Successful Multi-Generational Interactive Video Conference Event

On December 10th, 2013, the Mora Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), Kanabec Broadband Initiative (KBI) KBI and East Central MN Educational Cable Cooperative (ECMECC) joined together to present an interactive video conference (IVC) event at the Eastwood Life Enrichment Center (LEC) in Mora, MN. The LEC is a facility run by the Mora HRA as an event center for the residents of the Eastwood senior living complex as well as for community meetings and events. KBI, through the generous support of the Blandin Foundation, was able to outfit the LEC with modern audio/video equipment including a video conference system and high speed, broadband, Internet access (with support from Midcontinent Communications). 

Nearly 60 people assembled at the LEC to view an interactive presentation lead by the National Park Service and broadcast live from the grounds of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Mounument at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The presentation included a short documentary about the attacks of December 7th, 1941, an eyewitness account led by Jimmy Lee who was eleven at the time and living on a farm on the northern part of the harbor (a front row seat to the events of that day) and a question/answer session with Paul Heintz of the park service and Jimmy Lee.

It was an amazing "show" and the audience was glued to the screen. Among the participants in Mora were several veterans including John Kirkhuff of Mora who was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attacks on December 7, 1941. In the video below, John (with help from his daughter Ginny Berg) had just finished providing his own brief account of the events of that day. Take a look and enjoy. Then remember to continually thank our veterans and active forces for their service to our country!



http://goo.gl/aCdE7G 

Thank you to the National Park Service, the Blandin Foundation, members of the KBI steering committee, staff at the LEC and ECMECC and all of those who were in attendance for making this a highly successful event that provided a moving experience for many, gratitude to our veterans and generated community interest in the technology that allows for such events to occur. We are already planning the next event which may be a fun (and educational) trip to another warm place later this winter.

I always enjoy seeing kids reactions when they participate in a truly interactive video conference event. I found that with adults it was no different. We can talk 'til we are blue in the face about the difference between interactive learning and passively watching a video but nothing gets the point across better than actually participating in a well planned and delivered lesson. I think 60 people walked out of the LEC that night who can now tell you how much better an interactive experience is.

HTML5 Video

I started working on this post in June -- and then Summer hit like a freight train! It proved to be one of my busiest summers yet with work occupying more than its fair share of the time. No big family trips, but lots of small excursions here and there. All-in-all, it was good! Now, back to the reality of the school year...

I've been playing around with HTML5 lately, especially as it relates to video. We've been wanting to provide opportunities for video streaming at ECMECC without the cost of a commercial system. Budgets just aren't going to allow for that kind of expenditure. The issue that has been most problematic has been that of cross-browser and cross-platform support. We tried an implementation of Darwin Streaming Server, but it uses the RTP protocol which requires a plug-in such as Quicktime or RealPlayer. Not all modern browsers are supporting plug-ins the same way, then there is the issue of installing said plugins. We also tried some other methods of streaming including some open-source flash players. Great in many cases, but not supported on the iPhone, iPad or many other mobile devices.

Enter HTML5, the still evolving next generation of web development code. Now supported on most browsers and compatible with many mobile devices including the iPhone and iPad, HTML5 looks to be a promising (and relatively simple) way to stream video to the world. If I've done things right, the video below (the first generation of the popular "Did You Know" video) will play in nearly any browser on nearly any platform. If it doesn't work, give me a break, I'm still learning :-)

Below the video, I've inserted a few links to resources on video streaming with HTML5. I'll keep you updated on our progress!




Dive into HTML5 - A good basic guide to HTML5
Best HTML5 Media Players - A blog post with information on many HTML5 media players
HTML5 Tag Reference - A reference guide to HTML5 tags from W3Schools

Enjoy - and hope you all had a great summer!!