Digital Signposts

A 2 Speed YouTube?

image credit: theqspeaks CC Licnece BY_NC_SA

“Opening up a world of educational content with YouTube for Schools”

As a firm advocate of video for learning, I really hope Google’s recently launched YouTube for Schools service will get YouTube into more schools.  Then if those schools were to move from YouTube for Schools to the default open YouTube, that would  be even better.

As expected the initial reactions to the launch of YouTube for  Schools on the  educational blogs and twitter feeds has been welcoming and positive and .... largely.......uncritical.

Google’s  bold statement (above), has obviously struck a chord with lots of educators, despite the fact that the content on YouTube has always been open and available to schools should they wish to access it. There are of course many schools and administrations that have; (misguidedly in my opinion), chosen to block it,  but that is an entirely different matter.

Therefore is Google really opening or providing anything new?  No, what YouTube for Schools does is offer a filter switch by which school IT admins can allow access to the Youtube.com/education subdomain  i.e. YouTube Edu, whilst still allowing the blocking of  open YouTube. The keywords in Gooogles rationale are:  safety and distraction together with  school friendly/teacher friendly and free. Taking these points in order:

• if YouTube is really that dangerous;  why are many schools using it without any significant issues as Daniel Stucke points out in his post?  
• distraction; lots of glib references to cats and music; from both Google and commentators but no analysis of the causes of distraction
• school/teacher friendly is a pretty meaningless term, but could possibly be interpreted as spoon feeding.....having the spadework done for you.... avoiding issues of digital literacy?
• YouTube has always been free ... ‘no brainer’

The YouTube Edu content is sourced from over "600 partners” and indeed there are some excellent videos from the likes of NASA, RSA, Smithsonian and TED. Nevertheless there are also a lot of talking heads and dry lectures.  There is very little evidence of student authored videos or the student voice, instead it is very much a one-way street where video is used to "illustrate."  I think YouTube Edu focuses too heavily on 'subjects' and ‘grades’ rather than the interconnectedness of knowledge or the educational affordances of video. Perhaps it is just my take, but there seems to be a very US centric feel to the service. I have also noted; that many, if not the majority of clips still feature pre-roll and pop-up adverts.

There is of course no shortage of educational video being curated and shared on the web.  A good example is WatchKnow.org; a moderated wiki where and  teachers  recommend, aggregate and curate educational content from a number of video services including YouTube. Another developing service in the UK is EdmediaShare, where educators in HE and FE upload, share and discuss the videos they are using. The emphasis within EdmediaShare is on  how to leverage the pedagogical value of the videos and can be used in different learning contexts as well as subjects using the Dial-e framework developed at the University of Hull.

I am not convinced about new either; YouTube  hosts hundreds or even thousands of  channels and playlists that have educational value. I  would argue that this value is best determined by a community of educators curating and sharing, rather than a committee even if it does include teachers and Google educators. YouTube has become such a powerful educational platform because of its serendipity - the discovery, of new videos and channels, facilitated and promoted through social networks.

Of the 35 hours of video uploaded every minute to YouTube, a significant amount will be extremely current, relevant and topical. YouTube provides instantaneous access to many events of local and global significance as they happen, for example the recent Japan Tsunami, Arab Spring or a local Starling roost  - all good  examples. Teachers should have access to; and be able to decide; if, how, and when to use such videos; and also consider the age group and how to frame them in an appropriate learning context

In my opinion what YouTube should be doing, is helping teachers to understand and use the
excellent creative YouTube tools such as: Playlists, Editing, Captions, Video Manager  and promoting embedding YouTube content in other educational resources, as they do in YouTube for Teachers. Teachers should be encouraged to address the issues of raised by comments and how related videos algorithms work and evaluate their effectiveness. This is all part of developing digital and media literacies. Offering a solution based on 'removing' comments and related videos is pedagogically unsound.

To give Google some credit they have factored in a suggest option for  channels, but here's the rub - it must must be sourced from a YouTube partner! .... rather than selected for its true educational merit.

