1. How do I request new media for my course?
2. How can I request media that I have had on line in a past course?
3. Can I request that media from my personal collection be put on line?
4. How can I add my own media files to my course?
5. Can I create a podcast for my course?
6. How do my students and I access course media through Blackboard?
7. Who has access to the media in my course?
8. How do I add a link to the course media in the Blackboard course menu?
9. How do my students and I access course media if my course does not use Blackboard?
10. What are the system requirements for accessing the Media Service?
11. My course has downloadable media but I prefer not to download files one by one. Can I download all the media in a collection at once?
12. Can my students and I play all the audio in a folder with a single click?
13. I click the play button in the QuickTime player and nothing happens. Why not?
14. What is the Playlist?
15. A dialog box tells me that a script is slow or unresponsive. Should I click Continue or Stop Script?
16. What file formats does the Media Service support?
17. Is the Media Service available to University Centers and Organizations?
18. How can I get more help with the Media Service?

How do I request new media for my course?

Most audio and video assets owned by the university can be made available on line through the Georgetown Media Service. The Media Service is a collaborative project of University Information Services, Lauinger and Dahlgren Libraries, and the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship. Faculty can make requests for on-line media through one of those services, depending on where the media resides and on which school the faculty is affiliated with.

• If the CD, DVD, or tape is part of Lauinger Library's collection and held by the Gelardin New Media Center, you may request it by using the New Media Center's Media Request Form. Lauinger Library serves Main Campus faculty.
• If the CD, DVD, or tape is owned by the CNDLS Language Learning Technology Center, you may request it by filling out the LLT Center's Sharestream Media request form in ICC 226. The LLT Center serves the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics (FLL).
• If the item is owned by Dahlgren Library, you may request it by using the Dahlgren Library's Reserve Request Form. Dahlgren Library serves Georgetown Medical Center faculty.

How can I request media that I have had on line in a past course?

Media collections are created upon request for each course at the beginning of each term. You can re-use media that you have used in prior courses by submitting a request to the center that uploaded the media.

Note that even though course media appear in the course's Blackboard site, they are not considered content (they are part of the Course Tools) and are not copied along with other Blackboard course content through Blackboard's Course Copy feature. Only Media Service administrators can create new courses and reload previously used media. Therefore, faculty should make sure to request previously used media anew at the beginning of each term.

Can I request that media from my personal collection be put on line?

You may contact the same service as above (see "How do I request new media for my course?") about the possibility of and requirements for hosting personally owned media assets on the Georgetown Media Service.

• For Main Campus: Gelardin New Media Center (Lauinger Library)
• For FLL: Language Learning Technology Center (CNDLS)
• For Medical Center: Division of Instructional Technology Design and Development at FACS (Dahlgren Library)

How can I add my own media files to my course?

If you create audio or video files (for example, recordings of lectures) that you would like to make available to your students, you may request permission to manage your own course collection. This will give you the ability to upload media, to enter metadata for media, and to organize media within the course. Note that media hosting on the Media Service must comply with Georgetown University copyright policies.

To request permission to manage your course in Media Service:

• Main Campus faculty other than FLL may contact the Gelardin New Media Center.
• FLL faculty may contact the Language Learning Technology Center (ICC 226).
• Medical Center faculty may contact the Division of Instructional Technology Design and Development at the Faculty and Curriculum Support (FACS) Center (GM-6, Preclinical Science Building) of Dahlgren Library.

Can I create a podcast for my course?

The Media Service provides faculty with the ability to podcast audio and video. The podcast feature gives students enrolled in the course the ability to subscribe to downloadable content posted in the course. Any time additional media are made available by the instructor, the new media are delivered to the students so that they can be played in iTunes or in similar RSS-capable media programs.

Course podcasts may include recordings of lectures that you give during class and ancillary media that you wish to make available to your students. Podcasts can also provide an easy way to download "lessons" or "chapters" of media rather than downloading the lesson's files one by one.

