The other night I was experiencing issues with playing a YouTube video (terminal buffering) and a link appeared beneath the video offering me an “explaination” for why I was having trouble. That link took me to the Google Video Quality Report.
I’m guessing it’s been around for a while but this is the first I’ve run into it. Basically you’re told how well your ISP handles the various quality levels of YouTube videos along with info on traffic levels throughout the day.
Clicking the “Compare Providers in Your Area” tab gets you a listing of other local ISPs for which you can see their data. In my case I’m trying to “compare” the state’s network to my home ISP and Google points that out to me with a warning that it’s a bit unrealistic.)
It looks like YouTube watching by Nebraska state employees peaks about 2pm, where residents of Lincoln peak about 9pm. Makes sense to me.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
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