Virtual Worlds

Proposal for the

introduction of blog
technology to enhance
communication between
clients and staff in the
Film and TV industry.

REPORT
March 2008

Phil Moore
 1

Executive Summary

While Blogs can take many forms, for the purposes of this proposal we have focused on the
kind of Blog that would d be most useful to those working in the Film and TV Industries in
Australia, and which would be used in the development and creation of a project. A Blog that
would be textual, but which could expand into something that includes images, videos, audio
and other content as demand for these media forms requires.

As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million
blogs on the web 1 . This explosion of use for this form of communication shows just how
quickly it has become a vital tool in keeping people in touch. Often used as a personal diary
to help ‘fans’ keep abreast of what their favourite artists are up to – it has also been the
means for breaking important news by private individuals or journalists; or in the film and TV
industry, is the preferred tool of many online critics and news forums.

For this proposal, a private Blog and Wiki can be the means for keeping clients and staff
constantly abreast of the progress of different jobs. This becomes most useful when dealing
with clients who are in different time-zones (ie: The US), and even staff and contractors who
are often in different locations working odd hours. It allows for people to access the latest
updates on a project when they can.

It can be a simple text-based forum for up-to-date information; growing to a server for
updated work-in-progress content offering links to images, video and audio files; and a Wiki
to store documents that address specific guidelines and requirements for any project.

A similar scheme has been proposed by Animal Logic with their Fibre Optic Network. This
network is primarily about providing high-speed transfer for high-resolution content. The
communications aspect of this called CRT is a proprietary system. For those working in lower
budget production, a broadband connection with a private Blog and Wiki setup provides the
same basic infrastructure with minimal expense. Content can’t be as high-res as the Fibre
Optic solution provides, but in terms of communication, A Blog and Wiki system is arguably
better suited for both content provider (and their raft of contractors and freelancers) and the
Producer/Client.
 2

Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................2
2. Existing communication methods ..............................................................................3
3. Where do Blogs fit in?..............................................................................................3
4. What exactly are Blogs?...........................................................................................4
5. How will it work?.....................................................................................................4
6. Examples of business using Blogs to communicate. ....................................................5
7. Blog or Wiki? ..........................................................................................................6
8. Conclusions ............................................................................................................7
9. Recommendations...................................................................................................7

Appendix 1...................................................................................................................9
Capturing workplace knowledge with Drupal......................................................................9
So much to know, so little time ....................................................................................9
Technology to the rescue (sort of) ................................................................................9
Mixing and matching to find a combination that suits your environment......................... 10
Enter Drupal, the jack of all trades.............................................................................. 11
Blogging in Drupal................................................................................................. 12
Wiki-like functionality in Drupal............................................................................... 12
Taxonomies in Drupal ............................................................................................ 12
Identity in Drupal .................................................................................................. 12
Building communities around business topics with Organic Groups ................................ 13
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but the food is cheap ............................................ 13

__________________________________________________________

Figures

Figure 1 - May 19th, 2006 - More people are searching for the word “blog” than “wiki”,
“email” or “Excel”, according to Google trends. ..................................................................4

Figure 2 - A diagram illustrating the relationship between blogs, wiki and groups in a
workplace knowledge capture system (click to enlarge) ......................................................6
 3

1. Introduction
As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than
112 million blogs on the web 2 . This explosion of use for this form of
communication shows just how quickly it has become a vital tool in keeping
people in touch.

Often used as a personal diary to help ‘fans’ keep abreast of what their
favourite artists are up to – it has also been the means for breaking important
news by private individuals or journalists, and in the case of this proposal, can
be the means for keeping clients and staff constantly abreast of the progress of
a particular job – or of multiple jobs at once.

This proposal examines the use of Blogs and how they can assist in better
communications between Service Provider and client.

2. Existing communication methods

Communications between a service provider and client can take many forms, and will
often involve all of these forms at various stages through the process. Beginning with
a face to face meeting, phone conversations, emails, faxes, and regular mail and
couriers.

All of these still have their place. Snail mail and couriers for example are still vital
when transporting important documentation; faxes can be a simple way of
transmitting documents that would be difficult to do by email and do not require the
confidentiality of mail. Email of course has become the preferred form of written
communication for many and has the advantage of being quick to write, instantly
delivered, and provides a way to track communications through a written record.

