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VideoCutTool: Streamlining Video Campaigns on Wikimedia Commons

User:Gopavasanth

User:Yamen

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Yamen Bousrih

User:Yamen

Gopa Vasanth

User:Gopavasanth

Speakers

Date | Wikimedia ESEAP Conference 2024

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The importance of enhancing Video Content

Many Wikimedians concur on the importance of enhancing video content across our wiki projects, which currently remain predominantly text and image-oriented.

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The importance of enhancing Video Content

There’s an escalating preference among the younger generation for video content over traditional text-based formats. This inclination is often attributed to factors such as shorter attention spans, the rise of visual communication platforms, and the ease of accessing video content on mobile devices.

Videos are more engaging and capture the viewer’s attention more effectively than text or static images.

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Movement Strategy

Recommendation 9: Innovate in Free Knowledge

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Innovate_in_Free_Knowledge

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Issues when uploading Videos

Not all video formats are compatible with Commons !

Wikimedia uses three formats that are open and royalty-free:

WebM format (AV1, VP9 and VP8 codecs are supported)
Ogg Theora
MPEG-1 and MPEG-2

⇒ Need to convert videos to accepted formats if we will upload via Commons

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Issues when uploading Videos

Can’t upload videos to a predefined category when not uploaded via Commons Campaign !

If the upload is done through tools like Video2Commons it’s not possible to record the video in a predefined category.

⇒ Need to make sure that videos are uploaded via a Campaign!

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Solution: VideoCutTool

Setup Campaigns on Commons that use VideoCutTool to upload videos by predefining categories and without going through the hassle of converting the videos into compatible formats.

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Solution: VideoCutTool

The VideoCutTool is a video editing tool that aims to provide various different types of editing processes on videos that are currently in Wikimedia Commons. It is deployed on Wikimedia Toolforge and also Wikimedia VPS. Cropping, Trimming, Audio Disabling, and Rotating are the features that VideoCutTool provides to the user in order to edit their video. From there, the video can be either downloaded or uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

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How ?

Setup upload button on Commons with a link to VideoCutTool

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How ?

Invite users to upload videos by clicking on the button⇒ they will be directed to the VideoCutTool and they can start uploading their video into the predefined category.

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Benefits for the uploader

Uploading their own videos without worrying about whether the format is acceptable or not.

Uploading their own videos without needing to determine which category the video should be assigned to.

Utilizing the standard tool capabilities to crop, trim, mix, and manage the sound while uploading the video.

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Benefits for the campaign’s organizer

Automatically saving the uploaded videos to a predefined category, streamlining post-upload management.

Communicating only a link to the uploader to invite them to participate, without requiring them to convert their video beforehand.

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Conclusion

Let’s hope that this feature will streamline the upload process and increase the video content available on Wiki projects.

Vincent Le Moign, CC BY 4.0