Just starting to work on a YouTube framework

We’re planning to move our video content over into YouTube as soon as we reasonably can. That brings some big plusses – namely a lot of saved local server space, more visibility, more chance of being referenced and linked to by the rest of Wharton, easy inclusion on Wharton pages that have Eric’s media bar thing. However, that same media thing won’t work natively in our content because it’s CF. I don’t really want to create the same, because A) I’m a tinkerer and want to make something cool, and B) we can fine-tune something to our needs, which often involve a rich layer of metadata. For instance, our Alumni Impact Interviews would be amazing YouTube content, and will work fine “standalone” there, but on our site I want an interface that cross-sections them by industry of the alumnus, subject matter they’re talking about, alums of the MBA program vs. undergrads, and so on.

Well, long story short, I’ve been doing some early testing brushing off my JavaScript skills and the YouTube API and I’m brimming over with excitement at what I’m gonna unleash. It’s gonna take some heavy work, because this is going to be a finely polished bit of machinery.

Front page

A nice little update: the Wharton home page features our story on Karl Ulrich’s class in Wharton West. That’s the class I went to San Francisco in January to film. Our video presentation and text story are both linked.