Exploring the future of media technology
ELEARNING VR DEEP DIVE
TRIATHLON STREAMING START-UP ALLEY
T H E E D U C A T I O N I S S U E
3 WELCOME
CLASSROOM EVERYWHERE
Your kitchen drain is plugged with gunk. But not that kind of gunk. It’s a dierent kind of gunk. So you Google a solution. But you’re so stressed. The guests will arrive in minutes. Your brain refuses to translate the on-screen words into the
elaborate chemical formula you need to clear your kitchen of gunk stench. You sweat, you yell, you sob – until you remember YouTube. A quick YouTube search brings up someone, not too dierent from you, in a kitchen not too dierent from yours, solving the gunk problem with a simple solution of frankincense and myrrh and battery acid. You do what they do. Problem solved. Show, don’t tell. It is the cliché drilled into every creative from day one. And that principle has become the cornerstone of a new kind of education. Being able to both articulate and to understand verbal and written information is essential for education – it’s essential for civilisation itself – but nothing communicates quite as directly as an image. When we see someone perform an action – whether it’s a piano concerto or gunk dissolution – we absorb it in a way that funnelling text through our brains simply cannot compete with. In this issue, we explore elearning in all its guises – whether that’s being able to watch an MIT physics lecturer while you’re on the bus, or using sophisticated VR training for pilots and surgeons. Despite industry cynicism, VR is going to be a huge part of this new educational – and entertainment and communications – landscape moving forward. That’s why we combined this month’s elearning focus with a special VR Deep Dive, in which we explore the cutting edge of VR and what it promises for the future. Ready, student one? Let’s get your learn on!
EDITORIAL EDITOR Neal Romanek +44 (0) 1223 492246 nealromanek@bright-publishing.com CONTRIBUTORS
Ann-Marie Corvin Heather McLean Adrian Pennington SENIOR SUB EDITOR Lisa Clatworthy SUB EDITORS Jo Ruddock Siobhan Godwood Felicity Evans
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Matt Snow +44 (0) 1223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com SALES MANAGER Krishan Parmar +44 (0) 1223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com Andy Jennings DESIGN MANAGER Alan Gray DESIGNERS Flo Thomas, Man-Wai Wong, Mark George PUBLISHING MANAGING DIRECTORS Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck DESIGN DESIGN DIRECTOR
NEAL ROMANEK, EDITOR
nealromanek@bright-publishing.com @rabbitandcrow @nromanek
BRIGHT PUBLISHING LTD, BRIGHT HOUSE, 82 HIGH STREET, SAWSTON, CAMBRIDGESHIRE CB22 3HJ UK
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CONTENTS 07 NEWSFEED News from around the streaming world 12 YOUR TAKE How schools are using the new digital space 14 STREAMPUNK High school students broadcasting like pros 18 STREAMPUNK: TOOL OF THE MONTH Open source streaming and recording software 22 ELEARNING FOCUS How companies are connecting students to learning, and to each other 27 ELEARNING CASE STUDIES Streaming for Polish music students, and University of Portsmouth’s award-winning broadcast 46 GENIUS INTERVIEW 07 22 46
MovieLabs CEO Rich Berger brings big movie studios into the digital age
50 XTREME
50
How to shoot a triathlon without breaking a sweat
54 THE LIVE LIFE
The current state of immersive content
It all kicks o when a betting agency hooks up with a YouTube star
30 PROFILE
58 STARTUP ALLEY
Director Jannicke Mikkelsen is queen of the cutting edge
A trio of media tech companies you need to know about
36 ROUND TABLE
64 HAPPENING
Experts compare notes on the state of immersive content
Scandinavia’s Media Honeypot gathers the European start-up community
42 STARTUP
A California VR start-up oers mind expansion on-demand
66 OVER THE TOP
64
Virtual reality is already here
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5
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7
BREAKING NEWS FROM THE STREAMING SECTOR
IN DEMAND Hulu has enabled 60fps video on some channels in its Live TV oering, including CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim HULU ACCELERATES TO for the Winter Olympics. This was just a month after the sudden failure of Hulu’s live streaming of the Superbowl, which disgruntled football fans.
US video on demand company Hulu is o ering 60fps video in its Live TV o ering. The 60fps Phase 1 rollout will be available on a dozen channels, including CNN, TNT, TCM, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, all showtime channels, all of Hulu’s NBC channels and about half of its Fox a iliates. Hulu enabled 60fps on a number of sports carriers too, in time
The 60fps content will be enabled on iOS devices, Apple TV, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Samsung Tizen TV. Hulu’s Live TV also incorporated mobile alerts during US basketball’s March
Madness tournament. The company is planning to roll out further mobile alert features later in the year.
