Do you need to view a live event that originates anywhere in the world from one of multiple locations around campus? Prepare a video presentation so that it can be viewed at any time from any location via the Internet? Hold a meeting, conference or interview with participants at several sites? Or design a classroom to be used with distance learning technologies?
Tom Every, assistant director of classroom technologies and distributed learning infrastructure at Cornell Information Technologies (CIT), and his team can make it happen. For the past two years, they have been upgrading Cornell's video and audio distribution and control systems.
Currently CIT offers three options for supporting academic and special events with audio and video.
Video broadcasting provides one-way -- live distribution of high-quality audio/video to a room on campus or off site. Webcasting, also called audio/video streaming, is a one-way broadcast available on demand to many viewers via the Internet. Finally, videoconferencing offers live, real-time audio/video/data interaction between two or more sites. Videoconferencing is available in a growing number of locations on campus using either fixed or portable systems.
"CIT also supports faculty who want to integrate multimedia technologies into their instruction and helps with design and project management to create technology-enhanced classrooms and meeting rooms," said Every. "Each month this semester, the Global Seminar is connecting students, faculty and international leaders from seven universities around the world, including Cornell, to discuss via videoconference the future of the environment and a sustainable food supply."
The basement of the Computing and Communications Center on campus houses the video and audio distribution equipment. The control switch area connects through both fiber-optic lines and the data network to specific rooms on campus.
"Our goal," said Every, "is to do virtually all video and audio feeds through Cornell's data network."
Every, along with CIT consultant/adviser for classroom technologies Jim Avery and video engineer Kevin Feeney, evaluates and tests video appliances that allow high-quality audio and video over the Internet.
"Today's videoconferences over the Internet are good quality, but they're not up to the quality of cable television," said Every. "We are developing the capability to bring digital-satellite-television quality to Cornell."
For more information about these for-fee services, contact Jim Avery (254-4736 or ja42@cornell.edu). Or visit http://www.cit.cornell.edu/services/av/.
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