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Jul 1, 2006 12:01 PM

Map Your Mind
Business Intelligence: Until Storage Gets Active, Your Digital Workflow Stays Linear By Geoff Stedman
Inbox

Map Your Mind

By Dan Ochiva

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a production when you suddenly realized that the amount of information — hours of footage, audio, stills, effects — threaten to overwhelm you?

If so, you're a prime candidate for organizational tools. Some organizational tools are as simple as a piece of paper or a spreadsheet program, while others employ unique structures that pull it all together with techniques that move far beyond the typical outline method.

Take FileMaker Pro, for example. This relational-database program — now in version 8 — garners kudos for its ease of use. Digital Content Producer senior contributing editor and filmmaker D. W. Leitner relied on an earlier version of the program when faced with sorting through some 6 million feet of NASA footage for the documentary For All Mankind, which covered the space program from President Kennedy's famous promise to the moon landing later that decade.

Leitner, who co-produced the film, had to build an optical printer in the vast NASA storage room in order to pull the 600 some shots needed. “I tracked edge numbers, source, what gauge it was in, and even the timing numbers for the optical printing with the program. FileMaker was heaven sent — I couldn't have done it otherwise.”

For some of us, a method to organize our thoughts prior to production can help make the difference between a manila folder stuffed with notes and a thorough, printed-out treatment. That's where mind-mapping techniques excel. (British psychologist Tony Buzan trademarked the term “Mind Mapping,” but many still use the terms “mind map” or “mind-map” in lowercase. Buzan helped to popularize the term in The Mind Map Book.)

What is a “mind map”? Think of it as a nonlinear outline, working similarly to a NLE session — cutting, pasting, and inserting video, audio, and effects by jumping back and forth exactly as you want to. Creating a mind map replicates that free-form, do-it-when-you-think-of-it approach.

Making a mind map diagram can be simple — all you need to start is a big sheet of paper and a pencil. Some prefer to add colors to help highlight entries, calling attention to specific items. One of my editors called it “webbing” when she saw my notes; they radiated out from a central core concept, much like the classic spider web. Along each radial line, single thoughts string out in a series of nodes — simple boxes or circles with the written info, snapshots, or color swatches inside.

For a more polished look, consider a free or commercial program. Digital Content Producer contributing writer and videographer Jan Ozer is a fan of Mindjet's MindManager.

“I'm a freelance journalist and work alone 99 percent of the time,” Ozer says. “One of my most difficult challenges is brainstorming, which usually works best with two or more participants.

“MindManager helps you get around this by providing an excellent interface for capturing your streaming thoughts. You start with a central idea, then create branches of related ideas, then more sub-branches, all visually related around the central topic. You can jump from branch to branch, create new branches as new ideas strike, or drag thoughts from branch to branch.

“I've also found the ability to attach a note to all topics invaluable. When researching a subject, I copy and paste data from the Internet into the notes. Then, when I'm done, MindManager can export the entire outline, including notes, into Word, where I can just start writing, with all notes right where I need them.”

Whether you choose to use an off-the-shelf database, mind-mapping program, or just a big sheet of paper and pencil, organizing, you'll find, can be fun — and profitable

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Business Intelligence: Until Storage Gets Active, Your Digital Workflow Stays Linear

By Geoff Stedman

Given the increase in the use of nonlinear applications in the production workflow, the proliferation of storage devices for digital media is no surprise. After all, all digital media used in video production requires some form of local or shared storage to house it. Unfortunately, this proliferation has often led to the fragmentation of a facility's infrastructure into “digital islands,” with independent pools of storage that don't interface well with each other.

Thus, even though nonlinear systems are everywhere, the workflow across a facility has typically remained linear. Material has to pass between applications (and their associated storage devices or systems) either as files or via realtime play/record. And because many storage systems are simply generic file servers, we end up with the square-peg-for-a-round-hole problem.

The local-storage scenario also breeds management headaches associated with trying to manage assets while keeping a plethora of systems running. Multiple copies of a file, each with different metadata, may exist across a number of storage locations, making it difficult to retrieve the needed version. Asset management applications exist within individual departments, but these systems often are not linked and do not share the information needed to streamline the workflow.

Under pressure to improve efficiency and productivity, facilities are taking a fresh look at workflow and are asking questions such as:

• Can I create a common pool of shared storage instead of multiple digital islands?
• Can I implement a common asset management layer for a consistent view of my assets that is accessible by every application?
• Can I implement a storage infrastructure that integrates my workflow instead of separating it?
• Can a storage system deliver the performance I need and ease my management burden at the same time?

The answer to all of these questions is yes. Today's advanced storage technologies, integrated via standard network connectivity, make it possible to construct an infrastructure that allows applications to share assets, work directly on content within the storage system, and manage all content metadata from a single application.

The key to conceiving such an integrated infrastructure is to think of storage needs differently. No longer is storage simply a passive device for storing bytes and files. An integrated workflow requires a storage system that understands digital media workflow and can play an active role in it. More than a “bit bucket,” an active storage system understands how media files are structured, knows how to deliver those files intelligently to applications — even while those files may still be growing and changing — and interacts at an API level with a wide variety of management and control applications to ensure consistent asset and workflow management.