8 NEWSFEED Updates & upgrades
Facebook has put forward a new unit for measuring time, called the ‘flick’. The flick is 1/705,600,000 of a second, just slightly longer than a nanosecond. The flick was invented to more clearly measure frame rates. It was originally proposed by Christopher Horvath while he was at Facebook in 2016. According to a description Facebook posted on Gizmodo, the flick “can in integer quantities exactly represent a single frame duration for 24Hz, 25Hz, 30Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz and also 1/1000 divisions of each, as well as a single sample duration for 8kHz, 16kHz, 22.05kHz, 24kHz, 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, and 192kHz, as well as the NTSC frame durations for 24 * (1000/1001) Hz, 30 * (1000/1001) Hz, 60 * (1000/1001) Hz and 120 * (1000/1001) Hz.” FACEBOOK INVENTS A NEW UNIT OF TIME
It’s hoped the flick will also lead to simpler and more accurate measurement in graphics creation, visual eects, VR and other complex media creation. “When creating visual eects for film, television and other media,” said the posted description, “it is common to run simulations or other time-integrating processes which subdivide a single frame of time into a fixed, integer number of subdivisions. It is handy to be able to accumulate these subdivisions to create exact 1-frame and 1-second intervals, for a variety of reasons.” Facebook is also experimenting with full body tracking. The Facebook AI camera team has been working on tech that can accurately detect body poses and segment a person from their background. Potential commercial
uses of the technology include live, full-body avatars and gesture control. The Facebook human detection and segmentation model technology is designed to be small enough to sit within a smartphone app and is using the Mask R-CNN framework. In an announcement on the Facebook Research page, the company said: “Developing computer vision models for mobile devices is a challenging task. A mobile model has to be small, fast and accurate without large memory requirements. We will continue exploring new model architectures which will lead to more eicient models. We will also explore models that can better fit in mobile GPUs and DSPs, which has the potential to save both the battery and computational power.”
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9 NEWSFEED Updates & upgrades
SKY HIGH: The broadcaster is using the popularity content like Game of Thrones, for which it holds rights, to capture the streaming market
SKY EXPANDS STREAMING OFFERINGS
Sky has launched a new streaming oering in the UK. The NOW TV Smart Stick service will allow streaming and downloading of UK TV content, with a portable plug-and-play stick that plugs into a TV’s USB port. The Smart Stick service oers voice search, live pause and packages for accessing Sky’s premium channels and services. The service will aim to oer an alternative to Sky’s long-running, and more expensive, set-top box service.
Later this year, Sky plans to oer services which will allow customers to access its full range of channels without a satellite dish, and the company has incorporated the Netflix service into its usual bundle of channels for the first time. Additionally, Sky Deutschland has launched a new streaming service in Switzerland called Sky Show. Like Sky’s NOW TV in the UK, Sky Show requires no long-term contract. It is available in iOS
and Android, as well as Chromecast and Airplay, and will later be rolled out onto smart TVs, Apple TV and Sony PlayStation. Sky has been aggressively looking for ways it can capture the streaming market. As the rights holders for series like Game Of Thrones and Westworld , as well as Sky’s own original series, it has sought to capitalise on that content in the face of a general turning away from set-top box driven pay TV services.
INTERRA’S QOE MONITORING WITH AWS
Interra Systems has made its QC and monitoring systems interopearable with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elemental Media Services, including AWS Elemental MediaConvert, AWS Elemental MediaLive and AWS Elemental MediaPackage. The new integration aims to leverage the power of the cloud to expand the oerings provide by Interra Systems’ Baton QC and Orion-OTT QoS and QoE measurement products. Baton is a hybrid QC platform available both on-premises and in the cloud, which
supports a range of media formats and oers quality checks, including data verification, audio language detection, PSE correction, and loudness detection and correction. Baton’s scalable architecture lets users expand their set-up as QC needs grow. Orion-OTT checks content integrity and network performance of adaptive bitrate content. The solution also supports passive monitoring of origin server performance and service on end-user devices.
10 NEWSFEED Updates & upgrades
LIVE CAPTIONING AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE
YouTube has oered automatic captioning services since 2009, but the company has made available a real-time captioning service for its live streamers. In English only, the service will subtitle live-streamed content as it is playing. YouTube’s LASR speech recognition technology powers the
service, which YouTube claims keeps error rates to industry standards. The company has also added live chat replay, so that chats taking place during a live stream can be viewed in sync with video playback, as well as automatic location tags for live streamers.
GOOGLE BETS ON AR
Google has discontinued its Tango augmented reality platform in favour of its ARCore oering. ARCore 1.0 was oicially launched at this year’s Mobile World Congress. Tango was developed by Google’s Advanced Technology and Products team to bring AR to mobile devices, however it relied on specific hardware to be implemented. The ARCore platform, first announced last summer, is lighter weight than Tango, but can deployed on most Android devices. ARCore 1.0 allows augmented reality content developers to build on three key technologies:
■ Motion tracking – allows the phone to understand and track its position relative to the world. ■ Environmental understanding – allows the phone to detect the size and location of flat horizontal surfaces like the ground or a coee table. ■ Light estimation – allows the phone to estimate the environment’s current lighting conditions. Google has also announced the rollout of Google Lens on Android devices. Lens is a visual recognition technology that uses AI to identify objects and landmarks. A rollout for iOS devices is also planned.
