Questioning the Teachertube
I recieved this email today, quite out of the blue, so to speak, have a read:
Hi Simon,
I have just checked out the video clip Why Teach Technology on your site
and wonder if i can make a couple of comments?
1: The quality of the images you have used is sub standard…throughout
the the entire clip thereare images of ok resoltuion and
others that have pixelated so badly that they are not worth
using…….if using imahes from the web and u have found them using
google image
set your image size to large…any other size gives you the result u
have in your clip.
2. The clip is to stactic. it is a video not a slide show…therefor
your text and images should have movement. Moving the text and the image
will allow you to draw focus / attention to the image and words. I dont
know what you create the clip in but adding motion will greatly increase
the imapct of the clip.
3. Also you have used images of varying shape and sizes which doesnt
increase the imapct of the clip but rather distracts from it. Really
you need to use clips that will fill your screen…either 4:3 or 16:9
ratio…so you may need to zoom images in to fill the screen……tv
screens and data projector screens are rectangular in shape so to
effectivly use the space only use landscape nased images…if an image
is portrait based then zoom in or find another image.
4. I note that some of the images you have used were created and signed
by others…ir u dont own the image. Be careful about using other
peoples images. If you are wanting to promote technology then u need to
ensure that you dont cross the ethical boundries by using images
you have created or captured yourself. Just because an image is online
doesnt mean that you can use it. check out each images copyright uses
and restrictions
before downlaoding. Images automatically some with international
copyright protection…..
5. The same thing applies to the audio track….in order to use clips, u
need to gain permission from the proper people….in some cases they are
free in others, u may need to pay tens of thousands of dollars. be
careful with what u use esoically if u post on line.
6. The fonts you have used didnt add to the clip…again they were
static and placed centrally….yawn! use a thicker font.
7. When putting together clips keep in mind the person viewing the
show…..if someone came in part way through the clip
playing and began to view it, would they understand what you are trying
to tell them? more often than not they wont.
hope the above is of some use to you……..
any questions just ask.
Download: Posted by Dragon09 at TeacherTube.com.
It got me thinking about several things to do with Teachertube:
-
- What is the purpose of posting material to Teachertube?
- Who is to benefit from the posting?
- What quality of video/audio is permissable on such a format, and at what point does the quality impact on whether material is valuable or not?
- Remembering that we are all teachers/ administrators etc, should be expect one another to produce a ‘Spielberg’ quality piece or are we all just out to support, encourage and inspire each other?
- The Youtube: Disney copyright video I found on Sheryl’s blog defines ‘fair use’ but my question really is: Is that in the US only or is it some International standard/ expectation?
- Are ALL available (Googled) images open to being used in the way that I have?
- What about copyright for audio tracks that are being used as background to many Teachertube videos?
These are questions worth asking.
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I think that copyright is a much misunderstood issue that is going to affect teachers sooner than they realise. Publishing to the web revokes many of the “fair use” freedoms we enjoy as educators and the challenge as educators is to work out how to model ethical use of the web as a resource for learning. So many teachers just grab images, material and use without any acknowledgement - how do we then role-model to our students what is the right way to utilise the internet. If I just grab pictures to use, what’s the difference for the kids if they just grab slabs of information and paste into their work. I know try to role model back to my colleagues by only using Creative Commons licensed material (which still requires attribution, but does away with asking permission) and hope that they will ask some questions about where I get my stuff. For example, the teacher librarian wants to create research based photostories with a class and wanted to track down images of Vietnamese children, food, schools, transport etc. By using a tool like FlickrCC I am using freely licensed materials, the attribution is easy to grab and in a lot of cases, you get absolutely unique and beautiful photography that is better than what pops up on top of a Google image search. I think your email writer raises some good points. Educators do need to raise their awareness around the issue of Intellectual Property.
I think that Sarah Sullivan’s presentation on the Time4Online Conference sums up the debate pretty well.
Sarah’s Presentation
There are issues with copyright we need to be aware of as models of good practice with children but sheesh- the writer of the letter needs to learn a little netiquette as well.