 

So in the final analysis what we end up with is a digital video library, a walled garden.

whereby a ‘committee’ and Google deems what is educational video, which can then be allocated to teachers on an individual basis by an IT admin. I think this is  a backward step for video for learning. It will will be interesting to watch how this plays out and follow the crossover, both ways,  between YouTube for Schools and Open YouTube. Of course my big worry is that some currently Open YouTube users would move to the YouTube for Schools.

Measuring the Educational Value of Digital Resources

Image (background) credit: Mockney Rebel   CC Licence: BY-NC-2.0

I have been thinking about the value the educational community and learners gain from using digital resources, especially those targeted for educational.  In the visualisation above, I  have extrapolated, which possible  actions or behaviours by educators might be of most benefit for learners, (and other educators). You may wish to suggest others in the comments, or even disagree with the model; I would really welcome your thoughts and feedback on this.

How one can use a resource will be determined by the terms and conditions of the resource's licence.  The example below is typical of  licensing offered by many, (educational), content providers.  

The first two conditions, attribution and non commercial use, are fair, reasonable and make sense,  because they allow modification and remixing; but the last element precludes using the resource at anything other than an individual level, or at best within an institution. Such content may still have a great deal of value for an individual, but it stops there, as it cannot make full use of the educational affordances of digital technologies. Some other resources are even more restrictive; allowing no modifications,  their terms often state they can only be printed or used offline. These will have little or no value within a digital content ecosystem.

Whilst it is understandable that some content providers may wish to protect content they have created or acquired, this should be seen against the exponential growth of openly accessible resources; Wikipedia, YouTube, Science Commons and Encyclopedia of Life are just a some of the many examples. This past year has also seen clear move towards OER, (Open Educational Resources) with many initiatives  at both individual and institutional level. 

A number of potentially significant developments are taking  place, Khan Academy is planning to crowdsource resources created by teachers around the world and invite them  to add content to its portal  and make it available through the Khan Academy’s noncommercial public domain licence.  On another front, Pearson, one of the worlds largest educational content providers will make some of its content available  through an API which will  hopefully be developed as valuable educational materials as discussed  recently by John McLear.

 

Looking inside video...

Within current discourse on video for learning, there are many concurrent ideas on how to use video in educational contexts. These cover a wide spectrum, ranging from recorded lectures,  or the Khan Academy video tutorials, (which have inadvertently given rise to the flipped classroom meme), to dedicated educational platforms that aggregate online video, for example  Watchknow.org  Sometimes video is mixed with other content using APIs, as on the HistoryPin website.

Other platforms such as EdMediaShare which uses the Dial-e framework, (developed at the University of Hull), are designed to promote an alternative way of using video. However the most frequent use of video in learning  is still to illustrate or amplify subject matter or to present didactic information in the form of a recorded  lecture or presentation.

This is understandable, one of the drawbacks of using video, as opposed to text, is that it cannot be searched in as easily as texts.  Whilst it is straightforward to search search a library of documents for a word - sentence or paragraph but with video search relies on title or associated metadata. This may be about to change.  Research at the Hasso Platter institute has come close to making 'semantic video' a reality. Using  semantic media analysis;  in the near future, it will be possible to conduct searches  within video, (collections, and individual videos), directly by the content within them

Here are a few thoughts on how this might work, using some clips from EdMediaShare to illustrate:

•  OCR, (search for text in shots of maps or signposts) 
• Audio  (the stirring music, so common in old newsreels,  used to illustrate the Berengeria clip)
• Speech recogniton (look for topics with  specific terminology, eg, Mobile learning.
• Motion Vectors  (Tacoma Narrows)
• Visual analysis (identify structural  changes in video;  tone/colour/pace  as in this JISC resource on copyright)
• Face recognition (identify specific speakers in the  JISC collection) 

It seems likely that such tools will completely redefine the ways in which we can learn through video. Hopefully some of these tools them will also be found within YouTube in the not to distant future.

The Slideshare presentation from Hasso Platter gives a very detailed overview of the underlying process and there is also a demo screencast here.

