NIC HARALAMBOUS

View Original

The Times And Video Embedding

I am curious to know if The Times is going to be releasing their video for other sites/blogs to embed?I know that their are some contentious issues surrounding this topic, however I do feel that it would definitely help to promote The Times and their multimedia team. I think that The Times is doing a great job with their new media ventures and holistic approach to media integration.Surely it must be somewhat beneficial to release their video production in order to enable others to embed the videos? Would it not be beneficial for SA Rocks to feature the latest video from The Times on the Lion King production? I think it would. This is not possible at this time however, unless I am missing something?If I am missing something could someone please let me know so I can catch up?!Since I am talking about The Times and I haven't made an attempt at blogging about the topic yet, here goes:The Times is meant to be an integrated platform for readers to access hyperlinks, video, podcasts, photographs, written stories and more. Why then, is it so difficult to access the multimedia aspect of the website? Yes you can tell me to click on the "Multimedia" tab in the navigation menu, fantastic, and then? Then you have a long list of video stories that appear but no video. You need to then click on the headline of the story and get to the story page and then search for the video which is tucked away in the top corner away from the main body of the story. The video is also strategically placed above an advert of some sorts to fool you in to thinking it's an advert.I am not an all knowing web designer/users but I know what I like and this is not it. I would like to see the main video placed within the body of the text, top or bottom and possible on the left of the screen as the main feature, since I am viewing what is coined as a video story.The Podcasts on The Times website are even more difficult to find. After clicking the main "multimedia" tab in the nav menu you then have to strain your eyes to find the submenu containing the podcast link which takes you to a blog format website. Why are the podcasts not featured on the main site?There are vodcasts on the podcasts page which I find somewhat strange. I really love the content on the site, I think that the media producers are doing a phenomenal job, as are the eds and the rest of the team so don't think that I am slating, I am just interested that's all.