Techlearning blog

Public TV aggregates videos from a range of organisations, such as the UK Government, NASA, charities and others, and in a limited (but I suspect growing) range of areas, including transport, the environment, health and politics. It is, in a sense, Youtube for the professionals: none of your shaky, handheld videos filmed in someone's bedroom here -- which means, of course, that it lacks some of the attraction of most of the other video sites, whose amateur offerings I for one find very appealing.

Still, the corollary is that all the videos here have been produced professionally. The downside is that many of them are little more than advertisements for particular organisations.

One of the problems with the wisdom of crowds approach of ordinary video websites is that it's time-consuming to find official guidance -- if it's there at all. Public TV makes that guidance available, for instance in the shape of a procurement presentation.

Another example is a video, from Culture Online, about web accessibility. It would seem that fewer than 20% of British websites meet even minimal standards of accessibility. The video goes on to explain how just a few changes could make a big difference -- quick wins, if you will (and I'm pleased, and relieved, that the steps they mentioned are already in place on the Educational Technology: ICT in Education website, namely:

- placing descriptions on all images, so that they can be read by a text reader;

- having a clear structure of the website and individual pages;

and making sure that the site still works even if scripts on it are turned off.)

Now, this video lasts about 3 minutes, and although it obviously cannot go into the same depth as the documentation does, it does provide a quick way in to the issues. Were I still working for a Local Authority, I would use this video as the opening part of a team meeting to discuss how the organisation's or section's website might be improved. 

I watched a few of the videos, and overall I was impressed. Before I go any further, I think it's important to point out to the non-Brits who are reading this that the videos are made in the UK, and so the legalistic ones, if I can express it like that, relate, on the whole, to UK laws. Having said that, there are things which may interest you: why many e-government projects fail, for example, or some interesting research going on in various places.

 The videos are organised into categories, these being:

Arts and Leisure
Business
Charities
Education
Environment and Science
Government
Health
International
Politics

 By registering (which is free of charge) you gain the ability to save playlists of videos you may wish to watch again.

There is a search facility, and a link to the most-watched videos and useful search terms. Clicking on the latter takes you to a page which looks very much like a tag cloud, and it's a handy tool -- but I don't think it's a user-generated list, or at least it doesn't seem to be.

There are also links to conferences and events -- ones with exciting titles like "Rail 2007 - Developing Our Rail Network" -- and Publications -- such as "Cheshire Building Control Accessibility Handbook".

As far as the videos themselves are concerned, it's strange to see, to take the example I came across when I first clicked on the site, that the video of the day was an excerpt from a presentation about procurement processes: not exactly the sort of topic that is going to bring you out in a cold sweat of excitement or cause an adrenalin rush.

OK, so you've got the picture: this is Youtube, kind of, for Public Authority and other Public Sector employees as well as consultants, such as myself, who need to have access to a wide range of information that is not always easily accessible, even if you happen to know (which you frequently do not) that it exists. But what you have to do when looking at this site is to drop the comparison, in your mind, with Youtube et al. It may look a little like Youtube and have some of its features, but in terms of subject matter and originators of content, it could hardly be more different.

Public TV doesn't have the facility to upload your own video, but visitors are given options to find out more about having your own video featured on the site or commissioning Public TV to make the video on your organisation's behalf.

Although on the whole the site is a welcome addition to the various collections of resources out there, it does have a few shortcomings.

Firstly, there appears to be no RSS feed, which is a great pity because it would have been useful to be able to receive an alert when a new video was posted to the site.

Secondly, none of the Prime Minister's videos (well, the Number 10 website's videos) worked when I looked. But the site is still in beta, in effect, so no doubt issues such as this will be ironed out in time for the big launch.

Thirdly, the main video keeps playing on each new page, and even when you click on another video if it's hosted on an external site, so if you're not careful you end up with the cacophony of two videos playing at the same time. Just a minor inconvenience, but one which, like most things, becomes tedious with repetition.

Fourthly, and most annoying of all, every time you go to the main page or a category a so-called video of the day starts playing. It would be good if there were an option to turn this off permanently, rather than have to do so manually each time.

I viewed a few videos all the way through...

The first one I watched was one of Stephen Heppell being interviewed at the recent BETT show.  I wouldn't describe myself  as a Heppell acolyte, but I have to say that in this video he has managed to be both inspiring/visionary and down-to-earth at the same time. Well worth a look. Use this as a starting point for discussion in a whole staff training day, or with your own team as part of professional development. And definitely show it to pupils and get them involved in the "conversation".

An interesting video is that of the lone protestor Brian Haw, outside the Houses of Parliament. When you've watched the video, visit his website, and then read the Wikipedia entry, which seems to me from my recollection of the facts to be quite authoratative. Essential viewing for all Citizenship, Law and Politics classes.

Don't forget the Culture Online video I mentioned earlier about accessibility.

My Art Space is an interactive service that enables visitors to museums and galleries to 'collect' cultural artefacts with their mobile phones, create their own online collections and share their enthusiasm. It is great to see a school encouraging -- actually, requiring -- its students to use cell phones, and in a way that I hadn't suggested in an article I wrote on the subject. See also this article by Marc Prensky, and my interview of Limor Garcia, inventor of Cellphedia.

E-Science - The Future of Research , contains interesting information about research currently going on in the UK, such as researchers from the University of Nottingham taking research out of the laboratory and creating opportunities to share data via the internet, giving access to research data from remote sites. A good example is wearable devices that send details of your health to experts in remote locations. This wasn't the first time I'd heard about that, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Other videos worth looking at, and using as starting points for discussion, are:

Within-School Variation - Education's Biggest Challenge, which describes research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showing that performances varied four times more within British schools than between them. Interestingly enough I was discussing this subject with Miles Berry a few weeks ago: can the leadership of a school be said to be good if there are huge variations between the results attained by the students in different subjects?

It's always interesting to hear what young people think: what are their hopes and aspirations, what drives them? In Young British Muslims, Muslim teenagers talk about the things that matter most to them, including parental expectations. Very interesting. 

Finally, in  Aurora Borealis- Dancing in the Night Sky, NNASA Connect Segment explores the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.

Although, as I said earlier, Public TV does have its shortcomings, I think there are enough rich pickings and enough early promise to not only bookmark it, but make it an integral part of your lesson planning and continuing professional development programme. Explore it, get the Headteacher or Principal on board, and thereby prevent the technical support people from banning access to it. This isn't Youtube, there won't be anything suspect (well, apart from some of the claims made for one or two political parties perhaps), and anyone who insists on banning it has either not looked at it or not understood it.

Public TV officially launches on 18th April 2007. I should like to express my thanks to Mike Agnew of Tenpal Publishing for permission to publish this preview, which originally appeared on the ICT in Education website.