Report Ad Hoc Committee on Media Resources

Report to the BoG at ITA 2014, San Diego

The Ad Hoc Committee on Media Resources has started investigating options to develop a long-term and sustainable approach to handle ITSoc's numerous media resources.

 

Following Gerhard Kramer's suggestion, the committee has initiated discussion with Terence Martinez and Mark David at IEEE.tv . IEEE.tv is an IEEE-wide effort that was launched in 2007 and that aims at making media resources (essentially videos) available to the general public and IEEE members. In particular, IEEE Societies have the option of creating individual channels (similar to YouTube channels)  to stream their own media resources. Presently, 27 societies have created channels, although most channels offer a very limited number of videos.

 

What can IEEE.tv offer ITSoc?

  • IEEE.tv can create a channel and host videos for us at no cost .
  • The default video player can be customized to fit ITSoc's website theme for USD 500. 
  • Channels can be accessed from mobile devices, using free applications available for iPhone or Android devices
 
Is IEEE.tv compatible with ITSoc's current web initiatives?
The people at IEEE.tv seemed happy with our web initiatives, and mentioned that our efforts were completely compatible. In particular, it will be possible to embed videos hosted on IEEE.tv into www.itsoc.org. Using IEEE.tv could also be a efficient way of ensuring long-term and sustainable archiving of video resources.

Copyrights of resources on IEEE.tv
  • Most videos on IEEE.tv are copyright IEEE, and IEEE has secured the authorization to use the resource with permission from the copyright holder in some cases. As long as the material was shot/made for the Society and for IEEE purposes, IEEE mentioned that there should not be any issues, and the concern should be regarding material that came from elsewhere.
  • IEEE already has a procedure in place (and forms) to upload videos

Recommendation
Given the simplicity of setting up a channel on IEEE.tv, the Ad Hoc Committee suggests that ITSoc set ups a channel and goes through the process of uploading a few videos. If successful, ITSoc could then proceed to organize and upload its resources on iEEE.tv more systematically.