Re: New Project: GNOME YouTube Video Contest

[Simos <simos lists googlemail com>]

On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 2:13 PM, Alberto Ruiz <aruiz gnome org> wrote:
> 2009/2/18 Luis Villa <luis tieguy org>:
> > On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 5:51 PM, Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org> wrote:
> > > How about a video contest for GNOME desktop tips and howtos? (Sriram
> > > Ramkrisha had this great idea on IRC and I thought I'd bring it over to the
> > > marketing list.)
> > >
> > > Users upload them to YouTube and we put them all in one channel.
> > >
> > > Working with Google, we might be able to also sign up for the YouTube
> > > partner program for them.
> > >
> > > Benefits:
> > >
> > > Lots of howto videos for GNOME related technologies. (Lots of technologies
> > > and companies are successfully using video to help out new users now. Lately
> > > I've watched several really useful ones for some really simple things.)
> > > Help GNOME users that are googling for answers
> > > Generate excitement around GNOME
> > > Generate word of mouth marketing for GNOME technologies
> > >
> > > Work/Costs:
> >
> > Endorsing/using proprietary software (AFAIK none of the free flash
> > players plays youtube acceptably, at least using code that is legally
> > available in the US.)
>
> I think we should require an OGG/Dirac version, on the other hand,
> publishing it at youtube/vimeo is the only way to broadcast the videos
> properly.

In this respect, it might make sense to call the competition "GNOME
Video Contest" (without the "Youtube").

An easy way to create open videos (OGG format), is to use a "desktop
session recorder" such as gtk-recordmydesktop,
which records an area of the screen and can also capture the input of
the microphone. This is also called "screencasting".
The user shows off a technology on the desktop while talking about it,
and the end result is an OGG file, ready for distribution.

A description of how gtk-recordmydesktop works can be found at
http://showmedo.com/videos/video?name=1820000

There have been some blog post on planet.gnome.org that had
screencasts created with gtk-recordmydesktop.

Regarding the distribution of these videos, it's possible to put on a
webserver and arrange so that when a user clicks on the video, Totem
opens and plays the video. Or, the user is prompted to save the video
file which she can later open with Totem.
Finally, if there are resources on gnome.org, it might be possible to
create a video streaming server that Totem or other video players can
view.
The same material may also make it to youtube.com for further
distribution, in a GNOME official channel.

Simos