10 ms·

AP makes one million minutes of historical footage available on YouTube

198 points by mxfh 11y ago

awalton 11y ago
Any chance we can get them to make it available via archive.org as well? Yeah everyone loves Google, but archive.org seems like a vastly better home for content like this - preserving the historical record digitally, more easily allowing it to be downloaded and fairly used in video reports, classroom material, and so forth.
- timothya 11y ago
  Does archive.org have the storage space or bandwidth to serve this much video? I agree that archive.org is the "correct" place for this content, but I think YouTube is a more practical location for now (and also the place where I think the content is more likely to be discovered by regular people: many people think of searching YouTube when looking for video content of all types, and YouTube has a top-tier indexing and search engine to help them find the right stuff).
  - coob 11y ago
    Probably http://archive.org/stats/ http://archive.org/stats/
    - dmd 11y ago
      You say "probably", and then link to statistics that don't support the premise and in fact cast serious doubt on it, so I'm not sure what you mean to say here.
  - anc84 11y ago
    Sure, they already hosted the Prelinger movie archives: https://archive.org/details/prelinger https://archive.org/details/prelinger & https://archive.org/details/prelingerhomemovies https://archive.org/details/prelingerhomemovies
    - mapleoin 11y ago
      I can't believe this got 27 million views though: https://archive.org/details/AboutBan1935 https://archive.org/details/AboutBan1935
- dm2 11y ago
  I think that AP is making some money from these videos by hosting them on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio has ads in the right sidebar (one of the newly uploaded videos). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA does not have ads. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2467968 https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2467968
  - johnward 11y ago
    Do those ads only appear if the submitter enables it? Youtube has some ads by default. Either way I don't really care just curious.
arocks 11y ago
It seems most of the content is under "Standard YouTube Licence"[1]. Since this is historical footage I would have preferred if it was under Creative Commons, so that it could be included in other videos. Anyways, this makes YouTube even more useful for preserving and making notable videos more accessible. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms
- timothya 11y ago
  You can license the clips by going to the AP Archive website; e.g., this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio can be licensed from here: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/c0016a30f75d456abfa018337ca69cb1 http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/c0016a30f75d456abf... (the link was in the description on YouTube). I assume they stuck with the Standard YouTube License because that lets them keep ownership of the videos and license them out separately under their own terms.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - JupiterMoon 11y ago
    > keep ownership of the videos and license them out separately under their own terms. The one you link to they surely can't own? 1906 => public domain.
    - anc84 11y ago
      Copyright works in mysterious ways. They probably have copyright on the actual files as well as the product that they created when capturing the analog originals digitally.
      - icebraining 11y ago
        Copyright requires creativity; just using a tool to convert from analog to digital and generate files doesn't grant copyright protection, AFAIK.
kayoone 11y ago
This is awesome and i only now begin to really grasp the importance of things like this. I recently showed some german post and pre WWII footage to my grandma on youtube and she was delighted about the ability to access that kind of rare footage on demand. I recorded her commentary while watching the videos which was super interesting. She remembered many small details of living in Berlin post-war that she probably wouldn't have otherwise. She is 87 now, so i plan to do this a couple more times and make a video that shows the footage with her commentary on it, just to be able to preserve some of her thoughts and feelings.
- morsch 11y ago
  That's a great idea. Sounds like it would be a fun converstation starter with my parents as well. It's easy to imagine a page with curated reaction videos from regular people with different backgrounds.
x5n1 11y ago
Now if they only allow you to use this freely we would actually have something. Though something is better than nothing.
JupiterMoon 11y ago
When does such material become public domain?
- icebraining 11y ago
  That depends on the age and location of the footage, and where the viewer is (it can be public domain in some countries, and not in others).
  - JupiterMoon 11y ago
    If it is in the public domain does this override the Standard Youtube Licence? I.e. can on legally download the video? Or does one still have to use the AP's webpage which seems to require sign up (and then I don't know what).
    - lmm 11y ago
      If the content that's on Youtube is in the public domain then yes. Note that sometimes restoration involves enough creative work to make the result copyrightable even if the original footage was in the public domain.
    - witty_username 11y ago
      I don't think you can legally download the video from Youtube; their TOS prohibits this. Of course I don't think Youtube has sued anyone for this and it's not a big deal. Copyright wise it's legal I believe to use the content.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
phn 11y ago
It would be very interesting for youtube to include a date of capture/production field. It would make navigating this a lot easier.
TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
Unfortunately, the videos on YouTube don't include the date metadata.
devhxinc 11y ago
This is awesome, now can use the footage as YouTube's Terms of Service allows remixes and news reporting. https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/fair-use.html https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/fair-use.html
ashbrahma 11y ago
Link to the Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHTK-2W11Vh1V4uwofOfR4w https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHTK-2W11Vh1V4uwofOfR4w
jonknee 11y ago
Wow, one of the videos already has 104k views (in 2 days). It's a video of a polar bear who got hold of a tourist at a zoo. Strange what goes viral. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUr6LRqWYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUr6LRqWYk
- sosuke 11y ago
  People doing unsafe things with their cameras is popular. It wasn't some shaky cam either, and the bear holding her shoe in a later shot and licking the bars is powerful. More so this was in 1994, camera mishaps aren't new.
bennettfeely 11y ago
Wow. 1,000,000 minutes = 16,670 hours = 700 days = 1.9 years of footage
ypcx 11y ago
A great archive of 20th century propaganda.
fimbaz 11y ago
Technically all footage is historical. "This is a picture of me when I was younger"

