Week 7 had all the CE participants considering podcasts and video file sharing sites, using YouTube as the prominent example of this, from the users point of view. The instructors shared a few podcast directory examples and Odeo– a service site for podcasting.
As a service provider, which is what librarians are, I have no problem seeing the value in content creation via these media. And, naturally, the next question is what method of distribution best serves users and the contents’ access. The internet has become the Library’s proven method, as the Library relies more and more on electronic versions of information. Offering our own information in audio or video formats is just an extension of our service. And, at this point in my career, I see less resistance to this as “how do we do this?”
Certainly as users, as this week’s lesson demonstrates, accessing these media are made easier and more convenient, as long as there are no barriers like firewalls. In our own country, the Library has made significant strides in narrowing any digital divide that might have existed as a barrier before, along with cell phone broadband, lessening the start up internet costs by removing the computer part of the formula. The development of handheld devices to be able to playback audio and video files shares the responsibility of eliminating the digital divide. I don’t think this can be underestimated when the Library is debating the potential and use and effectiveness of offering such services through these media.
As this week demonstrates, it has been difficult for our profession to approach this service from the technical standpoint. So, we end up approaching it from the users’ perspective, and I don’t think that answers my questions. I am always left asking myself, “How do I do this, and how do I do this well?”
While I feel farily sure of myself in terms of conceptual knowledge where podcasting and video sharing are concerned, I feel less certain of my methods of creation. For example, how should I use iTunes best to add metadata to my files? How can I add metadata and keywords to aid in the files being found? What equipment should I use? How can I boost the quality of the production? How do I propose continued financial support of any media pilot we try? How do I convince the subjects of such recordings to participate? — I realize these these are very librarian things to consider, and to a certain extent, I want to apologize. But these are my blocks.
I also go around with YouTube. I feel hesitant about adding content to YouTube. It’s fluctuating ownership concerns me. And, its compression standard, well, while I appreciate a cross-platform, browser version free option to video sharing, I wish the compression could be tweaked at the individual level, to reflect something like I see when viewing trailers online: a low bandwidth version, a medium and high level. Improving the viewing quality of some works would really benefit the creator. Of course, too, some works do well at the current level of compression at YouTube.
Now, I am going to reveal my biggest issue with YouTube. It will reveal, I think, my librarian fever and some inflexibility about being more on the detail oriented side of life. — I have come into contact with several individuals who, for the record, are young, of the teenage variety, who use YouTube to view movies and tv shows. Fine– the contributor takes the copyright risk. But what really gets me is that you cannot “teach” these people– or at least I have been a complete failure at this — to understand the what is actually happening with this. They as a generation have become so accustomed to expecting such things, for other people to take these risks for them, and deliver to them their every wish. There is no talking to them about these issues. They want what they want now, in this way. Consequences be damned! When the Library holds the copyright, ok, there really isn’t a problem. But when you have certain AV holdings locally and these users demand that you make them more accessible via YouTube, it becomes problematic. And, I have had these requests, “Why don’t you just put it on YouTube and you would solve all my playback problems”. Well, I’m bound by the law. I can’t change the format of this material. We licensed it this way. At a certain point, it sounds like excuses to the patron. And, it frustrates me.
It’s not that I object to making things more accessible to users. But as a profession, we are the ones left to handle the legal, nit picky issues like copyright and such things on behalf of the users. And, I think, until the industries– film and audio– figure out how they will allow legal digital access and distribution, the Library cannot proceed. But users won’t see that those industries are making them into criminals and blocking access through their licensing models.
I’ve been glad to see how some of the internet companies, like Yahoo and Google, are offering new models to these industries, to help solve this problem. It seems hopeful to me. And, as a librarian, I wish a standard would evolve. I don’t want to have or to have to offer 5 different media players, according to which production company is making the content available. If standards are different, what about a universal media player? –I also think quality concerns for this type of distribution should be on the table.
While I am not a teenager without an income, I actually prefer to view long content in another fashion: in one piece, at high resolution. Whether that is on my computer or on my stand-alone tv using my stand-alone dvd player, makes little difference to me. And, I can do this because I can rent or buy dvds or rent from iTunes. Maybe YouTube users are people who can’t buy or rent yet. I have been wondering that. I don’t think I have ever seen any demographics of the YouTube users.
And, this isn’t exactly the topic for this week, I know. But as someone who already offers audio and video files for downloading and/or viewing, I do see it as my concerns, or my future concerns as these things evolve. I don’t know what to do yet. Is this an ethical issue for librarians? At what point does service and education become satiating a demand? Do we guide how information, with its many complexities, is delivered, or do we let it go to evolve more naturally? I’m not sure.
There is a lot of debate that the Library’s data models just don’t integrate and play with all the other data models. This might reflect the profession’s collective logic too. I just wonder, are users always right? Where does our information expertise help matters, if that is the case?
Anyway, I am succeeding in only confusing myself further, and that was not the point of the exercise. I will leave you with an example of a library video I found on YouTube. I wondered about its copyright for all the content…