Today, active storage systems may also have the capacity to perform media-processing functions, running applications such as transcoding, wrapper conversion, and technical QC that are necessary to ensure that content in one format can be easily made available in other formats. Active storage also provides secure, well-managed access to content and allows facilities to set access controls to match desired levels of security. From a storage management perspective, an active storage system can monitor its own health and not only detect data integrity issues but automatically repair itself without the intervention of an administrator.

As the drive toward file-based workflows continues, we need more than just generic file storage. Workflow integration, enabled by intelligent and active storage systems, will be key to gaining the efficiencies promised by the digital transition. The good news is that with new active, networked storage systems coming to the market, we are finally getting holes that match our digital, nonlinear pegs.

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Inbox

I enjoyed reading “Neighborhood TV” (April 2006). It was a good primer for those not already aware of the PEG channels. Unfortunately, the federally mandated Leased Commercial Access channel options for non-PEG producers (read: commercially supported producers) was left out. Perhaps you can highlight how to use this opportunity and help make this provision of federal law flower as its designers intended.

Some background: This little-known (and therefore little-used) requirement was intended to allow producers to buy time at a relatively low cost on cable channels and air programs that had commercial support, a type of programming not allowed on PEG channels.

U.S. Code 47 USC 532 states: “The purpose of this section is to promote competition in the delivery of diverse sources of video programming and to assure that the widest possible diversity of information sources are made available to the public from cable systems in a manner consistent with growth and development of cable systems.”

Leased commercial access was FCC-required in the early 1970s. Cable companies fought it, but courts upheld the FCC and Congress approval. Then cable companies managed to make it more complicated in the 1992 Cable Act after the FCC established relatively simple pricing formulas in the 1984 Cable Act.

It's interesting that cable systems with 36 to 55 activated channels (see 47 USC 532) have to reserve 10 percent of their activated capacity for leased commercial access, and systems with more than 55 activated channels have to reserve 15 percent of their activated capacity. So, with digital systems now going into the hundreds of channels, there's a potential for 15 or more channels available for independent operators to use, either through individual units of channel time as short as one half hour or as whole channels, 24/7. The law also allows a leasing producer to resell time on the channels to others.

A lot has changed since the analog days of 1984. With the availability of low-cost, high-quality digital cameras, computer-based editing, and servers for playout, this channel capacity could be used to provide communities and regions with different programming than what is now found on most cable systems.

Leased commercial access has been profitable for a number of leased access channel operators, but one has to dig to find them. You'll find a lot of producers who have had trouble getting cable companies to provide access without a lot of hassle. Cable systems have never aggressively promoted the use of this federally required access or routinely made community members aware of its existence. My experience tells me that even local system managers and salespeople don't know what you're talking about when you say “leased commercial access.”

When a producer requests price, terms, and conditions from a cable system, it might be helpful to use the phrase, “Request for leased commercial access prices, terms, and conditions,” so they don't quote rates for something else. To ensure they know what you want, enclose the applicable sections of the U.S. Code. To avoid getting off on the wrong foot, one might say, “In case you've never heard of LCA, I've enclosed the applicable portions of the 47 U.S. Code and Code of Federal Regulations to help you respond.”

To keep it friendly, let them know how your programming will enhance the value of their system to local subscribers, and that you'll promote your programming as “available only on xx day, on cable channel xx” in your outside ads. Then ask how they can help you promote your channel on the system. They have 15 business days (three weeks, roughly) to respond to your request. If you want to put programming on several area systems, send a copy of the request to each office. It's a good idea to have your program delivery method worked out and detailed in the request.

Watch out for tape playback charges that could blow your budget sky high. Instead, ask about renting rack space for your own playback equipment and access to it, or ask about other methods of delivering the program(s) to their head end(s) or access points. Realtime from your facility could be by microwave, fiber, copper, or over a really high-speed Internet or IP connection. Less than realtime could be via an IP or DSL connection. There are a variety of server-based playback solutions that can work for a part-time or full-time channel programmer.

Many have roots in cable ad insertion applications, with the programs being loaded onto the hard drive from a DVD or an Ethernet port fed from a dedicated line. MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files are used for the program content, and playlists automatically call up the files for playback. Used gear can lessen the initial cost of playback. The cable company may have some delivery and playback ideas that could work, but keep your bottomline in mind when considering the options.

Ted Langdell
Owner/Chief Storyteller
Ted Langdell Creative Broadcast Services
Marysville, Calif.

Useful websites for scripting your request for leased commercial access prices, terms, and conditions:
caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/ts_search.pl?title=47&sec=532

The applicable rules adopted by the FCC can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations at:
ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=3100d6c36aa8d24cb14d0de0e94df597&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title47/47cfr76_main_02.tpl

Refer to and enclose these applicable sections of the code when writing your request:

• 76.970 commercial leased access rates
• 76.971 commercial leased access terms and conditions
• 76.975 commercial leased access dispute resolution
• 76.977 minority and educational programming used in lieu of designated commercial leased access capacity.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.