SNV Development Plan
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Contents |
Rough Concept
Video is and always has been a purely linear medium. While our project wasn't created specifically attempt to tackle this issue, it does address the narrative nature indigigenous to video. Granted, adding another dimension to video work is really a daunting proposal in itself (but has been conceived of before), however SNV only uses this idea as a stepping stone to reach, what we feel, is a greater purpose; that is networking. SNV's ultimate goal is to unite audience members not merely in congregation but as an influential force on the outcome of the very video they are watching. What's so significant about this goal is that it takes the gap the lies between the audience and directors and brings them to a closer proximity of each other. While the audience can never truly attain the true freedom (and responsibility) of the director (if they did they'd be out shooting the movies themselves), it does enable them to have some choice over the direction of the video outcome. Since we have this extra layer of "networking" involved, not one individual gets to make the calls either, it's based upon popular decision (group consensus if that sounds better to you!).
Building upon this idea of a "networking layer", we feel that Socially Networked Video offers a completely different experience from the viewer's perspective as well compared to that of traditional video. Even if a person were to attend a movie theater and watch a movie amongst 200 other people, the experience is completely unique to ach individual because there's no interaction taking place and the video has a predetermined beginning, middle and end. When you throw popular decision into the mix, every person is required to participate in this video event. Notice that word, event. It's no longer a personal moment in time but an event that takes place because how you, the viewer walk away from the experience feeling is not based solely on your perspective but the decisions made by the group as a whole.
Lastly, but not any less significant, we also feel that the creation of content should be free and open to whomever would like to submit it. Our system will integrate an administrative interface which users can register with to be approved to submit content. They won't be required to have any advanced technical ability beyond that of their video editing skills. This also gives anyuser the ability to assume the role of director in the new modern sense that Socially Networked Video brings about.
Just as a side-bar, we've also recognized and feel we should note that this project's possibilities actually extend even beyond our original vision. Something we had never even thought of which was brought to our attention was the desire to use this software possibly for educational purposes which is perfectly feasible. So the scope of this project is not even limited to our initial intentions but it could potentially lead to much greater things.
Data Flow Diagram & Experience
Content Providers
Content providers can literally be just about anyone. To become a content provider, it is required to apply for a "priveleged" account. To become approved, there will be a simple review process to validate that the creator is somewhat qualified, maybe get a sampling of previous work and we'd also request a rough sketch for the material they wish to create. Most people will get their approval, this is just a process to filter out all of the people who aren't serious about making quality content. Once approved, the creator is on "probation". This means that there first work must be reviewed before it can be published. Once their first work is published, they will be be granted a "trust" account where they will have freedom to create and publish content without any review processes.
The creator's experience will begin just the same as anyone elses, by pointing their browser to snvideo.org. Once there, they can login from the "Back Lot" (not final name) link on the main page. The login form can discern from a creator and an administrator. Should the subject be both, they will have access to both areas. While nothing is really finalized until it's officially published, the following is a brief glimpse of what's to be expected from the content provider's experience.
The content provider's tool has casually dubbed "nVideo Composer". The name "nVideo" has been generated from two references: the letter 'n' is short for 'networked', therefore the full name would be 'networked video'; also, 'n' is a standard letter used for a variable in mathematics and sciences which could really represent anything. The significance of an "nVideo" is that it could really represent any sequencxe of video clips which really could give it any title, therefore, the video itself is really just a variable; we don't know what it will be until we use it. nVideo Composer will be a simple tool for uploading and organizing video clips so they can be properly sequenced. The clips can all be connected the way the author whiches to piece them together and each clip can be given up to five choices for directing videos clips to the next one. Our goal is to make this tool as user-friendly as possible so anyone can create content for SNV without too much technical knowledge. It is, however, the responsibility of the author to edit the clips and contruct some sort of diagram of their clips so they know which order they go in. There's nothing we can do about that.
Once the clips are assembled, they can preview their work to verify that they like what they see and publish it. If they haven't already been through the review process their video will become flagged for us (the SNV Team) to review and then it becomes available for public consumption. If they've already published a video before, their video will automatically go live.
Administrator
The administrator really isn't anything too special. The administrator will have the power to manage videos only in the sense of adjusting settings for videos. They will not be able to rename or reorganize videos sequences and they will not have any power over users, they are strictly around for maintenance purposes. Administrators will also have to go through a review process and earn trust before they can use their account. Most likely the only people who will have administrative accounts for a while will be friends of the SNV Team.
Administrators will have the ability to enable or disable chat for specific videos, manage IP blacklists, and do a few other things. The most important reason for having administrators is for scalability. Should SNVideo gather a following, it will be necessary to have this group around to manage users actively because user accounts will expand to not just nicknames but full profiles where people can catalogue their favorite movies and leave comments with eachother and so forth. Who knows if it will ever make it that far.
Another possibility for keeping administration accounts would be for large groups that would like to take advantage of social network videos. An example would be a school, if they wanted to create a seperate set of videos for some classes they have, thy could keep an administrator in charge of keeping the material constant and up to date.
Users
The user experience will be the most common of experiences. When a person visits the site they will have be one click away from all of the content (unlike the previous one which uses an "intro" page). Our menus will have a link somewhere int hem to every possiblly accessibly page on the site (except admin/creator). For the administrators or content providers, there will be a small and discrete login panel which they can use the log in their respective secure area. The "Lobby" will be the focal point on the main page. There will also be links to various locations such as author's profiles, movie statistics, and many, many more things. The lobby is going to be where all of the action takes pace as far as movies are concerned. The movies will be playing in what we have dubbed "Screening Rooms". These screening rooms will be created on the fly as users who want to watcha movie and create one. They can select the movie they're going to play, a time limit for when to automatically run the movie by, and set a max viewer limit (which, when reached will also automatically start the movie). Users, should the option not have been removed, will be able to see eachother (by nickname) and chat with one another, all while the movie is progressing. When a decision is required by the user in the movie, they will be given 30 seconds to vote, if not, their vote is thrown out and the movie will progress automatically. Popular vote wins and in the case of a tie, the movie will chose it's own path.
We're also planning on adding "advertising" in the Screening Rooms while the rooms are waiting to be populated. They wouldn't be heavy on bandwidth and they would be required to follow a vintage style. This would occupy the user while they wait for the movie to begin, compliment the movie theater aura, and even generate a little revnue. The will not be clickable and no pop-ups will come from them, they are for viewing only. This may or may not actually happen but it's an idea.
MySQL Data Model