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12 YOUR TAKE NewTek
Jason Pruett, product marketing manager, NewTek EDUCATION AND THE NEW NORMAL
IP video tech has reached every part of our lives. Will it spark an education revolution?
So, what does the promise and actuality of IP look like in the context of education and the e-learning environment? It’s a lecture originating in a classroom, mixed with relevant visuals in real time and streamed live directly to students without ever leaving the campus network. It’s professionally produced, on-demand sessions uploaded immediately for viewing, without entering an editing suite or being subject to a single data transfer. It’s interactive instruction using familiar, aordable, or freely available applications for a better, richer, more cost-eective learning experience. It’s cameras and devices stationed in multiple venues on campus being accessible from the same, single, centralised control room for production. It’s slashing equipment budgets, reducing resource demands and limiting staing needs, while saving time and achieving incredible economies of scale. From a traditional video standpoint, an approach that would accommodate similar ambitions is eectively impossible. Even with a wealth of resources to allocate, the logistics involved with using standard baseband equipment and coaxial cabling
Consider education. Schools, universities and other academic institutions have successfully ventured into the digital space with communications, courses, sports and events, allowing students to learn, participate, communicate and collaborate remotely, primarily through the use of video. But, behind the scenes, it’s not uncommon to see IP simply serving as an outlet for conventional content production methods, and see that broadcasts, on-demand assets, streaming media and social networking activities are the product of siloed workflows. The reason why is relatively obvious. Video production has long relied on tried and true practices and principles that instructors, educators and professionals know, are comfortable with and continue to pass down to a new generation. Fortunately, they, and the video industry at large, are coming around to the idea of IP being more than an ancillary method of delivery, but instead, the primary means of getting video from here to there – and everywhere.
JASON PRUETT: IP stands to deliver the convenience, eiciency and flexibility to vastly improve upon the current experience of e-learning
n our personal and professional lives, we’re increasingly connected through technology. We can access untold amounts of information
from all over the world instantly. We can see, hear and communicate with family, friends and colleagues no matter where they are or where we might be. And we can read text, view images, watch video and listen to audio on electronic devices we carry wherever we go. Welcome to the world of IP. Indeed, a concept that was once so forward and foreign has become a reality so commonplace that we now demand that same convenience, eiciency and flexibility in all walks of life, from our shopping and entertainment, to our careers and education. And rightfully so.
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13 YOUR TAKE NewTek
a highly replicable framework, with a dependence on commoditised, commercial o-the-shelf (COTS) IT hardware, rather than expensive, proprietary video technologies. Not only does this make IP much more manageable from a technical standpoint, but it also removes potential concerns of absorbing excessive costs, isolating new additions, or disrupting the entrenched underlying architecture when proceeding with renovations or expansion. Ultimately, as a technology and a production model, IP stands to deliver the convenience, eiciency and flexibility necessary to improve upon the current experience of e-learning and, further, to implement conceptual approaches that have been previously unattainable in the arena of education. The day has arrived where the process of bringing new gear into an ecosystem and online and, by proxy, bringing a new idea, a new method, into existence, comes with the ease of powering on, connecting to the network and opening an app – just like with our beloved laptops, tablets and mobile devices. As it, perhaps, should be. That is our new normal, after all.
infrastructure that allows for Internet connectivity, provides access to servers and enables data communications has the potential to be a pipeline that distributes video and audio within the room, throughout buildings, across campuses and beyond. The conceivable benefits of the IP production model are not only compelling, but virtually endless. Educators can expand their curricula, oer more flexible schedules and accommodate larger class sizes. Students can attend lectures, engage in discussion and present their work from virtually anywhere. Aspiring professionals can hone valuable technical skills while working with the software- driven technology that will be increasingly prevalent in their field of study. Production departments can increase their productivity by keeping equipment in place in lieu of travelling and transporting it between locations. And institutions can present attractive new opportunities for current and prospective faculty, sta and students, further elevating their status and enhancing their prestige. Equally compelling for administrators of school districts, colleges and university systems, the IP production model is also
are simply impractical. Fibre can be a consideration, but INSTITUTIONS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY VENTURED INTO THE DIGITAL SPACE generally only for new construction, as the labour and expense of retrofitting an existing facility, let alone an entire campus, is an extremely hard sell. But, with advancements in IP video technology, what essentially every classroom, oice, auditorium, athletics facility and common area already has in place can be the conduit for unprecedented educational opportunities. The same Gigabit Ethernet SCHOOLS, UNIVERSITIES, AND OTHER ACADEMIC
STREAMPUNK 14 Whitney High School
Students at a California public high school are getting a education that rivals the best media schools in the world - and they’re not alone Words by Neal Romanek SOMETHING TO PROVE
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15 STREAMPUNK Whitney High School
TOUCHDOWN The sports programme broadcasts live events. Weekly football games are the staple of the live streaming programme. “We have so much equipment, we have to start setting up for an evening football game at about 3:30. You have to go out to the press box and set up four computers, one for graphics, one for instant replay, one for Wirecast and one for the directors. And that’s not including our five cameras.” The school is in the process of building its own production trailer. When the gear is installed the vehicle will allow greater speed and mobility and enable the programme to expand its range of live coverage. The football coverage oers instant replays via a computer which is capturing the stream via the display out from Wirecast. “We capture the clip and put it on a timeline; through a shared Google Doc we can let the anchors know on their monitor when it’s ready to show. Another student producer will be scrolling through Twitter, monitoring other football games happening at the same time, and they will feed the anchors the live scores of games that other local teams are playing.”
