all posts tagged “feedback”
Amit Agarwal at Digital Inspiration has been a fan of Common Craft for a while and we've always enjoyed his thoughful analysis of our videos and business. The news yesterday about our Web License prompted him to write about it - and question the business case for paying to embed videos. We welcome this kind of analysis.
He writes:
The good old YouTube days are over as Common Craft has created a new “web license” for their videos that would require bloggers and websites to pay a monthly subscription fee for embedding videos on their site. And this is not a small amount.
I am huge fan of the entire Common Craft series and admire the fact that they have come up with such a unique business model to distribute their “high value” content online. At the same time, stories published on blogs, unlike the newswires, stay forever so the cost of embedding a single video could easily run into a few thousand dollars over time and that may not make lot of business sense.
I think there is an important distinction to be made here that explains our licensing model. Amit, and I'm sure many observers, think of online video in the business-to-consumer YouTube model. It's social media currency - something to be shared broadly on blogs for free via YouTube. This is obviously a valid and dominant model. However, it's not the only model for online video. Our approach is based not on bloggers or individuals, but organizations that will put the videos to work.
Over time, we've learned that Common Craft videos can be used as valuable business tools for organizations who are looking for high quality content to attract, engage and educate visitors, and potentially turn them into customers. These videos don't normally reside on blog pages.
In our blog post about the new license and relationship with Wistia we say:
“This means a technology company can educate visitors on the basics of wikis, or cloud computing. A financial institution can educate potential customers on the stock market or borrowing money. A service organization can educate citizens about preparing an emergency kit.”
We're targeting the business-to-business market – organizations that will put the videos to work. We believe that the model makes sense for organizations because the videos can contribute to organizational goals. Plus, these same organizations want the hassle-free nature of embeddable videos that also come with Wistia’s analytics. This is very different from marketing the videos to bloggers.
Of course, this is uncharted territory for us all. Over time, I'm a big believer that we're only starting to discover how video producers can build businesses around quality content. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.
A few months back, we made re-thinking our web site a top priority. We needed a better way to organize, display and sell our videos. At the same time, we saw an opportunity for our website to feel like a Common Craft video. Today is the official launch of the new CommonCraft.com and we can barely contain ourselves.
A few things:
1. We need your help. As with anything new, bugs, typos, and issues of all sorts are expected. Please contact us, or leave a comment here if you see anything out of place, or have feedback of any sort.
2. We're using a video player that may require you to upgrade to Flash 10 (the technology that makes sure the videos load fast, etc.). Please let us know your experience with watching the videos.
3. Ten of our videos can now be viewed and purchased with audio in 5 languages, including English. If you're bi-lingual, we would love it if you could watch the videos and let us know what feedback you have.
4. We now offer a newsletter service called "Common Craft Video Updates." If you sign up, we'll send you a short email each time we publish a new video. We don't expect to send more then two per month. You can always sign up at the bottom of every page.
Overall, I hope you'll take a look at the site. It's truly a new way for us to present our work and business - something of which we're very proud (but not too proud to hear feedback!)
We'll talk more about them later, but we worked with two small companies to make it happen. Jay and Anastasia at Juxtaprose helped us re-imagine the site's design and structure while Lyal, Alexa and Vince at Outcome3 turned that design into a incredibly manageable, SEO friendly and purpose-built Drupal site. I can't say enough about the hard work and integrity of these folks - both companies are class-acts.
We're getting close to rolling out a new and improved version of
CommonCraft.com and I have a favor to ask. We're planning to include testimonials in the new design. These are short quotes that will display the names (and organization names, if desired) of the people providing the quotes.
While all testimonials are welcome, short quotes of 150 characters or less would be perfect (about the size of a Twitter update.) Just a few words about our videos, how they're used, results, etc. Here's an example:
"Common Craft videos have helped me save time by getting everyone on the same page"
I feel a little funny asking, but we
don't often know how the videos being used and by whom.
A couple of things to remember:
- Honesty - we are looking for quotes from people with real experience with our vidoes
- Contact Info - If you provide a quote, please include information for contacting you
- Our focus is education and training, so quotes from professionals in this world are much desired
How to Share:
If you'd prefer to share a testimonial privately, please use our contact form.