As you say we are all doing our best and learning along the way. Constructive criticism doesn’t come in a bulleted list like this.
Thank you Graham for the tip about FlickCC. I have looked again at the material in ‘Why teach technology?’ picked out similiar, better pictures for my message. My Emailer has kindly offered to help me put it back together again, so watch this space in mid- July. When I find out what packages he used etc. etc. I’ll be blogging all about it.
Thank you Allanah too, for your vote of support. You’re right when you say that we are all just doing the best that we can and learning along the way. If we experiment with these tools, packages, application, share our experiences, successes and failures then we are all better off for the ‘collaborative’ learning that’s gonig on.
Ouch…. not too many positive points in that!
Yes we can all take positive criticism but we can’t really do it in that way… what would happen if I wrote similar in feedback to a student??
I think it is the message that is important in your video… and we can always improve - given the appropriate constructive comments… and enough TIME.
Well done for taking it all so well and taking action to learn more about selected aspects… I am sure the resulting video will be EVEN BETTER!
PS - I have also been investigating Flickr CC of late - we are all on a learning journey - I agree that together we will learn more. Keep up your awesome work!
Hi Simon,
I don’t agree with all your commenters. Let me offer another perspective on their reactions to your email critique.
Our response to giving and receiving feedback is interesting in New Zealand - I suspect that our “culture of niceness” compromises new learning in the classroom and out of it - and that as adults who want to keep learning we need to work more at de-personalising our “ouch” response feedback and embrace a culture of cognitive challenge - Adrienne Alton Lee suggests something similar in her BES -
It is not easy i know to see a challenge to our ideas as a compliment - but if someone (in this case someone with obvious expertise) has taken the time to look carefully at y/our work and make suggestions about where it is raw and flawed - that is valuable and important critique in itself - if the reviewer goes further and identifies how we can improve - then that is a real bonus that has come from the connectivity of the web
Have another read of the emailed comment you received - (which I note could just as easily have been plonked on your blog for everyone to read, but was sent in a personal manner)- I suspect that you have found a critical friend - and that you ought to hang onto them not push them away
Also you have used images of varying shape and sizes which doesnt
increase the imapct of the clip but rather distracts from it. Really
you need to use clips that will fill your screen…either 4:3 or 16:9
ratio…so you may need to zoom images in to fill the screen……tv
screens and data projector screens are rectangular in shape so to
effectivly use the space only use landscape nased images…if an image
is portrait based then zoom in or find another image.
To get feedback like this suggests that someone with real expertise and experience has stumbled over what you have created, has reviewed your efforts and scaffolded the next steps for you. I wish I had someone critique my work like this. And I hope kids in our classrooms get this kind of help when they make movies and digital stories.
I suspect that in that real world outside of school we’d have to pay big dollars for a detailed review like this.
Artichoke, Thank you for your honest opinion too.
With regard to hanging onto this critical friend, I am, with both hands. he has offered his expertise to me in fixing up my videos and helping me with the next one. Both Hands. I think it is great he is willing to spend that time. I feel honoured.
What intests me most is that I did not post this to have my ego rubbed or for others to comment on how outrageous his comments were. I posted this to raise the debate about copyright….
Not sure I’ve achieved what I intended.
Hey, I tried to comment on topic! I think Arti is pretty spot on - the other issue might also be if you asked permission to post your critical friend’s email!!
That’s true, you did Graham, my apologies.
Are we being too nice to one another and missing a valuable learning opportunity but others are too afraid to speak or are trying to save our feelings?
Emails always have missed out on that ‘personal voice’ aspect and can’t be relied upon to be taken in the spirit that it was intended. But maybe we shouldn’t shy away from informing others of our opinions. After all we can always delete an email/ comment if we don’t like what the person says. And if that’s true then our repecet for their opinion or our personal relationship with them should also weigh in as a factor, which is why I chose to NOT delete this email and post it anyway. Because I respect the sender, recognise him as a friend and value the points he is making.
That’s the way it should be if we are to continue on this journey called education.