Phone conversations have the advantage of a more personal contact and are often
required when several issues need to be dealt with quickly, and misunderstandings
that can sometimes occur with emails are usually avoided in such dialogues.

Face to Face meetings can be a vital part during a project’s development also –
especially in the early stages. The communication that takes place here though may
be more through body language and simple personal interactions. Getting to know
who you are dealing with and they really want is best done face to face. Sometimes
of course this is not possible, and many jobs can be completed successfully without
ever meeting.

3. Where do Blogs fit in?

Add to the above communication forms the Blog. This is not out to replace these
other forms but to supplement them. A Blog is quite simply a Web Site where anyone
(with the proper permissions) can write notes about what they are up to. People
working together on a project can update the text, comment on other’s input and
generally conduct a written conversation that is viewable by all with permission to
view the site. This is an extension of older technologies like Web Forums and
Newsgroups (Usenet) and Online Bulletin Board systems (BBS).
 4

A Blog can be most useful in the middle of the development of a project. It can assist
in brainstorming ideas when a round-table meeting is not possible; and can keep
everyone abreast of a project’s progress minute by minute. It is informal, and yet can
be treated as a way of communicating and openly tracking the progress of a project
for both the provider and the client. This becomes most useful when dealing with
clients who are in different time-zones (ie: The US) and allows for people to access
the latest updates on a project when they can.

Figure 1 - May 19th, 2006 - More people are searching for the word “blog”
than “wiki”, “email” or “Excel”, according to Google trends.

4. What exactly are Blogs?

According to Wikipedia 3 the term blog is derived from an abridgment of the term
web log and is ‘a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse
chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add
content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as

more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other
blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to
leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most
blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs
(photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) are part
of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which
consists of blogs with very short posts.

In fact this kind of interactive Blog is also known as a Wiki, and Wikipedia is one such
well-known example.

5. How will it work?

First step is to create a Web site, or sub-site that can handle the blog. While many
Blogs are intended to be Public and readily accessible to anyone on the Web – for the
purposes of this proposal and the nature of the business to be discussed on the Blog,
a private Blog with passwords for each person is highly recommended.
 5

Depending on the client and the particular project, a Blog can be a simple text-based
forum for interactive discussion, or a full blown media portal that offers embedded
images and provides links to video and audio clips of works in progress. Like the Blog
content these media clips are best kept confidential of course.

Therefore a dedicated Server with FTP (File Transfer Protocol) capabilities would be
recommended. Both the Provider and the client need to agree on the formats to be
used for these medial clips (Quicktime, WMV, MP3, etc…) and the quality expected.
This is all stuff that can of course be nutted out within the text blog itself.

Once the workflow is in place and the formats agreed upon the process will be very
fast for all concerned and allows people – no matter where they are in the world – to
see or hear (at reduced quality at least) the progress of any project and to easily
judge if it is meeting the required landmarks.

The web site that is home to the proposed blog can be hosted by a dedicated Blog
hosting service, but we suggest using a Blog software to create a private blog hosted
as part of either our company’s or the client’s own web site. This ensure greater
control and privacy over the Blog, even though it may incur some additional tech
support issues. Such software is readily available and easily installed and set up by
anyone familiar with Web Site design, and can be maintained and updated remotely –
ie: via a web browser from any location in the world.

6. Examples of business using Blogs to

communicate.
Most Blogs and Wikis are of course intended to be public, and there are literally
millions out there now. Many are part of portal sites for personal content like
YouTube, Myspace and Facebook; many business are also now using Blogs to
communicate with staff and clients (or potential clients), whether they be in remote
locations or even within the head office itself.

Investment and financial management services offer Blogs of this nature with public
forums providing the latest news in their field. Major newspapers like the Sydney
Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au) and The Age
(http://blogs.theage.com.au/yoursay/) offer Blogs on their Web Sites for updated
news and offering people the chance to comment on stories. And within the Film and
TV industry there are a wide range of critical and industry commentating sites that
offer Blogs as core to their content – such as www.indiewire.com and
www.rottentamatoes.com.

When it comes to the Film and TV industry Tom Jeffrey 4 writes “Corporate has come
to mean almost any program, which is not primarily for broadcast, designed to inform
an audience on a specific subject. The program may be a video, a CD, Website or
even a Blog – or a combination of any or all of them, constituting multi-platform
content.”

So a blog can be useful for both In-house development purposes as well as a

medium for distribution or marketing the final product. Just another part of the great
multi-platform diversification of ancillary rights for content delivery.

