Re: [Air-l] audio/video at IR conferences
I suspect that the problem becomes somewhat more tractible as the importance of maintaining control over the recordings recedes. While the actual recording itself would still require hardware and at least one person to man a microphone / camera, hosting the resulting files via one of the online vid services could externalize that cost. To the degree that slides are critical for understanding, it also seems tractible to set up a screencast recorder - tied to live audio - during each panel. This would require some expertise, and doubtlessly some experimentation, but again seems quite tractible. Just a thought. Ken Cousins, PhD Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda Department of Government and Politics University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/kcousins http://augmentation.blogspot.com "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." Albert Einstein
elw@stderr.org 06/26/07 3:05 PM >>>
usual annual question: will there be audio/video recordings at an Internet Research conference? usual annual response: 'no' usually phrased as 'the conference group/exec will discuss it', which usually means 'how much will it cost?', which resolves into, 'well, yes it can be done, but only if you donate a large sum of money, and or do it yourself', which usually resolves into 'no, it will not happen.'
folks who're interested in videoing IR should spend a couple of hours reading the blogs of the folks who have been doing the video of the Debconf series of conferences. [starting point - http://layer-acht.org/slides/20070122_debian-meetings-archive_SLUG.pdf ] they've invested SERIOUS time, hardware, and resources into making it work. it is a *hard* problem - completely nontrivial. I like video as much as the next person - probably more - but this would be a huge committment.
Personally, I'm against recording any session other than keynotes. I
think photographs, blogging, and a back-channel are great additions, but public recording of session stifles the communal atmosphere where people can be frank and collegial.
Pretty much on-board with what jeremy just said. The backchannel is particularly useful, IMHO.... --e _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
While the actual recording itself would still require hardware and at least one person to man a microphone / camera, hosting the resulting files via one of the online vid services could externalize that cost.
Storage is not the issue. Cameras and at least one person per room to do recording and ensure that the hardware/cameras don't go walking are. Given that no one wants to man a camera in one room for a full day, it really means a team of probably about 20 or more volunteers willing to not only record, but also manage the editing and uploading. That is not trivial, and except for a couple of people saying "I'll audiorecord my session" this list has not now (nor has it ever) overflowed with those willing to offer their own labor for the fruits they wish to reap. It's not that it can't be done. It's that it's much more human labor than most people recognize and far more people want the product delivered without doing the work to create said product. Nancy
I think the screencast idea makes more sense. One possibility would be to use a product like Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/record.asp), which would enable individuals to record a screencast of their PPT/Keynote presentation and accompanying audio. Individual presenters could download the software (there's a month-long free trial available) and either record their presentation live or record it after/before, editing if necessary. These individuals would then have control over the content and the time/energy investment would be fairly low. A screencast wouldn't be the same as a live recording, but it would certainly enable the content of the presentation to be captured and distributed without the costs Nancy describes. Nicole Nancy Baym writes:
While the actual recording itself would still require hardware and at least one person to man a microphone / camera, hosting the resulting files via one of the online vid services could externalize that cost.
Storage is not the issue. Cameras and at least one person per room to do recording and ensure that the hardware/cameras don't go walking are. Given that no one wants to man a camera in one room for a full day, it really means a team of probably about 20 or more volunteers willing to not only record, but also manage the editing and uploading. That is not trivial, and except for a couple of people saying "I'll audiorecord my session" this list has not now (nor has it ever) overflowed with those willing to offer their own labor for the fruits they wish to reap.
It's not that it can't be done. It's that it's much more human labor than most people recognize and far more people want the product delivered without doing the work to create said product.
Nancy _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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I think the screencast idea makes more sense. One possibility would be to use a product like Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/record.asp), which would enable individuals to record a screencast of their PPT/Keynote presentation and accompanying audio. Individual presenters could download
screencasting is complicated by the need of presenters to use their own laptops - which may be macintosh, windows, linux, solaris, whatever - and the reluctance of presenters to let some aoir flack mess with their critical-to-ongoing-research hardware. you can't just say, "oh just run camtasia", and be done. --e
e, If we decide to go this route, then I will use my laptop - I lecture regularly in the room we're using for the plenaries - and the "ProfCast" application (highly recommended if you are using a Mac, by the way). I will "encourage" the presenters to give me their slides beforehand and I have an arrangement with the a/v folks in the building to give me a "line out" feed from the "house" audio so that the wireless lapel mic comes in to the laptop. The result is very pleasing. That, coupled with a few snaps of the speaker from the audience, would be much preferable to a long video and you get an "enhanced" quicktime version of the slides in which the audio is synced. The cost is zero, and the result is most pleasing. I'd be happy to show anyone who has a Mac laptop how to do this, as it is an excellent way to record your lectures. I did this, actually, in my talk at AoIR7 in Brisbane - and actually did the "podcast" while I was talking. ....r On 1-Jul-07, at 3:38 PM, elw@stderr.org wrote:
I think the screencast idea makes more sense. One possibility would be to use a product like Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/ record.asp), which would enable individuals to record a screencast of their PPT/ Keynote presentation and accompanying audio. Individual presenters could download
screencasting is complicated by the need of presenters to use their own laptops - which may be macintosh, windows, linux, solaris, whatever - and the reluctance of presenters to let some aoir flack mess with their critical-to-ongoing-research hardware.
you can't just say, "oh just run camtasia", and be done.
--e _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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If we decide to go this route, then I will use my laptop - I lecture regularly in the room we're using for the plenaries - and the "ProfCast" application (highly recommended if you are using a Mac, by the way).