Thank you to all who have commented, I’ve learnt a heap from this.
Hi there,
I am the author of the email been discussed on this site and thought that I would add my input.
Firstly, I make no apology’s for how my email is worded. I am not known for my tact or diplomacy and speak my mind quite freely, which some people struggle with. On the other hand I am also quick to admit that I was wrong or had made a mistake.
This was an email to an individual to whom I know, not to some random person, so why soften what I feel are, in my professional opinion, (yes I create media for a living) typical and crucial errors in his presentation. I feel that we live in a society which is attempting to wrap us in cotton wool and as a result we struggle to cope with the reality of life……so toughen up and get over it.
Ok, so let me respond to some of Simon’s thoughts that he raises in his blog:
1] What quality of video/audio is permissable on such a format, and at what point does the quality impact on whether material is valuable or not?
Quality is the key factor for any media production. We live in a world in which we a re bombarded with visual and audio based messages hundreds of times a day, images and audio that are designed to excite, attract, provoke and interest us. These daily bombardments are high impact, high quality and well structured and laid out. As a result, we as a society and consumers have come to expect a high standard in visual media. So when we see a presentation that does not meet the standard which we have been “programmed’ to expect as the normal, it’s message is lost on us as we tune out and turn off….which I would assume is not the result that the creator of the presentation was after.
You are trying to get your message across to people who are media aware, who now expect a high level of professionalism in all aspects of media that they are required to or choose to view. It is the end viewer that dictates the quality of the media……now if amongst your group here, you are happy to encourage one another with clips of this quality, then fine….but surely, as educators, you want to be better tomorrow in a topic or skill than you were / are today….but if you are wanting to present a message outside of this group, to your students, then the quality of the presentation you provide needs to be of a high standard in order for it to be remembered.
2] Remembering that we are all teachers/ administrators etc, should be expect one another to produce a ‘Spielberg’ quality piece or are we all just out to support, encourage and inspire each other?
It is not about creating a “Speilberg” production. Its more about following some basic guidelines and rules, that if used correctly will automatically lift your presentation above most of those put together by the average person. Remember a presentation is about the sharing of information, a story, a theme, and you want people to remember it. It does need to stand out from others.
Ok, so you just administrators and teachers…..media is not your core business…I get that, but as I am sure as you ask your students to try and do better, so too could you! You expect your students to learn new techniques and ways of doing things, to redo projects that didn’t meet your grading requirements….the same applies here. It is not about creating a master piece, it is about developing and growing the skill. So that when your post your clip on this site it is of a better quality than the one you had posted previously. You don’t expect your students to grasp some new concept straight of the bat (or do you?), they need time to learn how to use and apply it…the same goes for media. The more you do, the better you will get.
3] Are ALL available (Googled) images open to being used in the way that I have?
Most images found via Google, or any other search engine for that matter, can not be used as you have used them. Most of the images found in a Google Image search come from websites on which Google has searched at some earlier date. When a site is searched by Google it does not take in to account who owns those images or the conditions about the use of those images. As most of the web pages on the internet are not managed by professionals they do not “protect’ their images from been included in a Google search…hence they end up in Image Search Results. Good websites will have a piece of code that will stop the images on that site been added to googles image library.
As already pointed out Flickr is an ideal source of images that you can use freely, just give the owner credit when required. There are some great photos in there so make use of it. In fact you will getter better images from there than from Google.
If you are needing more images to search I can provide a list of sites you can use freely. Just ask.
4] What about copyright for audio tracks that are being used as background to many Teachertube videos?
Basically it comes down to the following two points:
a: If you are using a commercially produced piece of music (made or produced for or by a record company or sold of $$) you are breaking copyright and should be paying the record company a fee.
b: If you are using the lyrics or the words from a song in your presentation, but have sung the song your self, you need to be paying the author of that song a fee.
Now there are a couple of exceptions to this, but they don’t apply to audio tacks posted to the web. If you create a presentation / slideshow of say your child’s birthday and you use a commercially produced song as backing but don’t show that presentation in anything other than a private setting (in your home) then that’s ok. But as soon as you post it to the web it is open to the public to view…..so you can run into issues.
