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I guess you made some specifications for the videos before you created
them. Like, who is the target audience, do we want it to be translated
into other languages, where to publish them, what kind of aura should
the speaker have, etc. etc. Could you give some insights into these
specifications? Especially about languages.

Marcus Buck

Frank Schulenburg hett schreven:
> Hi all,
>
> As most of you know we've been working on Wikipedia video tutorials
> during the last few months. The general idea behind producing video
> tutorials is the belief that videos make learning much easier than
> text based online help pages, at least for some audiences. We are
> therefore producing a number of videos demonstrating the basics of
> Wikipedia editing and increasing the public understanding of Wikipedia
> and Wikimedia.
>
> For this purpose we would like to distinguish between two sorts of
> video tutorials:
>
> * Guided tours: designed to raise the public understanding of
> Wikipedia and Wikimedia as well as to encourage people to view
> Wikipedia as friendly. All guided tours will be presented by
> moderators in order to appear more trustworthy, friendly and
> encouraging. They will be produced as high quality videos by a
> production company commissioned by the Wikimedia Foundation.
>
> * How-to videos: aimed at explaining basic features of the Wikipedia
> user interface. How-to videos shall be produced as screencasts with a
> speaker explaining every single step.
>
> In a nutshell think of (a) guided tours as videos aimed at giving the
> audience a look behind the scenes and to encourage them to join us as
> editors and (b) how-to videos as tutorials to enable newbies to make a
> successful start on Wikipedia.
>
> (a) Examples for guided tours may be:
>
> * Editing Wikipedia is easy!
> * Why does Wikipedia work even though anyone can edit it?
> * What motivates the volunteers behind Wikipedia / Wikimedia?
> * What you should know about Wikimedia - the organization behind Wikipedia
>
> (b) Examples for how-to videos may be:
>
> * How to create a user account
> * The basics of Wiki markup
> * How do I upload images?
> * How to find information about a certain topic on Wikipedia?
>
> On 19 November 2008, the shooting of the very first Wikipedia guided
> tours video tutorials took place. We are very happy that we found in
> Hendrik John of Living Colour film production an experienced filmmaker
> who managed not only the shooting but also everything related to the
> development (including the casting of Theresa, our moderator in the
> first two videos) and the pre-production (like hiring the crew and
> building the set).
>
> A big thanks goes to Lennart Guldbrandsson, the president of Wikimedia
> Sverige, who helped us a lot with his experience in filmmaking and
> scriptwriting. Thank you Lennart - I always enjoy our collaboration!
>
> To give you a look behind the scenes I produced a short 3 minute
> making-of video that provides some insights on how complex the
> production of guided tours may be. You can watch it online:
>
> * http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_video_tutorials_making-of_(high).ogv
> (11.7 MB, better quality)
> * http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_video_tutorials_making-of_(low).ogv
> (6.2 MB, lower quality)
>
> and also on
>
> * http://vimeo.com/2554962
> * http://fschulenburg.blip.tv/file/1493287/
> * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgJTndVjSYc
>
> Currently, the two video tutorials are in the process of
> post-production (assembling the film, adding visual effects etc.) and
> we hope that they will be online soon.
>
> All this would have not been possible without the funding of Wikimedia
> Deutschland. The German chapter not only paid all costs for the video
> production but also my travel expenses.
>
> So, please join me in thanking Wikimedia Germany for the financial
> support and ... enjoy the making-of video :-)
>
> Frank Schulenburg
> Head of Public Outreach
>
> NB. This mail address is used for public mailing lists. Personal
> emails sent to this address will get lost.
>
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Hi Marcus,

Thank you very much for your question. The first two Guided tours will
initially be available in English (the language we produced the
videos) and in German (as Wikimedia Deutschland paid the production
costs).

The footage will be published under a share-alike licence and uploaded
to Wikimedia Commons. This will assure that everyone can produce a
version in his own language by using the voice-over technique.

Currently, Michael Dale is working on adding video-related
functionality to MediaWiki. Amongst other things he is developing a
solution for subtitling as part of the metavidWiki extension.

Example:
http://metavid.org/w/extensions/MetavidWiki/skins/mv_embed/example_usage/sample_timed_text.php

The great thing about this subtitling solution is that the transcripts
can be collaboratively written using the wiki engine.

The second example lets you choose between two languages (click on
"Select Text Layers"). Up to now, the metavidWiki extension already
supports the concept of a multitude of text layers differentiating in
language.

Thanks again. Multilingualism is a challenge and I'm very happy you
raised the issue.