hitney High School in Rocklin, California has won multiple awards for its student television station, but school’s success isn’t based on tech, it’s hard work and disciplined workflows. The Whitney High School broadcast programme was started by Ben Barnholdt, who in 2007 moved to the Sacramento area from Nevada, where he had been a videographer for NBC stations in Reno and Las Vegas. The programme has 84 students and consists of seven classes – four introductory media classes and three advanced level classes. After the intro classes, which survey film production, non- fiction broadcasting and production basics, students have the opportunity to move on to study broadcast journalism, sports broadcast or film production. These three advanced classes collaborate in producing a 15-minute daily show which streams out to the school and the local community. With the exception of a few faculty announcements, the content is written, produced and anchored by students. The Whitney student channel, called WCTV19, streams to a number of online and social media destinations via ESE Networks, a Georgia-based service that has become a go-to destination for high school and educational streaming. Students are encouraged to jump into the programme as soon as they get to Whitney. The intensity of the programme models the competitiveness students will face in the real industry. “It’s best to start the class with all freshmen,” explains Barnholdt. “It gives you a way to teach everyone the process right away, and you learn a lot about their work ethic too. But every student has to reapply each year. You have to earn your way in. It’s very competitive.” The programme has grown steadily since its inception a decade ago. “From where we started back, there’s been a huge amount of growth,” says Barnholdt. “We started on video tape and we would have to use a FireWire to import footage. We were playing a lot of stu o VHS tapes or we would record to DVDs. Now we’re 100% Blackmagic Design equipment, plus Telestream’s Wirecast for streaming.”
Using Wirecast’s Titler Live, the football live stream also features high-quality scoreboards, running clock and down markers. The live football coverage is streamed out via Facebook Live and through ESE Networks, using Wirecasts ability to send to multiple outlets. ESE has provided streaming services for the school since 2013 and hosts most of the video content and live streaming. TEAMWORK At Whitney High School, the emphasis is on practical experience. There are some theory classes, education about visual grammar and the basics of film theory, but the vast majority of the classroom
IF YOU DO THE LITTLE THINGS RIGHT, THEN YOU DON’ T HAVE TO SPEND AS MUCH TIME FINE TUNING IT LATER
PLAYING TO WIN Students are encouraged to fully immerse themselves in the intense programme and, echoing the competitiveness of the industry, must reapply for the course each year
STREAMPUNK 16 Whitney High School
experience is hands on. “It’s about using the equipment
discipline and team work the programme requires. “It’s very deadline based,” says Ryan. “We have a really organised rotation on how we get our work done. Our football season live streaming starts at the beginning of the school year. We have to ramp up really fast. I make 35 to 40 graphics for it every week and we’re also getting our daily show going. “Wirecast is easy for any kid to pick up with a bit of practice, and that helps. We do our morning shows every day and there are tons of graphics we have to do for that. It’s not an easy show to run and there’s pressure. The fact that anyone can run it is really helpful. “The thing I’ve learned most from the programme is how to be a leader and be accountable. When someone says that they’re going to do something, everyone
repeatedly and learning to take a risk. If you try something and fail, we’ll pick you back up and reteach it and you can try it again. It’s a lot of critical thinking, teamwork and leadership skills. “It’s also a lot about process. If you do the little things right, then you don’t have to spend as much time fine tuning it later.” The students are encouraged to innovate and problem-solve. Senior Ryan Bower became the school’s sports director as a junior, a post he still holds. He runs the day- to-day operations in the sports broadcast class, helping others with their sports news packages for the daily show. For the school’s football broadcasts, he runs the Wirecast computer, as well as making all the graphics for the football coverage. Ryan seems to thrive under the
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17 STREAMPUNK Whitney High School
THE THING I’VE LEARNEDMOST FROMTHE PROGRAMME IS HOW TO BE A LEADER AND BE ACCOUNTABLE
has the expectation that it will be done to the best of their ability, to create the best product possible.” However, Ryan isn’t planning on a media career when he graduates later this year, but he will be reaching for the stars. He plans to study astrophysics. NAB… FOR KIDS But the broadcast ambitions of Whitney High School extend beyond the Sacramento area. Every year Barnholdt takes his students to the Student Television Network (STN) convention in Nashville. STN is devoted to promoting excellence in scholastic broadcast journalism, filmmaking and media convergence. “It’s the high school version of NAB. There are a bunch of contests and award ceremonies,” says Barnholdt. “This year we took 68 kids.” Vendors show up at STN too, just as they would at any other tradeshow. Wirestream, LiveU, GoPro and Blackmagic all have stands. The only dierence between STN and NAB is that the attendees may be a
little more receptive to new ideas. “Telestream has a workshop that teaches about Wirecast. The kids get to meet dierent vendors and see the technology, and they go to workshops and seminars and get to learn from the pros. The days are about 50% competitions and 50% learning.” Around 3500 students attend STN and the show isn’t just limited to US schools; some London schools have also sent students. Every year STN holds its ‘Crazy 8’ competiton, in which students have eight hours to create a television show. Students have to supply their own gear and crew are judged at the end of the day. The Whitney team flies in a huge array of equipment. This year it was ten iMacs, eight cameras, an Osmo iPhone gimbal, a mixer and sound recording equipment. Some students brought their own cameras and computers too. “We have a quote that hangs up in our room that says ‘Start working like you have something to prove’.”
