CU-SeeMe Home

Book

1. Introduction

2. Usage

3. Internet

4. Hardware

5. Software

6. User's Guide

7. Reflectors

8. History

9. Other

10. Future

A. Trouble- shooting

B. Operator's Guide

C. Glossary

D. Bibliography

8

History, Culture, and Usage

This is a chapter of snippets. The first section, History, is a narrative through snippets of memos and email. The second section, Usage, is a collection of snippets of event announcements, papers, and other writings about how we're using CU-SeeMe. I hope these give you the inspiration to participate in the CU-SeeMe community (and perhaps even broadcast an event or three).

After you read this chapter you'll know

• Some of the history of CU-SeeMe

• How people are using Internet videoconferencing for cultural, educational, artistic, recreational, and commercial information distribution

A History of CU-SeeMe

The Birth of CU-SeeMe

There's a tradition of celebrating "CU-SeeMe Day" by wearing the official CU-SeeMe tee-shirt and connecting with friends made on the CU-SeeMe reflectors. Jean Armour Polly , the "Director of Public Services and Internet Ambassador" at NYSERNet, Inc. (a pioneer in CU-SeeMe use) announced in 1994

We decided to celebrate CU-SeeMe Day on Aug 19 this year, since it is a work day and more people will be around than on Saturday Aug 20, which we believe to be the day of the first off-campus CU SeeMe transmission.

If you have a CU SeeMe T shirt, be sure to wear it tomorrow!

When is CU-SeeMe's REAL birthday? Alas, it is lost in collective unconcious...

Richard "Dick" Cogger head of the CU-SeeMe Development Team, dug through his archives to reconstruct the initial CU-SeeMe product development process. He found the basic product design document and implementation plans from which the team worked:

Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1992 11:35:43 -0400
From: Dick Cogger
Subject:
Re: Mac programming
To: Tim Dorcey

Hi Tim,

Yes, let's start as soon as possible....

The task is basically to get Mac desk-top-video conferencing going as soon as possible in any do-able mode at all. I have quick-time, a sample video player that puts up a live video window, using either a rasterops 24stv or a video spigot, and I can step thru the program in ThinkC debugger. So now it's a case of grabbing images, computing interframe diffs, making packets, building UDP datagrams and sending with MacTCP, receiving them, displaying, and whatever user-interface goodies needed to support that. Then, we want to get audio going too. I havn't gotten very far researching that. After next week, I'm planning to take two weeks vacation, during which, I plan to work full time plus on getting some of this to happen. Your help would be extremely valuable-- I figure if we can get something working at all, we can then refine it along the way and probably get additional resources, time-committment, etc. -Dick

Timothy recalls that

things then got off to a slow start as it wasn't until the end of July that we were even able to grab a frame from the Spigot. The first network-capable version was called "WatchTim" and as near as I can figure was created on August 31, 1992, except that you couldn't really watch me because I didn't have a camera. Instead you got to see a videotape of C-SPAN that I used for all of the early development. A separate application called "VideoSend" was used to transmit. Soon, there was a "WatchDick" and I think maybe a "WatchSteve," and before I went any further Dick suggested that I should add a way to enter IP addresses rather than hard-coding them in the application (I had been aiming for a streamlined user interface). But, of course, what he really wanted was a single application that would both send and receive, so September 13th brought us "DigitDemo2Way." By this time, everyone was getting tired of my naming style, and as a quick thinking maneuver to avoid the name suggested by our Vice President ("EZ-Pic"), Dick came up with "CU-SeeMe," on September 27th, I think. So, I guess that would be the official birthday for CU-SeeMe. Or, if you want to go with the first transmission outside Cornell, I would put that around September 1 - shortly after the first local transmission (this is, after all, the Internet Protocol, and if you can send it across the room, you can send it around the world!).

Figure 8.4 - Tim Dorcey demos DigitDemo

The National Science Foundation steps in

Less than six months after Dick's inital memo to Tim, the National Science Foundation became aware of the work being done at Cornell. Intensely excited by the possibilities of Internet videoconferencing, Steve Wolf of NSF, in December of 1992, invited the Global SchoolNet (GSN), an organization that designs networks for K-12 schools, to participate in a National Science and Technology Week conference to be held the following April.

What NSF proposed was a collaborative environmental activity with two schools, one in Tennessee and the other in Washinton DC. The activity was to be about environmental issues because of Vice President Al Gore's interest in the topic; the locations were the Vice President's home state and his place of residence. Don Mitchell of the NSF (at left) was an early force in the growth of CU-SeeMe; he arranged for funding at a crucial time in its life.

Yvonne Marie Andres of GSN wanted to include a California school near her work. Because CU-SeeMe was only able to connect two Macintoshes in a point-to-point connection, she consulted with Dick and Tim. They were able to add multi-point connectivity in time for the event, so schools in California and London were added. CERFNet provided a T1 line, perhaps the first time so much bandwidth went directly to a middle school. The University of London provided network access for the London side of things, but only at the university, so the school-children were bussed back and forth.

