Web application and video curation

[Clinton Blackmore]

Greetings.

I've been contemplating how to organize the videos on the web.

I can't help but think there is a web application that does what we need, but not knowing of it, I'm thinking along these lines:

- running a site using Wordpress  [I'm no expert by any means, but I can get one up and running]

- each video will have its own post

- using a plugin for ratings  [Wordpress has thousands of plugins]

- using a plugin for a tag cloud

- allowing people to comment and ask questions  [or do we want a separate forum, perhaps using Mindboards, if they'll let us]?

I suspect there is a way we could make use of the tag cloud to help organize things that touch on common topics.  [ie. use a tag for blocks important to your video, and by clicking on the tag, you can see all other videos that consider the block to be important.]

I also believe we'd need to create some sort of index pages -- a table of contents of sorts.  We may need to do it manually, but there may be a plugin for that, too.

I'm not quite clear on how something would go from the beta stream to being approved and ready for everyone.  Here are some ideas I have:

- write up the blog post (with the embedded video) but don't publish it.  Other bloggers on the site review it (leaving comments?) and, when we like it, it goes live.

- all posts go live; they are sorted by popularity.  You have to go looking for new video posts, and then vote for the ones you like.

- as above, but the videos only make it into the index when they get a three-star rating or better.

- videos are kept on youtube, and we are notified (somehow) that they exist [maybe a special 'beta videos' page that gets updated.]  If we like it, we vote it up on Youtube.  With enough votes (4?), the video is deemed good enough and goes live.

I'm quite happy to run other web applications, and I'd love to hear additional thoughts on moving videos from beta to curated -- any thoughts or suggestions?

Cheers,

Clinton

[Clinton Blackmore]

I recognize their is a possibility of other sites (such as the NXT step or HiTechnic's site) wanting to show off the videos, and I think that'd be awesome.  I'm good with the idea that they can index and show off the videos in a way that is meaningful to the specific site.  If we do decide to go with comments with the post that includes the videos, then it would be nice for other sites to link to that page instead of simply embedding the video.

Any thoughts?

Clinton

[Dave Parker]

Given that the videos will live on YouTube, and that several sites may
link into them, it might make sense to try to use as much of the
YouTube infrastructure as possible rather than layering it elsewhere.
In addition, I have noticed that many kids nowadays basically “live”
directly on YouTube, following related links and so on. So maybe we
could categorize videos by coming up with some standard YouTube
keywords, in particular a special one-word keyword such as
“MindstormsAcademy”, and use other keywords for the sub-topic (e.g.
“NXT-G” or “Enchanting”). Throw in a few other common keywords for
all videos to share such as “LEGO” “Mindstorms” “NXT” and then I think
there will be a high correlation of all the M Academy content via
related links. Web pages that link in can still make nice organized
lists of links like khanacademy does, however they see fit.

We could just use YouTube’s ratings. Not great, but no rating system
is.

For the Beta stage, perhaps an author just posts to YouTube initially
“private” and invites the other authors to view it, then once it gets
a few good ratings, the author can change it to public (honor system
on that step).

I am assuming each author would still post to his own YouTube channel,
which would thus make an easy way to organize by author. It would
also be possible to start a new common channel that we all contribute
to, but that might get a little strange, not sure. My instinct tells
me multiple channels by author would be better, linked by keywords.

Not sure what to do about comments/forums. YouTube comments tent to
suck royally in qualify. On my project videos, 95% of the comments
are trash junk, but then again my videos are often mistaken as
attempts at entertainment. Or maybe it’s just that kids nowadays
mistake life as entertainment… In any case, maybe videos that were
obviously more educational in nature would attract better comments.
We could try it (allow comments) and see how it goes, and disable as
necessary if and when they get out of control stupid.

Really not sure what to do about a forum. If YouTube comments are
enabled, users will use it as a forum whether you want them to or not,
and you (the author) can either answer their questions or ignore them,
and others will occasionally chime in with “answers” of unknown
quality. Maybe it will work, but I think it would be very hit or
miss. Not sure what to think about an outside forum. I am somewhat
sensitive on the issue of “user support” as I tend to get a boat load
of rather stupid questions my way, and don’t really want to encourage
more. But I do want to answer legitimate questions from teachers and
well-meaning students, etc. Hmm.