I will "encourage" the presenters to give me their slides beforehand and I have an arrangement with the a/v folks in the building to give me a "line out" feed from the "house" audio so that the wireless lapel mic comes in to the laptop. The result is very pleasing.
what do you do when someone comes in with a presentation in a format that your laptop can't present - there are quite a number of oddball formats that might come in, given presenters' various wants and needs - how does the AoIR program committee cope? i would strongly encourage folks to think hard about the sort of ecosystem that tying presentations to either a mac or a windows laptop creates. neither platform is very good at presenting slides made on the other, even if you limit yourself to 'just' powerpoint and its formats. when you add in other slide formats - i personally have been known to make sets of slides in kpresenter, openoffice, S7, and a few other weird tools - depending on the needs of the moment, and the content - and the various 'quirks', you really get to a mess quickly. to some extent i'm playing devil's advocate, but to some extent i am also presenting a serious critique of 'modern' presentation technology, which mostly stinks. we as an organization need to think carefully before implementing any sort of de facto or de rigeur 'standard' in the space that is established for the conference: it causes quite a bit of heartache for presenters who don't really want to be bound by someone else's idea of what "reasonable" technology might be....................... --e
I like the screencast idea synced with audio a lot! If the capability is there to make this possible easily, then that seems the way to go. However, honestly, I don't think video needs to even be part of the equation. Video is overkill, and adds WAY to much overhead in most circumstances. Usually, video only adds additional stimulus to the recording. If the speaker is good, and knows ahead of time that he/she will be recorded via audio, then words alone should speak for themselves. Just imagine, before TV we only had TEXT, then before TEXT even, we only had VOICE. When I listen to conference podcasts, I almost never feel the need to actually see the slides they are talking from since the speakers usually explain what I would otherwise be seeing in the slide-show if I was physically present at the conference. In fact, when I attend conferences, or when I attend some class where the instructor is reading from slides, I try to avoid looking at the slides and simply listen. That way, I am able to better understand what he/she is actually saying, not what they are flashing in front of my eyes. I really don't like slide-show presentations because they're distracting. Let the speaker talk, I say, not the pretty pictures and bullet points. With this in mind, I believe recording and archiving sessions of all types should be very simple and straightforward, more or less anyway. There are always exceptions, and since I have very little experience with recording conferences myself, I'm not one to really talk, but I can envision it being pretty elementary to get the basic audio recordings at least. Perhaps the quality of them might be on the low side at first, improving with time, experience and additional support...plus I'm sure there are things I am not considering, but if we continue to throw out suggestions and do an inventory of what IS already available and what would be needed, and there is enough support for getting it done....key....then it can get done. It would be worth it too, I believe! Just imagine how many of the readers of this list alone will not be able to make it to the conference but would like to participate. The availability of podcasts makes secondary participation possible like never before. My proposal would be to just figure out, based on the session type (roundtable discussion, keynote, panel discussion, etc) and the configuration of the room and whether or not audience will participate, where best to set up one or maximum two good microphones tied into a simple audio recorder. One for each room where sessions will be held. Then at the beginning of the session, hit record, and at the end, hit stop. Mini-DV recorders would work great for this, and these days they are very cheap and of pretty damn high quality. They're durable too. Once the archives have been collected, send out a notice to this mailing list, and ask for volunteer editors. Pass them on the originals, with any additional audio you'd like to see added in for consistency (intro's, sponsor notices, etc.) then have them send you back the edited copy. OR if there are no volunteers, then just archive the audio AS-IS. Personally, I would prefer to have the audio un-cut and a bit ugly than not have it at all. So if one of the barriers to making the recordings is post-production editing, then well, knock that off the show-stopper list and push it out to the community anyway. I would guarantee though that there would be at least a few interested parties. Anyway, it's only once per year, and there aren't hundreds of sessions or anything. This community is full of volunteer spirited individuals I believe, we could get it done. -Chris (long-time lurker who speaks only when I think I have something valuable to say, and silent participant reader and critic when I do not :-) Nancy Baym wrote:
While the actual recording itself would still require hardware and at least one person to man a microphone / camera, hosting the resulting files via one of the online vid services could externalize that cost.
Storage is not the issue. Cameras and at least one person per room to do recording and ensure that the hardware/cameras don't go walking are. Given that no one wants to man a camera in one room for a full day, it really means a team of probably about 20 or more volunteers willing to not only record, but also manage the editing and uploading. That is not trivial, and except for a couple of people saying "I'll audiorecord my session" this list has not now (nor has it ever) overflowed with those willing to offer their own labor for the fruits they wish to reap.
It's not that it can't be done. It's that it's much more human labor than most people recognize and far more people want the product delivered without doing the work to create said product.
Nancy _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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I think that the only real position to take on this is for those people who wish to see something done, to organize themselves and do it. I do not think that it is wise, at this point in time, to make claims against the labors and workload of the conference organizers, or to encourage them to volunteer even more of their time when things are getting ready to pick up in a major way. AoIR is an organization of volunteers, it needs less 'you should' and more 'we will'.
Good point Jeremy! :-) I will volunteer to edit. -Chris Jeremy Hunsinger wrote:
I think that the only real position to take on this is for those people who wish to see something done, to organize themselves and do it. I do not think that it is wise, at this point in time, to make claims against the labors and workload of the conference organizers, or to encourage them to volunteer even more of their time when things are getting ready to pick up in a major way. AoIR is an organization of volunteers, it needs less 'you should' and more 'we will'.
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participants (7)
-
Chris Ward -
elw＠stderr.org -
Jeremy Hunsinger -
Ken Cousins -
Nancy Baym -
Nicole B Ellison -
Richard Smith