Logo, slides, and legal stuff

[Clinton Blackmore]

Hi everyone.

Well, it is a holiday today, and I am hoping to be able to sit down and make some videos.  I've got a couple of sequences in mind.

First, the logo.  Part of me says, "let's find the perfect logo" and part of me says, "let's take something that is good enough and move on" (and that we might improve on later)..  Does anyone else have other logo ideas, in descriptive or picture form?  Anyone dislike the gear logo?  Any thoughts on what colours the elements for the gear logo should be?

I am thinking that the easiest way for us to have a consistent set of screens (title screen, legal screen, optional challenge screen, extro screen) is to create master slides in a powerpoint presentation.  While I'm not particularly fond of powerpoint, it seems like the tool for the job, and people without it ought to be able to open the file with Open Office, Libre Office, Keynote, and possibly Google Docs or other applications.  Then it ought to be a matter of installing a common font, editing some text, and capturing the slides as necessary with your screencasting program (and editing with it).  Thoughts?  Any other slides we should have?

Luke's video, showing a possible intro sequence, was neat.  If we can do that in powerpoint, and make it really quick (like 2 seconds for the total intro + legal screen), I think we are on to something.

Luke also mentioned showing the educator in the video.  My thought is to make that optional.  The article Jim originally linked to says:

Khan suspects there is a hidden power in the fact that he never appears onscreen in his videos. The only visual is his handwriting, slowly filling the screen. “That way, it doesn’t seem like I’m up on a stage lecturing down at you,” he says. “It’s intimate, like we’re both sitting at a table and we’re working through something together, writing on a piece of paper.”

Other people have told me that seeing a talking face in the video really makes it easier to relate to the person and material.  Any opinions?  Shall we just let the videographer choose?

Finally, there are two legal items I'd like to discuss:

1.  LEGO provides some disclaimer text they encourage a person to use:

Use a Disclaimer

 

A disclaimer should be used when the LEGO trademark appears on a Web page. An appropriate disclaimer would be "LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site". However, a disclaimer will not serve to undo an improper trademark use. Therefore, use of the LEGO logo or improper use of the LEGO trademark cannot be made proper by including a disclaimer. 

I can't help but think, though, that in the future, we might be using other equipment.  It would be a mouthful to say that line, and add in similar disclaimers about robots from Vex or Ollo or something about FIRST or Robocup Jr competitions or even equipment from Mindsensors/Dexter Industries/HiTechnic/Vernier, and so on.  Is there some sort of blanket disclaimer we can use?

2.  Next, I'd like to be able to ensure that people can use the content in robotics classes or camps.  In some sense, if it is on youtube, there isn't really a problem.  It may also be nice to allow for re-use and re-mixing.  I think a Creative Commons license is appropriate.  I'd go for the one that Khan uses, CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike), except that I think the "Noncommercial" clause would make it illegal for people to use in a for-pay course.  Thus, I think that CC BY-SA (Attribution, Share Alike) is the way to go.  The one downside I see to it is that someone could potentially take the videos and sell them as a collection and keep all the money to themselves.  Then again, one can legally sell copies of the Firefox web browser, and some people do, but I don't think it is really a problem.  The upside -- a person could modify the videos and record new audio (in your native language, for example), or re-mix different videos to take our work and make something new.  Also, the 'share alike' clause means they'd have to release the work under the same license, and more of this could occur.  It is also worth noting that Youtube allows you to use the "Standard Youtube License" or a Creative Commons License.  Here is their writeup on choosing a CC license.

In any event, if you'd kindly take a look at the two CC license links, you'll find they offer a human explanation as to what the terms mean and it is quite readable.  I'd love some feedback.  My vote is for CC BY-SA.

Well, I think that is everything.

Have a great day!

Clinton

[Dave Parker]

Hi Clinton and all,

I also hope to get started actually making videos this upcoming week.
I have completed enough planning to get started. I am now planning on
covering NXT-G programming, split into about 10 levels of about 15-20
short videos each. Contrary to what I said before, I think I will go
ahead and start at the beginning level, so that it will make more
sense for people joining in and following along as they come out.

