Written by Craig Rubens
Posted Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 11:27 AM PT

 

Wikipedia To Get Its Video On

Kaltura Under a new partnership unveiled today, Kaltura, maker of embeddable collaborative video webware, will bring video to the Wikimedia family of sites. The beta program, which is being dubbed “an open, collaborative video experiment,” will allow users to add and remix rich media via an embeddable player on wiki pages.

Kaltura’s software will be tested on WikiEducator before making its way onto actual Wikipedia pages. Kaltura will release its own front-end and back-end code, as open source and open standards are critical ideas to the test’s success, Kaltura’s CTO Shay David stressed to us. Several demo pages with example Kalturas (yes, it’s also a noun) have already been put up, including this one on recycling.

Following Wikipedia’s original idea of having the world co-edit the most comprehensive encyclopedia, Kaltura will move those textually two-dimensional pages into the video-enhanced age of rich social media. In other words, the wisdom of the masses just got a webcam and everyone gets final cut.

Each Kaltura has an annotated list of contributors and editors and a segmented time line that allows users to see, at a glance, exactly how many cooks have been in the kitchen. You can even go back in the Kaltura’s history and view an older version, allowing you compare Kaltura cuts and follow its evolution.

Kaltura follows Wikipedia’s model for exceedingly simple user interface. To add an asset to a Kaltura, from your computer or the web, simply click “add to this video.” From there you can upload a file or direct Kaltura to a linked asset. You can also log into YouTube or MySpace from inside the widget and upload videos from your existing accounts.

If you want to get in and get your hands dirty, you can click “edit this video,” whereupon a full-sized iMovie-esque interface pops up, complete with time lines and asset lists, as well as separate video, soundtrack and voiceover tracks. A limited but sufficient palette of special effects are available including dissolves, wipes and fades, though it does lack the all-powerful star wipe.

kal edit

Kaltura has been working on this collaborative video software for several months and it looks better and smoother than the version we tested back in October, a month after the company’s public launch. The key is making it easy to use but productive. For anyone who has used video editing software, regardless of which one, Kaltura’s interface will be very navigable. With this beta, we’ll find out if wiki communities can repeat their productive text-based collaborations in video form.

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Comments (3)

Linkbacks (7)

  • [...] inconsistente, termine siendo algo tan profundo como la gran enciclopedia hecha por todos. Vía Newteevee AutorJulián Gallo » Permalink» Menéame» Del.icio.us [...]

    mirá! » Archivo » Kaltura: Videos… — 5:45 PM on January 17, 2008

  • [...] Wikipedia to Add Video NEWTEEVEE Under a new partnership unveiled today, Kaltura, maker of embeddable collaborative video webware, will bring video to the Wikimedia family of sites. The beta program, which is being dubbed “an open, collaborative video experiment,” will allow users to add and remix rich media via an embeddable player on wiki pages. Kaltura’s software will be tested on WikiEducator before making its way onto actual Wikipedia pages. Source> [...]

    January 18, 2008 | next media update — 9:08 AM on January 18, 2008

  • [...] I found out about Kaltura the embeddable, collaborative, video webware at New Tee Vee. [...]

    News from the Literary Cafe » Blog… — 10:57 AM on January 18, 2008

  • [...] partnership unveiled today, Kaltura, maker of embeddable collaborative video webware, will bring video to the Wikimedia family of sites. The beta program, which is being dubbed “an open, collaborative video experiment,” [...]

    RUBBISHCORP® » Blog Archive »… — 11:08 AM on January 19, 2008

  • [...] NewTeeVee – Wikipedia To Get Its Video On “Following Wikipedia’s original idea of having the world co-edit the most comprehensive encyclopedia, Kaltura will move those textually two-dimensional pages into the video-enhanced age of rich social media.” (tags: wikipedia community video editing kaltura) [...]

    links for 2008-01-22 — 4:42 PM on January 21, 2008

  • [...] lebih memperkaya konten yang dihasilkan (Sumber:How To Add to a Video File in a Wikipedia Article, Wikipedia To Get Its Video On). Hal ini terwujud karena kerjasama antara Wikimedia Foundation, WikiEducator, dan Kaltura [...]

    [sigit purnomo - change my way to share]… — 8:05 PM on June 19, 2008

  • [...] “Following Wikipedia’s original idea of having the world co-edit the most comprehensive encyclopedia, Kaltura will move those textually two-dimensional pages into the video-enhanced age of rich social media. In other words, the wisdom of the masses just got a webcam and everyone gets final cut newteevee.com/2008/01/17/wikipedia-to-get-its-video-on/.” [...]

    Late Night With Jan Harayda – Video on… — 7:19 PM on October 12, 2008

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