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LabourStart Launches LabourStart TV

This week, we are launching LabourStart TV.

No, it's not a television station.  (That would be nice, but we don't have the money for that just yet.)  But it is a big step forward for us, and I think for the international trade union movement as well.

Basically, we will start collecting the web addresses of videos produced by and for unions the same way we now do with text-based news stories.

That sounds simple enough, and it is.

But we're doing more than just listing what's available elsewhere on the web.

We're telling trade unionists what other unions have done.  We're showing cutting-edge technology that is now fairly widely used in our movement.  And we're encouraging other unions to move forward and use the new technology.

A beta version of LabourStart TV is already online.  It has no logo nor graphics, and the text is not yet finalized, but it will have these by the end of this week.  You can already see it here:

http://www.labourstart.tv

(Don't you just love the simplicity of that address?)

As correspondents, you can already begin adding content now.  We will be announcing LabourStart TV towards the end of this week and it would be great to feature content from unions in your country.  Here's all you need to do to add shows:

  • 1. Find the URL (web address) of the show you are looking for. It will almost certainly end with .rm, .ram, .mpeg, .mov, .php, .wmv, and so on.  If the URL ends with .html, you're looking at the web page, not at the video.  Copy this URL to your clipboard.
  • 2. Determine the file format -- you will need to know this.  For Real player, it's usually .rm or .ram.  Windows Media Player is .wmv.  Some of the others -- .mov, .mpeg -- you can say are QuickTime.  Most of these players play various formats, so don't worry too much about this.  You can tell by first playing the video yourself on your computer -- see which software it launches.  Flash animations are different and will play inside your browser window.
  • 3. Add this link as you normally would to our news links database.
  • 4. After you've added the link, follow the link to add the show to the LabourStart TV database.  You will need to paste the URL and to select the file type from a drop-down menu.
  • 5. That's it -- you're done.  Go to LabourStart TV to see the show listed.
We are on the threshold of a new era in trade union communications.  LabourStart TV aims to be at the center of these developments as we create a single place on the web where trade unions can watch and listen, and not just read about, unions and working people.

I look forward to working with you on this.  Don't hesitate to write to me if you have any questions or comments.

Eric Lee