Chapter 5

Distribution, or Getting it Out There!

Level 2

5.2 What Type Of Internet Site Should I Put My Video On?

There are many different types of site you could use to put your files and videos on, here are a few options.

Community websites

You can use one of the many provisions for groups and individuals, most of which are free. They provide a meeting point for groups worldwide. The Community Media Association provide such a service, its forum called ‘The Showcase’ is a streaming media archive of radio, TV, film and video programmes. You can send your video in the post and have it uploaded onto the website. This is a good option if you do not want to compress your own video and don’t want to build your own website.

On-line community websites

One World TV is another community website, it is easy to use and free. You simply fill in their forms and upload your videos on-line, so you do not have to create your own website.

There is the ‘Our Video’ project which is being managed by the National Computer Centre and is aimed at helping communities produce and distribute their videos on the Internet. These are all excellent options if you want your video to be seen without having to build your own website.

Personal website

You can build your own website with an easy to use computer program. The best programs to use are called What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) programs, with these you can design your site by inserting your text and images and make it look how you want. The most common application for this is Macromedia Dreamweaver, although this may be costly. Free software is available - Amaya is a popular free application for web design.

After you have designed your site you’ll need to put it on the internet.

The two main factors with having your own site is how much space on the internet site you have for your files, known as webspace and where you store them, the web address (URL). It is common to get free webspace when signing up to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), companies like Pipex, PlusNet and Blueyonder. Free space is often limited, although useful for basic websites it may not be enough for your video files.

Where you want to host your video files depends on whether you want to stream. If you need to stream then you will need the use of a special streaming server which will cost more than standard web space. You can buy on-demand space from a number of companies such as StreamUK and Easy Stream. If your media is community based then the Community Media Association and Oneworld TV provide a free streaming service to their members.

The URL is the address of your site i.e. bbc.co.uk. There are many places you can purchase your own unique name, Nominet UK is the registry for .uk internet names, and is officially recognised as the .uk domain name registry by the Internet industry, users and the UK Government. You could also consider purchasing webspace, there are plenty of companies which deal in this area http://www.pipeten.com/, it may be worth looking around to find a company suitable for you. It is common for webhosting companies to also sell URLs so as to be a one stop shop.

Blogs and templates

You do not have to build a standard website for your work you could take advantages of different technologies such as a blog (which is a compression of the words web log).

Many companies provide space on the web for you to have a website. A blog is a personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog www.whatis.com. Some companies have templates which you fill in on-line, this makes creating you own site very easy.