-- Dave

[James Floyd Kelly]

I go either way with YouTube commenting -- I think people will use it and abuse it. But if we disable, we must provide a place to discuss.  But why reinvent the wheel?  I'm betting we could ask the Nxtasy group to setup a special area on their own forum for discussions of the videos. Each video should have a unique name/number and each video would have a matching forum discussion group.  You could also put in an area for posting errors, suggestions, etc.

One other thing to consider -- I would suggest that after standards have been defined that a video be made that teaches others how to make videos.  It would cover the proper software to use, proper language etiquette, how to do screen captures, and anything else that comes to mind.  I think one large goal of this project should be to encourage others to make videos so that the library grows big and grows fast...

And btw, Mindstorms is not copyrighted/trademarked as far as I know, so using that word is probably not going to get us in trouble... I think.

Jim

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[Clinton Blackmore]

 On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 12:00 PM, James Floyd Kelly <jktech...@gmail.com> wrote:

I go either way with YouTube commenting -- I think people will use it and abuse it. But if we disable, we must provide a place to discuss.  But why reinvent the wheel?  I'm betting we could ask the Nxtasy group to setup a special area on their own forum for discussions of the videos. Each video should have a unique name/number and each video would have a matching forum discussion group.  You could also put in an area for posting errors, suggestions, etc.

It seems to me that the advantages in using a real forum for the videos (and not just youtube comments) are:

- people other than the author will be aware that a question has been posed (and so are more likely to answer it)

- users will already be at the forum, and can find additional help on other topics

- the extra bit of effort might weed out comments that don't make the internet a better place.

 

One other thing to consider -- I would suggest that after standards have been defined that a video be made that teaches others how to make videos.  It would cover the proper software to use, proper language etiquette, how to do screen captures, and anything else that comes to mind.  I think one large goal of this project should be to encourage others to make videos so that the library grows big and grows fast...

I like that idea a lot. 

And btw, Mindstorms is not copyrighted/trademarked as far as I know, so using that word is probably not going to get us in trouble... I think.

What an exciting possibility.  I did some searching, and it appears to me that Mindstorms is a registered trademark of the LEGO group.  (Darn)

LEGO has a brochure called Fair Play.  The normal link is giving me a 404 error, but here is a cached copy.

The fourth from last page is called "Attempted Association".  Here are some snippets:

Attempted Association with 

the LEGO Group by unrelated parties  

Time and again, we see our products and 

trademarks used in the marketing of totally 

unrelated products and services, giving 

the impression that the LEGO Group is 

somehow involved in or associated with 

such business activities or services, with 

which we are not actually involved.  

...

The 

attempts of others to gain a reputation by 

associating their unrelated, unauthorized 

or unlicensed products with the LEGO 

Group may enhance their commercial 

prospects, but if used without our 

permission, may constitute trademark 

or copyright infringement. Therefore, we 

emphasize that unrelated third parties 

are not permitted to use trademarks or 

copyrights of the LEGO Group for their own 

commercial or marketing purposes, unless 

formal permission or a written license has 

been granted by the LEGO Group.

For these same reasons, the LEGO Group 

has implemented a general policy against 

the use of our name, products and logos 

by business associates, e.g. suppliers, in 

their own advertising.  We allow business 

associates to include our company name 

on a reference list.

I suppose we could always trying asking LEGO to allow us to use the Mindstorms term for this non-commercial endeavour, but with the distributed nature of the video creation, I am skeptical that they'd grant permission.  [I also think we'll need to put a standard disclaimer on the videos.]

Some of you have actually dealt with the LEGO company -- any further thoughts or insight on the matter?

Jim

More comments below ...

 

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 12:14 PM, Dave Parker <bl...@nxtprograms.com> wrote:

Given that the videos will live on YouTube, and that several sites may
link into them, it might make sense to try to use as much of the
YouTube infrastructure as possible rather than layering it elsewhere.
In addition, I have noticed that many kids nowadays basically “live”
directly on YouTube, following related links and so on.  So maybe we
could categorize videos by coming up with some standard YouTube
keywords, in particular a special one-word keyword such as
“MindstormsAcademy”, and use other keywords for the sub-topic (e.g.
“NXT-G” or “Enchanting”).   Throw in a few other common keywords for
all videos to share such as “LEGO” “Mindstorms” “NXT” and then I think
there will be a high correlation of all the M Academy content via
related links.  Web pages that link in can still make nice organized
lists of links like khanacademy does, however they see fit.

We could just use YouTube’s ratings.  Not great, but no rating system
is.

