Proposal to Build a Campus Channel Prototype
for New Jersey Network
by Donna Liu
Feb 18, 2011
The New Jersey Campus Channel would be a collection of video and audio presentations, produced by institutions of higher education, contributed to a central repository, and re-formatted for distribution over multiple platforms, including one of NJN's digital sub-channels.
NJN would convene a statewide consortium of colleges and universities with an interest in broadcasting their programs on a common platform. It assumes the contributors will not charge for their content, and NJN will not charge to broadcast them.
The prototype could be ready to air by July 1, 2011. This would include a linear, digital, broadcast-quality signal, consisting of programs contributed by partnering institutions, properly trimmed, branded, slated, and fonted, but with no additional production. There would also be parallel distribution channels created on the Internet for mp4 and mp3 streaming and downloads, plus a Mobile application.
The content would include public lectures, open courseware, programs currently produced for educational access channels, and educational programming produced by NJN. The finished videos would be seen over NJN, PEG channels, webcasting, mp4 and mp3 downloads. They would be searchable on an indexed Campus Channel website and re-distributed via third-party services such as WGBH Forum Network, iTunes U, YouTube, etc. The third-party distribution services can be leveraged at no cost.
The prototype would involve building a consortium of institutions of higher education who want to submit programming. It would begin with an archive of no less than 50 hours of academic programs. It would require the efforts of a dedicated Coordinator, with access to administrative and technical support from NJN, including financial, legal, video editing, broadcast server maintenance, web design, and graphics.
The scope of this proposal is only the prototype. If successful, it could be the foundation of a longer-range plan for a permanent, multi-platform Campus Channel. And if the Campus Channel is successful, it would be the model for collaborative programming in arts, sciences, public affairs, and news.
This proposal is unabashedly based on six years’ experience building the UChannel project at Princeton University. From a single server on the university campus, UChannel served at its height more than three million full-length lecture downloads per month. In addition, UChannel pioneered the use of the Internet to deliver broadcast-quality video files to a network of local TV stations across the country.
What follows is an outline of the recommended steps to build a Campus Channel prototype.
1. Build the consortium
2. Establish the agreements, releases, and technical specifications
3. Establish a workflow
4. Captioning and metadata
5. Administrative and technical requirements
6. Costs and funding
7. Timeline
8. Looking Ahead
________________
1. Build the consortium
The most expedient way to create a consortium of willing partners is to seek out the participation of existing organizations such as NJEdge’s Video Resource Group, NJVid (disclosure: I am on their advisory board), and Jersey Access Group (JAG). The leaders of these groups have already indicated a willingness to discuss cooperation with a Campus Channel. Together, these groups represent a collaboration of the video-related departments of a large portion of the institutions of higher education in New Jersey. They share production, training, and distribution resources. Among its assets, NJVid has a public archive of broadcast-quality programs from contributing universities. JAG members include Rutgers, and dozens of municipal stations that together cover more than 300 towns in NJ.
2. Establish protocols: There are a number of useful solutions already in wide use in the digital realm.
● Rights issues: Creative Commons is a broadly-accepted license that can be included in the language of all release forms and attached to all video assets. If the user wants to select more stringent conditions, there are variants on the CC license that preclude commercial use, for example, of the materials. The contributing institution would retain the copyright, and grant NJTV a non-exclusive license to distribute.
● Releases: The more general a recording release, the better. The one created for UChannel by Princeton University's legal counsel could serve as an example. It asked the speakers to agree to be recorded, and granted Princeton University the right to put the event into the public domain, no strings attached.
● Technical standards: NJN would assume the responsibility of ensuring that all programming destined for re-broadcast meet FCC standards. For Web video, there is no single standard, but the most widely adopted technical standards for streaming and podcasting are being determined by the biggest players in the field, in particular, iTunes.
3. Workflow
A. Hunting-Gathering:
i. Survey interested contributors to gauge production capacity and existing video/audio assets.
ii. Give these contributors ftp access to an NJTV server where the videos can be evaluated
iii. Programs that are determined to be good enough for broadcast will also need to be transcribed (details in section #4). At the moment there is no legal requirement to caption videos distributed over the Internet.
