CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 VOD for teaching at Princeton Digitized Film/Video Service

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 History Purchased VOD server (Alex Informatique) in 1998, service available in 1999, $430K NJ Grant. –Wintel Architecture, proprietary file system. –MPEG1/2 encoding (1.5 to 5 mbit/second). –Only accessible in specially equipped clusters (policy and bandwidth restriction). –10 courses, 50 films first year (Fall, 2000). Moved to RealMedia on Dell in 2003 (4/2/03). –RealMedia encoding at 1.5 mbit/second (MPEG/1). –Available in all classrooms, all clusters, not dorm rooms.

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Why offer VOD for teaching? Film and Video are dominant communications medium of 20 th century, yet: Barely used in teaching: –Expensive (35 mm) –Cumbersome, inconvenient (scheduled showings) No ability to do a “close viewing” of material. –Imagine teaching Shakespeare course where only exposure to a play is from a staging: no “text” to work with, quote, etc. Digitizing allows for “close reading” of the “text”. Students “see” things they couldn’t see before.

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Current System Helix Universal Internet Server, Version 9.0.5, Max Client Connections 100 Dell PowerEdge 6650 –4 Pentium Xeon 2.0 GHz processors –2 GB RAM –1 TB storage (holds films) Films are about gig depending on length (1 Gig/hour) –Windows 2000 Advanced Server

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Process Faculty member identifies film or tv or video needed. Library purchases material (if not already owned), or faculty donates. Material digitized at LRC. Link added to Bb web site. Link removed at end of semester (made inactive).

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Growth in Usage

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Success Factors VERY, VERY, VERY easy to use. Integrate with CMS (put links in yourself). Bookmarks! Get faculty to understand concept of digitized film (music, images, anything): –Not tied to time/place. –Multiple simultaneous viewing, from different points. –Makes possible a CLOSE READING of film!

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Samples Whole films used in broad spectrum of disciplines: history, english, psychology, etc. –Blade RunnerBlade Runner –Henry V (1:29:47)Henry V Parts of films, TV shows, used in topically focussed courses –Need “virtual clip” (bookmark) support. –Introduction to the Study of Gender (WOM201_S2005)Introduction to the Study of Gender

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Staying out of Trouble Rules –Only students enrolled in class. –Only during semester. –Only in clusters or classrooms. Not in dormrooms. Not at home. –Streamed (not downloadable). Is this Fair Use? –YES (well, “nice” use anyway).

CSG Penn State, May 11, 2005 Future Policy –Negotiated license rights (maybe with CDigix or Ruckus). –Viewable in dorm rooms. –Viewable between semesters (for “academic” use, e.g., writing thesis, research). Technology –MPEG/4??? (The Holy Grail of video encoding) –Clip-maker