Mapping the Past, Present and Future

 

I have recently spent quite a bit of time watching, David Rumsey's inspirational keynote describing how digital technology and visualisation can aid the understanding and interpretation of historic maps; thus building new knowledge, not only of the maps, but about people, the societies they lived in and  the prevailing culture and values of the time.

Using Google Earth overlays, historic fly-throughs, 30ft globes, and virtual worlds
this 40 min video is awesome, the screen capture above offers a flavour.  Indeed it is one of the best uses of virtual worlds that I have come across in a long time. 

The Creative Commons licensed Rumsey Map Collection accessed through the Luna Browser,  is a good example of how digital technologies can refocus our interpretation of other cultural artefacts, for example, posters, photographs or moving images, in order to shed new light on our past and our present.

The idea of digitally synthesing of old and new is beginning to gain momentum, and there are projects, open to students and educators, including Hypercities which explores layers of time through city maps, or HistoryPin which crowdsources old photographs and superimposes them on Google Street View. 

Even if mapping isn't  your personal interest, digitised archives or artefacts can provide a stimulus for meaningful learning designs and contexts for all stages of learning. Applying digital tools to data we already have allows new interpretations and ways of using the data which makes this a very rich field for educators to explore using digital technologies.

And whilst at first glance, some of the artefacts and ideas from the past may seem absurd today;  in context, they reveal the hidden codes for our future, which are gaining recognition amongst an emerging cohort of paleo-futurists, digital humanists, digital anthropologists and archaeologists who participate in innovative projects and networks.  As Tom Seinfield from the Found History blog states:

"innovation in digital humanities frequently comes from the edges of the scholarly community rather than from its center—small institutions and even individual actors with few resources are able to make important innovations."

 This is highly encouraging and it is certainly an area I plan to spend a lot more time studying and working in.

Panoramic Video for Learning

 
Screencast  - panning and zooming into 360deg video

Last week the delegates at the Diverse 2011 conference were  treated to a fascinating presentation by Dr Roy Pea, Professor of Education and Learning Sciences at Stanford  University, on using video for classroom observation. Roy described how he used a 360 degree Lucy videocam to develop a model for observing lessons and classroom interactions. The Lucy enables all corners of the class to be filmed simultaneously, together with the surrounding audio; and the DIVER software developed by Roy and his team lets viewers zoom in to, comment and annotate different parts of the video.  This  lets different viewers, including both researchers and trainee teachers, pick up on different events happening in the classroom simultaneously, and from different viewpoints. This method of audio-visual analysis brings together multiple perspectives resulting in a multilayered and multidimensional narratives.

Indeed, these video research techniques could be applied to other situations outside the classroom, a good situation might be an art gallery or museum, where the system could record data on visitors strategies and engagement with exhibits and resources. Of course filming in public spaces, and classroooms, raises ethical issues; and to be effective, needs to be consensual and offer privacy safeguards.

Roy also introduced the audience to  Dot, a panoramic camera lens for the iPhone 4, which  is due to launch and retail at around $99. This looks awesome, and makes 360 degree video capture avaialable at a consumer price point.  As you can see in the screencast above, I have been having a play with one of the video examples from the Kogeto site.  I think it really works with movement as you can follow and zoom in or out on the overtaking cars, or turn back to see something you have passed.  Because every viewing is a different experience, learners can draw their own meaning from a video sequence. Combining movement with multiple viewpoints offers remarkable opportunities for sport and travel based videos. Whether filming a walk through a neigbourhood, recording environmental spaces such as a wood, or simply placing the camera on a table during a conversation; the Dot is sure to offer opportunities for creating innovative video for learning.

 

 

YouTube 2011

Image credit |  JoelinSouthernCA | Creative Commons Licence CC BY-ND

Just in case you missed it, YouTube has enabled users to upload videos using a Creative Commons Licence. This is a very welcome initiative, which now gives all users some basic editing tools to experiment with online. They are pretty basic at the moment  but there is plenty of creative potential. YouTube has seeded the platform with around 10,000 CC licenced clips from sources including; Voice of America and Al Jazeera, together with plenty of sound and music files for creating a soundtrack. Ideal for digital story telling  and of course you can add captions and subtitles to already uploaded movies, using the video’s edit button. Once you have edited and published your video remix and you can download the file. My only caveat is that there isn’t as yet any Search for CC on the main video page.