On 28 April 1993, on a large video screen, with governmental leaders at each site, the school-children demonstrated videoconferencing collaboration across the Internet. The topic chosen was ground-water pollution. Since CU-SeeMe didn't yet have the capablity to broadcast audio or text, white writing tablets were used to "converse."

The event was so well-recieved that the NSF provided a second grant for the network to be expanded to include 17 schools in four "learning clusters." New topics chosen by the students included space exploration, solid-waste management, alternative energy sources, and national disasters & weather. The Global SchoolHouse was off to a good start. Yvonne summarized GSH's history in a recent message to the CU-SeeMe discussion list:

GSN, formerly called FrEdMail (Free Educational Mail), originated in 1985 when teachers in San Diego linked their students to classrooms on the east coast. With no budget and minimal support, those teachers set about creating a powerful and now internationally-recognized educational information infrastructure starting at the grass-roots level. GSN envisioned and then constructed the concept of the "Global Schoolhouse" where teachers, students, business, government, and the community can learn side-by-side.

XYZZY - more history

CU-SeeMe goes commercial

XYZZY

Friends of the Global SchoolHouse

The Global Schoolhouse project is centered around children, the faces of which you'll see throughout this book. Larry Duffy (at right) - of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory - was a very early user of CU-SeeMe. One day he popped into the CU-SeeMe reflector the GSH school-children were using. The kids explained what GSH was, how Larry could optimize his setup, and in general charmed him. Larry, the rocket scientist taught by high-school kids, is turn became a CU-SeeMe booster, setting up a reflector dedicated for the GSH, and having many interactions with the kids, and some notables as well. Then Vice President Walter Mondale, now the Ambassador to Japan, comes to mind. (Sadly I couldn't find any images of that videoconference.)

Steven Adams, also of JPL, became a "scientist-on-tap" for the GSH kids four hours a week.

Jill Charvoneau (shown at left), an Information Designer in the Advanced Technology Planning Group at Cornell University, was the designer of the original CU-SeeMe tee-shirt. Jill also participated in such events as Career Day via CU-SeeMe. James Hill of QMS (shown at right), an early adopter of CU-SeeMe, participated as well.

Greg German, shown here in his home-state of Ohio and on the road in Hawai'i, was one of the first dozen regular users of CU-SeeMe. Greg, a friend of Charley Kline - the creator of the Maven audio software, introduced Yvonne's seventh-graders to the wonders of multi-point audio.

Politicos,

The children have spoken with politicians, such as Senator Diane Feinstein:

and Congressperson Rose:

"Local" personalities, such as Southern California's Bob Ryan, meterologist:

Terry Burnhanf, a meterologist with KUSI-TV in San Diego, California, is shown here during a CU-SeeMe demonstration for a television program about the Global SchoolHouse entitled The Class Act.

Peter Knight, of the World Bank, spoke with the Global SchoolNet kids about how the international monetary system works, and the role of the World Bank.

CU-SeeMe and the Global SchoolHouse has a long-standing relationship with scientists, the early adopters of new technologies. The following are CU-SeeMe glimpses into some of these relationships.

These are images of a collaboration between four Global SchoolNet campuses during a "space cluster" - on the left are NASA Officials, on the right is one of the students describing some drawing and models of space vehicles.

These are images taken during one of a series of interaction between Global SchoolNet kids and scientists of the National Energy Research Supercomputing Center at Lawrence Livermore National Nuclear Laboratory, just east of San Francisco. This program taught the GSH kids how to use one of NERSC's Cray comptuters. The image at right shows the kids using Climoman, a climate-modelling simulator.

At left is a CU-SeeMe broadcast of the kids using Wireman, a three-dimensional modelling program. Sadly, I couldn't find any images of the third simulation used, Moleman, a molecular modelling program.

Ken Hartman is a high-school chemistry teacher at the Global SchoolHouse in Ames, Iowa, and winner of a presidential award for science and math projects. He's shown at left during the NERSC collaboration.

Josh Knauer, the director of the Envirolink project at Carnegie-Mellon University is shown here speaking with school students via CU-SeeMe.

Jane Goodall, the famed cultural anthropologist known for her studies of chimpanzee communication, travelled from her field laboratory in Tanzania to the USA. While here, she visited with Global SchoolHouse kids. This shows her CU-SeeMe debut, in a program named "Roots & Shoots". It was planned to have Dr. Goodall become a regular visitor to the Global SchoolHouse (via CU-SeeMe), but the satellite to be used has malfunctioned, and there aren't funds to repair it. (The alternate communication method is to fax a message to a hotel in Tanzania, where someone prints it, delivers it to a boat, which travels three days to her field laboratory. The Global SchoolNet hasn't given up on getting Dr. Goodall wired.)

