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- Which are the most popular videos?
- Are there spikes in usage based on the class schedule or promotions of specific videos?
- Where are people linking from when they come to the videos?
- Where are they located physically? Are we reaching off-campus users?
- What is their the most common screen resolution?
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- Are users actually watching the whole video? We just learned about a way to do this - see this video: Google Analytics and .swf tutorials by Paul Betty.
What information can't we get from Google Analytics?
- Who are they? MIT or not, grads or undergrads, etc. Also, are they library staff? There is a way to exclude internal traffic.
- Are short, quick instructional videos are better than Qualitative data? Do they like short videos or long ones? The stats don't give us a clear answer, except to imply it's contextual. Both short and long videos are among our most popular - either length seems to be appropriate if it meets what users are expectingOur stats imply both. To get qualitative data we linked at the end of our videos to a survey.
Managing the files
- Camtasia can produce videos in many formats, including Flash and QuickTime. We were advised to produce Flash videos as the most ubiquitous platform.
- Flash files are fairly large: 1.5 minute video = 2.5MB, 10 minute video = 10MB
- We store all the files in a central location, which helps manage the special issues these files can have and to help gather use statistics.
- We also centrally store all the production files so they are available if we need to edit the videos.
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- getting our videos in MIT space (rather than libraries space), integrated with other videos of interest to the MIT community
- automatic stats collection
- ability for users to comment
- easy to create Creative Commons licenses
- can add metadata to the files that helps with Google indexing
- simple user interface to upload videos
- can upload multiple formats of the video to the same page
- provides code for embedding videos on other web sites (both inline and pop-ups)
- very helpful and eager support from TechTV staff
Costs
Camtasia licenses:
We purchased Camtasia licenses though GovConnection in a bulk purchase for ~$150/each. Our latest upgrade to v.5 cost ~$85/each. Captivate was just slightly more when we purchased it over a year ago.
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