For the Beta stage, perhaps an author just posts to YouTube initially
“private” and invites the other authors to view it, then once it gets
a few good ratings, the author can change it to public (honor system
on that step).

Another thought is that the video is tagged "MindstormsAcademyBeta" until such time as it is approved, and then "MindstormsAcademy" afterwards.

Also, I think YouTube playlists may be helpful in organizing videos, or instruction around the videos.

 

I am assuming each author would still post to his own YouTube channel,
which would thus make an easy way to organize by author.  It would
also be possible to start a new common channel that we all contribute
to, but that might get a little strange, not sure.  My instinct tells
me multiple channels by author would be better, linked by keywords.

My instincts concur. 

Not sure what to do about comments/forums.  YouTube comments tent to
suck royally in qualify.  On my project videos, 95% of the comments
are trash junk, but then again my videos are often mistaken as
attempts at entertainment.  Or maybe it’s just that kids nowadays
mistake life as entertainment…  In any case, maybe videos that were
obviously more educational in nature would attract better comments.
We could try it (allow comments) and see how it goes, and disable as
necessary if and when they get out of control stupid.

Really not sure what to do about a forum.  If YouTube comments are
enabled, users will use it as a forum whether you want them to or not,
and you (the author) can either answer their questions or ignore them,
and others will occasionally chime in with “answers” of unknown
quality.  Maybe it will work, but I think it would be very hit or
miss.  Not sure what to think about an outside forum.  I am somewhat
sensitive on the issue of “user support” as I tend to get a boat load
of rather stupid questions my way, and don’t really want to encourage
more.  But I do want to answer legitimate questions from teachers and
well-meaning students, etc.  Hmm.

I'm partial to using Mindboards.

 

-- Dave

Cheers,

Clinton 

[James Floyd Kelly]

I'll have to check again but there was a famous book a while back titled Mindstorm or Mindstorms and LEGO corporate has never balked at the Mindstorms tag being misspelled or misused... which makes me think it's a safe word... but I'll do some hunting.

Jim

--

[Damien Kee]

'Mindstorms' was originally conceived by Papert when talking about the constructionist approach to education.  I can't see it being an issue

cheers

damo

[Damien Kee]

I'd also favour YouTube, and with each author posting to their own channel but with some common keywords.

It would then be best to leverage the popularity of theNXTstep and setup a bag that aggregates it all together.  we do need somewhere for discussion to take place, and we could disable the comments in youtube, and direct people to some sort of forum?

I'd also strongly suggest setting up something like a Google doc spreadsheet to start organising topics and people.

cheers

damo

--

[Clinton Blackmore]

"Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas" [amazon] was written by Seymour Papert, the inventor of LOGO, in 1980.  LEGO trademarked the term in 1997, before releasing the RCX.

I'm hoping it is safe, but if you could do some hunting, Jim, I'd appreciate it.

Clinton

[James Floyd Kelly]

I think the TM applies to the look and style... not the word.  Damien had a previous comment that I believe was correct.

[James Floyd Kelly]

In the upcoming weeks, I'm more than willing to take a stab at a video or two, but I could sure use some tech help on how to properly record screen movements, my voice, etc... anyone have any suggestions for good (hopefully free, open source) software?

[Clinton Blackmore]

What platform are you using, Jim? (Windows, OS X?  I'd guess Ubuntu save that NXT-G doesn't run on it).

Clinton

[Damien Kee]

Jim,

I've used camstudio (free) to do audio and capture the NXT-G screen with good results.  I'm going to post my first video on the MOVE block shortly.

Then Windows movie make live to splice it in with live video of the robot.

[Clinton Blackmore]

On Aug 5, 2:51 pm, Damien Kee <dam...@domabotics.com> wrote:
> I'd also favour YouTube, and with each author posting to their own channel
> but with some common keywords.
>

Seconded.

> It would then be best to leverage the popularity of theNXTstep and setup a
> bag that aggregates it all together.  we do need somewhere for discussion to
> take place, and we could disable the comments in youtube, and direct people
> to some sort of forum?

I'd be happy to shoot Xander an e-mail, although some of you may know
him, or one of the other people behind the mindboards, better. Any
volunteers to ask if we can have a board on the forum?

>
> I'd also strongly suggest setting up something like a Google doc spreadsheet
> to start organising topics and people.

Does using google docs require a google account? Anyone have a
difficulty with using a google spreadsheet? (I could, alternatively,
set up a page on the Enchanting wiki).

