down-loadable media on the internet, ethics has become an issue when creating media such as digital videos. One of the main ethical concerns in creating digital videos is using music. Even if the music is from a CD that is owned by the video's creator, it is still protected by copyright laws. The rule for using music that is copyrighted is that ten percent of the work, but no more than thirty seconds may be used. This means, for example, that a clip from a three minute song can only be eighteen seconds long. The next issue is borrowing clips from other videos. Again, ten percent may be used, but no more than three minutes. In essence, when using other media to create a digital video, less is always better.

When it comes to the ethics of uploading video clips that the individual did not create to a site like YouTube, many problems arise. First of all, should the uploader be the one who is punished for illegally allowing people to view the clip, or should YouTube for allowing it to go up in the first place and making money off of it? According to Wikipedia's YouTube entry, YouTube does not give permission for copyrighted material to be uploaded, however, it still happens. While YouTube tries to keep up with the enforcement of copyright laws, it is often difficult and they have resorted to only removing content when the owners of the copyright request it. With all of the potential lawsuits just waiting to happen this makes for a need to be careful with what is used from sites like these. (It should be noted that YouTube is only for uploading and viewing. It is not possible to actually download video clips from YouTube.)

Instructional Use

Using Digital Video in the classroom can allow students to enhance their projects and explore new ways to present information. It allows them to be more creative and helps to integrate the curriculum. The use of digital video can emphasis the class topic it is being created for, while allowing art and English to have more sway as well. (English is applicable if they write scripts.) The freedom of expression allowed with digital videos helps the students be more engaged in their learning. For example, if an assignment in the past has been to write a paper on a President, the children will be more likely to want to do more with it if they can create a video instead. They will have fun and they will almost always want to learn more.

YouTube is a wonderful site to use in the classroom to show examples of digital videos, and if a teacher has created a digital video, the students will be able to find it. Also, it's a great place to showcase student work.

Conclusions and Recommendations

We concluded that using YouTube in the classroom can definitely enhance lessons. The use of YouTube adds a visual element that might not otherwise be there. We recommend that you preview all videos that you are planning to use to make sure that they are appropriate for the use that you have in mind.

We concluded that the use of digital video in the classroom can get students more excited about projects. They are more likely to expand on their project and they will be excited to show off what they have learned. Recommendations include teaching students the proper way to create a digital video. This includes the use of video editors, such as Windows MovieMaker or iMovie, and also the copyright restrictions in the use of music clips.

Examples/Case Studies

NK-12 ESL classroom use This article describes the steps to take when using a clip from YouTube in an ESL classroom. Digital Video in the Classroom This website shows how to use digital video in the classroom. It provides links to both student and teacher resources. Digital Video Editing This website describes different terms used when talking about digital video. Higher Education/Corporate Theory and Practice Introducing videos to teacher preparation programs. Collaborative Model of Research Reconfiguring educational research methodology that challenges the perceived distinction between teachers and academics. Businesses to use Web 2.0 Businesses are going to start getting into Web 2.0 applications, such as YouTube. Internet Video for Business Experiments with advertising, such as promotional clips and video ads.

References

Balkanski, A. (1999), Digital video disc: The coming revolution [Accessed December 12, 2007], http://www.dvdcreation.com/HTM/Features/1999/10_99/ccube_dvd_revolution.htm Digital video in the classroom FAQ [Accessed December 12, 2007], http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/DigvidFAQ.html

Digital Video [Accessed December 12, 2007], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_video

YouTube [Accessed December 12, 2007], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube

YouTube [Accessed December 12, 2007], http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=YouTube&i=57119,00.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube#Copyright_infringement_and_controversial_material

http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml#length