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Multimedia on your blog

You can add many types of media to the articles, pages and some widgets in your blog: videos, sound recordings, flipbooks, presentation documents, interactive maps, etc., that belong to you or that you have the rights to use.

Hypotheses’ accepts the following file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, webP, mp3, mov, avi, wmv, midi, mid, pdf, doc, odt,txt, rtf, ods, csv, xls, zip, ppt, mp4, wav.

In order not to overload the Hypotheses servers, the import of media directly into the media library of your blog is limited to 10MB per file, but the number of files is not limited. Caution, if you import several files at the same time, the size of each import must not exceed 10 MB. For large files or for a more ergonomic display of certain media, we recommend that you use one of the many external hosting services available on the web, from which you can then display the items of your choice in your blog.

The following non-exhaustive list is intended to provide possible answers to three questions:

  • Where do I put my files that are too large to be hosted on Hypotheses, so that they can then appear on my blog?
  • Where can I look for external content that does not necessarily belong to me, and that I can display on my blog without hosting it on Hypotheses?
  • How do I display these elements in my blog?

Some services, which we recommend as a priority, are offered by non-profit organizations. Others are commercial. Some services are more committed to the notion of sustainability than others and some provide their services with more or less visible advertising.

If you know of any services that do not appear in this list and that you think would be relevant to Hypotheses, feel free to let us know!

How to display an external multimedia element on a Hypotheses blog?

Most external hosting services provide an html “embed” code to integrate a multimedia element into a blog (in an article, a page, or even a widget) in order to see it on the blog without it being physically hosted on the Hypotheses servers. To obtain this code, you often have to click on an “Share” icon or link near the multimedia element you are interested in.

Examples of frequent representations of the “Share” button (Font Awesome by Dave Gandy)

The html “embed” code is often referred to as “Embed” or “Integrate” and is most often in the form of html code of the type <iframe src="..."></iframe>.

The recovered code must be pasted into the article in a “Custom html” block :

"Custom html" block
“Custom html” block

The open archives

Platforms that host text files, images, sound recordings and videos, and make them accessible and reusable under the terms of the license applied to these elements.

  • Internet Archive: an American non-profit organization whose objective is to create an online library that provides permanent access to a collection of digital documents (text files, images, sound recordings, videos and computer programs in particular);
  • Nakala: platform developed by Huma-Num (french research infrastructure), which allows the deposit, documentation and dissemination of research data in various formats (text files, images, sound recordings and videos);
  • MédiHAL: open archive maintained by the CNRS (french public organization) which allows visual and sound data (image files, sound recordings and videos) produced as part of scientific research to be deposited;
  • HAL: this multidisciplinary open archive supported by the CNRS (french public organization) is intended for the deposit and dissemination of academic scientific articles – published or not – and thesis, from French or foreign educational and research institutions.
  • Gallica: Open access digital library of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, most of whose multimedia content is in the public domain.
  • Wellcome Library: Library founded around Sir Henry Wellcome‘s collections. The website makes multiple manuscripts, books, paintings, photographs and illustrations available under Creative Commons license.

Hosting PDF files and presentation slideshows

Several well-known commercial platforms allow you to host and share your presentations and texts for free, with a wide range of accepted formats. Most of these platforms also offer a paid commercial offer, which is highlighted when you visit their website. It is therefore sometimes necessary to go further than the home page to access free hosting and file sharing offers.

  • Scribd and Calaméo (french platform): commercial platforms allowing the online deposit and reading of documents in various formats (PDF,.doc,.odt,.xls…);
  • SlideShare: commercial platform owned by LinkedIn and allowing the online deposit and reading of textual documents (PDF,.doc,.odt…) and slide shows of professional presentations (.ppt,.odp,.key…). In the same spirit: Issuu and Youscribe.

Videos

Canal U: digital video library project for higher education, supported by the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (french foundation). The service allows the deposit and consultation of videos produced by French universities and higher education and research institutions in free and open access.

And of course, you can choose to integrate videos that are on commercial online video distribution platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo or Dailymotion (french platform).

Maps

Google Maps: Google offers a possibility to integrate the Google Maps you make using its online mapping service;
OpenStreetMap: alternative interactive mapping project using open data.

In addition to these examples of services, the research organizations and universities to which you are affiliated as a researcher can often offer file hosting and distribution solutions in various formats, also allowing their integration by embedding code in Hypotheses articles. Do not hesitate to contact these organizations directly for more information.

Easy integration of a number of external commercial services

Thanks to the oEmbed protocol, the integration of multimedia elements from well-known commercial platforms is facilitated. To do this, simply paste the URL of the image, video, audio track, presentation, etc. into the text editor, on its own line. The URL is then immediately transformed into the inserted media, as a block. If this is not the case, simply preview the content or publish it to see the result of the integration.

Services that work with this easy integration include YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, Flickr (videos and images), Scribd, Photobucket, Imgur, PollDaddy, Twitter, Slideshare, Issuu, SoundCloud, Kickstarter, Mixcloud, Reddit, TED and Instagram.

Display the news feed of a Twitter account on a blog

In the same way, it is very simple to display a Twitter feed on a blog, for instance in a widget area so that it is always visible: paste the URL of the Twitter account (ex: https://twitter.com/hypothesesorg) into a “Text” widget and it will automatically be interpreted and will turn into an embedding of the Twitter feed of this account.

Featured image: film 45mm by Cloune 1x2plus under Creative Commons BY-NC license


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Marion Wesely (September 10, 2018). Multimedia on your blog. The house of blogs. Retrieved November 3, 2024 from https://doi.org/10.58079/ppal


Marion Wesely

Anciennement Chargée de l'accompagnement des communautés et de la valorisation des contenus d'Hypothèses / Community manager & communication officer for the Hypotheses platform (OpenEdition)

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