> cheers
> damo

Clinton

[Damien Kee]

You don't need a google doc account to edit (providing it has been setup for public editing) but the wiki would also be fine.

Anything is better than email to co-ordinate something like this! :)  (as opposed to discuss, which email is fine)

Clinton

[Clinton Blackmore]

Well, then, would you like to create a google spreadsheet, Damien, and share it with us?

Clinton

[Damien Kee]

Done!!

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhQtVe-fbnVAdDRZOEIwVGRtZ3FUZzlwSG9nQUk0THc&hl=en_GB

I've only made a very rough outline, I'm sure it will evolve over time.

I've added in a column where people can indicate they are working on something, but also a 'completed by' date so that topics are not forgotten about.

thoughts?

cheers

damo

[James Floyd Kelly]

I would suggest that anyone wanting to do a video only sign up for one right now until we see what everyone comes up with.

[James Floyd Kelly]

And whatever tags you add to your vids be sure to include nxt as if this project is a success then it wil likely be continued for the next version of mindstorms.

[Clinton Blackmore]

Thanks, Damien!

I broke the spreadsheet up into multiple sheets, with one that is specifically for NXT-G videos, and a sheet for things that are conceptual, and I signed up to do a concept video showing how the ultrasonic sensor works.

---

I do see a couple of downsides to just using YouTube.

• Some things are not best explained with video, or work better if supplemented with text.
• Likewise, it is hard to have, say, an interactive simulation that a person can try out.
• Lastly, if we wanted to try to do questions to assess pupils, much as is done in Khan Academy, there isn't a suitable place to do that.

I don't think any of these problems are show-stoppers; we can probably address them in the future if needful.  

Cheers,

Clinton

[Damien Kee]

Looks good,

Can I be picky and request that dates be entered as month / day eg August 5th.  That way there is no international confusion :)

--

Sent from my phone, please excuse the brevity

[James Floyd Kelly]

I've signed up for the DISPLAY block but I'll likely break it into 3 videos (only doing 1 at first) -- Text first, then maybe Image followed by Drawing... each video will cover only 1 of the 3 things that can be displayed on the LCD.

[Clinton Blackmore]

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 5:40 PM, Damien Kee <dam...@domabotics.com> wrote:

Looks good,

Can I be picky and request that dates be entered as month / day eg August 5th.  That way there is no international confusion :)

Sure.  (Actually, I did type in August 8, and then the spreadsheet converted it to a different format.  I'll be sure to force it to be text.  My preferred complete date format is 2011-08-12, but I don't think we need the year here.)

Clinton

[Clinton Blackmore]

I've spoken with my father-in-law, who deals with trademark issues for his company all the time, and has taken a course in it.  Here is my understanding:

1.  Trademark exists so that people can be sure a given product or service comes from a given manufacturer.

2.  A company has to enforce trademark violations or they lose trademark protection status, and the term becomes generic.

3.  LEGO owns the rights to the word "Mindstorms" as it pertains to robotics (and not just a graphical rendition of it).

4.  You can talk or write about a product so long as you make it clear that someone else owns the trademark.

5.  You can't launch a product or service using someone else's trademark.

If you hear of something called "Mindstorms Academy", would you not think it was sponsored by LEGO?  We can no more call our work "Mindstorms Academy" than we could call it "Lego Acadmy" without permission from LEGO.  [Incidentally, LEGO offers a product/service called "LEGO Master Builder Academy"].

To further the point, here are some other things of interest:

-  There is a store/training service called "Bricks4Kidz".  Everything they do uses LEGO Bricks, but they can't use the term in their name.

- People who are certified to run LEGO Serious Play courses (to enhance communication and understanding in businesses and education) can not offer courses with LEGO Serious Play in the title.  (They can mention that it is used in smaller print).  [Reference] 

- Carnegie Mellon University runs something called "Robotics Academy".  It is clear they have a partnership with LEGO Education, and thus they are able to offer instruction under the name "NXTeacher".

- A project to create an alternative operating system for the RCX was called "legOS" and changed the name to "brickOS".  This page states, "Note: brickOS was formerly known as legOS. Complaints from LEGO forced the name change."

I believe we have two choices:

- we can get written permission from LEGO to use the Mindstorms term

- or we can come up with a different title for the series of videos

Cheers,

Clinton

[Graeme]

It was precisely for this reason (possible trademark hassles) that I
avoided any NXT/LEGO/MindStorms label and called my NXT-G tutorial web
site DrGraeme.net!
Regarding this group's name, I suspect that the potential quality of
the work produced by this group will be so high that it will be found
on the web and get lots of attention, whatever you decide to call
it...
Graeme.

