Multimedia Stunts for Friam/WedTech

[Owen Densmore]

Tom and Nick mentioned wanting a way to capture Friam and/or WedTech  
meetings via some sort of multimedia stunt.  We've looked at this  
sort of thing a few times.  Turns out to be difficult to get right:  
you have to have a very specific scenario in mind and the right sort  
of HW/SW to make it all work.

First, we need to decide on which of the two is more important: Friam  
or WedTech.  As Kim pointed out, WedTech would be easy at one level:  
record the session and make them available on the web.  This would be  
non-interactive, but at least let folks know what happened at a given  
meeting.  It could even be "live" fairly easily too.  The downside  
would be that WedTechs are fairly informal and not regularly scheduled.

I think a non-interactive version of Friam would be disappointing:  
it's far to interactive for a static capture to be very useful.

Stephen and I spent a couple of days looking at the Friam interactive  
scenario.  One stunt is to have a non-computer device that is so  
automatic that it no hassle to manage.  We've tried both iVisit and  
Skype and they require too much fussing and become intrusive.  But  
using something like newly emerging devices:
     http://www.dlink.com/products/category.asp?cid=39&sec=0
     http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=342
     http://www.wgate.com/ojo/
.. just might be able to work.  Stephen had a great metaphor: a  
Parrot that one of us had on our shoulder that would let a remote  
person experience what the parrot holder was doing.  We might even  
have two of them to capture multiple conversations.

I'd be interested in anyone's experience with this sort of thing.  
I'm willing to toss a few bucks at trying the latest gadgets.

     -- Owen

Owen Densmore - http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com

[Tom Johnson (via Google Docs)]

Owen:

I have in my hand a paid-for CD of software called "Channelstorm." (see
www.channelstorm.com <http://www.channelstorm.com>)
I'll bring it Friday for you to install and evaluate.

   - It will do live streaming and/or capture the images to a HD.
   - It will also do window-in-window to simultaneously PPt slides and
   the speaker's grand self.
   - This would not, I should think, be appropriate for FRIAM and its
   dynamic-to-the-max character, but it might be of interest for the Wedtech
   presentations.

(Apologies to all: I didn't realize Nick and I were having that conversation
in public.)

-tom

On 8/8/05, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Tom and Nick mentioned wanting a way to capture Friam and/or WedTech
> meetings via some sort of multimedia stunt. We've looked at this
> sort of thing a few times. Turns out to be difficult to get right:
> you have to have a very specific scenario in mind and the right sort
> of HW/SW to make it all work.
>
> First, we need to decide on which of the two is more important: Friam
> or WedTech. As Kim pointed out, WedTech would be easy at one level:
> record the session and make them available on the web. This would be
> non-interactive, but at least let folks know what happened at a given
> meeting. It could even be "live" fairly easily too. The downside
> would be that WedTechs are fairly informal and not regularly scheduled.
>
> I think a non-interactive version of Friam would be disappointing:
> it's far to interactive for a static capture to be very useful.
>
> Stephen and I spent a couple of days looking at the Friam interactive
> scenario. One stunt is to have a non-computer device that is so
> automatic that it no hassle to manage. We've tried both iVisit and
> Skype and they require too much fussing and become intrusive. But
> using something like newly emerging devices:
> http://www.dlink.com/products/category.asp?cid=39&sec=0
> http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=342
> http://www.wgate.com/ojo/
> .. just might be able to work. Stephen had a great metaphor: a
> Parrot that one of us had on our shoulder that would let a remote
> person experience what the parrot holder was doing. We might even
> have two of them to capture multiple conversations.
>
> I'd be interested in anyone's experience with this sort of thing.
> I'm willing to toss a few bucks at trying the latest gadgets.
>
> -- Owen
>
> Owen Densmore - http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com
>
>
>
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--
==============================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism
www.analyticjournalism.com <http://www.analyticjournalism.com>
505.577.6482(c) 415.775.2530(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com [hidden email]

"He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense."
-John McCarthy, Stanford University mathematician
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