198 points by mxfh 11y ago

Any chance we can get them to make it available via archive.org as well? Yeah everyone loves Google, but archive.org seems like a vastly better home for content like this - preserving the historical record digitally, more easily allowing it to be downloaded and fairly used in video reports, classroom material, and so forth.

timothya 11y ago
Does archive.org have the storage space or bandwidth to serve this much video? I agree that archive.org is the "correct" place for this content, but I think YouTube is a more practical location for now (and also the place where I think the content is more likely to be discovered by regular people: many people think of searching YouTube when looking for video content of all types, and YouTube has a top-tier indexing and search engine to help them find the right stuff).
- coob 11y ago
  Probably http://archive.org/stats/ http://archive.org/stats/
  - dmd 11y ago
    You say "probably", and then link to statistics that don't support the premise and in fact cast serious doubt on it, so I'm not sure what you mean to say here.
- anc84 11y ago
  Sure, they already hosted the Prelinger movie archives: https://archive.org/details/prelinger https://archive.org/details/prelinger & https://archive.org/details/prelingerhomemovies https://archive.org/details/prelingerhomemovies
  - mapleoin 11y ago
    I can't believe this got 27 million views though: https://archive.org/details/AboutBan1935 https://archive.org/details/AboutBan1935
dm2 11y ago
I think that AP is making some money from these videos by hosting them on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio has ads in the right sidebar (one of the newly uploaded videos). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA does not have ads. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2467968 https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2467968
- johnward 11y ago
  Do those ads only appear if the submitter enables it? Youtube has some ads by default. Either way I don't really care just curious.

arocks 11y ago

It seems most of the content is under "Standard YouTube Licence"[1]. Since this is historical footage I would have preferred if it was under Creative Commons, so that it could be included in other videos. Anyways, this makes YouTube even more useful for preserving and making notable videos more accessible. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms

timothya 11y ago
You can license the clips by going to the AP Archive website; e.g., this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjZ6NNLCdio can be licensed from here: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/c0016a30f75d456abfa018337ca69cb1 http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/c0016a30f75d456abf... (the link was in the description on YouTube). I assume they stuck with the Standard YouTube License because that lets them keep ownership of the videos and license them out separately under their own terms.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- JupiterMoon 11y ago
  > keep ownership of the videos and license them out separately under their own terms. The one you link to they surely can't own? 1906 => public domain.
  - anc84 11y ago
    Copyright works in mysterious ways. They probably have copyright on the actual files as well as the product that they created when capturing the analog originals digitally.
    - icebraining 11y ago
      Copyright requires creativity; just using a tool to convert from analog to digital and generate files doesn't grant copyright protection, AFAIK.

kayoone 11y ago

This is awesome and i only now begin to really grasp the importance of things like this. I recently showed some german post and pre WWII footage to my grandma on youtube and she was delighted about the ability to access that kind of rare footage on demand. I recorded her commentary while watching the videos which was super interesting. She remembered many small details of living in Berlin post-war that she probably wouldn't have otherwise. She is 87 now, so i plan to do this a couple more times and make a video that shows the footage with her commentary on it, just to be able to preserve some of her thoughts and feelings.

morsch 11y ago
That's a great idea. Sounds like it would be a fun converstation starter with my parents as well. It's easy to imagine a page with curated reaction videos from regular people with different backgrounds.

x5n1 11y ago

Now if they only allow you to use this freely we would actually have something. Though something is better than nothing.

JupiterMoon 11y ago

When does such material become public domain?

icebraining 11y ago
That depends on the age and location of the footage, and where the viewer is (it can be public domain in some countries, and not in others).
- JupiterMoon 11y ago
  If it is in the public domain does this override the Standard Youtube Licence? I.e. can on legally download the video? Or does one still have to use the AP's webpage which seems to require sign up (and then I don't know what).
  - lmm 11y ago
    If the content that's on Youtube is in the public domain then yes. Note that sometimes restoration involves enough creative work to make the result copyrightable even if the original footage was in the public domain.
  - witty_username 11y ago
    I don't think you can legally download the video from Youtube; their TOS prohibits this. Of course I don't think Youtube has sued anyone for this and it's not a big deal. Copyright wise it's legal I believe to use the content.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

phn 11y ago

It would be very interesting for youtube to include a date of capture/production field. It would make navigating this a lot easier.

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago

Unfortunately, the videos on YouTube don't include the date metadata.

devhxinc 11y ago

This is awesome, now can use the footage as YouTube's Terms of Service allows remixes and news reporting. https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/fair-use.html https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/fair-use.html

ashbrahma 11y ago

Link to the Youtube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHTK-2W11Vh1V4uwofOfR4w https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHTK-2W11Vh1V4uwofOfR4w

jonknee 11y ago

Wow, one of the videos already has 104k views (in 2 days). It's a video of a polar bear who got hold of a tourist at a zoo. Strange what goes viral. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUr6LRqWYk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JUr6LRqWYk

sosuke 11y ago
People doing unsafe things with their cameras is popular. It wasn't some shaky cam either, and the bear holding her shoe in a later shot and licking the bars is powerful. More so this was in 1994, camera mishaps aren't new.

bennettfeely 11y ago

Wow. 1,000,000 minutes = 16,670 hours = 700 days = 1.9 years of footage

ypcx 11y ago

A great archive of 20th century propaganda.

fimbaz 11y ago

Technically all footage is historical. "This is a picture of me when I was younger"