Create an introductory video to diaspora* concepts and show it during registration process

I think that could be a great idea. Though I think there should be a non video equivalent. (I personally normally pass on the video)

Something like:
'Each instance of Diaspora is hosted on a Pod. You can host your own Pod on your own server, or join an existing Pod. All pods communicate with each other, so Join the Diaspora Community!

then underneath have two buttons. Join a Pod or Start Your Own

Join a pod taking you to a simplified sort of podupti.me with only open pods. or user being asked if they have a primary country they would like to be hosted in.

Providing the additional information in easy to see buttons/blurbs but keeping it focused. This would be good not just on closed pods but even on open pods as an optional splash/home page.

(i realize my thoughts regarding page design aren't on topic with the video suggestions I'll just leave it at that :) )

The one biggest problem with doing this is that the video would have to be remade each time anything in the UI changed or a new, basic feature were added. That's likely to be at least several times per year. once a video has been made, it's not something which can easily be amended slightly, as text can be. I doubt whether anyone with the requisite skills and equipment would be willing to put in that kind of commitment over a long period of time.

There are video tutorials out there already, but making them 'official' would bring in the problems of keeping them up to date.

I think remaking such video will be required only when core design will change (for example federation will switch from push to pull or mixture and etc.). Since it's about core concepts and not a tutorial on registration, it shouldn't be a problem.

Tutorial videos is another matter but this proposal isn't about them.

I like it, it's better to have an old video than no one, if we want people uses Diaspora, we need videos on YouTube and Vimeo (and MediaGoblin) where people could find how is it, if they watch just a few of them, I'm sure that they are not going to give a try.

I agree that this is essential to combating the media pull of imposters such as Ello and need not even display design details (which would as Goob says, change after a while).

It should just be a few minutes of approachable video, just like the bitcoin one Shmerl links to, that essentially makes the three points on the diasporafoundation.org front page: Decentralisation, Freedom, Privacy, and then rounds off with a few sentences on the sign up process (mainly in order to demystify this concept of choosing a pod) and a link to the non-video equivalent Birch suggests.

I'd be happy to put work into this, although I'm not sure I could do it on my own.

I think we only use free platafomras as mediagoblin and selfhosting, only free software and condecs. The copyleft license will allow anyone wants to upload it anywhere, but it would be good the group only use free resources .

@goob : this is not quite a problem. Only the sequences showing the UI would to be to be remade.

Moreover, newcommers don't watch tutoriasl before signing in unless they are very interested.

Furthermore, it could be a chance to explain what is d* to deaf people. I talked about that idea with a friend whose brother is deaf. Actually, we can't imagine how understanding things can be diffcult for them. They don't read texts as we do, as they don't speak as we do. So, sometimes, understanding written explanation can be hardly difficult for them.

It's a chance to offer them a deaf-friendly social network !

Only the sequences showing the UI would to be to be remade.

Yes, but the entire video would have to be remastered. You can't just patch in the diff like you can with text. Therefore someone would need to be willing to do that mastering (and would have to have the original video elements on their system in order to do this) each time an update was made. It's been my experience with Diaspora that the vast majority of people follow and contribute to the project and then move on to something else. There are many videos and other things about Diaspora out there on the web which are no longer maintained, and there is no way of updating them because the original author is no longer working with the project and not contactable. This is the problem with projects which can't be updated in a collaborative way. E.g. the video you made recently, if you stopped contributing to the project and stopped responding to communications, it would not be possible to update anything in that video. I'm not saying you're going to do that, of course(!) but that is the sort of thing which happens regularly.

Note, this proposal is not about a video tutorial which includes UI. Let me stress it, it's about a video which introduces users the core concepts of diaspora* and the way it functions.

Any such video will have to be created in collaborative way. I.e. master copy will have to be uploaded to community server / repository in order for anyone to be able to continue working on it.

If it's some kind of vector animation, then source materials like graphics will have to be kept in the repository as well.

Yes, but the entire video would have to be remastered. You can’t just patch in the diff like you can with text.

Yes, you can. Kdenlive makes rendering by executing scripts. You only have to replace the pieces of video that change.
Furthermore, the UI don't change that often.

There are many videos and other things about Diaspora out there on the web which are no longer maintained, and there is no way of updating them because the original author is no longer working with the project and not contactable.

So, why not host the video on diasporafoundation.org and only make a integration of it directly in the source code ?

Note, this proposal is not about a video tutorial which includes UI. Let me stress it, it’s about a video which introduces users the core concepts of diaspora* and the way it functions.

Yes, it's more what I had in mind (and what I understood). The problem is, when someonecome to diaspora*, they often don't understand that d* is not a website. They don't understand that different pods are not separated and that you're pretty able to do the same on diaspora-fr.org than on free-beer.ch.

It is not easy to understand. And many, many poeple come here just to see. They won't have the willing to search and watch tutorial videos to understand what d* is about.