Download the video on the left, double-click it and... nothing happens!

That is the experience of most people who've tried viewing it anyhow. But it isn't because the video itself is damaged. Rather, it's because the video is in an open format that most computer operating systems aren't equipped to view.

Again, that sounds like a contradiction. If the format is open, then how come computers aren't all equipped to view it? That was in fact the topic of this mLearning video, which I created for MDDE 610 as my contribution to another group project on mLearning. This content was entirely created by me, however, as each team member decided to create their own mLearning content on a particular topic of interest.

The first question you might be asking then, is why I decided to use an obscure format when iPod videos (Podcasts) are so well established (and were in fact integral to the topic of my first VIEW on mLearning). The answer is found in my resume: I am an ardent advocate of open-source platforms and open formats. As the video states (don't worry, I'll tell you how to play it below), in academia we have an obligation to show our work, and to protect our content. One of the dangers we must protect our content against is its lose in time. We must preserve the knowledge we have or create. Closed formats (including such staples as Microsoft Office DOC and DOCX) endanger our information by forcing those who seek it to use closed software to view it. Should Microsoft ever shutdown (and all companies eventually do), every file stored in their proprietary formats risks becoming inaccessible. Corporations are under no obligation to reveal their code in such an event. Open formats, on the other hand, are a matter of public record and can be picked up by any individual or company and continued. This offers a guarantee that the data stored in open formats will never become obsolete.

Another obvious advantage to open formats is the lack of patent and copyright entanglements. The reason most operating systems don't support open-source video formats is because they own a competing format for which they gather royalties. Microsoft has WMV, Apple has AAC & MP4, etc... They simply don't want the competition from the free sector. But in academia free is a boon, not a setback.

And so I made the decision to use a free format. This mLearning content is packaged in an MKV file: A free container format that doesn't encode the audio or video itself, but merely bundles everything together into one file. The video is encoded in Ogg Theora and the audio is encoded in Ogg Vorbis. This file also includes subtitles for the hearing-impaired, encoded in SRT-format plain text. The advantage of doing things this way is that the video, audio and subtitles can be edited separately without changing the other elements. The MKV format also allowed me to create chapter points at each page of the presentation.

Oh, and by the way, as promised, one can play this file using the free open-source VLC Media Player at http://www.videolan.org/vlc  It is available for Windows, MacOS, Linux, BSD, Solaris, OS/2, QNX and numerous other systems. That is the power of open formats.

Enjoy