HRH Prince Charles

One person you won't see her is HRH Prince Charles. Contracted by a public-relations firm in Los Angeles for the "UK-LA" event, a promotion of the performing arts and technology. It was to be quite a happening, complete with links from the Beverly Hilton hotel to Australia. MCI provided 500 "listening ports" through a toll-free telephone number; Sprint jumped on the bandwagon and matched that number.

Two days before the event the promoters (and CU-SeeMe reflector operators) began hearing that the prince might not be able to make it. Ten minutes before the event was to begin the promoters were told by the British Ambassador that HRH Prince Charles was unfortunately detained by pressing matters and would be unable to participate.

His Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales, spent the day with Barbra Streisand.

Back to the People

At Interop '94, John Morgridge, the Chief Executive Officer of Sysco Systems (a computer networking company) arranged for a CU-SeeMe demonstration.

The demonstration was coordinated through major Internet sites such as CERFnet and NYSERNet. It was planned to show the network movers and shakers in the audience how end-users were using their products and services.

I heard that some attendees had tears in their eyes; so moved were they by the enthusiasm of the CU-SeeMe'ers and the novel uses for their routers, cables, and the like.

University of Song

CU-SeeMe is used in the University of Song's annual over-the-Internet singing contest. Jocelyn Jocya - a songwriter and performer who's worked with Paul Anka and Angie Dickenson - was a participant.

Adam Curry, formerly of Music Televison (MTV), moderated the proceedings. Adam is a regular CU-SeeMe user, often sending an around-the-clock video feed from his home.

Nowhere Band

XYZZY

Eduardo Kac

XYZZY

Daniel Fortune

XYZZY

Satellite CU-SeeMe?

From: Martin Stoufer
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 1995,

The other day, I was showing a Ham Radio phreak/friend of mine how CU-SeeMe worked. The first thing he could say was, Is this coming from a satellite feed or something? It broke my heart to tell him it was a 28.8 modem. Then we both got thinking, wouldn't it be possible for someone with a satellite dish to pick up a satellite, tune to a specific freq and start receiving CU-SeeMe a/v?

From: Roger Lee Boston
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 00:30:05 -0500 (CDT)

I think you get that at 400kbs with DirectPC, an offering from Hughes. Your modem going TO the internet, satellite down FROM the internet.

From: "Dr. Joe Baptista"
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995

I heard a while back that Hughes was offering DirecPC wherein you could hook up a PC to a modem line, have a Web browser, select a link, and then have and with a card the receiving of the data requested by a Direct-PC digital sat dish at 400Kbps for less than 20 bucks a month. For a receive only application this would seem great but I think they charge more after you reach a certian amount on MBits downloaded. I think you can also subscribe to services like CNN desktop too and I think the apps (unless there is a new PCI card for the new Macs) only work with windoze PC's but don't know. Would seem that their could be some good applications for a configuration as a Mac with CU-SeeMe or even Quicktime Conferencing broadcasts and a DirecPC link. Could also be designed for instructional video on demand applications. The nice thing is that it gives enough bandwidth to receive good audio, video almost anywhere, anytime. Even in business applications you could always use a phone call to give feedback.

From: "David R. Seay"
Date: Thu, 25 May 95 13:14:08 PDT

A new service is available that provides access to the Internet via satellite (see http://www.acmeweb.com/direcpc/index.html). Data can be received at speeds up to 400kbps via a satellite dish. Maybe this could turn into a good way to broadcast CU-SeeMe videoconferences? Just something to look into.

From: JohnBalogh@psu.edu (John D. Balogh)
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 14:30:05 -0400

From that web page, it appears that Hughes/GM is charging for useage. They seem to have a limit of 130MB/month for the most expensive plan. If you only use cusM and limit yourself to 100Kbps (watching only 2 others users at 50Kbps each) you could run for: 130MB*8b(/B)/100Kb/S = 10400 Seconds per month = 2.9 hours per month.

Hmmm. I still like ISDN at the same rate without a monthly limit.

From: Little Robbie Burcham
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 17:06:36 -0500 (CDT)

Not to mention the fact that the satellite is receive-only. That is, you get a satellite feed of up to 800 kb/s, but all of your sending is done through SLIP/PPP to an 800 # terminal server.

Drums and Didjerideu

From: chris blohm
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 15:48:41 -0400 (EDT)

The spread of ideas, evolution, and flourishing creativity - Ideosphere will be the meeting point for artists, academics, and technology. This point will provide the means for the furthering of education and awareness of the new technologies, the world at large, and of ourselves. This event and all hence will introduce new talents, ideas, and engender an experience unparalleled in Vancouver.

Performing artists: Live drum circle of 15 percussionists and didjerideu, Off and Gone, Elfclan, Hellen Keller, Deprogrammers, and featuring, James K-M artist and CD-ROM producer demonstrating "Restless Machines" the Vancouver produced CD-ROM on the history of industrial and electronic music, and Dr. Stockmann Ph.D. Physicist, giving a presentation on entropy, time, and our lives as we approach the next millenium.

