Exequo proposal for standard including 'pay to' data
Company Ltd Project Proposal (name of project) IS WHAT??
Introduction
EXEQUO WILL NEED TO CORRECT AND FILL IN SOME MORE DETAIL HERE
History of the company, the current trading situation and the future objectives.
Exequo was created to provide easy, multi-user management for clients’ video and audio content; and for users, live and on-demand video and audio distribution (streaming, downloading, bittorrents etc.) Exequo utilises and builds on free and open-source software wherever possible, and feeds tools that meet the real requirements of artists, educators, journalists and other independent media producers back into the development community. It gives control to the users.
The current trading situation is fairly quiet as the directors have been busy with other projects and starting a family. With an expanded team supported by LDA and other funding streams, future objectives include building on the unique position, experience, potential and customer base of the service to achieve a self-sustaining business model for online video distribution and networking.
No. of employees, recent financial history etc.
NEEDS MORE INFO
Exequo is "Limited by Guarantee" and has received financial support from: VET, IFIwatch.tv, ResonanceFM. D::gen network is currently providing Exequo with 1 director, 1 project manager, 3 developers (+ interfacing with the open source community) and 1 designer: an in kind contribution equivalent to a grant of £25,000.
What products/services do they sell?
Exequo develop tools, infrastructure and relationships with content producers, rights owners and audiences to help clients grow their online audience. With more than 10 years experience in working with audio and video online, Exequo acts as a central store, management and digital distribution network for content, or works with existing websites to add downloads, podcasts, streaming, bit-torrents etc.
Project Detail
A current concern for all kinds of video producers is to better share and distribute their materials, both to reach wider audiences and to facilitate wider cooperation and learning. Massive increases in the speed of consumer-grade internet connections and disk storage space, as well as innovations in distributing software, mean that online distribution is now a viable option for media producers. As proprietary services like YouTube (www.youtube.com) have shown, there is now a strong online viewership. The only barrier to reaching a world audience with media content is the treatment of media files in a way that makes it easy for other online entities to find them and use them.
The Transmission network is actively addressing this problem via a common metadata and online syndication/distribution standard for use by diverse independent media groups and outlets. The intention is to allow parties to retain hosting and maintenance of their own materials, while facilitating widespread information exchange and collaborative use, re-use and distribution.
This has the potential to transform the way that video is published, accessed and presented online, enabling media to reach interested audiences much more effectively than it does at present. However, one component is missing: the creation of revenue for producers of video.
In the project proposed here, we intend to research and develop an innovative system that will allow viewers of video to donate directly to producers, via 1., an addition to our namespace and 2., a centralised server that will hold names of producers against hashes (unique identifiers) of particular content. In addition this server will manage payments from consumers to producers of content.
Need for Project
Why does the SME need the support from the Programme?
The planned addition of the 'pay-to' tag and the server linking content hashes with ‘pay-to’ information is the cornerstone for sustainability and profit for our project. The proposition is rather simple: we would receive a small percentage of all transactions made from consumers to producers via our system and thus be able to maintain the namespace and the service.
Evidence of commitment to the project from the SME.
Substantial work has been done to date on network building and development of a common video metadata standard. This work will continue at some level due to shared commitment across the networks – but this funding will multiply the utility and effectiveness of these processes many times over. It will also ensure that London is the city leading the development of a unique tool of immense international value.
What would the SME be able to achieve without support?
We are not currently at a stage suitable for VC (???) funding, and we have reached the limits of what we are able to achieve working voluntarily and/or with the limited means at our disposal.
Academic Involvement
Detailed description of the work that the academic will do.
Use case report in the environment and development education and research sector. If this model is to succeed it needs to do two things. One is to learn from the successes and failures of organising independent media networks in the recent past. The other is to test the effectiveness and usability of this new model for people and institutions that are interested in, but not a priori committed to, using independent online media networks and our new payment model. The academic department will be able to locate, choose and purchase the kind of video wanted for teaching and research through engagement with the process of programme development with ‘action research’.