Frank

NB. This mail address is used for public mailing lists. Personal
emails sent to this address will get lost.

2008/12/19 Marcus Buck <me@marcusbuck.org>:
> I guess you made some specifications for the videos before you created
> them. Like, who is the target audience, do we want it to be translated
> into other languages, where to publish them, what kind of aura should
> the speaker have, etc. etc. Could you give some insights into these
> specifications? Especially about languages.
>
> Marcus Buck

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Frank Schulenburg hett schreven:
> Hi Marcus,
>
> Thank you very much for your question. The first two Guided tours will
> initially be available in English (the language we produced the
> videos) and in German (as Wikimedia Deutschland paid the production
> costs).
>
I want to mention, that it is called Wikimedia Deutschland and not
Wikimedia Deutsche Sprache. There's a difference. But let that be a side
note.
> The footage will be published under a share-alike licence and uploaded
> to Wikimedia Commons. This will assure that everyone can produce a
> version in his own language by using the voice-over technique.
>
> Currently, Michael Dale is working on adding video-related
> functionality to MediaWiki. Amongst other things he is developing a
> solution for subtitling as part of the metavidWiki extension.
>
> Example:
> http://metavid.org/w/extensions/MetavidWiki/skins/mv_embed/example_usage/sample_timed_text.php
>
> The great thing about this subtitling solution is that the transcripts
> can be collaboratively written using the wiki engine.
>
> The second example lets you choose between two languages (click on
> "Select Text Layers"). Up to now, the metavidWiki extension already
> supports the concept of a multitude of text layers differentiating in
> language.
>
I will not judge, cause I spent too few time on it, but this thing
doesn't work well for me. The subtitles or better sidetitles seem to be
not in synch and it looks confusing for me as a first time user. Is
there a coordination place or a place with information about the work on
the metavidWiki extension, where I can find info on the roadmap of the
extension? Or: When will it be done?

I said "especially about languages", but I'm interested in the other
questions too. Who is the target? What's the concept? I mentioned the
speaker in the previous post, cause she appears very "American" to me.
In look, in habit, in body language.

Marcus Buck

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2008/12/19 Marcus Buck <me@marcusbuck.org>:
> I will not judge, cause I spent too few time on it, but this thing
> doesn't work well for me. The subtitles or better sidetitles seem to be
> not in synch and it looks confusing for me as a first time user. Is
> there a coordination place or a place with information about the work on
> the metavidWiki extension, where I can find info on the roadmap of the
> extension? Or: When will it be done?

I will ask Michael Dale for more information. For the moment you'll
find a nicer implementation at

http://metavid.org/wiki/Stream:House_proceeding_06-09-08_01/0:01:38/0:10:00

However, as the footage will be published under a CC-by-SA licence and
everyone will be able to produce a voice-over (or whatever seems to be
suitable) in his own language.

> I said "especially about languages", but I'm interested in the other
> questions too. Who is the target? What's the concept?

Our main goal is to reach out to a larger audience. I travelled a lot
during the last few years, gave Wikipedia lectures and organized
workshops. And people always asked me the same questions about
Wikipedia. Thus, it seemed to be obvious to make this more scalable.

What do we want to achieve with the two first Guided tours?

* Guided tour #1: Show people how easy it is to edit Wikipedia /
encourage them to click on the edit button:

My experience so far: you can't imagine how many people don't know
that everyone can edit Wikipedia. You give a lecture, everybody knows
Wikipedia, and suddenly someone asks: "but what happens when I click
on the edit button?" Every Wikipedian knows that uploading pictures on
commons is much too complicated - but obviously clicking the edit
button is almost the same big step. That was what astonished me most.
Wikipedians tend to live in *their Wiki world*. They tend to forget
about the problems of the "normal" user. To encourage these users to
click the magic button and to become contributors - that's what we
want to achieve with the first video.

* Guided tour #2: Give answers to one the most often heard questions /
build trust

When I started to give Wikipedia lectures and workshops some years ago
I had around thirty presentation slides on my notebook. After a short
while I recognized: that's what makes people get tired. From that time
on I open my lectures with two slides explaining the very basic
concept behind Wikipedia and then encourage the audience to ask
questions. And I can tell you: people have a *lot* of questions about
Wikipedia. But one question is always the first one: "Why does
Wikipedia work even though anyone can edit it?" Wikipedians would
answer: Don't you know watchlists? And those Wikipedians forget: no,
people don't know watchlists. The "watch this page" button is only
available for registered users (perhaps we may want to change this in
the future: unregistered users could be directed to a page explaining
what a watchlist is and how useful this is - and encourage people to
get a user account). Thus, to explain some of basic software features
related to quality control (watchlists, recent changes) and to build
trust - that's what we want to achieve with the second video.

