Friday, May 13, 2005
TourWest
One of the programs run where I work is called "TourWest". It is a granting program where WESTAF regrants NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) funds to presenters who bring talent in from outside their own state. This is the second year we went paperless--the panel recieved tablet PCs with the applications loaded on. We added digital samples this year to the tablets and ran all our samples digitally as well.
It went very well.
We used a variety of proprietary, freeware, and opensource hardware and software solutions to serve our needs.
1) We digitized using ReplayTV all the samples. This meant no encoding or re-encoding. We were able to sample in real time.
2) We used DVArchive to move the samples from the ReplayTV to a local hard drive which allowed us to move the samples to the tablets and manage the samples for the panel from a Powerbook.
3) We used Video Lan Client to display the samples both on the tablets and for the panel.
4) All scoring of applicants happened via the CultureGrants Online (tm) software we've been developing for a little over a year.
All in all it was a very smooth process. We were able to cut down on time during the panel process using the digital samples. It did take some up front work--but really not much more than cue-ing tapes.
It underlines my philosophy that the use of opensource combined with proprietary software/hardware elements not only makes our lives less expensive, but can improve productivity and give us better products in the Arts community.
It went very well.
We used a variety of proprietary, freeware, and opensource hardware and software solutions to serve our needs.
1) We digitized using ReplayTV all the samples. This meant no encoding or re-encoding. We were able to sample in real time.
2) We used DVArchive to move the samples from the ReplayTV to a local hard drive which allowed us to move the samples to the tablets and manage the samples for the panel from a Powerbook.
3) We used Video Lan Client to display the samples both on the tablets and for the panel.
4) All scoring of applicants happened via the CultureGrants Online (tm) software we've been developing for a little over a year.
All in all it was a very smooth process. We were able to cut down on time during the panel process using the digital samples. It did take some up front work--but really not much more than cue-ing tapes.
It underlines my philosophy that the use of opensource combined with proprietary software/hardware elements not only makes our lives less expensive, but can improve productivity and give us better products in the Arts community.
