Performing Arts Advisory

[Ann Doyle <>]

Hello all   --  On April 25, a group of us had the opportunity to meet in person at the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting in Arlington. Here is my attempt to capture what was discussed at that meeting and some of the proposed next steps.  

In attendance:
Rick Albertson, Star Valley Solutions
Darrell Bailey, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis
Rich Carlson, Internet2
Mark George, Cleveland Institute of Music (via video conference)
Andrew Hollis, New World Symphony
Tom Knab, Case Western Reserve University
Christianne Orto, Manhattan School of Music
Fred Rees, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis
Brian Shepard, University of Southern California
Helen Smith, Eastman School of Music
Tom Snook, New World Symphony

Rich Carlson presented the latest updates on network trouble shooting tools that have been created to help our community of users.   Andrew Hollis commented that the combination of iperf, Internet2 detective and NDT server is invaluable when he works with new sites.  Brian Shepard asked about the usefulness of installing an NDT server on campus in addition to the existing regional servers.   Rich indicated that this can be very useful -- test locally first, then across the country.   For more information, see:  http://e2epi.internet2.edu/

Rick Albertson presented and hosted a discussion on integration of high-end video conferencing technologies.   He discussed architectures for interoperability of MPEG2 and DVTS.   A discussion of pros and cons included hosting a "translation server" in a central location, but also that conversion capabilities will introduce latency.   These discussions and efforts to be continued.

Tom Knab gave an update on the Campus Expectations Task Force and the final white paper produced.   In addition to his perspective from Case Western, he actively represented the views of Affiliate Members on this committee.   The end result was the task force including many of the successes of this community in its overall goals for campus participation.   The white paper can be viewed at:   http://www.internet2.edu/files/CETF-FinalReport.pdf

Best Practices --  Mark George proposed creating a set of best practices for producing education and performance events over Internet2.   After discussion, the group agreed that a self-study will be conducted among USC, CIM, MSM, NWS and Eastman ito determine best practices.  A document will be produced from that study, and a virtual training will be offered to interested campuses.   The training could be modeled after the Internet2 Commons where campuses completing the training are added to a list of trained participants making first-time collaborations easier and more likely to succeed.   This list could be hosted on arts.internet2.edu.   Fred Rees proposed eventually extending the scope to include researchers and musicologists' needs.   Christianne Orto suggested that arts.internet2.edu become more active as a resource to the community including calendaring, home for best practices etc.   Ann Doyle agreed to follow up on this.  Ann also agreed to coordinate the self-study and best-practices effort.  

Index of Cultural Institutions --  Ann Doyle discussed Louis Fox's efforts in the K20 arena to poll and create a database of museums connected through SEGPs.   Louis has offered to work with Ann to expand this database to include other cultural institutions like theaters, music schools etc.   The group discussed this and would like to know the following information:   1) what music schools are on Internet2 networks, 2) what is their interest and 3) what is their technical capability.  

Ann Doyle
Arts & Humanities Initiatives
Internet2
(734) 352-7011