B. Web presence: Build a web page to post Campus Channel multimedia and facilitate social networking
C. Production:
i. Basic trimming, branding, identification slates
ii. Audio/video adjustments where needed
iii. Convert to mpeg2 for broadcast, mp4 for streaming/download, and mp3 for audio. This can be automated.
iv. Add metadata (details in section #4)
D. Distribution: This is the most rapidly-changing aspect of the operation, and the best way to keep up with changing distribution platforms is to partner with the biggest players. At the minimum, the Campus Channel should:
i. upload the broadcast-quality version
(a) to an NJTV playback server
(b) to an "exchange archive" such as PBS and access stations currently use to share programming. e.g., Community Media Distribution Network
ii. upload the Internet-ready versions
(a) to an NJTV server that would support a content management system for the Campus Channel website, archive the mp4 and mp3 files, and support public podcasting through RSS, and
(b) upload to “cloud” collections such as NJVid, YouTube, WGBH Forum, the Internet Archive, Vimeo, Hulu, and so on. Archiving is most secure when there is redundancy, so we might choose two or three archives most consistent with our mission, and with the best prospects of longevity.
(c) the importance of audio distribution for this kind of long-form lecture programming cannot be overstated. It comprised at least 80% of the audience for UChannel, some of whom praised the audio lectures for “transforming their morning car commute”. Radio, Internet radio, and mp3 downloads are thriving distribution platforms, especially in this commuter-intense region.
4. Captioning and metadata
● Programs slated for re-broadcast on NJTV must be closed-captioned. Although great progress has been made in transcription software, it is still not accurate enough for closed captioning. Once transcribed, the text also has to be time-coded to the video so that the captions appear at the proper place. There are services that will transcribe and convert text to digital closed-captioning files that can be attached to the video assets. This is potentially the biggest expense of the entire process, but it is a requirement for public broadcasting and a useful adjunct to Internet search.
● Metadata: It is best to establish consistent metadata protocols at the very beginning of this exercise. Metadata is essential for both archiving and search. It should be attached to all downloadable versions of the programming. Search engines currently cannot search videos, they can only search the text associated with them. Hence the usefulness of full transcriptions, even if these are expensive to produce. For technical metadata, most TV operations adopt a version of "Dublin Core", which specifies (perhaps too many) categories with which to tag an item. NJVid uses "RUCore", which was developed by Rutgers. PBS uses “PBCore”.
5. Administrative and technical requirements
The biggest investment in consortium building is also the least expensive: good faith. The groundwork for a Campus Channel will require time for conversations with potential partners, conversations that have already begun and bode well for a productive outcome.
Nonetheless the prototype will require some in-kind services from NJTV, including:
- from the legal department: drawing up agreements with potential partners, and releases acceptable to all parties
- Engineering support: ensure submissions are technical acceptable; putting enough ftp-accessible server space online to accept video files from across the state; establish an RSS-capable server for podcasting and feed the Mobile download applications; investigate bandwidth solutions
- Web support: website design, content and database management.
- Production support: creating a graphic identity; brand outgoing videos with that identity; trimming, editing, fonting submissions when necessary; add consistent metadata
- Financial support: procure and dispense the funds needed to realize a prototype
6. Costs
Getting a broadcast-ready prototype of 50 hours of programming together can be done for a one-time fixed cost. The costs of creating a long-term sustained operation will be considered in a separate proposal.
Most of the costs for the prototype could be borne by NJTV as in-kind services, if the capacity is there. If these services are to be outsourced, the costs to July 1 would include (these are rough estimates):
Coordinator’s fee $40,000
Hardware and software, purchase and support $20,000
Website $10,000
Admin and Legal services $5,000
Production services $20,000
Captioning and metadata $10,000
Total, for realization of prototype $105,000
7. Timeline
If the efforts to build a Campus Channel were to begin immediately, it would not be unreasonable to expect to have a coalition of partners in place, and a survey of potential video assets, by the end of March, 2011; to have these assets in hand by the end of April; and to have the programming ready for air and web distribution by the end of June, 2011.
8. Looking Ahead
If the Campus Channel works, it could pave the way for a new and collaborative approach to all kinds of subject matter across the state. Imagine reaching out to arts and environmental organizations, and encouraging them to produce their own materials. Museums and libraries would be natural partners in the discussion of science, books, and learning.
Hyperlocal news associations, newspapers, journalism schools and local access TV partners could come on board and contribute to a state-wide network of news-gathering facilities. Ethnic groups could extend this network’s reach into New Jersey’s diverse communities. Thousands of nonprofit organizations across the state reach into every corner of our society; with proper training, resources, and support, each one of these is a potential partner in the creation of a new New Jersey Network.