What is non-linear video?

When I first worked for the BBC in 2002, I'd come from a corporate e-learning background, where I learned how to write a non-linear video simulation. These simulations enabled a learner to watch an opening clip, then choose from a number of options. Each option led the learner to another video clip.

These non-linear video simulations reminded me a lot of those Choose Your Own Adventure novels I used to read as a kid - you read a chapter, then got to choose an action at the end. Then you'd turn to the right page to see what happens.

I didn't live long in these adventures. Mostly I got ate by a Dragon or fell down a well (much more interesting than the e-learning equivalent, where you could make your boss look disappointed or perhaps fail to sell a printer).

So when I joined the BBC, I talked about potential of a non-linear approach to using video. But I found it very hard to get people from traditional media to understand the concept. Five years on at the crea8ivity.com event in January this year, I was surprised to hear how little things have changed.

The phrase non-linear video was bandied about during the event by a few different people - Emma Somerville - BBC Head of Interactive TV in particular used it - but nobody seemed to have a clear idea of what non-linear video is. There seemed to be an impression that simply by allowing viewers to choose which video clip they wanted to watch, you were creating a non-linear video experience.

Well not really.

A video clip played out on the web or any other platform are still 'linear video'. For me, a true non-linear video experience is about scripting and providing content that doesn't have to be played out in a straight line - content that plays out in response to user choice.

NON-LINEAR VIDEO LEARNING EXPERIENCE EXAMPLE
On a freelance project, I once got to script, shoot and build a really interesting non-linear flash-based video quiz. It used a pool of video clips in conjunction with a database of thousands of questions and images.

The design meant the learner could play the game millions of times, without ever getting the same questions. The video clips slotted together in response to the user's actions.

The game was a hit with our testers and the ROI on the game was massive. For a small investment, we ended up with a fun quiz game that could be used again and again. And we could update the quiz database whenever we wanted, providing fresh content.

LINEAR VIDEO LEARNING EXPERIENCE EXAMPLE
For the same project, I also wrote a soap opera. It consisted of 5 short episodes that had to be watched in order. The learners couldn't interact with it. It couldn't be updated. And it cost a lot more to produce.

I didn't feel that many content producers at the crea8ivity event were clear on the distinction between delivering linear video online and creating a non-linear video experience. I got the impression that people thought that once you put a documentary or short film or video clip online, it somehow stops being 'linear video'.

It doesn't. Non-linear video content needs to be carefully scripted from scratch - check out those old adventure novels! You can't take a Barbara Cartland novel, cut it up into 10 chapter, then upload it as 10 word documents and call it interactive. Sure I can choose chapter 7 instead of chapter 1 first, but the content isn't designed to be experienced that way.

I didn't think that the BBC presentations did anything to enlighten the content producers about creating non-linear video. We were bombarded with 'exciting new formats' like

- made for mobile Tardisodes
- Minisodes from archive material
- web-only programming experiences

It struck me that what the BBC are doing at the moment is creating fancy names for video content, instead of actually looking at how to create interesting video experiences.

And instead of the BBC working with the content producers to create interesting new video content, they're bamboozling them (and their audience) with fancy new names for what is essentially always always the same thing - a 5 minute linear video clip...

This is an old link...but still interesting...check out samsung's interactive film showcase. There's 10 characters. 1 event. 10 possible endings. And 11,000 ways for the story to play out.

BBC delivers Web 3.0

So the BBC has struck a partnership deal with IBM to create web 3.0 technology.

Now we all know that web 2.0 is getting a bit overused...I mean, the term's been around since 2004, and even your granny's web 2.0 these days.

But I'm more than a little uncomfortable with the idea that Ashley Highfield of the BBC is going to 'create' web 3.0 for us.

Web 2.0 was allegedly born in the aftermath of the 'dot com bubble'. That happened in the Autumn of 2001. So three years later we finally got a term for what had been evolving online.

And what had evolved online? A user-centred, application rich web experience. Websites that were filled with user content. Websites that facilitated communication and the sharing of ideas and content. Websites that were driven by people's need to learn and share knowledge.

The BBC has struggled with the idea of web 2.0. Their website is still heavily mired in the mud of its web 1.0 genesis. Much of their content reminds me of the type of thing telly and radio people who've done a Dreamweaver course and attended a few conferences think is good. It's still based on the viewer staring at a screen that will educate, entertain and inform.

So the idea of the BBC 'creating' web 3.0 for us, the users, is novel. So what are we getting for web 3.0. A video search system for CBeebies and CBBC programmes. Last time I looked, the under-5 market was not the influential technology shaper of the online world.

And while I agree that harnessing video search technology could be a make or break strategy for the BBC, it's probably not what your average web user thinks of as the next 'must-have' technology. I mean, not too many of us have got an archive of 1.4 million hours of video and audio to digitise and sort. Most of us could, with a little bit of effort, view and organise our multimedia in a week or so. Of course it would be nice if a machine would come along and do that for us, but it's not my next big Must Have technology.

So. The BBC is delivering us web 3.0, even as they struggle to adjust to web 2.0. Which, if I remember rightly, we delivered to them. Read more at the guardian.