There are some sites from which you can download quality backing tracks to add to your presentations, you can purchase royalty free back track cds or you can use non commercially produced music…
Just keep the following in mind when using audio clips…that you are taking away someones ability to earn a living every time you use their track in your presentation….
5] The Youtube: Disney copyright video I found on Sheryl’s blog defines ‘fair use’ but my question really is: Is that in the US only or is it some International standard/ expectation?
“Fair Use” is beginning to gain popularity but at this stage still hasn’t gained a strong enough foothold to fully impact the world of copyright.
While there are some standard international laws concerning copyright, laws vary from country to country. USA copyright laws is dramatically tighter than New Zealand copyright laws (NZ copyright laws are currently under review).
So the copyright issue for things posted on the internet is based on where the server hosting your information is located. If the server hosting this forum is based in the USA then you are under the USA copyright laws….if in NZ NZ laws.
Because the world is now a global community, corporate companies are represented globally and their have been enough court cases to make us wary of thinking that we can get away with using images / audio when ever we want.
You don’t have to spend heaps of money to be able to produce a high quality presentation US$69 will give you a lite version of what I use professionally. Like most software you need to use to learn it but the end result will be best!
Rachel wrote “I think it is the message that is important in your video” if so then why use images and audio? Just write the words. The message is supported, enhanced and reinforced by the images…if they are weak or sub standard then it lowers the impact of the entire clip.
Graham – Simon did ask permission to post my email, after he he had posted it! But he did give the option to remove it if I was unhappy about it been on line…well since I have responded I must be ok about it.
For those of you who weren’t overly impressed in the way I wrote my email giving my thoughts on Simons presentation, then the next bit wont interest you as probably wouldn’t handle the feedback. For the rest of you though, if you want to improve your skills in creating media based presentations I am more that happy to help. (Simon how do you want to manage this?)
Since you are educators or involved in the education sector here is a snap shot of my educational background.
Then
i: Left school at the age of 14
ii. Was expelled from 7 schools by age 14
iii. In my class year book was voted as the most likely to not succeed in any profession
iv. Spent an entire year sitting outside my maths classroom writing lines
v. Was left handed but made to write right handed by getting whacked over the knuckles every time I tried to use my left hand.
vi. No formal qualifications, never sat any of the national exams
Now
i: Went back to school as an adult student aged 20 (through the encouragement of one of my old school teachers.. he was the one teacher who supported and believed in me in my final year at school)
ii. Have three degrees
iii. and four diplomas
iv. operate a successful media business
v. travel around the world documenting the lives of the poor and forgotten for aid and development companies
The moral of the story:
Don’t give up on those difficult students in your class…..we get there in the end!
L8R.
here are some links concerning copyright
http://www.copyright.co.nz/index.php?view=home
http://www.iponz.govt.nz/pls/web/dbssiten.main
http://www.copyright.org.nz/
for music licsencing go to
http://www.apra.co.nz
for photography stuff try
http://www.aipa.org.nz/front.html
Mark, thanks for getting on board here and adding your perspective. Your response has really given me some more points of consideration, especially in the light that if educators want to “sell” their message, it needs to be of a certain standard to do its job. One edublogger who spends a lot of time posting about the importance of design in education is Dan Meyer. His ideas on design and presentation standards are eye opening for me, even as a teacher with an artistic interest. And yes, Flickr is the place to go for generously licensed images.
[...] Questioning the Teachertube [...]
So being late to the party (I will be late to my own funeral!), let me try to understand. The email author watched the TeacherTube, analyzed it, then sent Simon a private email regarding it by clicking on “Send private email” next to the Teacher Tube?
I would have to say that this email was NOT, most vehemently NOT sent “out of the blue”. The author was merely offering tips that were solicited.
Since the author has chosen to reply, which he did not have to do, I will add my unworthy two cents. He makes some great suggestions! I think I would have used a different communication tool, but then, in someone’s words, I can.