YouTube Flow Chart - Assignment 1
RATIONALE
Well I chose project Option 1. This was to take an existing website and diagram the information flow. This also required me to explain how it handles the information and compare with similar sites. I chose the video sharing website YouTube. I started this project from scratch and I decided to look at specific parts of the site rather than as a whole, as it would’ve been way too massive. I decided to look at the main components of YouTube which is uploading and creating an account. They both go hand in hand as you are unable to upload unless you have an account. So I had to start my project with opening an account with YouTube.
However, before jumping into opening an account I decided I would find some websites which are similar to YouTube which I could compare with. After some researching on the internet I found two suitable sites. Which were Metacafe.com and Blip.Tv. Both video sharing websites which require account creation for uploading.
As I started the process to sign up for YouTube I decided to get screen shots which would allow me to look back and confirm notes I took when signing up. I originally thought I could’ve used the screen shots for the Flow Chart, however later on in the project I soon realized that wasn’t going to happen.
After the account was created my next step was to find out how the upload function works with YouTube. I followed the steps thoroughly and took more screen shots of every phase in the process. I created a test video so I could follow the procedure all the way through. My next hurdle was the webcam option available on YouTube. Unfortunately I did not have a webcam available so I had to locate a computer which did. I finally managed to locate a computer with a webcam and was able to get screen shots of all the steps of uploading for both Video File and Quick Capture.
Once all the data was put together, I drafted my flowchart just on paper. Finally getting it sorted I used a flowchart program to create the final product. I used a series of different colours to help diagram the steps and make it easier to follow. Once completed, I then moved onto the explanation of the chart. I decided I would use the screen shots here to help explain. I edited the images to concentrate on the topic I was discussing. I felt this would give the reader an easier understanding of the text written as he would be able to see visually what it looks like on the website.
It was time to compare the websites. In order to compare them properly I did the exact steps as I used for YouTube. I created an account for both sites and took notes and screen shots. I then looked at all the options and features available for uploading content and noted down differences whether good or bad. I decided not to add the screen shots of the compared websites as my main focus was on YouTube.
I then got my notes from the account creation process of all sites and compared them against each other. I found the sites used very similar account creation steps. The next step was to compare the uploading stages. To do this successfully I had to get my test video and try and upload on all sites. This allowed me to see the process all the way to the end. Once the videos were uploaded and I had completed comparing I deleted the files.
I have submitted my assignment in PDF format. Please find the PDF file at the following link. http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/907442/YouTube.pdf