While it is harder to get figures or examples of businesses using Blogs and Wikis for
in-house use we can cite from personal experience the usefulness of this kind of
technology – going back to the days of Online Bulletin Board systems (BBS).
 6

The best example in Australia though is the Fibre Optic Network touted by Animal
Logic as a dedicated high-bandwidth communications link between Australia and the
US for Film production 5 - ‘[Guy Griffiths’] most recent effort has been leading Animal
Logic's R&D team to create a technology that allows Animal Logic's creative crews to
have secure, real-time discussions with overseas clients via tele-stream, fast speed or
standard internet connections. The Client Review Tool (CRT) permits both parties to
see with precision, the current status of work from anywhere in the world.’

This CRT is another precursor to the use of Blogs and Wikis. But a private Blog similar
on design is cheaper to setup and easier to run; and is ideal for lower budget
production that still have to deal many people working on the same project at
possibly several different locations.

7. Blog or Wiki?
While similar in concept there is a difference between the two. To Quote www.stress-
free.co.nz 6

Ignoring technology for a moment a workplace's knowledge cannot be translated

purely into an encyclopedic-like volume or assembled as a collection of personal
thoughts. The best strategy to adopt in this environment is a 'horses for courses'
approach. Some aspects of the business will be recorded and utlised most efficiently
as a wiki-like document, whilst extracting nuggets of personal knowledge from
employees will require a blog-like environment. However what is most important is
that a healthy and incentivised environment for conversation needs to be created for
all employees to participate in. The last thing a workplace needs is for the platform to
become a venue for one person to blow their own horn or a tool for management to
enforce how things should be done.

Figure 2 - A diagram illustrating the relationship between blogs, wiki and groups in a
workplace knowledge capture system (click to enlarge)
 7

As is hopefully apparent from the description above both blog and wiki have their
own set of benefits and drawbacks. Whilst a blog is an excellent means of recording
one person's opinion or off the wall process it is not a useful venue for collaboratively
putting together a set of 'best practice' documents. Likewise whilst a wiki enables a
group of like-minded people to assemble a homogeneous knowledge base it stifles
personal opinion in favor of group-think, or even worse allows the resident alpha-
male to stamp his (or her) mark on everything that gets recorded. Currently we do
not have a Web concept that encompasses the best of both worlds and because of
the forces at play I doubt one will ever exist. As a consequence an effective
workplace knowledge capture system should attempt to blend both blog and wiki in a
manner which positively reinforces both functional requirements.

In the context of this proposal, an internal project-focused Wiki can become a

valuable resource for troubleshooting issues and disseminating core guidelines and
milestones as agree early in the process. These can be invaluable reference materials
for all working on the project. The Day-to-day Blog is a way of tracking how well
people are keeping to these guidelines – and indeed of noting and alerting people to
changes to the guidelines, as often happens.

Including the use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) can further ensure people are
informed of important changes or updates as soon as they occur. This is the same
process currently used to keep people informed of breaking news, weather, or
anything else they may be interested in from a particular Web Site; by setting up a
simple RSS Feed to an RSS utility program such as Snarfer on their computer
desktop.

8. Conclusions
The revolution has begun. The use of Blogs and Wikis is already widespread. If not
among businesses in the Film and TV industry then certainly among their audience.
The example set by Animal Logic with the Fibre-Optic Network shows the high-end.
Using a Blog and Wiki offers the same kind of workflow benefits for smaller budget
productions.

9. Recommendations
Any production company, graphics or animation house, DOP or post service provider,
or indeed anyone involved in the content creation business should have a web site of
some description. Adding a Blog and Wiki to this is relatively easy and inexpensive to
do.

For your next project, if you have to deal with contractors or clients in remote
locations, working odd hours, and want to keep tabs of what everyone is up to. Try
setting up a Blog instead of what you are probably doing now – making endless
phone calls and chasing people by email. Set up a private Blog as part of your site
and once everyone has been educated to using it - it will make things go much faster
and smoother.