One of our big goals is to encourage and to broaden participation. To
hit our target we need to create a personal invitation. That's why the
first two videos will be Guided tours. The key purpose of these videos
is not to explain, in detail, the "how" of editing. More in-depth
how-to video tutorials are a separate part of my work and I invite
everyone in the community who has experiences in creating screencasts
to get in contact with me.

> I mentioned the
> speaker in the previous post, cause she appears very "American" to me.
> In look, in habit, in body language.

Theresa is Canadian. Wikipedia is an international project and our
video tutorials should reflect that. Therefore, Theresa is one of many
faces we will use to represent us, "the first of several." The next
faces will perhaps come from India or from Russia.

And I tell you, we had thousands of questions to answer. Should she
wear earrings or not, what color should the table be, which browser
should she use, and so forth. And I'm pretty sure not everyone will be
happy with every little detail.

Cheers
Frank

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Hello Frank,
Thank you very much for these explanations for us curious Wikipedians.



> I will ask Michael Dale for more information. For the moment you'll
> find a nicer implementation at
>
> http://metavid.org/wiki/Stream:House_proceeding_06-09-08_01/0:01:38/0:10:00
>

Oh, you just want to show how the place will look like? I cannot find
something Wikipedia-related on that US Congress site.



>My experience so far: you can't imagine how many people don't know
that everyone can edit Wikipedia. You give a lecture, everybody knows
Wikipedia, and suddenly someone asks: "but what happens when I click
on the edit button?" Every Wikipedian knows that uploading pictures on

Yes, but it is not only a technical questions, but also about the whole
concept of wiki authorship: Am I entitled to edit?

I remember having watched the Wikimania lecture of Jimmy Wales in
Alexandria, ten minutes about freedom of speech in the Internet era. But the
questions by the people in the audience were very, very basic.

When I showed Wikipedia to elderly people, it was not only Wikipedia and
Internet related stuff they did not know of. Basic computer skills are
missing, like drag and drop, copying text, open several windows. Will your
future how-to video provide also that, Frank?

>Theresa is Canadian. Wikipedia is an international project and our

The German she speaks at the end sound to me as if she were German.

Kind regards,
Ziko

--
Ziko van Dijk
NL-Silvolde
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2008/12/23 Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk@googlemail.com>:

> Thank you very much for these explanations for us curious Wikipedians.

:-)

> Oh, you just want to show how the place will look like? I cannot find
> something Wikipedia-related on that US Congress site.

No, it was just to give you an impression you how it _could_ look like.

>>My experience so far: you can't imagine how many people don't know
>>that everyone can edit Wikipedia. You give a lecture, everybody knows
>>Wikipedia, and suddenly someone asks: "but what happens when I click
>>on the edit button?" Every Wikipedian knows that uploading pictures on
>
> Yes, but it is not only a technical questions, but also about the whole
> concept of wiki authorship: Am I entitled to edit?

Yes, that's perfectly true. For some of our target groups this is
certainly a bigger obstacle than the wiki markup.

> But the
> questions by the people in the audience were very, very basic.

Again, I agree. Our first step should be to figure out which of these
very basic questions we should answer. I'm sure that will have a high
impact.

> When I showed Wikipedia to elderly people, it was not only Wikipedia and
> Internet related stuff they did not know of. Basic computer skills are
> missing, like drag and drop, copying text, open several windows. Will your
> future how-to video provide also that, Frank?

We should at least think about ways to make the how-to screencast
tutorials as comprehensible as possible. Would you personally be
interested to join the screencast team? Your participation is highly
welcome!

> The German she speaks at the end sound to me as if she were German.

She's living in Berlin ;-)

Thank you for your helpful comments which I appreciate as always.

Frank

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> Yes, that's perfectly true. For some of our target groups this is
> certainly a bigger obstacle than the wiki markup.
>

A plan of mine for 2009 is a long list of what can go wrong on the way
becoming an experienced WP author. Or, putting it more positively, what are
the steps and challenges to the rookie.


>tutorials as comprehensible as possible. Would you personally be
interested to join the screencast team? Your participation is highly
welcome!

Yes, I'd love to.


Ziko
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--
Ziko van Dijk
NL-Silvolde
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