It will be broadcast on the internet via ISDN on CU-SeeMe and RealAudio from Multimedia.edu, and Axion Internet. The night begins at 6pm PST in the Multimedia.edu surround sound theatre, with no admission charge. Point your web browser to http://www.multimedia.edu/~cblohm/transcus.htm for general and reflector information.

Thank you,

Christopher Blohm
Multimedia.edu
cblohm@griffin.multimedia.edu
Transcendelia - Vamcouver Electronica
http://www.multimedia.edu/~cblohm/indra3.htm

CU-SeeMe in the College Classroom

From: "William Getter"
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 95 14:40:07 EST

I teach with the distance learning/continuing education programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. We have over 100 teaching sites around the world (primarily at U.S. military bases) offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. We are examining "affordable" alternatives for doing video conferencing to link classrooms throughout the system for instructional purposes. We want to be able to "broadcast" a lecture/presentation with the ability for students at remote sites to interact live with the instructor. Our challenge is to be able to originate a lecture from any one of the 100+ sites with the ability to receive at several of the other sites simultaneously. (This leaves out the alternative of satellite uplink systems because of the cost of over 100 uplink sites).

Needless to say, we are VERY interested in the concept of compressed video/voice over the Internet and in turn with the inroads already made with CU-SeeMe. If anyone out there has had any successes (or failures) using CU-SeeMe for remote classroom presentation I would be very grateful for feedback, suggestions, lessons learned, etc.

******************************************
* Dr. William Getter *
* Asst. Professor of Aeronautical Science *
* Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University *
* getterw@cts.db.erau.edu *
******************************************

From: avelon@phys.uva.nl (Ian Carr-de Avelon)
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 18:20:11

I suggest you have a look at:

http://kmi.open.ac.uk/kmi-misc/virtualsummer.html

This shows work using an old Macintosh version of CU-SeeMe, and so is likely to become out of date as the new versions we have been promised are released.

There is also a separate mailing list: videoconf@pul-ver.com, but I have lost the instructions of how to join, (which will be a problem if I decide to leave)

From: Richard Collins
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 22:57:00 -0230

In response to your inquiry concerning teaching on the NET we have done a fair bit of exploration and testing in this area. Check out http://mirror.det.mun.ca

We are headed towards the economy of Internet conferencing as a teaching tool but, due to available bandwidth, this fall will see us with another mixed bag of solutions:

Broadcast and Internet Teaching Project 95

The Division of Educational Technology,Memorial University

[reporting July 15, 1995]

During the Fall semester of 1995 Educational Technology will be delivering courses to our Provincial Colleges from Memorial's campus in St. John's. Colleges are located in Carbonear, Clarenville, Burin, Gander, Grand Falls, Lewisporte and Labrador City. In addition, a large lecture theatre (320 cap) just down the hall from our studio will participate.

Having previously conducted experimental courses via a variety of technologies, both sattélite and computer, this is our first combination of the two.

We will be delivering broadcast video and audio of live teaching sessions via satellite from our studio in St. John's. These will be downlinked to the various colleges either by dishes installed at the particular college or through the local cable system. I believe, at this point, we have been able to access local cable systems in all but two regions.

For the interactive component we have also taken advantage of the newly established Internet links to each of these locations. There are A/V Mac 6100's equipped with the latest versions of the CU-Seeme videoconferencing software. These Macs will supply return video only. Audio will be returned via traditional teleconferencing systems. All but one of the colleges have a minimum 64k frame relay link to our campus. They are connected by "cloud" and, in our tests, achieve approximately 30-50kbs each. We choose the Macs because we wanted the larger picture format of 320x240. This, combined with the bit rate allows an average of 1-4 frames per second. The exception to this will be the site in Labrador City. This is off-island and suffers from poor line availability. The best option for the Internet connection in that area is a 19,200 line. We have yet to install the equipment in Labrador and can't comment on the quality we will achieve through this link.

In our studio the instructor will be able to glance a large (21" Triniton) Mac monitor with the seven pictures displayed. This is not intended to give the instructor a detailed view. It will be enough to confirm that the class has arrived and will indicate some general indication of who may be asking a question.

To achieve greatest quality the remote machines have been configured as "send-only" video to a central reflector running on Linux. The reflector machine is a Pentium 90 with 32 megs of RAM and, most importantly, a PCI Ethernet (SMC) card. It is running within our Thin-wire (10 mbit) network. The reflector will be receiving seven streams and "sending" two streams. One output stream will go to the Mac used in the studio with an extra stream sent to our second reflector. This will allow others to view the event on the second reflector without slowing the main reflector.

We will be keeping up-to-date with the latest versions of reflector code and Macintosh CU-Seeme versions throughout the project.

So far everyone involved is suprised by the quality of video we are receiving from the sites. When September comes these classes will be taught from 10am to 1pm each day.

Last year we taught to a single site using compressed (high-bandwidth) audio and video (see Clarenville Project). This project depended upon dedicated 56k lines (7 of them) using an IMUX system. This is akin to a modem system ($50,000 worth of hardware plus $80 per hour connections) and with that came horrible connection troubles for each 50 minute session. With dedicated satellite time and the ever-present Internet those connection problems should be more easily dealt with and confirmed well in advance of each session.

