Yovisto: Academic Video Search

 "The free website Yovisto is a search engine for a selection of freely available educational video content. Most of the video content is class lectures recorded at various universities (e.g., MIT, Yale, Stanford). Informative speeches, such as TED Talks http://www.ted.com/talks ...and NASA presentations, are also included.

Yovisto is based in Germany, and some of the content is in German; however, the search box includes an easily selected English Only limiter. Alternatively, users may browse via Universities, Lectures, Videos, or Speakers tabs. Advanced search options include limiting by format, organization, and subject category. The amount of metadata included varies, depending on the source of the video.

Users may search for and view videos without registering for an account. Those who take advantage of the free registration may upload their own videos and add tags to others' videos. The tags provide specific access points within a video. The option to upload videos may be useful to instructors at institutions that do not provide a platform for sharing online videos

Because much of this site's content can be located by searching the Internet Archive .... or YouTube or through a Google Videos search, users may find the site's tagging and uploading options represent the added value that makes Yovisto useful to them".

Review by B.J.Bergman, Minnesota State University, June 2014 issue of ALA's Choice.

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