It seems likely the real value of the CC Licencing will emerge as more CC licenced videos are added to the database. It is also worth mentioning that any videos you have uploaded can be retrospectively changed to a CC licence, which hopefully many of you will do, in order to quickly increase the breadth and depth of the database.

Unfortunately there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the majority of schools still won’t be able access the YouTube platform in order to exploit the learning potential of this, or other recent developments such as YouTube Create. It seems clear such innovations are unlikely to unlock the mindsets of the gatekeepers who filter and block YouTube. They simply recite the old e-safety mantras, without providing significant evidence to justify denying the thousand of teachers and children access to a contemporary and relevant media channel.

Luckily this is not the case for all schools, in Authorities such as East Lothian, or indeed  other countries, for example in Denmark, YouTube is not blocked, and believe it or not; “the sky has not fallen in”.  They are the lucky ones.



What is becoming increasingly clear is that many teachers see real value for learning with YouTube video, and are engaging in research or developing resources. Crowdsourced examples including this wiki on YouTube useage, Tom Barrett’s online survey of web 2.0 blocking, or Jamie Portman’s History video database. I am sure there are many other examples, as well as school YouTube channels. If you know of any lease add them to the comments below. I think the more of these co-ordinated examples we have. the better the arguments with which to counter the gatekeepers.

I have been involved with major international research project, (472 responses), which has shed some light on video and YouTube in schools, and we are beginning to piece together a picture of how educators select and use online video.

As an example teachers many teachers will access YouTube out of school in order to download the video file and convert it to a desktop format for use in class. However such strategies, (which incidentally, break YouTube, Terms of Service), are not always sustainable or scalable because they rely on individual expertise and commitment, or may not have been sanctioned by the school leadership. We also found many  teachers use YouTube as a search engine, in order to find material that matches their curriculum or subject, but that is starting to change, as some are now exploring the affective qualities of video.

I suspect  Creative Commons licencing will encourage a more constructivist approach to video for learning.

Domesday Reloaded (Part 2)

Domesday System by ljw Licence CC  BY-NC-SA

Riding on the wave of excitement generated through BBC Domesday Reloaded project makes this a good time to take an objective look at some of the wider issues arising out of Domesday for learning technology, and if possible learn some lessons for the future.

“In 1986 the BBC launched an ambitious project to record a snapshot of everyday life across the UK for future generations. A million volunteers took part…”

This an interesting statement, because it was never realised through the original project format; but now may be with the release of the Reloaded project, and even more so if the data on the National Disc is finally released. Unless folk were associated with a school or had access at a library it is unlikely they would have had  hands-on experience of the Domesday system.

Many blogs and tweets suggest that Domesday Reloaded is a complete reconstruction of the original 1984-86 project, but that is quite far from the truth. It does not contain any of the rich data from the National Disc. The National Disc contains a great deal of, (authoritative), media and statistics. Just how much can be gauged in the first  section of this promotional video,  specifically from 03:15 > 9:32, on the timeline. It is clear that the Community disc data is culturally significant and  the National data disc completes that anecdotal snapshot of the UK picture with an even and focused coverage.

Neither is it true to suggest that the only reason for the loss of the Domesday data is obsolescent technology. Human shortcomings are just as much, if not more to blame. Although obsolescent technology may have contributed to the the loss of the Domesday system, it was not the only cause. This is evidenced by the fact that researchers based at Leeds University and the University of Michigan working on the Camileon Project were successful in accessing and emulating the BBC's Domesday project on a PC.

Although the systems were superseded by digital optical media, many of the surviving systems, (c.1000 sold), were just left in cupboards or as I heard through trusted anecdotal evidence - in one LEA (Local Education Authority), 2 were simply thrown in the skip when moving offices. Again the human factor... one wonders how many times this was replicated?

Evidence, from Charlesworth. University of Hull, (2002); suggests that the greatest obstacle was clearing Copyright. Nearly all the content, including both data and software has IP rights attached. It appears to be an extremely complex web of rights. Charlesworth’s report also indicates, even at the time of writing (2002),  some rights holders were untraceable and it could be 2090 before all data would be in the public domain.

