The market for streaming


The flurry of entrants to the streaming media market over the past few years was driven primarily by the vision of piping sports and entertainment to the homes of millions of Internet users. Leaving aside the purveyors of porn, who are never slow to spot an opportunity and exploit it, consumers haven’t really taken to streamed media in a big way. Kevin Smith is Technical Strategist, EMEA for streaming media enabler, Volera: “People do want streaming media, but not the size of a postage stamp. They want full screen, full motion video and that’s simply not possible with the average video connection. You can have DVD quality, with surround sound, but you’ll need a 768K stream, which is fine as long as you have 1000Mbps ADSL.”

Small video window sizes may not work for watching films, but for the loyal football fan, a glimpse of the action is great, whatever the size. Catharine Trustram Eve is Marketing Director for Dublin-based Servecast: “We provide streams for Liverpool, Celtic and many other clubs. These teams have fantastic support all over the world and many supporters are simply unable to see the games on TV.”

Case study: Microsoft Developer Network

start example

If you were looking for obvious examples of how streaming media could enhance e-learning, you probably wouldn’t look first at the training of programmers. But Microsoft in Switzerland has done just that, using streaming media to communicate over the Internet with members of their Microsoft Developer Network. So far, six 15-minute programmes have been made available, each providing an overview of a particular coding problem. Streaming solutions provider Unit.net hosts the programmes and developed the unique format, which includes a talking head, an index that allows viewers to random-access the part of the presentation that they are most interested in, and the piece of code to which the presenter is referring.

Sascha Corti is a Systems Engineer at Microsoft: “The project has been successful at reaching our German language speaking members of the Network. We’ve already produced another set of six programmes and are planning a third series. The programmes were released at two week intervals and backed up by marketing on the web site and by email. Although we get the most hits when the marketing goes out, all the programmes are available in the archive to view at any time. We sat down first to scheme out a list of topics that we thought would most interest our members – security, working with mobile devices, .NET and so on. We then scripted each programme in full. Presenting to the camera did take some getting used to, but we’re now completely confident about the process.”

So how has the project gone? Corti: “The interface includes a feedback button, so we’ve been able to gauge reactions to date. Comments have been positive, although one viewer did spot a bug in the code.” Proof, perhaps, that streaming media is capable of grabbing the learner’s attention.

end example

By comparison, the corporate market may seem a little boring, but for many providers, it is seen as the future for media streaming. Andrew Robinson is UK Managing Director for Unit.net: “The pay-per-view model for streaming entertainment media was ahead of its time, as the bandwidth for consumers is simply not there. We believe that the main potential is for business communications. The number one application for us is investor relations. Streaming allows a public company to communicate announcements and pictures from its annual general meetings directly to all shareholders. Another growth area is customer communications. As an example, UBS Warburg makes available a daily economic briefing, in sound only, for all of its clients and this has been exceptionally well received.”

Of course, streaming media also has tremendous potential for training. Trustram Eve: “The training market can be a bit slow in its take up of new technology at times, but the opportunities are there. Our software allows lectures and presentations to be streamed live, with facilities for polling the audience, testing and chat. If a learner misses the live event, all is not lost as they can view the class later on demand.”

Robinson: “The more time-sensitive the subject matter, the more effective streaming is, which is why, at the moment, the City is the biggest user. Another example is where products change rapidly, as in high-tech industries. With shorter product cycles, the authoring of training materials has to move nearer to the source of expertise and the tools have to be exceptionally user-friendly.”

And tools are coming available. Trustram Eve: “Our Enterprise Media Studio allows trainers to capture sound or video footage and synch this up with slides. All they have to do then is upload this data to one our streaming centres. It’s even possible to do this work in the new XP version of PowerPoint, using the broadcast facility.”

Just how big an impact can streaming media have on training? Robinson: “Streaming media can include much more than video – the mix can include audio, slides, Flash animations, diagrams, even PDF files. And with add-ons such as Q and As, threaded discussions, chats and feedback forms, the process can be made highly interactive. Of course, streaming is unlikely to meet all training needs and will usually form part of a blended solution, but assuming SCORM-compliance, trainers will find no difficulty in combining streaming media objects with other training media and events.”




E-Learning's Greatest Hits
E-learnings Greatest Hits
ISBN: 0954590406
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 198

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