On Aug 7, 4:10 am, Clinton Blackmore <clinton.blackm...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I've spoken with my father-in-law, who deals with trademark issues for his
> company all the time, and has taken a course in it.  Here is my
> understanding:
>
> 1.  Trademark exists so that people can be sure a given product or service
> comes from a given manufacturer.
> 2.  A company has to enforce trademark violations or they lose trademark
> protection status, and the term becomes generic.
> 3.  LEGO owns the rights to the word

> "Mindstorms"<http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:umcns8.2.11>

> as
> it pertains to robotics (and not just a graphical rendition of it).
> 4.  You can talk or write about a product so long as you make it clear that
> someone else owns the trademark.
> 5.  You can't launch a product or service using someone else's trademark.
>
> If you hear of something called "Mindstorms Academy", would you not think it
> was sponsored by LEGO?  We can no more call our work "Mindstorms Academy"
> than we could call it "Lego Acadmy" without permission from LEGO.
>  [Incidentally, LEGO offers a product/service called "LEGO Master Builder

> Academy <http://mba.lego.com/>"].

>
> To further the point, here are some other things of interest:
>
> -  There is a store/training service called

> "Bricks4Kidz<http://www.bricks4kidz.com/>".

>  Everything they do uses LEGO Bricks, but they can't use the term in their
> name.
>
> - People who are certified to run LEGO Serious Play courses (to enhance
> communication and understanding in businesses and education) can not offer
> courses with LEGO Serious Play in the title.  (They can mention that it is
> used in smaller print).

> [Reference<https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5032997/LEGO%20Serious%20Play%20OS/LEGO%C2%A...>
> ]

>
> - Carnegie Mellon University runs something called "Robotics Academy".  It
> is clear they have a partnership with LEGO Education, and thus they are able
> to offer instruction under the name "NXTeacher".
>
> - A project to create an alternative operating system for the RCX was called

> "legOS" and changed the name to "brickOS <http://brickos.sourceforge.net/>".
>  This page <http://user.it.uu.se/~tobiasa/lego-resources.html> states, "*Note:

> brickOS was formerly known as legOS. Complaints from LEGO forced the name

> change.*"

>
> I believe we have two choices:
>
> - we can get written permission from LEGO to use the Mindstorms term
> - or we can come up with a different title for the series of videos
>
> Cheers,
> Clinton
>

> On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 3:06 PM, James Floyd Kelly <jktechwri...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > I think the TM applies to the look and style... not the word.  Damien had a
> > previous comment that I believe was correct.
>
> > On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 4:02 PM, Clinton Blackmore <

> > clinton.blackm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> "Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindstorms:_Children,_Computers,_and_Pow...>"
> >> [amazon<http://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerful-Ideas/dp...>]

> >> was written by Seymour Papert, the inventor of LOGO, in 1980.  LEGO
> >> trademarked the term in 1997, before releasing the RCX.
>
> >> I'm hoping it is safe, but if you could do some hunting, Jim, I'd
> >> appreciate it.
>
> >> Clinton
>
> >> On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 2:52 PM, Damien Kee <dam...@domabotics.com> wrote:
>
> >>> 'Mindstorms' was originally conceived by Papert when talking about the
> >>> constructionist approach to education.  I can't see it being an issue
>
> >>> cheers
> >>> damo
>

> >>> On 6 August 2011 06:49, James Floyd Kelly <jktechwri...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>>> I'll have to check again but there was a famous book a while back titled
> >>>> Mindstorm or Mindstorms and LEGO corporate has never balked at the
> >>>> Mindstorms tag being misspelled or misused... which makes me think it's a
> >>>> safe word... but I'll do some hunting.
>
> >>>> Jim
>
> >>>> On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 2:52 PM, Clinton Blackmore <
> >>>> clinton.blackm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>>>>  On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 12:00 PM, James Floyd Kelly <

> >>>>> me that Mindstorms is a registered trademark<http://socialmedia.trademarkia.com/mindstorms-75259604.html>of the LEGO group.  (Darn)

>
> >>>>> LEGO has a brochure called Fair Play.  The normal link is giving me a

> >>>>> 404 error, but here is a cached copy<http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/AboutUsCorporateRespon...>
> >>>>> .

> ...
>
> read more »