Developers

Before we started implementing this project at any location, we asked each location for a network diagram. The partners we are working with in the beta phase provided those in a number of formats and to different degrees of detail. Our goal wasn't to dictate that every network look the same in order to use the Open Media System. These diagrams were just to give us a rough idea of what each location had in place. We wanted to know if the web server could communicate with playback servers and digital archive. What type of connections were in place to move large files form server to server.

Before I forget to post this, these are the instructions I've been following to setup FFmpeg on Ubuntu:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=786095

These instructions work off the latest SVN copy of ffmpeg, which is a necessity if you want to be able to get any support (first response to any ffmpeg troubleshooting question will be "are you using the latest copy from SVN?")

There are definitely better ways to compile it, but this is a great start -- so anyone with the expertise feel free to suggest improvements.

We didn't get a stream running while I was in Urbana, but this is something UPTV wants to do.. and somethign we think every PEG stations should be doing. I know the moving to streaming is a touchy issue in the PEG community, but it is now possible to get watchable video into viewers homes without ripping up the streets.

I'm pretty happy with the Wowza server we've been using for streaming at Denver Open Media. I think this configuration is both cost effect and has a good balance in the quality to bandwidth and technology required by users.

As anyone who's created a project that utilizes Drupal's CVS knows, the process takes some effort... but once the project is created, the benefits of the issues queue, tacking updates, reviewing patches, etc outweigh the effort of getting the project started.

MERCI can now be downloaded from http://drupal.org/project/merci

I setup Morbus's bot module to run in the #drupal-openmedia group as user omnicon, so we won't lose the fairly frequent conversations that are now happening in there. The log can be viewed at anytime by going to: http://om.civicpixel.com/bot/log/drupal-openmedia (you will need to create an account on the site first). For instructions on other features of the bot, please see the "IRC Bots" section near the end of the page at: http://drupal.org/irc.

Bdragon has committed release candidates of both Location and GMap. These are both huge improvements over the previous releases. Since geotagging is part of the improved metadata structure we are developing, it would be helpful if everyone involved could invest some time testing and posting bugs to the issue queues for these releases.

Denver Open Media is hosting the Western Regional Alliance for Community Media Conference, Oct 23-25, 2008 in Denver, CO. This is a great opportunity for the Open Media community to come see the progress made so-far, and to meet with our team and developers to help us move forward. We will be showcasing the Drupal Modules being developed to empower communities through Public Access TV stations and Community Technology Centers. The conference will be highlighting the new media technologies and efforts that allow access centers to operate on a streamlined, user-driven model.