We recommend you set up your own Blog on your own site, rather that use one of
the public services available. You will also need enough server space for provide
ample FTP facilities for content files. Your existing webmaster should be able to
handle this – it’s not too difficult – though you may need to pay a bit more for the
server space. We recommend this rather that use one of the many publicly available
upload services out there. For occasional files these are okay but as an ongoing
concern, using somewhere like www.yousendit.com/ is not practical or safe.
 8

References

1 Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
2
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
3
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

4
Film Business: A Handbook for Producers – Tom Jeffrey
Allen & Unwin – 2006. ISBN 1741146461

5
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Film-to-fibre-The-future-is-
connectivity/0,130061791,120271169,00.htm
Jeanne-Vida Douglas, ZDNet Australia -
13 January 2003 08:10 AM
6
http://www.stress-free.co.nz
David on 6 June 2007
 9

Appendix 1
_____________________________________________

Capturing workplace knowledge with Drupal

Submitted by David on 6 June 2007 - 12:03pm.

• blogging
• drupal
• thesis
• wiki

Formally recording what we have learned in the workplace is a worthwhile process

that is often forgotten or not undertaken because there is no time or immediate
incentive to do so. Web-based technologies such as wikis and blogs have
demonstrated that enabling people to quickly publish and publicise their knowledge
within their peer group is potentially a very powerful means of undertaking
collaborative knowledge capture. This article explores how Drupal, an open-source
content management framework can be used to facilitate this process in a community
centric manner.

So much to know, so little time

A workplace such as an architecture practice generates a lot of 'on the job' knowledge
which at the time can seem obvious or worthless but afterwards can be invaluable.
Such knowledge can range from the most appropriate window detail to use in a
certain situation, to the most efficient way of modeling that window detail in the
office CAD package. Usually these little morsels of knowledge are never formally
recorded because it is just more work that typically is not budgeted for, or
acknowledged by, management. As a consequence finding an answer to one of the
aforementioned questions becomes dependent on your ability to understand the
workplace's knowledge topography (i.e. who knows what). But even though it maybe
common knowledge in your workplace that Bob has a collection of decent window
details or Andrew 'the CAD guy' will help you out, what happens when they are not
available, or even worse quit their job to work at the more fashionable architecture
practice across town?

Technology to the rescue (sort of)

During the later bit of the 20th Century 'knowledge management' was a buzz-word
because to a certain degree it was felt that with the onset of the 'knowledge economy'
we would all soon be drowning in a big sea of knowledge (that's a lot of knowledge).
Consequently many complicated and expensive systems were developed to act like
 10

sponges and absorb all this dangerous knowledge. Unfortunately whilst many of these
systems did an excellent job of storing and searching the information that was put into
them, the highly structured manner in which this data had to be entered made it
painful for the average, overworked and under-appreciated employee to undertake. It
must of come as some surprise to many employers when they realised that whilst their
employees were not using their expensive workplace knowledge management systems
they would gladly spend hours of their free time (and no doubt some of their
employers) writing blogs and participating in wikis such as Wikipedia on the public
Internet. Given the massive adoption of both technologies it comes at no surprise then
that we are now trying to understand how to leverage these tools in order to capture
workplace knowledge.

What are these two Web technologies and how are they different? At its simplest form
a blog is a series of chronologically ordered texts casually written by a single person
on a subject matter of their choosing. In contrast a wiki is generally a more formal and
structured set of documents that any (authorised) person can edit how they see fit.
Both are similar in that the processes of publishing and publicising new content is
instant which provides immediate gratification and information for those partaking in
the process. However whilst conversation in the form of comments is encouraged
around both, blog comments generally spurs open ended debate, whilst comments on
a wiki are usually intended as feedback for improving the underlying document.

Mixing and matching to find a combination that suits

your environment
Ignoring technology for a moment a workplace's knowledge cannot be translated
purely into an encyclopedic-like volume or assembled as a collection of personal
thoughts. The best strategy to adopt in this environment is a 'horses for courses'
approach. Some aspects of the business will be recorded and utlised most efficiently
as a wiki-like document, whilst extracting nuggets of personal knowledge from
employees will require a blog-like environment. However what is most important is
that a healthy and incentivised environment for conversation needs to be created for
all employees to participate in. The last thing a workplace needs is for the platform to
become a venue for one person to blow their own horn or a tool for management to
enforce how things should be done.
 11

A diagram illustrating the relationship between blogs, wiki and groups in a

workplace knowledge capture system (click to enlarge)

As is hopefully apparent from the description above both blog and wiki have their
own set of benefits and drawbacks. Whilst a blog is an excellent means of recording
one person's opinion or off the wall process it is not a useful venue for collaboratively
putting together a set of 'best practice' documents. Likewise whilst a wiki enables a
group of like-minded people to assemble a homogeneous knowledge base it stifles
personal opinion in favor of group-think, or even worse allows the resident alpha-
male to stamp his (or her) mark on everything that gets recorded. Currently we do not
have a Web concept that encompasses the best of both worlds and because of the
forces at play I doubt one will ever exist. As a consequence an effective workplace
knowledge capture system should attempt to blend both blog and wiki in a manner
which positively reinforces both functional requirements.

