Video, like every other form is media, is stringently controlled and kept compartmentalized by the broadcaster or organization which owns the rights to it. With that in mind, can Wikipedia do the same for online video as it has done for the creation and sharing of information?
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a Web site which, like Google and eBay, has become famous enough to be known even by those who have never visited it. It’s an online encyclopedia which offers (mostly) accurate and relevant information on a full range of subject matters.
However, Wikipedia is mainly based on text, with a few, but not a great deal, of photos punctuating each page. There are even a few video clips embedded throughout the site but they’re currently few and far between.
Wikivideo
Until now, or at least some time in the next few months. According to Technology Review, Wikipedia plans to launch an editable online video encyclopedia which is being designed to enhance and embellish the world-renowned text one. The hope is to both evolve Wikipedia to the next level and persuade more content owners to place their video into the public domain.
Wikipedia hopes to roll the service out within the next three months, at which time Wikipedia editors (which is everyone) will find a new ‘Add Media’ button on each article. Initially, videos can be searched and used from three repositories of copyright-free material: the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons, and Metavid, which contains clips of Congressional hearings and speeches.
In time, Wikipedia hopes other content providers will be added to that list. Exposure on a site as trafficked as Wikipedia is not something to be sniffed at so content holders could be pressured into making their videos open source and available for public viewing or risk missing the boat.
Online Video Editing Tools
The other side of the project is to create a series of Web-based video editing tools to make the whole process simple enough for a child to be able to take part. Clips found online will be open for preview, and simple editing such as in and out points.
There’ll be no longer a need to download, convert, edit, and upload a video in order to make it relevant and watchable. The open source video startup, Kaltura, is working on the project alongside Wikipedia, and hopes to take all the time and effort out of video importation.
Conclusions
As Erik Moeller, deputy director of the Wikimedia Foundation, states so eloquently, “It is sad and unfortunate that the public broadcasters are not the ones leading this movement. The mission should be to do whatever they can do to maximize distribution, and I’m not seeing that right now.”
Hopefully, this initiative from Wikipedia, a site which has already opened up the Web an enormous amount, will have the desired effect. However, I remain to be convinced that extensive exposure is going to be enough to persuade content providers and copyright owners to give up the DRM measures they currently employ.
