New Videopedia Launch 5min.com
by
on April 03, 2007,
A new video how-to knowledge site has been launched at 5min.com. The innovative site approaches user generated knowledge content and sharing from a video angle in an effort to become the Web's first “Videopedia”.
Wikipedia and other information sites supply a base of textual knowledge for online users, but 5min.com essentially allows users to view or submit online video tutorials about a variety of topics. In many cases a video explanation is much more helpful than textual representations of complex subjects. 5min allows knowledgeable contributors to insert video knowledge based on their areas of experience.
This area of information technology has been virtually untapped, and really represents the next phase of Web 2.0 education. 5min also developed what they call “The Smart Player” which allows contributors to add a textual storyboard to their videos. Contributors can teach virtually anything from “How to change a flat” to “How to add professional makeup” according to a press release by the site. Whether 5min.com is the best contender in this wide open venue remains to be seen, but with the right beta development these guy could be onto something.
The site is really simple and already has a wide variety of tutorials from loading your iPod to WoW online game video tutorials. My favorite instructional video is the Web 2.0 Blog Tips offering, which I so often need these days. Techno Dave, the guy giving the Web 2.0 tutorial needed some editing skills, but his tutorial did illustrate how virtually anything can be taught or enhanced with a video took like 5min.
The site even has a category entitled “How to do a Google Search”, which I hoped would instruct me how to get rid of the first 5 worthless SEO machinations from any search. Of course there are some pretty goofy examples at this time, but you have to give it to the site developers for jumping into this wide open market.
5min.com also has a rating system, a top rated creators list and some pretty interesting video spread across great categories. There is nothing fancy about the site, but categorizing, listing and displaying video information is essentially the same for text or video any way. I am sure some feedback and higher quality creations could make the site a helpful tool for many online visitors. It is not Wikipedia yet, but the idea is sound and for a beta launch they are not doing too bad so far.
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Svetlana Gladkova
Michael Fidler 
jiri
Well, the concept of education web 2.0 has previous pioneers. My number one favorite is http://www.visuarios.com
I went to this visuarios thing and you can’t really compare it with 5min - it is not creative, has the same PHP boring design, and looks like a ME2 site. 5min is innovative! I really love their Smart Player. They win big time!!!
Yeah, I’ve got your point Jeff. I see the innovation on the 5min player, but I prefer the clean design and distribution of visuarios. It’s just a matter of tastes.
OK, I agree… a “cool” site. God, there are so many, I don’t even know which to choose first. Please never come up with the idea to make a top ten! But you know what really made my day? The “extreme” part! Can you imagine my “extreme shock” at the first impression? And the relief to see it’s about extreme sports? Yeah, call me one track minded!
There is something I didn’t like about the site though: to have to “update” the Flash! “This content requires Adobe Flash 9. Would you like to install it now?” So… the “cool” site already has some accessibility issues. Or I “move” too slow…
Oh, it’s really a useful site as well as wikipedia
Worldly wisdom.