STAPLE DIET: Weekly football games form the basis of the live streaming programme, with hands-on experience central to the course
STREAMPUNK 18 Tool of the Month
STAY OPEN Words by Nl
Product Name: OBS Studio Company: The OBS community Price: Free
pen Broadcaster Software – or, more usually, OBS – was started in 2012 by a single developer. It is now used worldwide by a
range of online broadcasters, from houses of worship to eSports enthusiasts to live- streaming corporates. It’s latest iteration, OBS Studio, is available for Windows, Mac and Linux and allows for easy video streaming and recording. It’s free to download and it’s open source - created, developed and upgraded by the users themselves. The software enables simple live streaming to most major platforms. OBS Studio also features real-time video/ audio capturing and mixing from multiple sources including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams and capture cards. Users can seamlessly switch between an unlimited number of scenes and use custom transitions. The software can record multiple audio tracks while streaming or recording and also includes an audio mixer with per-source filters such as noise gate, noise suppression and gain. It also supports VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plug-ins. Studio Mode lets users preview scenes and sources, and adjust them, before pushing them live. OBS Studio also includes a Multiview function, which enables monitoring of up to eight dierent scenes. OPEN SUPPORT The OBS website is dense with information, including developer forums containing tutorials, scripts and plug-ins, as well as support and troubleshooting resources. The site also features live chat, which connects users with OBS volunteer developers. OBS Studio’s API enables the creation of a variety of plug-ins and scripts to provide various customisations and functionalities. Popular add-ons include plug-ins for live chat, music streaming, graphics and transitions, and scripts for Facebook integration, countdown timers and source switching. But generally the rule on OBS is if users need a feature badly enough, someone will design it.
TO OPEN SOURCE… Why use open source software in the first place? Aren’t proprietary systems better regulated, less prone to crashes, corruption, conflicts and cyber attack? Isn’t using an open source solution asking for trouble? Viewpoints on open source software are often a case of, is the glass half full or half empty? The very benefits that open source systems confer might be seen by some as the very reasons to avoid them. So what does open source software like OBS Studio have to recommend it? First of all, it’s free. There’s no financial bar to entry in trying OBS Studio. This may not be a concern for a company that’s up and running with a good cash flow, but for a microbroadcaster, a charity, a local service or a small business, the price of a professional solution might be the dierence between starting a video oering and forgetting the whole thing. An open source system makes its code available to all, which allows for a tremendous amount of customisation (aka ‘hacking’), and the ability to add feature sets, plug-ins and implementations that the original developers might never have imagined. And because of the transparency of the system, problem-solving at a group level is dramatically simplified. Remember all those visits you’ve make to the Apple Discussion groups where the final answer in a thread was ‘I can’t figure this out. I just hope Apple fix it in the next update’? Well, with an open source system, problems are laid bare for all to see – and for all to fix. The DIY ethos that open source systems are built on is also a foundational cornerstone
of new technologies - and the spirit of creative entrepreneurship that has sprung up around them. Up and coming platforms like Twitch – the entire eSports sector, in fact – have been built around users employing free, open source software like OBS to reach audiences directly. If they needed a new feature, they or their friends designed it. They didn’t need to wait for a company to respond, they created solutions themselves. …OR NOT to OPEN SOURCE? Open source solutions are not for everyone, of course. Wikipedia and Wordpress may now be venerable institutions, but once profits become a major driver in a business, commercial products or systems designed in-house may prove more appropriate, and perhaps more secure. Also, if an open source system comes apart – whether through volunteers losing interest in maintaining it, or through changes in hardware and platforms – it can be hard to recover without a private entity swooping in. Open source software might be slower to react to sudden, dramatic shocks in technology or in markets than a private developer might. Users can download and play with OBS Studio. Once downloaded, you own it. It may not be right for everyone, but a generation of talents dominating the live-streaming industry have had it at the centre of their toolkit for a long time now.