PhD defense over CU-SeeMe

From: Paul Ruscher
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 14:59:25 -0400 (EDT)

Just thought you might like to know that on 15 June, we held a PhD defense using CU-SeeMe. An external committee member from NASA Goddard, could not be in Tallahassee due to big meetings to help save her group from the budget ax. We used a Mac Centris 610 (I think) at Goddard and a Quadra 660AV at FSU on a point-to-point connection between the two. Part of the seminar was beemed live to her and the entire oral defense with the graduate committee was carried via CU-SeeMe. Thanks to the folks at Cornell, we did not have to reschedule the defense or make other special arrangements. The work reported on is part of the NOAA Cooperative Institute of Tropical Meteorology at Florida State University's Meteorology Department...you can link to a related document on the WWW if you want more information about the research. The first link below is for the observational component and the second link is for a modelling component.

http://thunder.met.fsu.edu/explores/tasbex.html

http://thunder.met.fsu.edu/gsc/cherb/cgh-citm.html

We send the Goddard group a QuickCam and the software, they loaded it up and were up to speed in no time. We also send a videotape copy of a dry run and copies of the overheads for the seminar. The major hitch was the entire campus network went down at 1:30 PM that day, and did not come back up until 4:15 PM, as my student was finishing the seminar. But the defense part went great! Guess Murphy was on his committee for that day only!

Paul Ruscher
FSU Meteorology
ruscher@met.fsu.edu

Come Fly With Me

From: FlyVision@aol.com
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 21:40:29 -0400

I'm leaving tomorrow (May 20th) for a three month trip around the world. Come with me! There will be text, images and sounds waiting to be experienced on my Web site, http://www.interport.net/~fly/trip95/. And live videoconferencing with CU-SeeMe from places around the globe...

CU soon.

Web Belly: Belly Dancing on the Web

From: Spyder
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 18:09:44 -0400 (EDT)

"Web Belly: The Art of Belly Dancing on the Web" debuts at @cafe in New York City on June 15th, Thursday, 10:00 pm Eastern Standard time at

@cafe Reflector: ip: 204.137.204.6

You can find out more details at:

http://www.nyic.com/spyder/webbelly.html

We are activity looking for additional reflectors for this entertaining and historic event.

Jonathan Sarno

Spyder World Wide Web

www.nyic.com/spyder/

"Peace for Sarayevo" Worldwide Video Conference

From: lignano@eurocube.it (Lignano)
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 00:48:26 +0200

Saturday July 22nd in Italy at the city of Lignano Sabbiadoro, during the event "The virtal week" dedicated to virtual reality, Internet and information technologies, and it will be possible to get a connection with the children of Sarajevo by the Internet.

Lignano Sabbiadoro is located very close to the border of Yugoslavia where (as everybody knows) a bloody civil war is destroying the life of thousand of children.

All net users can get in touch with the people of Lignano using chat programs, e-Mail, or CU-SeeMe Video Conference. From 6 pm to midnight (italian time) we will talk together about the war, and send some e-Mails to Sarajevo's people.

So keep in mind this day and remember to log on the net!

--
email : lignano@eurocube.it
reflector : 194.20.44.111

Time conversions:

western emisphere, July 22nd

Los Angeles : 9 am-3 pm
New York : noon-6 pm
Buenos Aires : 2 pm-8 pm
GMT : 5 pm-11 pm
Italy : 6 pm-midnight

eastern emisphere, July 23rd

Tokio : 2 pm-8 pm
Sidney : 3 pm-9 pm

Adam Curry's SparrowCam

From: Adam Curry
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 1995 17:54:33 -0400 (EDT)

I just discovered a family of Sparrow (babies and all) in my back yard. Immediately I saw a CUSEEME application. After a trip to Radio Shack for 100ft of video cable the job was quickly done. check it out on the curryco.com reflector at 199.34.33.34

Fun and educational for the whole family :-)

Adam Curry
On Ramp, Inc. 1-800-2-ONRAMP
adam@metaverse.com

Journey to Mars

From: Chris Rowan
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 08:21:30 -0500 (CDT)

I have posted queries here before, and I have always received numerous helpful suggestions. I have wanted to experiment with CU-SeeMe ever since I first learned of its existence a year ago. I wrote a proposal for a grant this past school year that would involve NASA engineers, scientists, and technicians in a dialogue with my 5th grade students. Much to my surprise, I was awarded the grant!

The project is a high fidelity simulation of a journey to Mars. With the help of NASA, my students will design one or more spacecraft for the journey and engage in a realtime simulation of a roundtrip journey to Mars.

We will not spend every moment of every school day conducting the simulation. That would be impossible. But we will allocate a portion of every school day to the simulation. CU-SeeMe connectivity offers a very exciting alternative to email. The "herky-jerky" nature of CU-SeeMe would only enhance the simulation by adding a touch of realism.