If you don't mind sharing your experience with the world, that works too. A few ways:
- Write a review on our Facebook Fan Page
- Twitter It with #commoncraft
- Leave a comment on this post.
Thanks so much for helping us with the new design!
For the first time in Common Craft's evolution, one of our videos "Twitter in Plain English" is being used in the mainstream media. For the most part, we're excited to have our work in front of millions. However, it brings up some questions and we're curious what you think. A few facts:
- The video "Twitter in Plain English" is 100% Common Craft's property and is licensed with a Creative Commons non-commercial, no-derivatives license.
- Our names and a link to our web site appear at the end of the video
- The video is currently displayed from a link on the front page of Twitter.com
- Of the 5-6 media companies to use the video so far (examples below), only ABC contacted us first.
- Of the 5-6 media companies to use the video so far, only ABC has attributed Common Craft as the source.
- Snippets of the video are being used and sometimes the camera points at the video displayed at Twitter.com
So, media companies are using parts of our video/audio without permission or a licensing agreement. There is a big reason why this may be OK:
- Fair Use - Essentially, a small bit of copyrighted work may be used to educate the public. However, some instances seem to go beyond Fair Use.
Other reasons may include:
- Mistaken Ownership - Some may assume the video is owned by Twitter, Inc.
- Ignorance - Assuming that the video is in the public public domain.
Now, I'm not writing to make a big hairy deal about the use of the video. The truth is, we're not sure what's appropriate or what to expect. In a perfect world, when a company would like to use our video, or a portion thereof, we would expect:
- Attribution/Credit - We think it's fair to let the public know the source of the video
- A Licensing Agreement that outlines the relationship. We're not looking for money in most cases - just clarity in regards to intellectual property.
While we're assuming that most examples fall under Fair Use, we can't help but wonder if these companies are aware that there is a small company behind the video, a company that has rules and expectations?
I'm curious what you think. How should we view the broadcast use of our videos by mainstream media companies? What can we do to encourage proper attribution/licensing?
Examples:
ABC Nightline - Used with permission
ABC Good Morning America - Used with permission
NPR Unger Report - Exploring the Darker Side of Tweets and Twitter Liberal use of audio, no contact or attribution.
CNN International - No contact or attribution
CBS Sunday Morning - No contact or attribution
KOMO News (local Seattle station) No contact or attribution
I've been a Twitter user for just over 2 years now and I'm still trying to figure out how to 
use it well. A couple of weeks ago, We created an @commoncraft account that's focused on our business and looks behind-the-scenes. Now that I have an established account (@leelefever) and one that's just getting started, I've been thinking a lot about what's possible with Twitter. Some thoughts:
(If you're new to Twitter, watch our video Twitter in Plain English )
To Follow or Not to Follow
I take a decidedly lightweight approach to social media. If I haven't met you or don't know you personally, I'm not likely to add you as a friend or follow you. I currently follow about 200 people on Twitter and it's still too much. When I follow someone with the @leelefever account, I try keep up with most of their updates. This is how I've always used Twitter.
Now that I have a new, business-oriented account, I'm thinking about it a bit differently. With the @commoncraft account we're following most, if not all, the folks who follow that account. This way, we can receive direct messages from these folks (Twitter members can only send direct messages to members that follow them.) Also, it creates a stream of Twitter updates that represent people interested in Common Craft. I realize I can't really follow everyone, but having the stream gives me a source that I can manage later. And, I think it's a nice gesture.
Reducing Twitter Administration
As you know, I'm all about reducing heavyweight administration. The @leelefever account gets about 10 new followers a day and it's rare to see someone I know personally. I've started filtering the emails to help me manage my inbox. The side effect of this is that I don't see every email and may miss people I want to follow.
Again, I'm trying something new with the @commoncraft account. For now, I'm trying out a service called Tweetlater that automatically follows people that follow @commoncraft and sends them a quick "thank you" message. It's not as personal as I'd like, and some spammers are using it for nefarious purposes, but it allows me to accomplish the goal of following people without having to take an action for every one. It's lightweight.
