Advanced Media Communications

Streaming Media Services

We have streaming media that is in full production. We offer any faculty, staff, or department the ability to store streaming media assets on a centralized OIT server. Due to hardware and software upgrades made in June 2003 the server can be expected to have a 99% uptime and is capable of streaming many different kinds of assets including MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MP3, QuickTime*, Windows Media, Real Media, and Flash.

We also have pilot projects in progress that are position to be a production service in the near future.

• The Streaming Reserves Encoding Project is an effort to provide new ways for faculty to reach students in effective, time-efficient ways. The library and OIT are coordinating an effort to encode media assets such as video and audio tapes for faculty. Once the original media is dropped off at the library and appropriate copyright permissions are obtained they will be digitized and returned to the faculty member. Links to online versions of the assets will be provided to faculty members as well as listed in the library's already existing digital reserves web page.
• The Mobile Production Kit is an effort to provide new ways for faculty to provide a richer academic environment and save time and resources. OIT will provide professors an easy method for capturing video and audio assets such as experiments, guest lectures, and demonstrations. These assets can then be added to our streaming server and accessed by students online through library reserves or through a professor's WebCT page.
• 24 Hour Streams is an effort to provide a 24X7 live feed of channel 20 from the Georgia Tech Cable Network lineup. During the first week of July 2003, the Academic and Research Technologies (ART) division of OIT and the Georgia Tech Cable Network (GTCN) will be teaming up to make this happen.

Video Conferencing

We have video conferencing in full production in the Instructional Technologies Development Center (ITDC). This is in room 242 in the Rich Building. It is outfitted with a full complement of the latest teaching and presentation technologies and is made available to any faculty member who wishes to use it. This room has great potential and it is up to the user to explore that potential.

We also have a pilot project in progress that is positioned to be a production service in the near future. The future of Georgia Tech's supported video conferencing architecture is being studied and should result in a variety of initiatives and services in Q1 of 2004. These multipoint conference scheduling pilot projects are likely to include a fully operable integration with the Internet2 commons and an automated system for scheduling multipoint meetings using H.323.