For instructions on how to subscribe to a course podcast, see "My course has downloadable media but I prefer not to download files one by one. Can I download all the media in a collection at once?" below.

How do my students and I access course media through Blackboard?

• Go to the course for which you need to access course media.
• Click the Course Tools link in the course menu.
• Click Sharestream Media. Wait for the module to load.
• If applicable, click the sub-folder you need to access. Wait for the media to load.
• For streaming audio or video, click the Play button.
• For downloadable audio or video, click the Download button. The file will open in a different program, such as QuickTime, iTunes, or Windows Media Player.

Who has access to the media in my course?

Anyone enrolled in the Blackboard course site has access to the course media through Blackboard or through mediapilot.georgetown.edu. By default, any student, TA, or co-instructor enrolled by the Registrar has access. Instructors have the ability to enroll or remove students, TAs, or other instructors in Blackboard: see Managing Users. Any such changes to the enrollment in Blackboard directly impact access to course media.

How do I add a link to the course media in the Blackboard course menu?

Students can access course media in Blackboard through Course Tools: Sharestream Media. In addition, instructors may add a link to the course media in the main course menu for their students' convenience.

To add a link in the course menu:

• In the course Control Panel, select "Manage Course Menu."
• Click the button to add a "Tool Link."
• Select "ShareStream Application" from the drop-down menu.
• Enter the text of the course menu link (e. g., Media, Films, or Lectures) in the Name field and press the Submit button. The link will be added to the course menu.

How do my students and I access course media if my course does not use Blackboard?

• Log in to the Georgetown Media Service at http://mediapilot.georgetown.edu. Wait for the page to load fully. Any course that uses course media and in which you are enrolled will be listed.
• Choose the course for which you need to access media. If applicable, click the sub-folder you need to access. Wait for the media to load.
• For streaming audio or video, click the Play button.
• For downloadable audio or video, click the Download button. The file will open in a different program, such as QuickTime, iTunes, or Windows Media Player.

What are the system requirements for accessing the Media Service?

• In order to access the Georgetown Media Service through Course Tools or at mediapilot.georgetown.edu, you need a computer with a broadband Internet connection. We recommend a wired (LAN) connection on campus. Residential broadband (cable or DSL) may work; however, video streaming requires sufficient bandwidth (a minimum of 1Mbps of dedicated bandwidth). Wireless routers and shared networks may adversely affect performance.
• The following browsers are currently supported:

  On Windows XP: Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2
  On Windows Vista: Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2
  On Mac OS X: Firefox 2, Safari 3

• QuickTime 7 is required for streaming media. It can be downloaded from: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download.

My course has downloadable media but I prefer not to download files one by one. Can I download all the media in a collection at once?

Users can subscribe to collections of downloadable media, such as MP3 audio files, as podcasts. This way, the collection will be downloaded as a whole. Podcast-enabled software such as iTunes allows users to keep media from a collection together and to periodically check for new media in the collection.

To subscribe to a collection using iTunes:

• In your browser, navigate to your course media. Select the folder that contains the media you wish to download and wait until the folder's content is displayed.
• Underneath the folder content, you should see information about the collection, including Title and Collection Type. Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Macintosh) on this information and select "Open with iTunes."
• Allow iTunes to launch. Log in with your netID. The collection will be downloaded as a new podcast. You can now play the media in iTunes or on a portable player. Note that whenever copyrighted material is downloaded, the University has obtained permission to distribute these materials to you for personal course-related use only. Downloaded materials may not be distributed to others.
• In iTunes' preferences, you can set how often iTunes should check for new media and what it should do when it finds new media.

Can my students and I play all the audio in a folder with a single click?

