You may be asking, why did we decide to use blip.tv instead of hosting the video on our own server?  Aren't there some ethical questions we need to ask ourselves before handing our content over to to a company.  I want to assure you that we have thought about this issue. 

Here are the advantages of using blip:

• uploaded videos are automatically converted and made available in multiple formats (.mov, .wmv and .flv, with others available)
• videos can automatically be published with a licence of your choice (including all creative commons licenses)
• it's free
• they offer a user friendly "show player" that allows users to easily browse the video content
• videos uploaded to blip are automatically sent to both the CDC website
• a copy of the video is also hosted on the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) to ensure it's permanence online
• distributing within the blip network opens the website up to new visitors  

For the needs of the Concordia Cocumentary Centre, I would never recommend using a distribution platform like Youtube or its several competitors.  Blip, however, has been involved in several progressive projects and continues to push it innovation towards the enhancing the user experience (which seems to be a priority over profit).   Please investigate for yourself, but I believe the "benefits" provide by using blip far outweighs any potential cost of using this commercial distribution platform. 

I am very interested in your feedback and open to discussion on this matter. 

Thanks,

Jeff