Other Tools
I've done little experimenting with the @leelefever account in terms of tools. I think there is part of me that wants it to be pure - like the Twitter I used 2 years ago. I've linked it up to my Facebook account and on my Tumblr, but I haven't tried any Twittering services.
With the @commoncraft account, I'm all about experimentation. Just recently I started using TwitPic to publish photos like this to the @commoncraft stream. I want to bring people into our daily work lives and TwitPic makes it easy to snap a picture with my phone and post it in seconds. I've also hooked the Common Craft blog into the Twitter stream using Twitterfeed.
Having Two Accounts - Which Tool?
How do you manage two accounts? Right now I use Tweetdeck for personal and the Twitter web site for Common Craft. I know Twhirl allows more than one login.
TweetDeck and Twitter Groups
I'm using TweetDeck for all my Twitter needs. I have a column for the people a follow, a column for replies and a few searches (more on searches later). A feature I haven't used in TweetDeck is the ability to create groups. With groups, I can take everyone I follow and filter the stream by into "family", "must read" or "news" for instance. Because I'm only following 200 people, this isn't as useful for the @leelefever account. One day I may start to slice and dice the people I follow via the @commoncraft account into groups.
Search
Twitter Search is an amazingly powerful tool. We both use a search query that gives us an constant stream of activity on Twitter related to what we do. It's designed to capture the key words and phrases, across both accounts. It looks like this:
commoncraft OR "common craft" OR leelefever OR lefever OR "plain english" (Link)
Redundant Content
Having two accounts presents some issues in terms of content. For instance, a lot of people follow the @leelefever account because they are interested in Common Craft. Now that they have an oppotunity to follow @commoncraft, I have to consider redundancy. Do I post links to blog posts on both accounts? It's going to take a little while to negotiate what goes where. What do you think?
I'm curious what you think about these points. Is your use of Twitter similar to one of these models? What else should I be considering?
Perhaps you'd like to follow us? We're @commoncraft, @sachilefever and @leelefever. Also, here's a post I wrote after one year: Twittering for 1 year: a Retrospective.
What is an Explanation?
Posted by: leelefever on November 12, 2008- 4:00pm
Categories: Explanation, feedback, openthread, ourwork, thisite
Sachi and I been talking about this and we're curious what you think. What is an explanation? What are the skills required to be a good explainer? What makes a good explanation?
For quite a while now, we’ve been flattered to see others create videos that appear very similar to ours. In many cases, these are positive videos that are used as classroom exercises. We encourage others in the education world to create Common Craft-inspired videos. Of course, some producers have taken the idea in new directions and mediums, which we also encourage. Further, some producers choose to publicly attribute Common Craft for inspiring their work - and we deeply appreciate this kind of recognition.
However, we’re seeing a growing number of professional (and non-professional) video producers pass off the exact Common Craft Paperworks format as their own original idea. We often get email from fans pointing to these videos as “rip-offs??? or “copy-cats.??? We certainly see this point of view and are concerned about the potential for these videos and producers to harm our brand. However, figuring out how to react is not something we take lightly.
As a small, open-minded company, we’re looking for good and responsible ways we can protect and promote our brand without discouraging those who are inspired by our work.
Here are some examples that concern us…
- A creative company produces a video for a large company that is heavily inspired by Common Craft. The videos are presented as an original idea and format and the large company is impressed – until they discover that the video is a copy of Common Craft videos. The producers are seen as copycats.
- Video producers post Common Craft inspired videos to YouTube. Often commenters say things like “what an original format!??? or “you’ve figured out a great way to present information.??? These comments are evidence that others can take credit for a format we originated.
- We receive emails that say “I see that you’ve done a video for XYZ Company and I’d like you to do one for me.??? The problem is that we didn’t create the video for XYZ Company. The viewer is being confused because we are tied so closely to the Paperworks format. Often, these videos don’t represent the quality of work we do and the confusion is bad for our brand.
In these cases, Common Craft's reputation is at stake. Other producers are creating videos that match almost exactly with our unique style and passing them off as their own idea, without ensuring the level of quality that people expect from our work. It unfairly lets producers take credit for originality that is not their own, and lets videos of any quality be confused with Common Craft. From our perspective, the problem isn’t copies, it’s copies without attribution.
