Bleeding Edge

DigitalWell streamlines encoding, management and distribution of high quality audio and video, opening up new opportunities for the learning, research and broadcast communities. Conceived over three years ago, the system is developed and managed by the Streaming Media Team at University of Washington and involves a collaboration with several beta users including UWTV, ResearchChannel, and KEXP radio. DigitalWell will soon be released into a shared production environment and many new industry users will be invited to adopt the system for storing, searching, and distributing digital content across multiple public accounts. Join us to learn about the technology and infrastructure supporting DigitalWell as well as a discussion and demonstration of feature enhancements including: institutional repository support; collection management; metadata profiles; access controls; broadcast automation; and streaming to handheld devices and high definition video to the desktop.

Nate McQueen is a Lead System Engineer for the ResearchChannel. He has been a key figure in the architecture and implementation of DigitalWell. In addition to building the management system for digital collections, he works on integration and implementation of web applications for ResearchChannel, UWTV and KEXP. Nate holds eight years of streaming media experience and enjoys contributing to solutions that provide high bandwidth streaming and digital content management opportunities. Louis O'Callaghan is a Senior Computer Specialist with Streaming Media, Video and TV Technologies at the University of Washington supporting ResearchChannel and other digital media collections. He expertise includes integration and implementation of a wide array of streaming technologies across multiple vendor platforms and the development of tools for products not readily available. His system development activities include the automation of Video On Demand publishing with the DigitalWell, which significantly reduces encoding labor.

As advanced applications and increased bandwidth become more available, not only is the IT infrastructure changing, culture and artists change to make use of the new technologies. With the technological forms of cultural expression and communication processes intermixing, the content of these new, hybrid forms draw upon characteristics that were formerly associated with one or the other antecedents. To make meaningful use of these emerging methodologies, content will have to work across this dual nature of authored form and communication channel. Adding to the complexity of this situation is the multiplicity and inherent instability of these structures. The ability to have long term stability on a small set of technological standards can no longer be counted on to foster development of specific media languages and long term cultural literacy - quite different then with 20th century media. These situations change the cultural conditions that artists find when working against this broader backdrop. Artists can provide a form of cultural research that explores the possibilities and uses of technologies and new approaches to content. The work that I've done as an artist has explored various ways in which are combinations of interactive computer graphics, video and the internet provide capabilities for creating experiences that develop and comment upon the conditions of our time.

Sheldon Brown is Director of the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) where he is a Professor of Visual Arts and the head of New Media Arts for the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technologies (Cal-(IT)2).

The Internet2/ResearchChannel Working group continues to explore digital video and finds DVTS used in classes, demonstrations, meetings, performances and medical diagnosis.

It is often desirable to originate instructional and research video (with audio) from roving locations removed from the actual video equipment. Examples are museum lectures, nature walks, and laboratory demonstrations. It is now practical to build and use small hand held wireless cameras that can send high-quality video over useful distances. We have built two such cameras and will demonstrate them. One is completely self-contained and has a range of about 500 feet. The second one uses a backpack to hold additional related equipment, including a wireless microphone for a remote speaker in front of the camera, a hands-free back-channel radio for communication with the camera operator, a GPS receiver which overlays its data on the video, a long-life battery with ac and dc battery chargers, and long range antennas which give a range of 4000 feet. The self-contained camera will be demonstrated in the presentation room, and the backpack camera will be demonstrated as it roams outdoors. Information regarding building your own or buying pre-assembled wireless cameras will be provided.

Bob Dixon, Chief Research Engineer, Office of the CIO of Ohio State University and OARnet, is a recognized mentor, resource provider, motivator, and "evangelist" in advancing the state of H.323 technology and its value throughout the R&E community. He is the organizer of the annual MegaConference, the largest international videoconferencing event, the participants of which span the globe and number in the hundreds. He is also a developer of the "Internet To Go" mobile Internet satellite system. Gabe Moulton, Technology Engineer, Office of the CIO at The Ohio State University, is an Internet2 Commons site coordinator, a zone administrator in ViDeNet, a member of the CIC Video Working Group, and operates the multipoint control units for the Internet2 Commons H.323 videoconferencing service. He works with and develops emerging technologies for use in the education community. Megan Troyer is a technology specialist for the Ohio State University and OARnet, where she researches new and emerging technologies for classroom and research collaborations. She is also a member of both the Internet2 Commons Management Team and the CIC Video Working Group.