DragonDrop

1. An Introduction DragonDrop

2. Contents • Introduction • Logging in from D1 • Raison d'être • RSS and Podcasting • DragonDrop is… • What does it do? • Upload • Available Output Format • Output Quality Settings • Capture • Playlist • Media • Tracking • Options • Search • Under the Hood • Supported Browsers • For more Information…

3. Introduction • DragonDrop is a home-grown, internally developed Drexel software project. • Faculty and staff first began using an early version of the system in 2004. • First web-based version became available in 2006. • Presented as a case study in the 2007 Campus Technology “Innovators” issue

4. Logging into the web app from D1 http://one.drexel.edu

5. Raison d'être • This project was developed as a response to the need to minimize the staff handling time necessary to encode and publish rich media destined for web delivery, and to make access to Drexel’s current archive of web-based on-demand rich media as simple as possible • It was determined that the first issue could be addressed by automating the encoding and publishing process. The second would be addressed by using modern content syndication techniques.

6. RSS and Podcasting • RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is XML data, or metadata, which describes or contains content • Podcasting describe a new web broadcasting paradigm that combines RSS with web-friendly audio (MP3) and video (MP4) files • DragonDrop makes syndication and podcasting easy by publishing media and metadata to the web, but that’s not all…

7. DragonDrop is… • The brainchild of John Morris, the director of Academic Technology Innovation at IRT • Aka Rich Media Conversion Project (RMCP) • Available on-demand only to faculty and staff • Likely to be offered to partner schools and external institutions in the near future

8. What does it do? • Capture : Author rich media content • Drop : Upload from the Web application • Encode : Convert to and from a variety of web ready formats • Publish : Push to the web as HTML and RSS • Play : Access your published content from anywhere on the web

9. Upload • Users can select rich • media or text files from • their hard drives to upload • Users enter metadata that • describes the file being • uploaded • Users select output • formats to be created • from the input source. • The output types provided • are optimized formats for • web delivery.

10. Available Output Formats • MP3 (.mp3) Popular audio format used for music and podcasts (iTunes/iPod/iPhone compatible) • MP4 (.mp4) Video format used for music and podcasts (iTunes/iPod/iPhone compatible) • 3GPP (.3gp) Video format optimized for cell phone delivery • Flash Video (.flv) Adobe video format—can be played using DragonDrop Flash player • Real Media (.rm) Real Networks streaming video format • Window Media (.wmv, .wma) Microsoft streaming video and audio formats—can be played using DragonDrop Silverlight player

11. Output Quality Settings • DragonDrop offers many • encoding possibilities to users, • in terms of outputs and quality • This chart summarizes available • output encoding formats with the • quality settings used for encoding • The main elements that contribute • to better quality to be aware of: • height and width (resolution) • data rate (bandwidth)

12. Capture • Users can author content • directly in the DragonDrop • web application. • The Capture interface hooks • into the video camera and • microphone on a user’s • computer (if available) • Videos can be recorded • and then automatically • published to a user’s • capture playlist • Capture videos are • published in Flash Video • (.flv) format

13. Playlist • Playlists are lists of links • Playlist items can be links to • items created or uploaded • into DragonDrop, or external • links (websites, images, etc) • Through the Playlist tab • users can create and • manage their Playlists, add, • edit, delete items, re-order • items, and edit metadata • Playlists are automatically • available to users as HTML • and RSS • Playlists can be password • protected by their creators

14. Media • Rich media content can be • managed in the Media tab • once it's been ingested • Users can edit: • media object metadata • preview their files • delete files • add files to playlists • Media display is sortable by • title, size or format

15. Tracking • Users can track the • progress of media they’ve • uploaded into the system • as it processes • Once jobs complete, users • receive email notification • with links to the item and • the host playlist • Items will appear in your • tracking history for 30 days

16. Options • In the Options tab users • can manage personal • preferences, including: • Output templates, • which bundle together • multiple file encoding • outputs for reuse • Surrogate Users, who • can be designated to • act on a user’s behalf in • DragonDrop • Users can also manage: • Notification Email(s) • Personal Profile • Registered Phones

17. Search • Playlist and Media tabs allow • users to search across • media and playlist content • Users can only view their • own content, and content • designated as shared by • other authors • Users can view and add • search results to playlists

18. Under the hood • DragonDrop was developed as a composite of various applications and technologies including: • ASP.NET 3. 5 (C#), Perl, Flash, XML, JavaScript (AJAX) • Windows Server 2008 • IIS 7, SQL Server 2005, Real Helix Server, Flash Media Sever • Lucene • Sorenson Squeeze, TechSmith Relay, TextAloud, PDFCamp, VideoCharge, Flash Syndrome

19. Supported Browsers • Update your browser periodically! • Complex web applications, like DragonDrop will perform better in newer browsers. • Best experience in: • Firefox 3 • Internet Explorer 7 • Safari 3

20. For more information… • For more information, visit the DragonDrop homepage at: • http://drexel.edu/irt/coursetools/toolList/dragonDrop/ • Email your comments or questions to: rmcp@dcollege.net • Visit the Online Learning Team in Korman Center, or call: 215-895-1224.