I appreciate all the thought you all are putting into suggesting a
standard video format, titles, license, etc., but I must say that I am
thinking this makes it more constrained than necessary, and I'm not
sure we need this. Can't Robot Video Academy just be a collection of
links to videos from several sources (and several authors), with each
series having its own style (certainly its own content/theme), and
therefore no real need for a common intro/exit, or even any common
branding on the video itself? Personally, I am planning on hosting a
roadmap (links to) my videos on my own site also, and therefore for
any branding or links "back" to a roadmap or whatever, I may just want
to put that back to my site, especially if my site has the more up-to-
date information and such, or maybe I would prefer RVA or want to put
in both brands/links, but at this point I don't really know. What I
am saying is that I would like the flexibility to do it either way and
not have to enforce this as a standard. Certainly when I refer people
to the videos, it would be handy to say "just go to
robotvidoeacademy.com" if that turns out handy to use, but on the
videos themselves, I need to think about what makes it easier to use
as a series for the viewer.

So seeing RVA as "just" a clearinghouse of links to free robotics-
related videos (that are likely also hosted elsewhere in several
places), not a joint authorship (or any kind of copyright holder),
seems fine to me. And with more flexibility in this way I think we
make it easier to attract more authors, and we can also just add links
as we fit to videos we find, without entering into some kind of legal
agreement with the author, etc. If it's on youtube and we find it, we
are legally free to link to it (with appropriate attribution and
respect), and the author will appreciate it. Does this make sense?

As far as a video style, I am currently leaning towards having no
intro slide in most cases (per khanacademy, just draw the viewer in
right away with some action), and just a single quick exit slide. I
am also thinking I (the teacher) will pretty much never be visible.
But that's just my preference, I would like you all to be free to do
something different as you see fit.

I plan to steer clear of showing LEGO and other trademarks much, but
any mention that I do make of them will certainly be "fair use", and
LEGO has no business going after me. Hopefully they will appreciate
this whole effort!

And on the license terms, I will be honest and say that I think I need
to leave the option open to be able to control this myself for my
videos as I see fit in the future. Although I certainly share the
vision of free videos on youtube and want to do it that way, I think
given the amount of work I am going to put into this, I will need to
reserve the right to perhaps distribute these videos in another form,
or possibly even license (possibly modified versions of) them to
another party in the future. I am not well-versed on licensing, and I
will need to read up on these and think about it, but suffice it to
say that I am a little resistant to committing to something now. What
does this mean to what CVA can say about a license? Maybe you don't
need to say anything. The links go to youtube, which has some kind of
license for the video in place there, depending on the videos and the
author. Or if you feel the need to specify a license for the videos
up front on the RVA site, perhaps the license can be a different small
link/blurb for each video series, which is always subject to change by
the author. I'm not trying to be difficult here... In fact, I hope I
am trying to make this simpler by just saying RVA as a whole not worry
about this issue and not try to standardize it.

On a logo for the RVA site, I have no strong opinion on this, and I am
certainly not an artist. Generally I would lean towards just some
nice looking text and maybe a very subtle graphic, but I don't think
this is real important to figure out now. Logos and website designs
change over time. Just having a working web page with links on it
would be great at this point!

Finally on the logistics of this all for my videos, here is what I am
thinking I will do:
1. Author a chunk of 5-10 videos at a time and post them to youtube as
"unlisted".
2. I will post here a list of the links on this forum and allow
anybody to provide me any feedback if they want (but no requirement/
expectation either way)
3. When I am happy with the chunk as far as content and such, I will
link to them from my website, and then also change the videos to
"public".
4. I can then send a snippet of HTML that contains links to the
videos, suitable for posting to RVA, to the site author (Clinton I
assume?)
5. If there is going to be any kind of final "acceptance" criteria for
whether the videos appear on RVA or not, that could happen here,
before they appear on RVA.

I hope this all makes sense and doesn't offend anybody. Generally I
am a fan of less overhead, less bureaucracy, and more flexibility, and
generally keeping things simple.

