How Can We Democratize Making 30-second Captioned Videos for Updates? #3
Description
A perennial problem in open source drug discovery projects: how to maintain an easily-understandable Story so Far - a quick, up-to-date summary of where we are and what's currently most important for people to look at.
It takes effort. The wiki for each project (repository) is the place for the full Story, but it can be difficult for people new to the project to glean the most important current threads. Project Twitter feeds can alert people to requirements. Well-written Issues can really help to solve things but can also take a lot of time to do well. All these aspects are democratized, in that anyone can do them, which is crucial. But writing well takes time, and, speaking personally, the activation barrier has often prevented me from posting something, even if it's clearly needed.
We need to experiment with something that helps explain needs/developments but which is complementary to what we're doing, and which:
a) is quick to do
b) is quicker than writing
c) can draw attention to the most important things that are needed, or can act as a summary of where we are with a part of a project
d) can be easily digested by people in 30 seconds
e) might bring new people in to help with key problems
f) is interesting
Spend any time on public transport and you'll see the most common form of information dissemination is ... the short, captioned video (captioning means you can have the sound off). I think we need to try this to see if it helps.
We need a technical solution that allows anyone to create a 30-second video in which they are speaking, and which is captioned (the words spoken appear on screen) and the video can include a URL at the end for more info. Ideally the video could include an image or screen that highlights what the speaker is talking about. These videos need to be recordable and uploadable by anyone.
Some technical things needing an answer:
- How best to record a video? Zoom with screenshare? A phone with the images added after?
- How should we upload recordings? To one account (requiring shared access), or just with the right keywords and a logo?
- How can we automate captioning so nobody has to type like they're Hansard.
Can I ask @danaklug , @edwintse and @fantasy121 for their initial thoughts and gut feelings, and to ping others likely to be interested? I spoke about this with @alintheopen about 2 years ago and discussed captioning. I found this and rev.com, but that's as far as I got.
We'll need volunteers to try a few potential solutions.
Videos like this are no substitute for a solid wiki that accurately describes the detail of where we're up to, but they can highlight important developments quickly, can help people understand where we're up to, and can help emphasise better the very human element of much of the work that we do.