Best regards,
Chris Rowan
1995 NASA NEWEST Participant, Kennedy Space Center

Model Lunar Rover

From: Jon Pike
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 18:37:15 -0700 (PDT)

I am coordinating a videoconferencing event at a convention locally. We will have a teleoperation/VR display known as the LTM-1. It's a model Lunar rover, that drives across a model Moon. Normal operation is via a dial up modem and special software. You drive it with your arrow keys and watch the video.

For the event, the entire LTM-1 will be transported to the site, where people can wear a head mounted display, use data gloves, watch others driving. I also am setting up for a CU-SeeMe link out to share the event with the Net. Should be much fun!

Singapore National Day Parade (NDP) '95 Internet Broadcast

From: CU-SeeMe Postbox
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 15:27:53 +0800 (WST)

Singapore will be celebrating its 30th National Day on 9 August 1995. This year is going to be a special one because many exciting performances and programmes are being lined up from 5pm to 8pm at The Padang, outside the City Hall. Besides the usual live-televised of the event nationwide this year, we will also be broadcasting it on the Internet through MBONE and making use of CU-SEEME (for PC and Mac). Look to our web page http://www.nus.sg/NDP30.html for more details.

The National University of Singapore and Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) is presently organizing this project. We are already in the progress of setting up mirror (reflector) sites in UK and Australia for the CU-SEEME broadcast. We thank these people who volunteered to join hands with us in this event.

The combined project team comprising National University of Singapore Computer Centre, Technet unit, Internet Research & Development Unit (IRDU) and Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) will be proudly presenting to you the audio & visual images on the Internet using World Wide Web, MBONE and the CU-SeeMe desktop videoconferencing software.

Our live (and delayed) broadcasting plan is as follows:

Testrun - test transmission, early news, preview, etc.
from Aug 9 09:00 - 10:00 GMT

Live - Singapore National Day Parade ceremony (approx. 2 hrs.)
from Aug 9 11:00 GMT (Aug 9 17:00 Singapore time)

Rebroadcast - from Aug 9 17:00 - 19:00 GMT (Aug 10 01:00 - 03:00 ST)
from Aug 10 00:00 - 02:00 GMT (Aug 10 08:00 - 10:00 ST)
from Aug 10 05:00 - 07:00 GMT (Aug 10 13:00 - 15:00 ST)

We welcome overseas site to participate as a reflector site on the days of transmission.

Any queries and comments can go to ndp95@irdu.nus.sg. You can also send your greetings to us at the above URL.

Daughters at Work Day

From: Yvonne Marie Andres
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 07:59:30 -0700 (PDT)

The Global Schoolhouse will have our student "ambassadors" available to answer questions and interact with "daughters" on Thursday, April 27, 1995.

Our students will be available from 8:00 -10:25 AM and 11:00 - 12:40 PM on the JPL reflector 137.79.6.31

We will be UNAVAILABLE from 10:30 - 11:00 AM, as we will be participating in a private CU-SeeMe conference (related to Daughters at Work Day).

In addition, both myself (President and Curriculum Director for Global SchoolNet) and Josephina Cicero (Director of PAACE) will be available to answer questions.

For your information, the PAACE (Personal Achievment and Career Awareness) program prepares kids for the job environment and Josephina is a very dynamic speaker.

We look forward to interacting with your daughters today.

<<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>>
Yvonne Marie Andres, Global Schoolhouse/Global SchoolNet Foundation
7040 Avenida Encinas 104-281, Carlsbad, CA 92009
URL http://www.aldea.com (select Global Schoolhouse from menu)
Voice (619) 433-3413 FAX (619) 931-5934 email: andresyv@cerf.net
<<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>>

Simulated Shuttle Mission

From: lt055@nptn.org (Jud Elliott)
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 1995 11:20:55 -0400

Today, the National Educational Simulations Project Using Telecommunications (NESPUT) schools are running a simulated space shuttle mission.

As part of that program, Willoughby Middle School is transmitting a simulated Shuttle Tracking Map through the Univ. of Kansas reflector (129.237.247.160).

We are using a Connectix camera, a magnifying glass, and the Orbitrak program (NASA Spacelink) to generate/tranmit the image.

We are SLIPped, here, but the rate of change in the map (1 orbit every 90 minute) is very forgiving for the frame rate we can use.

Stop in until 4:00 EDT, have a look, and send comments to jse@nptn.org

Questions about the simulated space missions are also welcome, but won't be answered until the mission ends tomorrow morning.

--
Judson Elliott, Computing Coordinator
Willoughby Middle School
Willoughby, Ohio

Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator

From: axduh@asuvm.inre.asu.edu (Douglas A. Howard)
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 10:42:19 -0700

Today (4/21/95) Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator, will be visting our facility, the Mars Global Surveyor Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. This is an informal visit in conjunction with a formal visit to the City of Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Remote Sensing Land Use and Planning Project. I will try to introduce this new technology (CU-SeeMe) to Dan Goldin and reflect through our reflector. All interested are welcome to connect. He is due to arrive at 3:45pm (AZ time, MST) and will be here for about 1 1/2 hours. Maybe he will be interested and talk to some folks out there.

