The dust of beta test implementations has finally settled. Two weeks ago several members of the Deproduction staff were in Portland for the last beta implementation and some other exciting events.
Portland Community Media Beta Test Implementation
Overall, the Portland implementation of the Open Media tool set went well. They are well on the way to having a complete installation of the tool set up and running take give producers more control. Daniel Sasser did an excellent job get things configured before our on site visit. There were many lessons learned a
A few things we realized while at PCM were the need for a more defined workflow and improved user experience. We hope to identify more specific issues and create relevant solutions as part of the next phase of the projects.
There were some exciting development while in Portland.
FileField Local Modification
Portland Community Media uses a Princeton branded RAID for storing all their files. That RAID automatically transcodes video to a broadcast quality MPEG2 which meant their was no need for Media Mover to create an Archival MPEG2. We tried skipping this step before in Austin but came across a lot of errors. Now the process works very cleanly. Basically, Media Mover creates the FLV and screen capture directly from the Archival MPEG2.
Princeton Patch
A patch was created and applied to both Portland and Denver to expose the category information for shows that exist on the server.
Automating the Digital Archive Process
Using the patch that Princeton provided, some work was done to help automate the process of getting files into Drupal. Drupal is gathering metadata from the DVD import process and Princeton then combining that source data to create a show node. Combining the metadata from the DVD import process and from Princeton, using the Prepopulate module.
DVD Import Process Authenticates to Drupal
The automated DVD import process that was created by Daniel Sasser now authenticates to Drupal. This is the first step in allowing users to submit content from and external source add still have it managed by Drupal.
Masquerade
Kevin posted about using MERCI as staff run solution just before leaving for Portland. The Masquerade module solves that problem with no added development and
Open Media Camp
A representative from each of the six stations came to Portland to meet and discuss their needs and priorities moving forward.
Sadly, there was no group photo of the camp...
Alliance for Community Media
The Open Media Project had a strong presence at the ACM National conference. There were several sessions that the. As announced yesterday, Deproduction/Denver Open Media will be working with the Alliance on an Application for federal stimulus money from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.