Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Video section is looking good, and a few other notes













Buffalo.com/Spotted photo by Darleen Stry.


Hey, I wanted to thank everyone who's been posting videos lately - Dan Ruggiero, Kathi Ross, Bill Parker, Darleen Stry, Eric Malinowski, and others - you are making the site look great, and I thank you.

I've been going back and forth with the people at Morris DigitalWorks - for those of you who don't know, Spotted is actually a vendor-provided product (we didn't invent it at The Buffalo News/Buffalo.com), and Morris is the company that provides it - about some video issues we've had. Those issues have included videos that appear to upload correctly and then disappear, video info that gets jumbled in the text boxes when it uploads, and things of that nature. supposedly, all of these issues have been resolved - if you have trouble uploading video, or upload a video that gets jumbled in the process, let me know because they are ironing out the kinks.

Also - you may or may not have noticed this with Spotted - but the site was upgraded recently and there are some new tools at my disposal. Once again, I can rotate photos and choose thumbnails - so if you notice that some of your photos have changed orientation or your thumbnail is changing, that's me working behind the scenes...of course, I would be very pleased if you rotated your photos and changed your thumbnail regularly...hint hint...but I understand that everyone is busy, and you are probably not a Spotted nerd on the same level as me.

Anyhow, keep those videos coming! We're featuring them on the Buffalo.com home page, and they have been getting a lot more traffic in the actual Spotted section (we also have a video tab on the Buffalo.com home page, but videos viewed at Buffalo.com don't count towards Spotted page views, if that makes any sense). And if you have any questions, let me know.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a question about posting video?
When we cover bands,Live Performances, can we just video record and post with out the bands permission? Or do we need to inform the band / live performer that we are doing this?

Ben said...

There are two schools of thought on this. 1.) If we are there in an official capacity as Spotted photographers or YourHub writers, I would say to clear it with the band first. If anything goes into our We Spotted section, it's "official," and I want everyone involved to know what's happening and where that video is going. 2.) If you are just at an event as a member of the ticket-buying public, and there are no restrictions on video or photography, then I have no moral or ethical issue with you posting video to our "You Spotted" section simply as a registered Spotted user. If they are not stoppiong you from doing it at the show, then it would appear there is no issue - and you are, in all liklihood, helping to get that band some much-needed PR.

it's not a black-and-white situation, in my opinion, but the bottom line is this - anything we do "officially" for Spotted, we need permission. Anything you do on your own is your own preogative (how do you spell that? get me bobby brown, stat!).

What are your thoughts - anyone?