Community
One student, Lesley, said that she started watching a bunch of videos and visiting sites. After 10 minutes she noticed that people were pointing to other people, and that there really was a community around video blogging. 10 minutes into it and she got it. In real terms. She experienced the community and was amazed and excited about the possibilities. It was beautiful to hear her describe her discovery.
Finding Video
Another student, Patrick, described his experience at mefeedia. He enjoyed the mefeedia experience of being able to sample many videos from one site without having to hunt around to find video blog sites. He said that it felt like it was the most extensive collection of video blog videos on the web and was very happy with the experience.
First Videos
Here's Myron's first video blog post ever:
Here's Patrick's first video blog post.
I taught the class with Ravi Jain. Before the class we shot a little video, which might turn into a new project Street Corners of Boston. Ravi said he'd keep doing it, if I kept shooting.
Blog Software
We went through setting up a vlog on Wordpress.com and had some problems adding HTML to posts. Wordpress.com seems to strip out some HTML when you try to enter it. Wordpress.com doesn't like target="_blank". The consensus was that Blogger was beltter because it allows you to enter more HTML functions in the post entry area AND class mambers liked editing the HTML template better then going through forms. They found the forms frustrating even though they were HTML novices.
Video Hosting
Vimeo worked well for people. The class liked Blip.tv because after they upload their video, it was part of a video community right away. They also liked Blip's cross-posting features.
The students and Ravi loved the free Mac screen capture app I showed, ImageWell, for making their thumbnail images. Ravi Tip: Open up a blank browser window as a white background for your image before capturing. I use a new email window.
A Good Experience
Overall it was a good experience for everyone. We all learned a lot. Watch for the next video blogging class at the end of January.
