Make Your Video or Digital Content Public

Making your digital content public means putting your video, podcast, or other digital project into the public domain and making it easily accessible for people to enjoy. There are a lot of factors to consider when making a project public. This guide will help you to know what to consider when deciding how to publish your creation.

Video

• Determine the platform’s terms and conditions. For example, read Youtube’s terms and conditions and do research into the platform to make sure this is the best fit for you.
• Youtube has a captioning tool that easily allows you to make your video accessible. See the section below for more information on Captioning.
• Youtube also allows you to create an account and upload videos for free.
• Youtube gives you the option of choosing between the privacy settings Public, Unlisted, and Private.
  • Public is open to everyone
  • Private can be viewed by only those you let follow you.
  • Unlisted won’t show up in any searches, but it can be accessed by someone with a direct link to your video.
• If you decide that Youtube is not what you want, other less popular options include Vimeo and Dailymotion.

Podcast

What should I know before I start?

• Your podcast audio file must be compressed into an .mp3 file.
• If you are working with Audacity and are working on a Windows or Mac system, you will be able to export your file directly.
• If you are working with a Lynux system, you will need to download the LAME .mp3 encoder.
• You will need to generate an RSS feed for your published podcast so that it can be found easily. Most hosting sites will generate this for you.

Where should I host my Podcast?

• The Internet Archive: offers a free hosting platform for podcasts that generates an RSS feed (necessary to share your podcast), offers unlimited storage, and unlimited episodes.

• Soundcloud: you can sign up for a Basic account for free, which will generate an RSS feed for you and includes an embedded media player and distribution to other platforms, although your storage and the amount of episodes that you can upload is limited with a Basic account.
• Libsyn: with plans beginning at $5 a month, Libsyn will generate an RSS feed, offers unlimited episode upload (but not unlimited storage), allows you to create a personalized website for your podcast, will distribute your work to other platforms, and includes an embedded media player.
• Castos (beginning at $19 a month) and Simplecast (beginning at $16 a month) are both options that allow you to personalize your account and should be considered if you are willing to invest more time and money into your podcast. Accounts with these platforms also allow you to distribute your media to other platforms and have an embedded media player.
• If you are excited about your project and want more than what a free account could provide for your podcast, make sure to compare the different options available to you before making a decision.

• An important part of making your video public is making it accessible. This can be done by adding captions

   

• Captions should match what is being said verbally as closely as possible.
• Youtube can automatically generate captions for your video. Find instructions linked below.
• Be aware that the captions generated by Youtube are not always accurate. Make sure to go in and double check that they are correct and edit them if necessary.
• If you would rather make the captions yourself, you can do this either by making them in a separate file to be uploaded alongside your video file (closed captions) or as part of the video file itself (open captions).
• Keep in mind that it is easier to edit closed captions if you decide to change something later on.

• Video Credits are important to include to make sure that you are not plagiarizing or taking credit for someone else’s work.
• You will need to credit any part of your video that you did not create yourself. This includes music, pictures, film clips you didn’t personally shoot, sound effects you didn’t create, quotations you referenced, etc.
  • If you use any footage that is not freely licensed, credit it by listing the title of the work and the creator.
• If anyone other than you worked on the video or podcast with you, you will need to credit them as well. Check the list below for examples of contributors you should give credit to:
  • Writer: did someone help you with the script?
  • Editor: did someone help you put everything together?
  • Cinematographer: who was helping you work the camera for your video?
  • Sound director: did anyone create any music or noises for your video or podcast?
  • Researchers/consultants: did you consult anyone about the content of your video or podcast? Did anyone help you with research?
  • Narrator: Did you use someone else’s voice for a voiceover?]
  • Cast: Who appeared in the video or pdocast?
  • Funding/sponsors: did you receive any grants or loans to complete your video or podcast?
• If in a podcast you read a section of a book, article, poem, etc., you will need to credit the creator of the work you are repeating before and after you read the quote.
• Include your credits at the end of the video in the format demonstrated below.

Stock Images: http://www.pixabay.com

Music: http://www.bensound.com

Scriptwriter: John Smith II

• Crediting all contributors in this way will allow you to use their work legally.