IT Staff Convention 2008:YouTube and iTunes U at Penn
From Provider Notes
YouTube and iTunes U at Penn
Moderator: Gates Rhodes, Information Systems and Computing
Notes: Erin Murphy, Wharton School
Contents |
[edit]
Overview:
Gates Rhodes, Chris Cook, and Mayumi Hirtzel from Penn Video Network discussed the successes and lessons learned from building an iTunes University platform at Penn, what a future YouTube University at Penn might look like, strategic uses for these applications in various departments, how to view these platforms as a way of creating healthy online presence, and the technical particulars (a look under the hood of the platforms).
In October of 2007, there were 53,000 subscribers for iTunes U at Penn. After some extensive advertising from Apple, links sent out from alumni relations, and content contributions from various departments at Penn, the subscription numbers (as of April 2008) have risen to 315,000 and continue to grow exponentially as content increases. There are over 650 audio and video files, as well as some PDFs, and PowerPoint slides available on iTunes U at Penn.
[edit]
What are these platforms and how are universities using them?
[edit]
iTunes University
- iTunes U at Penn took approximately two years to become what it is today. Before launching it at Penn, the Penn Video group gathered information from previous universities who had already been using iTunes U sites (namely Berkeley, Stanford, and Duke).
- From assessing other sites, the group learned that there needs to be a unified institutional vision, consistent institutionalized objectives, and a centralized effort (especially when trying to launch in a decentralized environment).
[edit]
iTunes U Implementation at Penn
- Call sent out to different departments and research institutions at UPenn to create a unified vision about how to integrate iTunes U into the Penn environment.
- The iTunes U platform is well matched to a decentralized institution; Penn Video plays a minor administrative role (ie. distributing publishing rights), but the different departments control whatever content they want to publish.
- Some examples of departments that have a lot of content on iTunes U already are: Knowledge@Wharton, SAS (video lecture series), and Penn Green partnership (podcasts about what Penn is doing in terms of sustainability).
- Valuable lessons from implementation at Penn: iTunes U works well with decentralized institutions, Apple offers free bandwidth and storage for use of iTunes U, Apple support has been promising (responsive to enhancement requests, continued institutional support, etc), featured content increases viewers, ease of publishing is remarkable (just upload the content and the interface manages RSS and subscriptions).
- As far as copyrighted material is concerned, each individual school monitors their own information (no upper level policing). There are spider tools available that can flag possibly copyrighted content.
- You can create password-protected areas in the iTunes portal, however there are not any at Penn as of yet.
[edit]
YouTube
- YouTube launched a similar application to iTunes U - YouTube University program (Berkeley has a page).
- YouTube not only allows you to upload videos, but it also shares the social networking aspect of places like FaceBook or MySpace by allowing users to comment on videos.
- Whereas portability is not an issue for iTunes, which allows users to download content and playback on their own time, YouTube requires users to be tethered to their desktop machine.
- iTunes is fairly regimented and indexed; however, YouTube may lead viewers to videos that they never expected to see.
- YouTube gives someone the ability to easily embed the video into their own web page, which can not be accomplished as easily with iTunes.
- YouTube also provides free bandwidth and storage for its university members.
- The YouTube interface is mildly configurable to users. There is a basic template but users have the ability to add or subtract features from it.
[edit]
YouTube Implementation at Penn
- Over the past two years, Penn Video has been hosting meetings and discussions about the implementation of YouTube into the University of Penn.
- YouTube gives universities advantages - such as longer file length, better quality video, more versatility in how you present the physical features.
- Because the videos are available to the public and able to be embedded and commented, this poses certain branding issues and content protection issues at Penn - but the idea of incorporating YouTube into the University is still very much in the making (Knowledge@Wharton already has its own YouTube channel).
- Knowledge@Wharton has done a great job of embedding keywords into the Knowledge@Wharton channel on YouTube to get a lot of views. This is one of the secrets to building a successful site not only within Penn but within the larger community as a whole.
- Whereas iTunes U appears to be centralized, each department on YouTube would develop its own channel, which could be invited as a friend/favorite/or playlist on the centralized YouTube Penn channel. (Thus, the decentralization would be much more apparent; see the Berkeley page - athletics has its own channel, etc).
[edit]
Looking Under the Hood - iTunes U
- If you are a member of a school at Penn and you want to become a content provider using iTunes U please email mailto:video@isc.upenn.edu. Once you are approved as a provider, you need to provide your PennKey username (Please Note: Penn Video will never ask for your password), department name, and full email address. This information is needed so that you may be added to the HT access document that tells the server which people are allowed to have editing capabilities on iTunes U. If you are not listed as a provider, then you are directed to the regular iTunes U site.
- The main page is only editable by the Penn Video administrators. Providers can only edit their respective school's page.
- Functions: upload and manage files, batch uploading, choose to make page publicly accessibly (if you choose no, since we do not have a private site, private pages are only viewable by the provider and higher level admins), provider authoring tools.
- Apple gives providers access to provider reports with statistics showing how many people have previewed, downloaded, and other audience data that can be used to measure effectiveness of the application.
Link to article within Provider Notes IT Staff Convention 2008: Session Overviews
Link to article on a website external to Provider Notes External Link
