Today the Library of Congress released some of the oldest recorded films in history and put them on their youtube channel. Even if you are not a fan of old films, it is pretty cool to see what one looked like from 1903.  But then after watching a few, I thought, if the videos are on youtube, why not take them and build a Magnify channel? And then give away the channel to a Magnify user who would like to become the site admin?

Here's the channel:  http://oldtimers.magnify.net/

Here is how I built it:

1) I took a simple template, changed the background colors and uploaded a custom header - www.YOURCHANNEL.magnify.net/admin/design/layout

2) Imported content from youtube using the Magnify search, searching the term "user:libraryofcongress" (telling the search to only find videos from the user: library of congress). I also searched for content using the broad term "old movie" and found a couple of videos to add to the channel that weren't on the Library of Congress channel  - http://YOURCHANNEL.magnify.net/admin/manage/loader/

3) Created a User Based Playlist of the content I just imported (trick: put a space in the search field to bring up all content in your library and then drag and drop the videos you want in the playlist) - http://YOURCHANNEL.magnify.net/admin/manage/playlists/ />
4) Put the Playlist on my page using the design tool and also featured a video. I choose to use the Thumnail Mosiac grid. http://YOURCHANNEL.magnify.net/admin/manage/playlists/ />
5) In the home page layout, I added a twitter feed, a tag cloud, a custom graphic and removed a couple of the modules that were already on the page – all which can be done here: http://YOURCHANNEL.magnify.net/admin/design/module_gallery/?page=home />
If you have any questions on features on the channel, feel free to email me and ask. And if you would like to become the admin of the channel (I will stay on as advisor and help you customize the channel) email me at Billy (at) Magnify.net