We're not surprised, but we do recognize our challenge is encouraging video producers to do the right thing – to make clear the source of their inspiration and not be seen as a copycat. We don’t want to limit a producer’s ability to make videos and a living using any format they choose – but we think it’s better for those producers and Common Craft if everyone is clear with viewers about Common Craft’s role in the process.
Some questions:
Is this a realistic perspective? Is it fair to expect clarity via attribution?
What are the best ways to communicate our expectations, if it is fair?
What are other ways we can limit confusion without squelching the potential of those who are inspired by our work?
We are blown away with the response to the recent post "What Videos Should We Make?" Not just the quantity (over 50 comments and lots of email), but the quality. It's exciting to see suggestions that have opened up new ideas and ones that fit with a couple of the themes that have been top-of-mind.
As I've told Sachi recently, it feels a little like we're at the edge of a pool, preparing to jump in. We're confident that we're on the right track, but the content of our future videos will diverge from the social media focus that people have come to expect from Common Craft. That's why your suggestions have been so encouraging - they help us see that there is a need for the kinds of "back to basics" videos we'd like to make.
At the end of the day, change is not only good, but necessary and the shock of a cold pool quickly becomes refreshing. I think we'll dive-in head first.
Our big transition is almost complete and we need your help. The new Store is up, we're finishing up the last custom projects and now is the time to plan what videos we'll offer in the Store over the next year. We have lots of ideas, but we really want to know what you think.
We want to make videos that:
- Help professionals and educators increase awareness and create change at work
- Have a positive impact on the Web
A good example of this is our video "Wikis in Plain English", which is part of our our Social Media series. We've heard from schools, corporate training programs, individual professionals and bloggers that this video has helped them influence others. Ultimately, our goal is to make videos that have similar appeal.
Like our current videos in the Store, our future videos will be offered with these license types:
- Individual (personal professional use)
- Site (organizational use)
- Free (non-commercial, online use)
So, what video subjects or themes would have a positive influence in your company or school?
Another way to think about it... "My company or school would be better-off if people had a quick and easy way to learn about ______."
If you prefer privacy, please contact us directly. Thanks in advance!
In a recent blog post, we asked for questions from readers. Thanks to Joan from High Contagious Marketing for asking these thought-provoking questions:
1. If your fairy godmother told you she would grant you three wishes for your business, what three wishes would you request.
Wish #1: An easy one. Stop ALL spam, effective immediately. This includes online spam, junk mail, front door solicitors, political calls, etc.
Wish #2: Tivo for the real world. Sometimes you just want to fast-forward the boring parts and focus on the fun. (See wish #1). Rewind would be fun too.
Wish #3: For work to be a form of exercise. We have plans each day to get exercise, but work often happens instead. If only writing scripts, editing videos and
illustrating would burn lots of calories - we'd be tri-athletes!
2. I get the sense that producing your videos takes a good chunk of time. About how long from idea to final product.
Wish #4 might be a better way to answer this question. We have little idea. Because we're with each other 24/7, our work becomes part of everything we do. Once we know a video needs to be made, we think about it and talk about in a completely ad-hoc manner. Over dinner, in the middle of the night, in the middle of other projects - it's all wrapped together.
The longest part of the project is preparation for storyboarding. It requires us to think a lot about concept in the script and then create scenes and illustrations. Once things are nailed down in the storyboard, shooting and editing go comparably fast. I have nothing to compare it to, but it's likely a longer process than most would expect.
Plus, each project is so different. Our client productions often take longer because there are more decision makers.
3. Are you trying out any tools or processes to speed things up?
We learn something new with each video. We're pretty efficient when it comes to the technology - I don't think we're going to get faster with a better editing system, for instance. We're always looking for ways to be more efficient from the creative side, which often produces diminishing returns. You wouldn't believe how much we print, copy and scan. We've learned a lot about how to take an illustration and manipulate it into multiple sizes, shapes, etc. That has helped a lot. Oh, and we love Vimeo.com for sharing videos with clients with simple password protection - a great service.
Thanks for asking Judy!
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