ASU GEOLOGY REFLECTOR 129.219.145.149

I have yet to have an "official" Open House for this reflector but plan to on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of May; since this is a special event I thought I would open the reflector to the public for today.

Hope to CU this afternoon.

--
Douglas A. Howard
Research Associate
Mars Global Surveyor Space Flight Facility
Thermal Emission Spectrometer
Department of Geology
Arizona State University
e-mail: D.Howard@asu.edu

Cancer Update for Physicans

From: "Sunni Hosemann"
Date: 17 Apr 1995 18:41:49 U

This telecast will be available on our CU-SeeMe reflector... Continuing Medical

Education credit available free for CU-SeeMe viewers. We want viewers comments!

When: Wed. April 19, 1995 12noon-1pm (CST)

Description: This is a live television program for continuing medical education, delivered direct via satellite to licensed sites. This telecast will also be available to a limited number of viewers ON THE INTERNET via the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center CU-SeeMe reflector. The reflector's IP address is 129.106.60.32. Please encourage physicians and other interested parties to tune in.

The panel are MD Anderson faculty. They will discuss

• screening and diagnostic mammography,

• current treatment options including mastectomy vs lumpectomy/radiation and breast reconstruction

• adjuvant therapy

There will be live question and answer period.

CME: 1 hour AMA PRA Category 1 and AAFP Prescribed Credit

CME credit will be offered FREE for CU-SeeMe viewers.

For more information, e-mail us: teleconf@utmdacc.mda.uth.tmc.edu

Meeks/Stone/Yoshide

Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 14:17:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Eric S. Theise"

This Thursday and Friday, June 1 and 2, we'll be experimenting with CU-SeeMe to broadcast two prerecorded Bay Area events of note.

Brock Meeks (unplugged): recorded at Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco on March 29th of this year, this two-hour presentation features the noted CyberWire Dispatch writer/editor talking about telecom politics as usual in the Washington Beltway.

Background: http://cyberwerks.com/cyberwire

Carl Stone/Otomo Yoshide: recorded at Beanbenders in Berkeley on April 12th of this year, this hour-plus concert features electro-acoustic musician/composer Stone and turntable artist/guitarist Yoshide, whose recent collaboration Monogatari: Amino Argot is available on the Trigram Records label. Vocalist Min Xiao-Fen joins the duo.

Background: http://www.tmn.com/0h/Community/cstone/home.html

Thursday: 7 pm (PDT): Stone/Yoshide 9 pm (PDT): Meeks (unplugged)
Friday: 7 pm (PDT): Meeks (unplugged) 9 pm (PDT): Stone/Yoshide

--
Eric S. Theise
Liberty Hill Cyberwerks, P.O. Box 460177, San Francisco, CA 94146

Cornerstone album release concert on Internet video

From: slw1@cornell.edu (Steve Worona)
Date: Tue, 9 May 1995 11:20:10 -0400 (EDT)

Posted on behalf of Chris Stuart and Cornerstone, adapted from the Cornerstone Web page, http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/cstone/cstone.html, which also contains pictures and song clips from the new album:

Kidneystone, cortisone, ah yes, Cornerstone. A little bluegrass, a little swing, a little cajun, a little old-time, a little paprika, a little humor, a little cornmeal, a lotta help from Folk Era Records, simmer for five years and voila--our latest recording, Lonesome Town.

Cornerstone is hosting an Album Release Concert on May 13 1995 at 8pm in the Statler Auditorium on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. You can pay the measly $5 ticket price or you can watch it for free over the Internet via CU-SeeMe. CU-SeeMe is a videoconferencing tool developed at Cornell. All you need is a Mac or a PC and a fairly fast Internet connection (ethernet) and you're all set for an evening of Cornerstone. You'll need to connect to IP 132.236.91.204 with a conference id of zero.

NYSERNet BirdCam

From: jpolly@nysernet.org (Jean Armour Polly)
Date: Thu, 18 May 1995 19:09:29 -0400

We're at the nysernet.org reflector, 192.77.173.2

The NYSERNet birdcam is a bird mobile that we have the camera on all night

when no one is here. It moves very slowly so is good for doing demos from

low-speed connections.

I know it's hard to believe, but people LOVE the birdcam, I get a lot of

mail, I thought it was time to let birdcam have its own mbox. :-)

NYSERNet birdcam fans: you can now send email to the birdcam at

birdcam@pat.nyser.net

Best regards,

Jean

Local Telemonitor at K-12 School

From: rkrupp@edcoe.k12.ca.us (Renee' Krupp)

I am at a K-12 site. Actually, I am in charge of Educational Technology at Charter Community School, under the aupsices of the El Dorado County Office of Education. My site spends a lot on technology -- I have a terrific lab with high end machines, enough RAM to function, scanners, CD-ROMs, laserdisks, video, ...

