Instructions for Adding a Video

This page provides instructions for adding a video to the GroundwaterU catalogue, and here is an example of the form that you will used to enter the information in the fields described below. A submission may refer to the contents of an entire video or portions of a video.

Please note that GroundwaterU does not host video files, meaning that video files are not saved on a GroundwaterU server. Instead, the video is added via a link to the host platform, such as a YouTube channel, Vimeo, Dailymotion, other video platforms, or on organization-specific and company websites accessible to the public. Also note that GroundwaterU is a not-for-profit educational platform, and adding a video is free if the video does not contain promotional content for business entities, such as engineering and consulting firms. If the video is educational in nature but will benefit a company by getting a unique URL and the other unique features associated with inclusion in the GroundwaterU Library, contact us before filling out the “Add Video” form to discuss how you can support the GroundwaterU.org initiative. Contact us if you are unsure whether this criteria applies to the video in question.

Form Fields

Your Name. This is your name (minimum) and other information (optional), such as your title, affiliation, specialty, and email address. It will be included in the library catalogue.

Your Email. GroundwaterU.org will use this email to respond to your submission. It will not be included in GroundwaterU.org search results.

Video Title: This is the title of the video link you are recommending/summarizing.

• If you are not the video creator, use the title as it appears on the host website (e.g., YouTube).
• If you are recommending/summarizing a portion of a video, such as a specific presentation given at a recorded conference/meeting, then provide the title of the presentation or a title that this is descriptive of the video content.

Video URL: This is webpage address where the video resides on the internet. On YouTube, there is also an option to copy the video URL at a specific time, which is useful when recommending a portion of a video (demonstration).

Name of the Video Creator: This is the name of the video channel or organization that created (produced) the video. The name(s) of the presenters in the video should be included in the Video Summary field, if possible.

Video duration: This is the duration of the video content.  If you are recommending/summarizing a section of a video, enter the duration of the section, not the total duration of the video. For example, 15 minutes should be entered for a 15 minute-presentation at a videotaped recorded conference that is 120 minutes.

Language of the video. Select the primary language from the dropdown menu.

Video Category (select all that apply)

• Policy/Legal includes topics such as water law, governance, and regulations.
• Science/Engineering includes technical elements of groundwater resources and management.
• Thought Leadership includes interviews or presentations by renown experts on broad topics (example, example).

Multimedia used in the video (select all that apply): 

• Film/pictures: Here, “film” refers to a digital recording of real objects in motion (example). “Pictures” refers to still photographs, which are often in presentation slides (example, example, example). In this sense all submitted videos fit the category “Film/pictures” unless the entire video only contains cartoons, animations/simulations, drawings/graphs/maps, and descriptive text.
• Animation/simulation incudes cartoons (example), animated illustrations (example, example, example), results of computer modeling (example), and PowerPoint presentations that include animated elements to guide the viewer and facilitate learning (example, example). Animations that are excessive, distracting, and that generally do not help to convey the content should not be submitted (example). 

• Drawings/graphs/maps includes technical drawings (example), illustrative drawings (example), graphs (example), and maps (example).

• Descriptive Text includes embedded text that accompanies figures (example). The category also includes mathematical equations (example). Most PowerPoint presentations include text (example). Video with static text and equations, no illustrations, and overly dense information should not be submitted (example) 

Presentation Style used in the video (select all that apply):

• Demonstration includes laboratory and field demonstrations of a method or phenomena, and demonstrating how to analyze data (example, example, example, example)
• Lecture/Slides includes educational discourse given before an audience like a classroom (either in-person or for a virtual audience; example, example, example), or to a live audience at a conference (example, example).
• Meeting includes meetings open to the public, which typically (but not always) include presentations and that include discussions between participants and/or the audience, such as at meetings where groundwater policies and management plans and proposals are presented and discussed among meeting panel members or the audience (example, example, example).
• Other: This category includes interviews (example), newscasts (example), documentaries/movies (example), stand-alone animations (example), videos without audio (example), and all other styles not included above.
• A note about webinars: A webinar is “a live online educational presentation during which participating viewers can submit questions and comments” (Merriam Webster). A webinar is sometimes also referred to as a “webcast”, “online event” or “web seminar”. Many teaching events and forums, presentations at professional conferences, and meetings are now broadcast online and recorded as video, which is available on the internet. If you consider the video to be a webinar, select Lecture/Slides AND Meeting.

Technical Level (select all that apply):

This refers to the knowledge level needed by the viewer to understand the video content.

• Beginner: for persons that are learning about groundwater for the first time; no previous knowledge is required (example, example).
• Intermediate: for persons already familiar with groundwater concepts, but the video does not contain equations or advanced policy/legal concepts.
• Advanced: for persons seeking expert-level content. Roughly speaking, this material is college level or higher (example, example).
• If you are not sure whether the technical level is one or another, select both. Some videos have content that spans from beginner to advanced. If so, select all three.

Summary: Provide a summary of the video, which includes the topic, speaker/presenter names (if possible), and keys elements of the educational material. Importantly, include information about specific multimedia content that is included in the video. For example, if the video contains particularly informative graphs, illustrations, maps, data, animations, and video footage, specify the content of the various multimedia. If the video contains content that is specific to a particular geography, include that information, too (example, example, example).

Including the descriptive elements in the summary helps populate the GroundwaterU key words/phrases database, thereby making GroundwaterU a powerful searching tool for groundwater-related content compared to using common internet search engines. Also – it enables people to find your video.