How LightNet works

LightNet helps a Ministry with Media Distribution, the Distribution stage of the Content lifecycle. It gives the Ministry a way to organize its Content in a Media Library, publish information about each piece of Content, and help people find and access it on the internet.

From Content to a LightNet Site

Note

A Media Library operated by a Ministry and published using LightNet is called a LightNet Site.

Each piece of Content in a LightNet Site is described by a Media Item.

Media Items can describe Content such as videos, audio, images, and documents. A Media Item includes information such as the title, description, language, and type, and gives people access to the Content. The Content may be uploaded directly to the LightNet Site or hosted elsewhere and linked to it, such as a video on YouTube. This allows the Ministry to publish different kinds of Content in one place.

Using the LightNet Site

People use the LightNet Site to browse, search for, and access Content. See User experience for more details:

• The Homepage displays selected Content.
• The Search Page helps people find Content by searching and filtering.
• Each Media Item has a Media Item Details Page where people can read, listen to, watch, view, open, or download the Content, depending on its Media Type.

The Ministry can group Content by type or topic. A Media Collection groups related Content into a sequence or set, such as the parts of a sermon series.

Hosting the LightNet Site

A hosting service stores the LightNet Site and any Content stored with it and makes them available on the internet.

A Site Administrator manages the LightNet Site’s files and hosting.

Technical note: MediaWorks recommends GitHub for storing and managing the site’s files and Cloudflare Workers for making the site available on the internet.

Managing the LightNet Site

A Content Administrator manages the Content on a LightNet Site using the Administration User Interface. This is the part of LightNet where the Content Administrator adds, updates, and organizes Content. Changes made there are reflected in the LightNet Site when it is updated.

Analytics

A Ministry may add analytics to its LightNet Site.

Technical note: MediaWorks recommends Plausible Analytics.