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Date: Friday, January 4, 2013
Time: 12:00pm Mountain Time
Topic: Getting Digital Media into Meetinghouses
The Church produces an abundant amount of video content. For example, the new Youth curriculum, Come, Follow Me, has numerous videos as resource options for lessons; the Leadership Training Library, the Mormon Channel, the Video, Audio, and Images section of LDS.org, and other sites all have abundant video resources as well.
However, getting video into meetinghouses poses a challenge. Many meetinghouses have wireless Internet, but the bandwidth is too low to support streams from multiple users, especially during peak hours. Teachers who rely on the Internet to stream videos during lessons will find that the videos pause, buffer, and stop — leading to a poor classroom experience.
In this LDSTech broadcast, John Edwards, portfolio director for the Church’s Emerging Technology group, will discuss ways to take media into meetinghouses through the many mobile devices that members already have.
For example, you can already download some video content through the Gospel Library iOS and Android apps. As the Youth videos are made available, you will see more opportunities to download videos with the apps. Both apps are moving forward with more robust video capabilities.
Downloading videos is just one step in the process. Displaying videos from mobile devices also poses challenges, whether you're showing videos directly from your device (with students huddled around), or connecting to a meetinghouse TV through HDMI or composite adapters.
We invite you to join us in this discussion and brainstorm about the best ways to bring video into the meetinghouse through mobile devices.
How to Attend the Broadcast
To attend the LDSTech broadcast, click the Watch Now link at the time of the broadcast. If you live or work near Riverton, Utah, you can also come to the Riverton Office Building (ground floor, Zion room) to watch the broadcast in person.
Each broadcast is recorded, so if you miss one, you can re-watch the recording at any time. In fact, if you arrive late to the broadcast, you can rewind the broadcast and play it from the beginning. See the Broadcast Archive to view previous broadcasts.
Asking Questions
Remote viewers can ask questions through Twitter during the broadcast. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, you can sign up for one at Twitter.com. When you ask a question, include the hashtag #ldstech in your tweet. For more information, see Twitter and LDSTech.
Note that although we welcome all topics and questions about digital media in meetinghouses, the broadcast will specifically focus on mobile solutions to getting media into meetinghouses. |
Comments
I disagree with allowing youtube. We should be able to access what we need through LDS.org (or from the sister sites) and the applications we have.
Animated Scripture Stories
Bible Videos
CES Devotionals
Children Messages
Homefronts (Mormon Commercials through the years)
I Am a Mormon
Leadership Training Library
Mormon Messages
Seminary
World Wide Leadership Training
Youth Messages
All will provide value along the way, once the Come Follow Me excitement wears off leaders, teachers, primary workers are going to be wondering why they can't use much of the above as well.
Wards and Stakes, consider wisely your decisions, you may be spending money again due to the limited scope of the Come Follow Me approach.
Beyond the DVD, though, I do think the WD TV media player is the best solution, simply because it's very easy to put videos on a USB drive and bring it to the chapel.
Obviously this is a hot issue that has a lot of people spinning their wheels trying to find a solution.
Also, please keep in mind that I am only the technical writer here. I did not develop any of the videos or curriculum or policies.
After our stake updated building wireless to.much better coverage and signal it was very interesting to learn that several teachers of youth couldn't access the web based content they were so anxious to start using. Then to learn that our assigned 50 connections had probably been quickly taken by members simply entering the building with smart phones, the dilemma became curiouser and curiouser. This reminds me of stories about almost immediate overload of the "new" web based family history resources a couple years? ago. Under-planning can be more devastating than over-planning, simply because more users will become painfully aware essentially instantaneously .
Moral of the story ? -- Let's count on members to jump into technology advances with both feet and both arms, and just hope that very few start flailing around.
wdc.com/.../...
So you can send your content out either through the HDMI port (HDMI cable is not included in the box), or through the composite A/V port, using the included cable.
That is a very big generalization - I guess you live in a very wealthy area if "most" have mobile devices and iPads. I find it interesting that we can't ask our members to bring food or provide money for an activity, but to be Sunday School teachers they better have an $800 iPad or a laptop to bring to church.
We certainly do not want to create the perception that members have to own iPads or laptops in order to be Sunday School teachers. For the price of a USB flash drive (usually less than $15 USD) and the ~$100 USD Western Digital WD TV Live media player (which stakes may choose to purchase - teachers wouldn't be expected to buy), you have a solution that can work on any TV without a big expense involved.
No, that's not the only solution - we are looking at other ways to deliver content to the meetinghouses, but it is one that works very easily today for a small cost.
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