Specifically, the academic will attend meetings in preparation for programme development, shaping the timescale and strategy to fit with intended users’ needs. She will also offer key insights from recent research on organisation of independent media networks, helping the team to learn from issues arising and ensure that the full potential of the project is achieved in terms of both process and outcome. This will involve practical sessions modelling and testing the ‘user experience’ of the new programme as it is developed. Once the beta set up is complete, she will reach out to other test users in the field, and facilitate networking of the final product.
Who is the academic – brief (1 paragraph) background.
Dr. Sian Sullivan, Lecturer in Environment and Development, Birkbeck College
Sian’s work focuses on the cultural politics of subjectivity in the protest politics of what have become known as the anti-capitalist and pro-justice movements. Previously her work explored disjunctions between discourses regarding ‘the environment’ held at local, national and transnational levels, focusing on wildlife conservation and desertification, and with fieldwork in Namibia. Most recently, she has been involved in a two year ESRC supported research project under the Non Governmental Public Action programme, exploring the organisation of independent media production and distribution.
Why is the academic/institution suitable for the job?
The academic and the institution wish to access online video from the grassroots on specific themes and issues, and are able to channel fees to producers as appropriate. www.ifiwatch.tv (the test site for the metadata standard being developed by Exequo) aggregates media that staff in the department of environment and development will be interested in, but may not otherwise be aware of. As non-technical but interested professionals they constitute a perfect test audience for the usability of the new tools being developed by Exequo and showcased in ifiwatch.tv. Sian Sullivan has broad experience and networks which will enable her to explore the utility of the programme, feeding back as an engaged theoretican, practioner and user. Once development is complete, Dr. Sullivan and her networks are perfectly positioned to facilitate outreach to other potential users in academic and other communities.
What is the potential benefit for the academic?
Easier access to video needed for research and teaching. Facilitating colleagues and professional networks to access – and reward - media productions they seek but have to date found hard to locate. The facility to purchase media directly from the producers without the time, expense and resource intensivity of locating and purchasing hard copies of films. Further research in independent media networks enabling deeper understanding and the possibility of publications.
Note someone is going to have to work on this section with the guys there, I suspect they want specific revenue answers. I would guess this needs to be handled in the first place by someone with an idea of how business models work in the tech and online distribution sector… gavin?
Work Breakdown
A project plan is included in the project description. The main activities/outputs are highlighted in this table:
When is the project expected to start and complete?
SME Activity & Outputs Academic Activity & Outputs
Phase 1 September 2007 RESEARCH, DOCUMENTATION EXPLORING USER NEEDS
Phase 2 October 2007 NAMESERVER CODE DOCUMENTATION REVIEW; SPECIFYING USER REQUIREMENTS
Phase 3 November 2007 PAYMENT SYSTEM PROPOSAL TO EDUCATORS, NGOs AND MEDIA PRODUCERS
Phase 4 December 2007 WORK ON INTERFACE AND USER-FRIENDLINESS REPORT FINDINGS & INITIATE TRIAL
What are the key risks associated with the project?
(I’m being brutally honest here, do not intend this version to go the funders!!!)
- That users are not consulted and listened to from the start and a programme is created which no one without technical expertise knows how to use, nor even understands why they should.
- That key staff are too busy with other projects to contribute to or complete this process.
- That lessons from previous exercises in technical development for independent media distribution go unlearned.
- That the system doesn’t work, or breaks easily.
Cost Breakdown
Project Delivery
The main items of expenditure are:
1) Research and documentation
a) technical aspects
b) social and organisational, interface aspects
2) Software development
3) Outreach, testing & promotion
The main items should match headline activity in project plan
This needs to be detailed enough to understand the make-up of each project.
1) £10,000
a) £500
b) £500
2) £10,000
3) £10,000
Academic Costs 15k
Total project Cost
LDA Contribution sought £30k
Funding contribution from SME £25K
Cash support
In kind – how many man hours? What materials or services are being paid for? In kind: £30,000
Project Delivery
Who will manage the project and where will it take place. How will the project be managed – e.g. weekly or monthly meetings etc… REALISTICALLY THIS CANNOT BE ZOE.