■ Learn about OBS Studio, and download the latest version, at: http://obsproject.com
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22 CONTENT FOCUS Education
SCHOOL OF SCREENS tudents have come to expect innovative technology in their learning spaces, but to be effective, tools like video streaming must offer engaging material that adds an extra dimension to lessons Words by Heather McLean
BREAKING BOUNDARIES Students are now able to access lessons anywhere and on any device
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23 CONTENT FOCUS Education
chools and universities have been working with video conferencing for over two decades now to enrich learning and broaden
EXPANDING HORIZONS New technology such as AR, VR and MR will add a new experience to streaming video
students’ world views. Today, sexy new tech like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and both mashed together, mixed reality (MR), are emerging on the streaming video horizon, expanding the opportunities for experience. Video streaming now is all about being part of something, and taking part in a genuine experience, according to Dr. John Collick, senior education consultant at Promethean. His company develops a variety of technology solutions for the 21st century classroom. “Why did more than two million people watch Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy rocket launch?” Collick asks. “Quite simply, to belong to a significant moment in space exploration. A factor driving video streaming is belonging to a community of like-minded people. In the education context this sense of belonging to the moment and to the community can be very eective, and so video streaming is naturally becoming a part of the learning process.” GOOD OR BAD FOR EDUCATION? On whether education through streaming video is really beneficial for students and educators, Je Rubenstein, VP product for learning and collaboration at Kaltura, states: “Streaming video has been revolutionary for teaching and learning. It removes the restrictions of the physical classroom. Students can get lessons anywhere, anytime and can interact with their instructor and with fellow students anywhere in the world, using combinations of asynchronous and synchronous video technologies. re-watch the lessons as often as they like, and on any device,” Rubenstein adds. “And video can be captioned and translated into other languages. This is good not only for people with disabilities, but for all students.” Chris Michaels, streaming industry evangelist at Wowza Media Systems, agrees: “We’ve seen programmes have tremendous success with distance learning, creating intimate experiences for the students that otherwise wouldn’t have a live interaction with an instructor. This closeness allows the student to be more receptive to the lessons. Additionally, when the videos implement a live to video on demand strategy, allowing for lessons to be saved for later viewing, students can return to previous lessons, or even rewind to better understand a particular portion of the lecture.” “Video also makes learning more accessible: students can watch and
content, with video streaming, educators can receive immediate feedback from the audience, which facilitates greater interaction and more meaningful learning opportunities.” HUGE DEMAND FROM STUDENTS In a recent survey conducted by Panopto of 500 students studying at 135 dierent UK universities, the company found that 78% of students were already using online video platforms to teach themselves additional skills or learn new things, and 65% were being given access to on-demand video lectures by their university. As well as lecture recording, Panopto observed huge growth in the number of institutions using video to do things like flip the classroom, record video feedback to student assignments and live stream guest lectures or university events. Students are typically very enthusiastic about these kinds of learning resources, the company said, and they feel video resources oer them greater flexibility, the chance to absorb more complex material at their own pace and the opportunity to catch up if classes are missed due to illness or other commitments. Peter Ingle, general manager at Panopto EMEA, comments: “From our work with hundreds of universities, colleges and schools globally, we know that introducing video as a complement to face-to-face learning can have a big impact on student engagement. Students who experience video learning are overwhelmingly positive about it and many academics tell us it has transformed their teaching practice, for the better. With the majority of UK universities now using
THE HAZARD CAN COME WHEN PROGRAMMES RELY ON PLATFORMS LIKE YOUTUBE TO HOST THEIR LESSONS NATIVELY While Collick comments: “For both students and teachers, streaming video gives the sense of participation and sense of authentic experience, a crucially important part of creating engaging learning experiences. “Streaming video presents many diverse education opportunities for students,” he continues. “Firstly, by gaining access to experts worldwide, students can interview people and watch live demonstrations of experiments. Secondly, it also enables communication in real time, whether that’s students class-to-class or students demonstrating their work to parents.” Collick says that for teachers, video streaming allows reach to a much bigger audience and to share experiences with their colleagues, regardless of geographical boundaries. “Unlike pre-recorded video
24 CONTENT FOCUS Education
video in a wide range of ways, students are increasingly coming to see blended learning – the combination of face-to-face and digital learning tools – as the norm.” Patricia Finlayson, senior product and solutions marketing manager of videoconferencing tech company Polycom, states: “The current generation of younger students are digital natives, and mature students are likely to be comfortable with mobile and video technology; both have high expectations for their education establishments to keep up to date with the latest innovative technology.” As to risks associated with this technology, Collick says: “Streaming video is only eective when the content is meaningful and engaging for students. If students are not given choice in what they watch, or what they watch is uninspiring or of questionable quality, it won’t bring any educational benefit.” “The hazard can come when programmes rely on platforms like YouTube to host their lessons natively,” Wowza’s Michaels adds. “While YouTube is a great