Enter Drupal, the jack of all trades

Most blog or wiki software packages available today are simply that, a blog OR wiki
software package. There are very few that are both and even fewer that do them both
well. Drupal is one such software package that is capable of enabling simultaneous
and seamless blog and wiki-like functionality in the manner required of a workplace
knowledge capture system. Drupal is a mature, open-source, PHP-based content
management framework that is used worldwide on thousands of Web and intranet
sites. Unlike a more traditional, one size fits all content management or wiki system,
Drupal is intended to be extended and modified to suit the exact functionality
required. This capability makes it ideal for use as a workplace knowledge capture
system because it can be tailored to fit the intended environment and is capable of
changing as the workplace evolves.
 12

Blogging in Drupal

Drupal comes standard with a blog module built in which allows all users to have
their very own blog that other people can view and comment upon. Creating
interesting blog posts is greatly simplified through the use of word-processor editor
modules such as TinyMCE with extensions like IMCE. These enable even the most
technically challenged people to create rich, structured documents complete with
embedded photographs and diagrams.

The TinyMCE rich-text editor within Drupal (click to enlarge)

Wiki-like functionality in Drupal

Drupal does not yet have wiki functionality built in by default. This being said it is
possible to create a versioned document type that can be edited by all users with only
a few mouse clicks. When combined with the diff module this versioned, fully
editable document has the same characteristics of a wiki document without the
annoying wiki syntax (which many would say is a good thing). There are wiki syntax
modules in development for Drupal but in reality a rich-text HTML editor like
TinyMCE is far easier to pick up and use by your average employee when compared
to the often cryptic world of wiki-markup.

Taxonomies in Drupal

Having lots of content is a great, but like our mothers always warned too much of a
good thing will lead to stomach aches and tooth decay. Just because something has
been written down and is in a database does not mean it will be easily found. Drupal
allows content to be categorised in many different ways from a highly structured
taxonomy through to very fluid, user defined tags. Both types of categorisation have
their benefits and drawbacks, but being able to mix and match both systems
depending on the type of content enables staff to locate what they are trying to find in
any number of ways. For example taxonomies can be browsed or viewed as a cloud,
used to assist in search request or, with the aid of modules like 'similar entries' can
forge links between disconnected content.

Identity in Drupal

Identity management is another hot topic within the I.T. world at the moment and
Drupal is very powerful in this regard. By default Drupal uses an internal user
database but it can be configured to pull user information from a central source such
 13

as an LDAP server. Functionality such as this enables it to be integrated seamlessly

into an office environment where employees generally have existing accounts for file
and print services.

Building communities around business topics with

Organic Groups
On an active website what generally turns out to be the hardest part of the interaction
process is deciding what is or is not interesting to you. The last thing you want to do
on a busy work day is comb through all the new bits of information on the workplace
knowledge base just to find out nothing touches on your specific interests. The
Organic Groups module resolves this problem by allowing users to create groups
within the Drupal site which can be subscribed to by associates who have similar
interests. As content is posted to this group the subscribed users can be notified by
email or RSS feed of the developments rather than having to manually check. A
secondary but no less important aspect of the module is that it enables the group to
flag what they are discussing as private so that only those subscribed and authorised
can view and partake in the conversation. In a large, multi-faceted organisation a
capability such as this is important because not all knowledge capturing is a public
affair, especially if the information is confidential or sensitive.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, but the food is

cheap
Drupal does not have a 'workplace knowledge capturing' module because each
workplace is different and for such a tool to be successful it needs to be tuned to its
environment. Fortunately Drupal is a fluid platform so deployment can happen very
quickly with the intention being that the system will be changed to suit the workplace
based on feedback and uptake by the staff. Being open source with a large user base
there are very little setup cost s and support from the community or local consultants
is easy to come by. If you are considering setting a knowledge capture system up then
I would recommend exploring how blogs and wiki can be used in partnership with
each other in your workplace and whether Drupal could be the stage where it all takes
place.