Update Nov13 2017: We have also had success using Clipper with source files in online file sharing services like Dropbox, Google drive and Microsoft OneDrive and it looks like Twitter video and Facebook video can work as well. One of the challenges is how to manage this complexity for users and ourselves. We have have also been able to successfully integrate Clipper with the native Search APIs of SoundCloud and Vimeo. But for now we are restricting use to YouTube / MP3 / MP4 while we think about the best way forwards.
We have been really fortunate to have gained a new team member. David Roldan Alvarez from University of Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) is working on the Clipper code and project for 3 months as a Phd. research student visiting The Open University.
David has picked up the code and ideas really quickly and is working on adding new services to Clipper such as Vimeo and SoundCloud. This is really important for us and future developments. At the moment Clipper works well with YouTube and any online MP4 / MP3 file that a user can find the URL of (so this includes Podbean and many BBC audio services with a ‘download‘ option that links to an mp3 file. This is already a big step but having several other online services available makes Clipper look less like a ‘one trick pony’ and more like a general purpose web based audio-visual annotation tool.
Paradoxically it also helps us argue to persuade people to adopt Clipper as an add on for an existing service such as a digital archive or online museum or library collection. From previous workshops we know that there was a great interest in adding in Vimeo (e.g. The North West Film Archive and the National Library of Scotland and of the possibility of ‘in-house’ adoption of the code. Having a spread of online services like this helps to persuade people that Clipper can be adopted in a wide range of ways and contexts.