platform for free distribution and storage, viewers can easily be distracted by other videos or channels in suggested posts, and perhaps content that may contradict current lessons, or provide opposing analysis to specific points of instruction.” INTO THE CLASSROOM On innovative uses of streaming video in education today, Michaels states: “Live video gives schools the ability to extend the feel of community beyond the campus walls and has enormous potential for both student life and recruiting, maintaining and building relationships with alumni, donors and parents. St Andrews School, a private boarding academy in Delaware, regularly streams lectures from visiting professors, student events, fine arts performances and parents’ weekends. This allows parents, extended families and communities to be connected, even while apart.” Michaels adds that University College London (UCL), the third-largest university in the UK with the largest postgraduate
STREAMING VIDEO IS ONLY EFFECTIVE WHEN THE CONTENT IS MEANINGFUL AND ENGAGING FOR STUDENTS
GREATER UNDERSTANDING Video on demand allows students to enhance their learning by revisiting lessons
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enrolment in the country, streams live and on-demand video, and uses 360° video to create exclusive events that help extend their reach and maximise student and community engagement. This can be student orientation and virtual tours of research organisations and departments, plus training and internal communication so students and viewers can feel like they are physically there. UCL also oers a regular Lunch Hour Lectures programme twice a week, featuring faculty philosophers, authors, researchers, doctors, civil rights activists and celebrities. Established in 1942, the lecture series allows anyone the opportunity to sample the exceptional research work being undertaken at the university. The lectures are both streamed to an adjoining auditorium, as well as online and to YouTube for international audiences. Since starting to stream the lectures, the series has had millions of views from around the world. In another example of the innovative use of video plus new tech, Pearson TQ, which
delivers engineering and plant operator training at the Royal School of Military Engineering, used interactive 360° headsets, the HoloLens from Microsoft, to give learners the chance to explore maintenance bays in VR. This allowed students to quickly get used to working in the bays, learning about the position of tools and dierent features, without leaving the classroom. Promethean’s Collick notes that for teachers, streaming video is not only a tool to share best practices, but also a way of reaching a very specific audience. “I have a friend who is the head of a language school in Russia and while on a trans-Siberian tour by train he did live stream video interviews with managers of language schools in cities along the route. They all shared their secrets of school management which resulted in a precise reach for his targeted audience.” EVOLVING TECHNOLOGIES FOR STREAMING There are three key trends in this sector that Panopto believes will only grow with time. Firstly, continued demand for anytime, anywhere learning from students. This means providers have to ensure that any recordings made are optimised for playback on any device, allowing students to use their mobile devices to access content whenever, wherever. Secondly, capture of video at scale. Panopto said it already sees UK universities that are capturing the vast majority of their lectures, as well as a range of other video content. Finally, the increasing uptake of multi- camera video for learning. This will be
particularly key for instructors in practical subjects who need to show key processes. Collick states that one trend in the development of this technology is bringing the most realistic and authentic experience to the student audience, the ultimate example being the streaming of moving holographic images of speakers. Promethean sister company ArHT Media demonstrated this at education show Bett by showcasing how its HumaGram technology could be applied in education settings. “With video streaming, everyone is a creator and so the development of easy-to-use tools is essential,” continues Collick. “We can expect that technology will develop to create fully immersive live streaming experiences while there will also be the development of small wearable devices which can easily make any teacher or student a broadcaster. Platforms for streaming with an easy search of recorded video sessions and aggregated content will be very important for life-long learners and teachers. These platforms should give a teacher the opportunity to search for the future live broadcasts they need for specific times and learning purposes.” Polycom’s Finlayson says: “The big push from us has been for audio and video solutions that give the most real and life-like experience. In the future, I expect technology will continue to evolve to adapt to the changing and growing demands in the education space. Giving students access to virtual learning will enhance their experience positively. We’ve seen the success of social video apps like Snapchat and Instagram among millennials, so it is only natural for this preferred video communication method
EARLY ENGAGEMENT By creating a sense of participation, streaming video can result in useful, interactive experiences for students of all ages
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UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES Students can learn from experts, conduct interviews, watch live demonstrations and interact with instructors and one another via streaming
VIDEO SHOULD NOT REPLACE HUMAN TOHUMAN CONTACT, IT SHOULD ENABLE IT WHEN PEOPLE ARE NOT IN THE SAME LOCATION like VR, AR, MR and 360° video as the future of e-learning technology. “The technology around video has evolved rapidly in recent years and will continue to do so, especially around the creation of rich video by non- technical consumers, like teachers and to be incorporated into an educational environment, which benefits students, teachers and parents equally.” “More of the products and services that are powering live streams are moving to the cloud,” Wowza Media Systems’ Michaels points out. “From IP cameras that are wall-mounted and directly connected and controlled via the internet, to learning management systems and video distribution services, much of it is powered through cloud computing. This shift is making streaming more aordable, less technically challenging and easier to incorporate into regular scholastic operations. Rubenstein points to hot technologies