Should ever such a venture be undertaken in the future (using public funds and contributions) it would make sense to ensure that content providers and contributors were asked to make their work available under a Creative Commons licence, or at least the BBC Creative Archive Licence.  Unfortunately this is not a requirement of the Reloaded initiative and there is no real licencing guidance for contributors other than the BBC’s normal T&Cs. (Even so, everyone should contribute because of the cultural significance of the project).  Similarly it would be hoped any future venture would be developed using Open Source software.

In addition to the  Domesday Reloaded will achieve is to generate awareness and of Domesday, (including the original Domesday Book, which is also online), judging by blog post and tweets this is already happening.  In order to fully appreciate the nature of the BBC Domesday Project it is worth reading this detailed description of Domesday and also the work of  Darlington, Finney and Pearce describing the recovery of the data on the discs. Sadly; Adrian Pearce died in 2008 and his original site is no longer available but the http://www.domesday1986.com/ URL now links to the Domesday Special Interest Group.

Update
There are indications from the Centre for Computing History that they are working with the National Disc and hoping to make it live in the near future. Great news if it happens.

 

If there are any factual errors in this post please let me know and I will amend as appropriate.

 

Domesday Reloaded (Part 1)

George Auckland by Rain Rabitt  Licence  CC- BY-NC

Firstly,  I think we should all congratulate George Auckland  and his team for breathing new life into the 1984-86 Domesday Project. I have met George several times and have been privileged to hear him to speak at conferences, and have never failed to be moved by his knowledge, modesty and vision. George can now add Domesday Reloaded to his significant achievements.  Domesday Reloaded is a “full extraction of the community disc  - This is the material which has been published online as the centrepiece of the BBC “Domesday Reloaded website.”

The significance of the original BBC Domesday Project should not be underestimated in the history of audio visual learning. Undertaken in 1984 and first published in 1986, Its mission was to capture a snapshot of life in the UK by combining geographical information with cultural media, data and statistics. In some ways this can be seen as a forerunner of today's crowd-sourced interactive media. A collaborative venture between the BBC, schools and the general public, two laser-vision data discs contained over 80,000 images, OS Maps and professional video footage. Its scope can be gathered from this detailed promotional video.  Unfortunately the combination of the high cost of hardware and its technical complexity meant it was never able to fulfill its true educational potential. It is not surprising that many of those concepts would re-emerge later, facilitated by Internet based platforms.

My initial reaction was excitement and elation, the first thing I did was to look where I grew up and read the comments, most from schoolchildren, some I knew. Judging by the Twitter stream resulting from a search on “Domesday.”  I was not alone. “Memories” is the recurring theme, and the stream is littered with anecdotes of personal involvement or recollections of a place.  Very interestingly quite a few folks suggest that Domesday extended their vision of the possibilities of IT, especially in relation to learning.

At the time I was a, (young), ICT advisor with Bradford LA and privileged to be able to run a Domesday project with  local schools who would “borrow” one of our systems for a month, (we had both the BBC Master and RM PC186 driven players). The schools set up projects using the kit and evaluated their potential through teacher feedback and students work. Sadly it is unlikely any of that still exists.

Following the live Twitterstream, as I write this; I am amazed by the number of tweeters who have identified, and are already sharing their original contributions the project. A  thread running through the tweets is an unbridled craving for this type of resource. It will be interesting to watch, over the coming months, how this project brings people together.

Domesday Reloaded once again offers great opportunities learning and I am sure schools throughout the land will already be planning projects based on Domesday.
Children (and adults), can engage once again engage with the country we live in and compare our lives  then and now through contributing to the site.

It is pleasing to hear that future of the original community content, plus the updated site  will be assured by the National Archive as stated in this BBC news item

“The revised Domesday archive will finally be closed to new contributions in November, at which time it will be handed over to The National Archives Future generations will be able to access this unique snapshot of life in Britain online for as long as the Internet keeps working.

Part 2, will look at the wider implications of Domesday.