Browsing by Author "Cameron, Jon"

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Assessment of Scholarly Needs for the Use of Digital Time-Based Media
(2018-10-29) Schnaars, Matthew; Cameron, Jon; Cane, Deborah; Murugan, Meenasarani Linde
One of the major motivations for the Avalon Media System project has been to support the needs of humanities researchers for access to and use of time-based media from library and archival collections. One specific goal of Avalon’s Mellon Foundation grant has been to assess scholarly needs through user research at using a multi-method approach, primarily ethnographic in character. The focus of this user research was to uncover issues users have trying to use streaming media within their research projects and to look at the technology they employ and how it helps and/or hinder their research processes, leading to recommendations for improvements to both Avalon and to the broader array of audiovisual access software aimed at researcher use. This report outlines the literature review, study methodology, results, recommendations, and conclusions from this assessment of scholarly needs.
Avalon's Role in the Digital Collections Ecosystem
(Indiana University Digital Collections Services, 2016-11-02) Cameron, Jon
As the need to manage and provide access to collections of digital content grows, the ecosystem of software solutions designed to meet these needs has greatly expanded. Into this pool of software comes Avalon, but what exactly does it do, and do differently, from applications like Sufia or Islandora? Developed in partnership with Northwestern University, the Avalon Media System is an open source system for managing and providing access to large collections of digital audio and video. Used for library services such as Media Collections Online and projects such as IU’s Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative, Avalon is an application that provides a robust set of features related to media access and streaming. Come learn how Avalon’s focus on web-based access to audio and video materials is developed to meet the needs of both consumers and stewards of digital collections, as well as the unique role it plays in the world of digital repository software.
Integrating digital audio and print in Orson Welles on the Air
(Indiana University Digital Collections Services, 2018-01-24) Cowan, William; Dowell, Erika; Cameron, Jon
Indiana University's Lilly Library acquired a large collection of the papers of Orson Welles in the late 1970s, and with it nearly six hundred recordings of his iconic series First Person Singular, Mercury Theatre on the Air, and Campbell Playhouse, as well as more obscure gems, mostly originals cut directly from the broadcasts as they aired. And yet the collection guide listed only "tapes," reformatted from the unmentioned originals. The presentation will discuss how the discs were 'rediscovered,' the problem of multiple formats in traditional archival descriptive practices, and IU's project to digitize and make publicly available the original disc recordings. The Orson Welles on the Air project has digitized the discs and associated scripts. In creating the publicly available web site, the project team used Omeka, an application that the group had a lot of experience with, but this time faced a new use case that required the integration of audio and image interfaces. Omeka has a plugin that works with the audio in Media Collections Online (Avalon Media Systems), but how to integrate the scripts? And how to handle playback of radio programs spread across multiple files/disc sides? Using standard plugins for Omeka, we were able to create a web site that would allow audio playback while simultaneously allowing the user to page through images of the script. In this presentation, we will demo the new site and show how we added the linked audio and print pages.
Investigating AV Use in Humanities Research: Results from the Avalon User Needs Assessment
(Indiana University Digital Collections Services, 2018-09-12) Cameron, Jon
Which software tools and services are common when working with time-based media in humanities research? What are common frustrations? How do researchers access, annotate, and search across digital AV collections? While researcher use of physical and textual media has been a frequent subject of study, few investigations have been made on humanities researchers who do significant work with audiovisual materials. Through interviews, observations, and diaries of research activities, the Avalon User Needs Assessment study aimed to learn more about these researchers and their practices. In this presentation, observations and results from the study will be discussed: information on how researchers access and reference materials, common media formats used, frequent pitfalls and challenges, and analysis of software they find essential to their day to day activities. Discussion will include common needs and desired features, and how software platforms such as Avalon Media System can be improved to meet the unique needs of research users.
Taking the Bicentennial Oral History Project Online
(Indiana University Digital Collections Services, 2019-11-06) Cameron, Jon
One of the signature projects for Indiana University’s Bicentennial, the Bicentennial Oral History Project has produced a rich and extensive collection of oral history recordings with faculty, staff, and alumni. This presentation will describe the process of publishing this collection on the web with synchronized transcripts, keyword search, and streaming audio. Supporting software and services used will be detailed, including the Aviary oral history platform, the IU Libraries’ Media Collections Online, and custom scripts to process metadata and transcript information. Details about the information pipeline used to publish this collection on the web will also be discussed, as well as many of the technical considerations made along the way.
Vietnam War Stories from All Sides: Moving to Media Collections Online
(Indiana University Digital Collections Services, 2021-02-24) Osgood, Ron; Cameron, Jon
The Vietnam War: Stories from All Sides began as an oral history project telling stories from American & Vietnamese veterans, refugees and others impacted by the war. Ron Osgood initiated the project through an Institute for Digital Arts & Humanities (IDAH) Fellowship and a New Frontiers Grant. Over the past 10 years, more than 150 oral history interviews have been recorded, a prototype website for educational use created and a documentary film produced. Currently, Osgood is working with Jon Cameron to upload the 150 oral history interviews to the IU Libraries’ Media Collections Online service. In addition to providing long-term preservation for the media and an institutionally owned platform for hosting, website embeds are also being migrated from YouTube to Media Collections Online.