TECHNOS

August 29, 2008

The State of Electronic Transmission of Video

By Joann Flick, AIT Sales/Marketing Broadcast Training Specialist

Television is the combination of two important 20th Century innovations: moving pictures and over-the-air transmission. Now, a new age in instructional technology has sprung from the combination of two other important late 20th Century innovations: digitized content and emerging electronic delivery methods. A new millennium spawns new ways to locate and retrieve motion media.

Digital content

Video, still images, print resources, audio files, electronic games . . . all of these materials can be searched, located, and randomly accessed for rich media enhancement of classroom activities using a variety of delivery methods. Schools and media centers are demanding content correlated to state curriculum standards and available indexed as independent media objects for easy integration into presentation software for rich learning activities. A critical issue is that the metadata to power searches must be developed in a universal and standardized format, so that users can easily integrate the content and its supporting metadata across various delivery systems, media-management software applications, and media viewing formats.

E-delivery of digital content

Transmission methods are constantly evolving, but at least six distinct scenarios have emerged among K–12 schools.

Internet streaming. Search and find content; then view it live via a broadband Internet connection.

Internet Download. Retrieve content from the Internet via broadband access and save it locally on a network server, the user’s computer, or on a portable storage device (such as a CD-ROM) for use later.

Streaming and download models have been in place at KLVX in Las Vegas for two years.
Store and forward. Search a Web site to locate useful media; then request it for forward to the local school network server or to the user’s computer, using point-to-point protocols such as FTP and customized queue software to manage delivery parameters.

Kern County Schools in Bakersfield, CA, has been piloting a “store and forward” system since early 2004.
Network-based media. The school or media center selects desired media resources and secures resources for storage on a school server. Users access resources at school through the school LAN or WAN without ever venturing out beyond the firewall into the Internet. Resources are acquired on a hard drive, on DVD, on CD-ROM, or via FTP. Sometimes, a Web site is set up to provide teachers access to program information and thumbnail samples of programming from outside of school.

Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES, based in Utica, NY, is using a broadband wide-area-network to provide content to high schools. KCPT-TV in Kansas City, MO, provides a content-filled hard drive for local-area-networks to subscribing schools under the trademarked name “Chalkwaves.”
Instructional Television Fixed Service. Automated media-management software allows ITFS operators to manage digital media delivered to many school buildings from a central location without taxing Internet connectivity. In this model, the content could be viewed live or downloaded to local network servers for access by teachers later.

Dade County schools in Miami have used an automated system for teacher requests and scheduling of ITFS services for a decade. They are now moving toward integrating a Web-based request service to augment their phone request line.
Datacasting. A TV station utilizes its digital signal to broadcast coded broadband content, updating local video servers at the school. Coding embedded in the content allows only designated servers to receive the specific content they are authorized to use. Content can be viewed live or updated anytime. The datacasting signal could also instruct the receiving server to eliminate expired content. PBS stations will also use available bandwidth for homeland security, governmental services, and, in a limited capacity, commercial services.

KERA in Dallas is utilizing its digital transmitter to test datacasting technology applications for K–12 media. Other public television stations are also pursuing use of this emerging broadband technology.

Outlook

The trend already evident in school media is toward de-coupling of content and delivery systems. This allows broadcasters, media centers, and schools to acquire a delivery system, interface software, content, and the attending metadata separately. Only appropriate, selected media are made available to teachers to use—and that selection is placed in the hands of the media buyer. Media centers and schools will choose the delivery system or combination of systems that best meets their needs and available resources. The interface software that allows teachers to search is licensed, purchased, or developed by the local media buyer and may include other services besides media delivery, such as scheduling staff development or distributing targeted district information. A user profile can direct specific information to a designated group; e.g., an announcement about a new policy or staff development or new media resource. By de-coupling these separate elements, regional agencies will be able to customize services and control costs.

New content design, taking full advantage of branching—or random access links from one media resource to another—and the combination of multiple media resources within a single media-management system, will provide more spontaneous, efficient, and user-friendly media for teachers and learners. Processes to access, review, and acquire digital content, metadata, and delivery systems are just now being developed. Flexible delivery systems that optimize existing network and hardware capacity are highly favored. Metadata and content must be prepared to “plug & play” through any number of delivery platforms and interfaces in order to be successful. The use of FTP to distribute content and metadata point-to-point will continue to grow.

The role of product developers/distributors

Media distributors must immediately begin the process of indexing, digitizing, creating descriptive records, and correlating content to state standards. A collaborative approach among clients, distributors, and the hardware/software providers of interfaces and transmission technologies is needed to achieve standard metadata for clients. The National Association of Media and Technology Centers, NAMTC, is quickly moving forward in a leadership role to accomplish this vital task. Its members, including the Agency for Instructional Technology, AIT, are working toward the goal.

Soon, the fog will completely lift from this digital landscape. A clearer path is already visible. The next step is for product developers to create dynamic new media products that engage learners in innovative ways that are not dependent on the linear, narrative style of film and analog video. From brief, interactive animations, to a bank of independent interviews on a single topic, to encyclopedic collections of natural history footage, to personalized adventures where the learner chooses the sequence, the new digital delivery systems will soon transform the product development process and offer exciting ways to learn.

This article was published in ’etin, NAMTC’s Official Newsletter, in March 2004. AIT is a Corporate Member of NAMTC, and Jo Flick represents the Agency at the Association’s meetings.