students. Today the ability to create 360° videos is in the hands of everyone – for less than $300 you can deliver some pretty impressive immersive experiences. VR and MR are also developing rapidly, in particular for science and technical communications.” GETTING THE BALANCE Streaming video can improve the interaction in class between students and instructors, providing the right criteria are met, says Collick. “Content needs to be thought- provoking and the video sessions need to encourage further exploration and research of the topic as well as discussion. Also, when students themselves become live video broadcasters they become better communicators, which will impact classroom interaction positively. Ultimately the video streaming session must be part of a meaningful learning experience that is carefully designed by a teacher.” As to whether virtual learning really is the future, Michaels observes: “It won’t be a complete replacement, but it will grow, and more schools are oering long-distance programmes that incorporate video. This is especially true of graduate programmes that embrace the working professional.” “Virtual learning is clearly the way of the future for education,” says Rubenstein. “There will still be a place for traditional campuses for specific types of learning, as well as for social development, but as information and technology advance, more people will need to move back into education for a refresh at various points in their lives. The model of university until 21 and then a career is dead; people will
train and retrain every several years, and the only way to deliver this eectively is via virtual learning.” Meanwhile Michaels imagines success in education will depend on the implementation. “When video is two-way, whereby the professor can see a ‘Brady Bunch’ view of webcams, or there is an easy way to ask questions and interact via chat or other means, it can be more personal. Some learning platforms are building in video chat, text chat and messaging capabilities which will allow for greater collaboration and real- time communication, versus asynchronous email systems.” He says Wowza recently conducted a study that showed when people can engage and communicate in real time with the presenter, more authentic connection between the audience and the talent results. This helps build greater trust and fosters an environment of collaboration. But Polycom’s Finlayson notes that nothing can take away the importance of a teacher and pupil standing in front of each other. “I believe that face-to-face interaction will still be most important and common in most scenarios. Video should not replace human- to-human contact, it should enable it when people are not in the same location. In this sense, interaction will be increased as video enables those who are apart to interact where before they couldn’t. This is where video outweighs all, as it drives human-to- human connections, allowing people to still see each other virtually. Body language and eye contact should never be underrated.”
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STREAMING ENABLES AN IMPROMPTU EDUCATION Streaming video is giving students all over Poland access to the best musical education in the country Words by Jo Ruddock
arsaw’s Frederic Chopin School of Music is a prestigious music institution, held in high esteem across Poland. With
the help of Nadaje Broadcasting, the school has been able to share its lessons with 400 music schools right across the nation. “They have rare knowledge about music, and you cannot access this knowledge easily,” says Wojciech Dalętka of Nadaje Broadcasting. “It is unique knowledge.” The best way to make this knowledge available live to a broad audience, in diverse locales and facilities, is to stream it. However, unmanaged public streaming isn’t up to the task in this instance. There’s the personal privacy of students to consider, traic needs to be kept under control and the intellectual property of the school needs to be protected. With this in mind, the Frederic Chopin School is using an Internal Protected Streaming service provided by Nadaje (whose name means ‘broadcast’ in Polish), thus protecting their content from unauthorised access. The technique is similar to that employed by governments and corporations requiring secure internal video communication, and it enables the school to deliver classes, concerts and other educational materials to a carefully restricted audience. The Frederic Chopin School does all its own production and encoding, then hands the signal to Nadaje’s servers and software. Nadaje built its name on providing radio services, so it is well-matched to a customer for whom high-quality audio is a basic requirement. “Our company puts the maximum attention on audio,” says Dalętka. To access the content, each participating school simply logs into the appropriate web page and watches the Frederic Chopin
THEY HAVE RARE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MUSIC, AND YOU CANNOT ACCESS THIS KNOWLEDGE EASILY
School stream via a browser window. From a user perspective, it’s relatively simple, but behind the scenes, there’s more going on. Authorisation takes place on Nadaje’s own website and then, using token- based authentication, is integrated with Streamroot CDN. This guarantees that only authorised users can access the livestream. Merely copying and pasting the feed address will be unsuccessful, as the token won’t be present. It’s simpler than a DRM solution but still robust enough to keep the content secure. The content streams via HLS to the HTML5 player on the web page. This could be a page which is visibly at Nadaje’s own domain (eg. https://nadaje.com/customer_ page), or alternatively, as is the case with the
Frederic Chopin School, it could be a variant on the customer’s own URL. The customer can redirect a CNAME DNS record of their own (for example, https://live.customer’s_domain.com) to a page on the Nadaje server. The customer can then visually customise that page to match the rest of its website. This way, there’s no need for the customer to have to manage any part of the stream on its own servers. Nadaje’s own servers with Streamroot CDN are built to handle high volumes of such traic by design. Put together it means that aspiring musicians all over Poland have the chance to develop to their full potential without having to travel to Chopin’s home town to do so.
A BENEFICIAL ARRANGEMENT The Frederic Chopin School is able to securely share its lessons with 400 music schools across Poland
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