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The IATEFL Computer SIG
Virtual Pre-Conference Event
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
Discussion
board
Links
Bios
Paul Brett
Pete MacKichan
Gary Motteram
Lesley Shield
Diane Slaouti
Geoff Taylor
Dede Teeler
truna aka j. turner
Eric Baber
Tutor Groups
Paul's Group
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1c: Distributing material
By e-mail
Once you have recorded a clip, you'll obviously want
to get it to other people. The most straightforward way of doing this is by sending it as
an e-mail attachment to the people you want it to be heard by.
Another way is to have it available for downloading,
or streaming if it's a Real file, from your website. This is where we pull into the fast
lane; if you don't have your own website and/or don't care, feel free to skip this next
part and go directly to Points to Consider!
Making a file available for downloading
Non-streaming sound files are quite simple to set up
for downloading. Upload the sound clip to your webspace just like you would with an image
or HTML page, and remember where you've uploaded it to. All you need to do now is create a
link to that file on one or more of your webpages, just as if it were another HTML page.
If someone now clicks on the link, they'll be prompted to download the file or open it
from its location.
You can do the same with streaming files, BUT
if you link to the recording directly, it won't stream. Instead, if a visitor clicks on
the link, they'll be prompted to save the file to disk or open it from its current
location; either way they'll need to download the whole file first before it'll start to
play, defeating the object of having a streaming file.
Streaming a file from a webserver
To allow a Real file to be streamed from a site,
you'll need an intermediary file called a meta-file. Here's a step-by-step example:
- Let's say you have free space with AOL. This means that
your website address is http://members.aol.com/myusername
.
- Record a Real file and call it, for example, hello.rm
- Upload it to your AOL space into your main folder for
now
- Now open Notepad (Start-Programs-Accessories-Notepad)
- Into that empty Notepad file, enter the absolute
location of your recording, e.g. http://members.aol.com/myusername/hello.rm
(if you uploaded the file into a sub-directory you'll need to adjust the location in the
Notepad file accordingly)
- Save this Notepad file WITH A .RAM EXTENSION.
This means that when you click on "File" and "Save As", choose
"All Files" from the "Save As Type" drop-down menu, and give the file
a name like hello.ram (I always give the .ram files the same name as the .rm files)
- In your HTML page, create a link to the .ram file that
you've just created, and upload both your HTML file and the .ram file to your webserver.
What in effect happens is this: when a visitor clicks
on the link, the browser detects that it's a .ram file, and this initiates the RealPlayer.
The RealPlayer then looks into the .ram file to find the location of the streaming (.rm)
file it's supposed to play back, and does so.
Here's a bit of advanced information about types of
streaming files:
When you created the Real file using the RealProducer,
you were asked whether you wanted to create a Single Rate or a SureStream file. Here's the
difference:
- A Single Rate file is encoded for a particular Internet
connection speed. Usually you would set this to the lowest speed, i.e. 28.8kbps. This
means that whenever someone watches this video, they will have it streamed to them at that
speed, no matter what Internet connection speed they've got - so being on a dual-ISDN
connection, for example, won't do them any good.
When encoding a file as a Single Rate one, it's a good idea to encode it at the
lowest speed available. If, for example, you encode it at ISDN speed and a viewer tries to
watch it at 33.6kbps, their Player will constantly interrupt the playback and have to
re-buffer.
The advantage of Single Rate files is that you can upload them and use them on any
webserver, as in our example above.
- A SureStream file on the other hand is encoded at
different speeds simultaneously. When a viewer watches it, the system detects their
Internet connection speed, and feeds them the best quality picture their connection can
cope with. The faster the speed the better the audio and video quality.
However, a SureStream encoded file will not run off of a normal webserver. Instead,
it needs to be on a RealServer. A webserver can be set up to be both - a webserver and a
RealServer - or you can have your Real file on a seperate RealServer from where your
website is located (just adjust the .ram file to point at where your clip is). Running a
RealServer is quite expensive, though, so you're unlikely to get RealServer space for free
- at least at the moment.
- When creating, and especially distributing, materials,
beware of copyright restrictions! It is possible to create your own
recordings with background music, or even to convert bought tapes to digital format. This
does not automatically give you the right to use them! The only material you can
distribute without any problems is your own. As soon as your clip contains material(s)
created by others, chances are you'll need to get their permission to use it.
- Audio and video files can be quite large.
If you don't have access to a website but want to distribute your clips by e-mail, make
sure you ask the recipient's permission first, and tell them how large the file is. Many
e-mail servers have a limit on the size of an attachment - Hotmail, for example, will
reject any e-mails with attachments larger than 2Mb, and the Inbox of a Hotmail user also
only has a limited amount of space. A sure way of annoying someone or making them very
worried indeed is by sending them files which take ages to download, or which will block
their inbox from receiving any other e-mails! One way around this problem is by setting up
a course with Blackboard (
http://www.blackboard.com
), which gives you free, easy-to-use webserver space - you don't need any HTML knowledge
at all, for example. This allows you to upload your sound file into that area, notify your
students that it's there, and they can then go and download it in their own time.
And that's it for Distributing Material. If you'd like
to take the short quiz on this "unit" please click here,
otherwise carry on to Teaching Tips!
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