We're thinking about the best way to use shows, projects and VODs and the workflow around them. Currently only organizations can be members, although we also air shows by individuals or other organizations that are not members. However, we're moving towards a freemium model where it will be free to broadcast ready-made content, but other services will cost, which makes it easier for anyone to broadcast good content.
Members -> Series -> Shows
Previously we have used Projects for member organizations. But we're probably moving more towards the way US stations use project, that is for a series with shows being the episodes. Still, however, we need a way to display the producer and particularly to display the member organization if there is one, and to view all shows by a particular member.
That is, somehow we need three levels:
Member organization (or if no member: External, Individual, Other CM station or similar)
-> Series (and traditionally we haven't had any series for most member organizations)
-> Shows (episodes of a series/project or individual shows)
Any suggestion as to how we should handle this?
VODs
As for VODs we mainly use YouTube for this. To map a YouTube video to a show we're using a program code (3 letters for the member + an incremental 3-digit number), where we put the program code as a tag on the YouTube video.
However, YouTube no longer makes tags available in the public RSS, so we have to authenticate to get access to these. I have not yet become successful in doing this, using the Feeds: YouTube parser and Feeds OAuth modules, despite following the instructions at https://drupal.org/node/1946214#comment-7196422.
The issue I haven't been able to solve is this: https://drupal.org/node/1946214#comment-7506887 Does anyone have a clue about that?
Our intended workflow is to import VODs from YouTube and other sources automatically via RSS and map them to shows using the program code that is one of multiple tags (in the case when the VODs are in our account). Or to manually import "internet files" and manually add those "internet files" to shows, in case a VOD has been uploaded by someone else (where the program code is not a tag).
As kreynen describes in his beardcast, VODs will then be files and in the view for that file the metadata from the corresponding show node can be added. I don't yet quite understand how to use both a show node and a file node for the same show, though. As some shows don't have VODs, but should still be accessed the same way as shows with VODs. Or perhaps there should actually be two different views...
Anyway, any feedback on this workflow and the issues raised?
Comments
Concerning the first part of
Concerning the first part of your post on Members/Series/Shows, RETN is planning on implementing a very similar hierarchy. We have cataloged content for many years on our website by series and shows, but are planning to add a higher level content type for partner organizations. The rationale is that many partner organizations have produced numerous series and shows, and this higher level content type allows us to aggregate all of their content.
At this point, we are simply creating this new content type and placing a field reference in both Project (series) and Show. When the partner org is selected in that field, the Project or Show will appear on the "Partner" landing page (RETN is calling this a "Partner Channel").
This workflow is fairly straightforward, but if you have other ideas on approaches let's continue the discussion. I think this idea gives more ownership of the content to the partnering organization, which has many positive implications beyond VOD aggregation. Could be an interesting topic for the larger CM group to consider.