Notes from Janet Streaming the Arts and Humanities Workshop
Tim O'Riordan on Tuesday 25 September 2012 Tweet this!
No Latency - Dominic John (piano) at the Royal College of Music, London playing live with Ryan Penman (clarinet) at Edinburgh Napier University via LOLA, 19 September 2012.
Janet, the UK’s research and education network, showcased a group of exciting platforms and education that are set to revolutionise distance learning in the Arts and Humanities.
At a recent workshop held at the Royal College of Music, Janet demonstrated technologies that enable high quality, synchronous, live music coaching, rehearsal and performance that also has potential for teaching in Drama and Medicine.
Music teaching demands the ability to hear and assess sound with a high degree of accuracy. Problems with system delays (latency), echo, and poor quality sound caused by the need to encode and decode video and audio, network instability, and the incorrect physical placement of microphones and speakers prevent musicians from playing together online. But a set of new technologies combined with Janet's dedicated high speed network are now providing new, high quality, methods for delivering teaching and learning which enable improved communication, new opportunities for cooperation between learners, and the maintainance of high expectations for learners, both off and on campus.
The workshop included demonstrations of open source and free (for education) technologies:
- The Digital Video Transport System (DVTS) - “a simple method of transmitting high-quality video and audio over the Internet”.
- EchoDamp - Audio mixing and echo control software. [Speaker Brian K Shepard's presentation slides]
- LOLA - “a low latency, audio and videoconferencing technology that enables real-time, simultaneous, live musical performances across long distances” - demonstrated by performers playing together (pianist in London, clarinetist in Edinburgh) over a 1Gb network via Janet. [Speaker Claudio Allocchio's presentation slides]
- Polycom (paid for service) demonstrated their 'Live Music Mode' with a live coaching session between a viola player in London and a teacher at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
- Conference XP - an open-source videoconferencing platform that enabled us to evesdrop on a rehearsal at the New World Symphony, Miami, Florida.
- And from the London Symphony Orchestra demonstrated their Google+ Hangout, Live Performance Facebook app. [Speaker Chris Roger's presentation slides]
The workshop was recorded and presentations will soon be available to view online.
The team at Janet are keen to hear about projects in education that have the potential to exploit their high-speed network. To be kept up to date with the latest projects, ideas and news following the event, you can join the Arts and Humanities community group at https://community.ja.net/groups/arts-and-humanities.
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