-- Dave

[Clinton Blackmore]

Thank you, Dave, for your thoughts.  No offense taken.  I find myself agreeing with much of what you say.  Not worrying about an intro sequence does indeed make it easier to start producing videos and easier for other people to contribute, and, as you say, Khan seems to have gotten away with it.

I'm trying to imagine my own videos without an intro.  Would it be alright to have some videos with what looks like an official intro, and others without?  Also, what if you, Dave, want to brand your videos as belonging to nxtprograms, will they look funny as part of RVA?

So long as we all agree that being on youtube means that people can use the videos in their courses, I'm happy to let people license their videos however they wish.

I think your steps for getting the videos up sound fine.  Sending me the links to the Youtube videos for when it is time for them to go live should suffice.  For now, let's set the bar for "suitable to be officially on RVA" to be two people here giving the video the thumbs up.

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback.  If anyone else would like to chime in, on any of the topics, please do so.

Cheers,

Clinton

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[Clinton Blackmore]

All right, I've attached a powerpoint presentation with a title screen and an optional challenge screen, and images to show what they look like.

Here's how I've laid things out.

- The title screen has a spot for the logo, the title of the video, what sort of robot you are working with (ex. Mindstorms NXT, Vex, Arduino, etc), the program language (when applicable), your name, and your optional URL or e-mail address.

- The challenge screen is entirely optional.

Looking at LEGO and FIRST videos, I don't see them putting up a legal disclaimer screen.  While I want to be careful to add in 'TM' symbols where appropriate, I think (hope!) that putting up a legal disclaimer on the site will be sufficient.

One thing the slide lacks is the RVA URL.  I'm kind of thinking that it is just not a big deal, and if anyone googles "Robot Video Academy", they'll find it.

Also, I'm not putting up a "CC BY SA" logo.  If the video is on youtube, people can use it.  If anyone wants to translate, they can shoot the author an e-mail and obtain permission.

My thinking is that to be an official RVA video, you need to put up the title image.  It is one static image to make it as easy as possible for you to use in your screencast.

Thoughts?

I hope to put some videos up today.

Clinton

[Dave Parker]

My thoughts on title images and such are currently as follows:

1. I am thinking no beginning title on most videos (except perhaps
intro to a series). Idea is to try to not waste the user's time when
watching a series of short videos, to draw them in, and encourage
watching several videos in a row.

2. All videos will have an exit slide with logo/attribution, and on
this slide there is a blank area on the bottom which will leave room
for any YouTube annotation links. I am currently thinking my videos
will have two links on the bottom of the exit slide that will appear
after 1 second or so: a link to a roadmap or table of contents video
(too bad YouTube does not allow links to websites in annotations, but
the TOC video can show the url), and then a link to the next video in
the series. So to minimize wasting the user's time, when they see the
exit slide, they can either read it or just press the link to the next
video, which will then start right away. I am hoping this will
encourage watching several videos in a row, regardless of whether the
user is using a YouTube playlist or not, or notices the playlist
links. And If and when they link straight into a misc video in the
middle of a series (will happen a lot the way YouTube works), they can
click the roadmap link at the end to get oriented.

I do like the idea of a challenge at the end, and I was planning that
for my videos that it fit in with. I was thinking just narrate it in
the video though, no text slide. Keeping it simple and less formal
looking. Khan thinks part of his success with viewers is the casual
conversational approach, and looking and feeling less like a homework
assignment.

I like your RVA logo. BTW, It reminds me of some vintage logo, Rotary
Club I think. Maybe in the center of the gear could be a computer
monitor?

I am not sure a text video title is necessary in the video, as the
YouTube video title will have it. Not sure about this.

So on your title slide, maybe if you free up some space on the bottom
for links (perhaps remove the video title text?), and use it at the
end instead of the beginning, it would fit with what I am thinking
above. We don't all need to use it this way. I think it's fine if
you use it as a beginning title and I use it as an ending slide, for
example.

-- Dave