• In collections of streaming media, you can play clips successively with a single click. Note that this does not work for downloadable media. To download a collection of media, see "My course has downloadable media but I prefer not to download files one by one. Can I download all the media in a collection at once?"
• Navigate to the collection of streaming media and click the Play All button above the list of clips.
• Audio clips will play successively until you press the pause icon in the QuickTime player above the list or until you begin playing a different clip. Note that due to a limitation of the system the title and contributor information below the QuickTime player will not be updated after the first clip.When Play All is clicked for streaming video collections, the video clips will play in succession in a separate window.
• Note that playback will not be interrupted when you navigate to other collections during Play All. To return to the collection of the currently playing asset, click the curly arrow icon to the left of the Play All icon.

I click the play button in the QuickTime player and nothing happens. Why not?

Above the list of media, there is a small QuickTime player, which indicates progress during audio playback and provides playback controls. This player is not active until you begin playing a streaming audio clip. To begin playback, click the Play button to the right of the clip title and contributor or, alternatively, double-click the title.

The QuickTime player above the media list is not active during video playback. Video clips have their own player-controller situated underneath the video.

The QuickTime player above the media list cannot be used with downloadable media, which are downloaded to your computer and played in dedicated applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, or the stand-alone QuickTime Player.

What is the Playlist?

The Playlist is a custom collection of media for a particular user. It is listed under the collections (courses) to which a user has access. Any user logged in to Blackboard or mediapilot.georgetown.edu can add media to her or his Playlist from the collections the user has access to.

To add media to your Playlist:

• Navigate to your course media. Select the folder that contains the media and wait until the folder's content is displayed.
• Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the audio or video clip that you want to add to your Playlist and choose "Add to Playlist." Click OK to confirm.
• You may repeat this for other clips in the same collection and in other collections (courses). A Playlist can contain media from different collections.

To remove media from your Playlist:

• Select your Playlist and wait until its content is displayed.
• Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the audio or video clip that you want to remove from your Playlist and choose Delete. Click OK to confirm.

A dialog box tells me that a script is slow or unresponsive. Should I click Continue or Stop Script?

The software used by the Media Service to verify permissions and to display media information may require more time than slower computers or non-optimized browsers allow by default. If a dialog prompts you to continue running a script or to stop it, click Continue so that the page can load fully and display the media to which you have access.

This is not directly related to your computer's ability to play or download media. However, video playback may also be less than optimal on older or slower systems. (See system requirements.)

What file formats does the Media Service support?

Users who upload their own media files should consult with Media Service support staff on how to encode audio and video. Following are some general guidelines.

• Streaming media must be compressed in a format compatible with QuickTime. We recommend the MP3 or AAC codecs for audio and the H.264 codec for video. Bitrates should not exceed 1 Mbps (megabit per second). In addition, the file must be hinted for streaming using QuickTime Pro or similar software. The resulting files have the .mov file extension.
• Downloadable media files may be in any format as they will be downloaded by the user and played in a stand-alone player.
• The following file formats are supported by the podcast feature: MPEG-2 Layer 3 (mp3), MPEG-4 and AAC (m4a, m4v, mp4). Note that m4p is not supported.

Is the Media Service available to University Centers and Organizations?

The Media Service is available to Georgetown University centers and organizations that produce audio and/or video content and wish to host it on line, either in streaming media format or in downloadable format.

The Media Service can make audio and video available:

• To the Georgetown Community, using a netID authentication requirement.
• To the public at large, without login requirement.

Downloadable media can be delivered as a podcast by using the Media Service's RSS subscription feature.

University centers and organizations interested in using this service may direct inquiries to Peter Farkas, Scholarly Systems Group, University Information Services, Georgetown University.

How can I get more help with the Media Service?

Faculty and students can:

• Visit the front desk of the Gelardin New Media Center on the first floor of Lauinger Library.
• Call the Gelardin New Media Center at 202-687-7410. The New Media Center has extensive daily opening hours.
• Faculty can also use the Blackboard Help Request Form. An on-line media specialist will review your request and respond within 24 hours during work days.