As we enter 2009 three things about online video become clear: (1) with over 17 Billion videos watched in December 2008 in the U.S. alone...video is here to stay; (2) video exhibits classic long-tail distribution—while YouTube remains the dominant player, video is rapidly moving from destination sites to the rest of the web, with millions of sites streaming video as the new mode of communication; and (3) the conversation at all levels is shifting from the technological aspects to the value aspects: not how to build a player or convert between formats but, rather, how to foster audience engagement and monetize on these billions of streams.
These observations are underwritten by the trends that became apparent in the past several years, namely, the rapid reduction in the cost of delivery and the abundance of companies in this ecosystem. For anyone who is part of the video universe, the key question that remains open is what drives value in this brave new world....The short answer, I believe, is to focus on innovation —of formats, user experience, content, or delivery.
And here is where open source video enters the picture: It is a development methodology and distribution strategy that allows each company in the ecosystem to focus on what it does best, instead of replicating the efforts of others. Open source video, introduced to the market by companies such as Kaltura, is being adopted at every level of the ecosystem by industry leaders such as Akamai, Mozilla, and Wikipedia. Its premise is simple: Video is too important of a medium to be controlled by a single player. By espousing the principles of openness at all levels, including formats, technology, and content, and by collaborating in the development process, video can enjoy the force-multipliers that we have seen in other areas of open source software. The result is a better user experience, a reduction in the total cost of ownership, and a focus on innovative value-driven results....
There is a ton of activity around open source video today. Kaltura, a market-leading pioneer in the area of open source video, has partnered with the Participatory Culture Foundation (creators of the popular Miro software), with Wikipedia, with the Mozilla Foundation, as well as 20 other organizations and instigated the Open Video Alliance (OVA), an umbrella organization for stake-holders who share the vision and believe in the future of open source video. The OVA is centered on raising awareness and developing standards that promote open source video and coordinate members’ activities....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/20/2009 01:04:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
