[svlug] Progress report of Video Recording SVLUG meeting 070207

Fri Feb 9 08:11:05 PST 2007

THANKS to everyone who helped with anything regarding the recording,
speaker, etc: :) !!!

Paul Reiber     - Running the meeting, equipment provision
Mark Weisler    - Speaker coordination
John Regan      - Concept, project management: Meeting Recording.
		  Video camera operations, equipment prov.
Daniel Gimpelevich - SW HW integration for digitization & mixing, 
		  Mixing & Digitizing operations, equipment prov.
Darlene Wallach - Networking, Video operations
John Cassady    - Video operations
Sherwin Lee     - Symantec network/equipment operations
Rick Moen       - Consulting
Heather Stern   - Equipment provision consultant
Jim Dennis      - Wise words
(& apologies to anyone I've absent mindedly forgotten to list, or who
helped in ways I don't know about!)

&,of course,
Sameer Verma    - Speaker on 070207

& also,
SVLUG attendees - putting up with the "work in progress" :)

===========================================================
I think everything was a GREAT SUCCESS!!!!!  :)  Of course there were
some hickups, delays, etc, but I think they were small compared to this
which was accomplished:
1) Talk was given for SVLUG attendees.
2) Talk was recorded on tape, so it can be digitized & made available to
others in the GNU/Linux community.
3) Much technology comprehension/learning for audio & video mixing &
digitization, & sw & HW integration was done.

[ Whew!!!! :) ]

===========================================================
I arrived at the meeting location at 520 PM.  By 7 PM, I'd been up for
33 hours, with only 3 hours sleep, having been working to get things
ready.  I extend my apologies to anyone who thought I wasn't my usual
chipper self - I was trying to be, but was a bit tired.  :)

===========================================================
A BRIEF HISTORY of how this came to occur:
1) Some years ago, people (Ian Cluft? Don Marti? others too) did some
MBONE broadcasting of SVLUG.
2) Some years ago, Mike Rushford video recorded RMS's SVLUG meeting (I
assisted in operations).
3) Some years ago, I'd recorded about 4 local tech meetings, 2 were of
SVLUG.  (But, I was too busy to able to get them digitized with audio &
video in sync, then uploaded someplace.)

4) Two months ago, I spoke with Mark W & Paul R about some speakers &
talks I'd like to have at SVLUG. Since possibly some of those speakers
might not be able to physically come to SVLUG, I proposed the idea of
"VIDEO TELESPEAKER" technology, using webcam, etc., to enable them to
speak, "Live Via Webcam (SM)" from their location to SVLUG attendees.

5) Paul R & Mark W were enthusiastic, & suggested I research the idea &
get back to them with a plan to accomplish it.

6) I created a PROGRESS PLAN to achieve that level of technology
operation:
We'd START with video recording a meeting:
6a) Record the meeting to tape,
6b) Get the recording digitized (perhaps live),
6c) Get the video uploaded to some server,
6d) Announce the video availability to other LUGs, so they could show
the video for their members.

This would BENEFIT 3 categories of people/entities (at least):
1) The GNU/Linux community - Learn from an event they couldn't attend,
2) SVLUG - Maintain a reputation as a (technology) leading LUG,
3) The SVLUG Speakers - Communicate with many more people.

It would also provide the project's participants opportunities to become
familiar with the various technologies & equipment, in an achieveable
stepped progression.

7) I spoke with various people to gauge their interest in assisting with
these tasks.  Most were enthusiastic.  I wound up working extensively
with Daniel G to get aspects of these technologies into useable tools.

8) When it looked likely to be achieveable, I notified the relevant
SVLUG volunteers, and:
On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 06:53:00 -0800, "Paul Reiber" <reiber at gmail.com>
said:
> I'm more than OK with this - I think it's a great idea.
> 
> Hereon - I recommend you quit worrying about spit-shining/finishing
> the email, and share what you've got with the volunteers list.

Whew! 5 days until the SVLUG meeting!

Three big technology issues were:
1) Video camera recording of the speaker,
2) Getting the VGA slides/demo visuals mixed in,
3) Digitizing the mix.

I spent about 20-30 hours managing this project.
I suspect Daniel G spent maybe from that to twice that time creating the
mix/digitization system.
I spent about $150 for equipment needed. Daniel plans to purchase about
2/3 of that from me for his personal use. I'll hold the rest to use for
future SVLUG recordings.

Many people (mentioned above) worked together to connect the system
parts & get the system working & record the talk. I began recording onto
tape from the beginning of Paul's announcements. Daniel got the mixer
system working by 8:30 PM.  I spot verified the tape had been recorded. 
We packed up & headed home.  -  Whew!!!!!! :)

===========================================================
My next step is making a digitization backup of the tape.  Then Daniel &
I need to work together to make the FINAL MIXed digitization, at
multiple resolutions.

Then we've got to figure out where to SERVE it from, & up load the
video(s).

Then I'll have to figure out HOW TO NOTIFY the worlds LUGs, then notify
them.  -  Whew!!!!! :)

The world community then has the opportunity to WATCH the recording.  If
anyone notifies me they've watched it, I'll summarize the numbers of
viewers, & notify SVLUG & the speaker.

Then, we do it all again (!) (plus some more progress steps forward!)
for next month's meeting. :)

===========================================================
I may have some further posts to this list, asking for advice on how to
notify the world - I'd like TO SEND AN EMAIL TO EVERY LUG LIST.

That way everyone can be aware of the availability of the recording -
because noone knows who might decide to be the local volunteer to bring
it to each LUG - therefore it's insufficient to merely notify each LUG's
current volunteers - the word needs to get to _EVERYONE_, so perhaps
someone who isn't a volunteer yet, but would like to take on the
responsibility of bringing this video to their lug members, will find
out about the opportunity.

[So, GLUE = Groups of Linux Users Everywhere won't work (Thanks for the
suggestion, Heather).]

And, I want to get those emails out without having to spend 10 minutes
on each of the 
"2007-02-07:    There are 649 groups listed originating from 90
countries."
http://lugww.counter.li.org/
finding their mailing list address, registering, responding to signup
verification, & sending an announcement, etc.

Any suggestions (please)?

[Notes:
GLUE = Groups of Linux Users Everywhere is dead?
http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2005-June/001267.html
http://www.linux.org/groups/    is dead? (page is blank)]

Slashdot???

===========================================================
Thank you for reading this far! :)

Now, I've got to get onto making that backup of the tape recording.

Cheers!
-- 
  Hereon
  hereon1 at fastmail.us

-- 
http://www.fastmail.fm - Access your email from home and the web