1. General FAQ
2. Contributors FAQ (below)
3. Users FAQ
4. Legal FAQ
5. Technical FAQ
6. Miscellaneous FAQ

2. Contributors FAQ

Why should I contribute material to Ourmedia?

Unlike other video or podcast hosting sites, Ourmedia is a community-driven effort. We're here to support the Commons, to enable remix culture, and to educate people about the amazing things they can do when they become media producers.

We're connectors, helping to expose citizen media no matter where it resides. If you contribute your media or feeds to Ourmedia, we'll showcase your work in our channels.

Will you edit or alter my work in any way?

No. All works are accepted in full, or removed if they violate our Site rules.

Do you own what I upload to your site?

No. You own it. Anyone who uploads anything will be required to assign rights to their work. (We recommend a Creative Commons license, which details how others may use your work.) You get to decide what others may do: share it? remix it? must they credit you? See our Licensing page for details. You may also choose traditional copyright. A third option is to donate the work to the public domain; at that point, the public owns it.

Our Learning Center offers a comparison of video hosting sites' Terms of Service that may prove useful.

Could I sneak illegal or inappropriate material onto the site?

No doubt. We’ve reduced the barriers to entry to almost zero. So what would be the point? It would be like knocking over the neighborhood kids’ lemonade stand. Plus, we'll find it and remove it anyway.

After I upload my media, when will it appear on Ourmedia?

If your upload is successful, you should see it on our live site within seconds.

How do I find the work I just uploaded?

At the end of the upload process, you will be supplied with a url of the media page where your media appears. Click on the link.

Can I go back and fill in additional information later?

Yes. You — and only you — should see an Edit tab at the top of your media page.

Can I take back my stuff — permanently remove it from Ourmedia?

Yes. You may withdraw your material from both Ourmedia and the Internet Archive at any time, and you may do so even if you selected a Creative Commons license. On Ourmedia, go to the Edit tab on your media page, scroll to the bottom, and click Delete. To remove your item from the Archive, contact them.

Be aware, however, that anyone who downloaded your work is not required to return or delete it. There’s one exception to this general policy of being able to retract your work: if you donated it to the public domain, you have waived all ownership rights.

I upload my videos to YouTube. Do you require exclusivity?

We do not require exclusivity — we’re about inclusiveness. Your works could be hosted on several sites and we’d still like you to help you gain visibility with our users.

Can I display the media I published to Ourmedia on my other sites?

Yes, and we hope you do! You can link to and play your media from any site — say, your LiveJournal blog — by linking directly to the media file, if you so wish.

Can I make money doing this?

We're working on this. Stay tuned.

Can I commercially exploit any of the works on Ourmedia?

Commercial use of other people’s works on Ourmedia is strictly prohibited unless the member has granted explicit permission through the appropriate Creative Commons license, or unless the work is in the public domain.

Using Ourmedia as a way to commercially promote or sell your own works is perfectly fine. For instance, a film producer may put up a movie trailer and link to a DVD for sale. A photographer could show off medium-resolution jpegs of an image series on the site and direct prospective buyers to her business site to purchase high-resolution TIFF images that could be published in a print magazine.

Can I publish the miles of video I’ve shot of my darling children?

If you must. Keep in mind, though, that Ourmedia spotlights creative culture, and so we prefer finished, edited works that others would care to view.

How reliable is Ourmedia as a long-term storage repository?

It’s our intent that whatever media files you upload to Ourmedia will be stored for many years to come. But we can’t absolutely guarantee that, so please don’t rely on us as a storage bin for your media files. In the world of personal media, redundancy is good. It’s always prudent to back up and hold onto your media files on local drives and removable storage devices.

You’re asking for my real name and contact information. Why?

We want Ourmedia to be a safe haven where trolls, flamers and anonymous users don’t control the site.

Let’s distinguish between information that appears on the public site and the private information that you provide us. You may remain anonymous to the public on Ourmedia. When publishing material to the site, however, we require a true name and contact information. If you later wish to withdraw a work that you’ve uploaded, or if someone claims that you plagiarized their work, this is the only way we have to contact you and verify your ownership of the work.

Is it possible that a user may download and reuse my work in a way I did not authorize?

Yes. That’s always a possibility on the Web. (It’s also possible someone may annotate or reuse your work in a way that delights you.) Our partner, the Internet Archive, says they have received no complaints in this area.

The site's design is too busy. Can I turn off some of the boxes in the nav bar?

We're working on providing this option for our registered members.

I don’t want people rating my media or commenting about my work.

Sorry. We can’t restrict that.

I use video in my lecture series. Can I store them on Ourmedia for academic purposes?

Absolutely, and we encourage you to.

Why is there a “report” link beneath my personal blog posts?

We don’t have paid staffers to go through all the new postings and comments left on the site, so we depend on the Ourmedia community to make sure people don’t violate the (very liberal) rules we’ve set up.

I live in Brazil, and I’d like to post material on Ourmedia. Can I do so — in my own language?

Sim, meu amigo. (Yes, my friend.)

Didn’t find an answer to your question? Try our Help pages, or contact us.