I feel lucky to have several posts on my site that consistently drive huge amounts of traffic, and create interaction between myself and my readers. Of those, the series of posts entitled Extending WordPress by Using the Power of Video – Part One, and Part Two, take up a large portion of that traffic.
This post is number three in this series, and if you are truly interested in using the power of video to enhance your site, read on.
This post is all about Kaltura. I have known about Kaltura for some time, and have been following it’s development, and I’m happy to say that the integration with WordPress seems to be at a rather mature state. So, what is Kaltura?
In a nutshell:
Kaltura is – The 1st Open-Source Platform for Video Creation, Management, Interaction, and Collaboration
There are many facets of the Kaltura platform. There are business solutions and there are self-serve solutions. What we’re interested in here is the Kaltura Interactive Video Plugin available for download in the WordPress Extend plugin depository. By adding this one plugin to your WordPress powered site arsenal, you immediately take a huge leap in the capabilities available to you, and the readers of your blog. Take a look at the highlights list:
- Upload, record from webcam and import all rich-media directly to your blog post;
- Edit and remix videos using Kaltura’s online full-featured video editor;
- Easily import all rich media (video, audio, pictures…) from other sites and social networks, such as YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, CCMixter, Jamendo, New York Public Library etc. and;
- Allow readers and subscribers to add video and audio comments, and to participate in collaborative videos;
- Manage and track interactive videos through the management console;
- Complete administrative capabilities. You decide who can add and edit videos;
- Supports more than 150 video, audio and image file formats and codecs
- Three different video player styles to choose from
- Custom sizing of the video player
- Advanced sharing options for videos
- Easy installation that takes just 4 steps and a few minutes.
Take a moment and think about the possibilities. What kind of site can you create using open source video? What extra functionality can you offer your visitors?
Feel free to leave a comment below the very long screenshot and let’s brainstorm. Oh, and you never know, I just might be up to something myself using this plugin…hint, hint.