I am also a Local Telementor -- a position that means I was selected and trained by the state to provide Internet assistance to other teachers. I've been teaching/administrating since I was 20 (started young) -- and am in my 28th year in Education. I have an MA and about six teaching credentials. I started using educational technology in 1980 or so and have used/been absolutely immersed in technology since then.

We use the Internet, but have only had CU-SeeMe for about a month. This last Saturday, I spearheaded a Technology Conference at our County Office for about 200 people. It was a full day with 8 different "sessions" -- the people selected 6 45-min sessions to attend. One session was the Internet (hands-on in my lab) - and another session was CU-SeeMe in a small group demonstration. The entire day went well, but the Net really wowed them. I had a cadre of students positioned right behind the "non-techie" adults to help them navigate and negotiate the equipment and software. It was a hit...

Now that this last Saturday is gone, I will be moving my attention to classroom/lab use of the Net and CU-SeeMe.

Renee' L. Krupp El Dorado County Office of Education
Instructional Technologist Charter Community School
rkrupp@edcoe.k12.ca.us 6767 Green Valley Road
Placerville, CA 95667

The best education, like the best art, provides insights of life and helps prepare us for ideas yet to reach fruition.

Foreign Language Materials via CU-SeeMe

From: Bob Dixon
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 10:52:19 -0400 (EDT)

We are now sending foreign language materials continuously via CU-SeeMe. A Mac located at our Satellite Dish facility is fed programs from foreign satellites, and it transmits the audio and video to the Ohio State University reflector. The language changes each day, and has included Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, French and German so far. The window is labelled "The World". This is an experiment to see if it is useful for instructional purposes, and to provide a continuous CU-SeeMe demonstration.

Save 25 Cents

From: Eric Lease Morgan
Date: Wed, 31 May 95 21:21:50 0400

Michael,

I have written a script you may or may not be interested in. For a good time try:

http://152.1.24.177/save-25-cents/save-25-cents.cgi

The CGI script at the other end is suppose to take a live picture of my office using a QuickCam. Everything should be (well) documented at:

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/morgan/save-25-cents-cgi.html

The script works most of the time, but when it doesn't it hangs my whole computer. If someone could tell me what I am doing wrong, then I would be most grateful.

Eric Lease Morgan
NCSU Libraries
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/morgan/

Timed Video Grabber

From: "Allon Stern"
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 05:16:47 -0500

...I've written a program for the mac called the Timed Video Grabber (or TVG for short).

TVG lets you set up your mac to grab a frame of video every n seconds/minutes/ hours/days and shuffles it off to a JPEG file.

You can then set up your web server (if it's on another machine) to FTP that file from your Mac when it gets updated and have a current picture on your web page!

Cool, eh?

http://spiderweb.yoyodyne.com/allon/tvg.html

6th Joint European Networking Conference

From: "Halvor Kise jr."
Date: Mon, 15 May 1995 06:09:05 +0200 (MET DST)

The 6th Joint European Networking Conference (JENC6), Bringing the World to the Desktop, held May 15-18, 1995 in Tel Aviv, Israel, will be broadcast on the Internet, on the Mbone and with CU-SeeMe at the following times (GMT):

Monday May 15 11:00-12:30

Tuesday May 16 13:00-14:00

Thursday May 18 08:00-09:30

In addition to the Plenary sessions we plan to broadcast the following sessions:

1-1: Mobile Computing and intermittent connectivity (15/5 13:00-14:30)

V-2: Views and visions of European service providers (16/5, 06:00-07:30)

1-4: Technical developments from an industrial view point (16/5, 08:00-09:30)

1-2: Network performance issues (16/5, 11:00-12:30)

IV-3: Electronic publishing and information retrieval (18/5, 06:00-09:30)

The primary CU-SeeMe reflector will be 158.36.33.6, but in the interest of saving Internet bandwith, PLEASE USE A REFLECTOR LOCATED AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO YOUR OWN SITE.

--
MEMENTO MORI
PGP-key by fingering halvork@frodo.hiof.no
Halvor's Homepage.

NHK show about AIDS, etc.

From: Jim Cooper <4cc02@hi-vision.nhk.or.jp>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 12:01:57 -0500

[This section is in two parts. The first is Jim's call for participation. The second is Liz Thomson's post-broadcast report. -Michael]

Call for participation:

I am working with NHK in Tokyo on a Television program dealing with what is available on the internet. One of the services that we would like to profile is CU-SeeMe. NHK is the national brodcasting of Japan. It operates without commercials and is supported by the Government. The theme of the program is Earth, Humans, and the Future (rough translation). Other topics we will be discussing are space-related issues (e.g. Jupiter SL-9), technology for future society; Bosnia and Uganda report; and AIDS (a film crew reports from San Francisco; this report will be followed by an example of using the Internet as a forum for discussion of important world topics.

Our on-air time may be a little inconvenient: Japan time 3:00 PM to 6:00PM on Friday November 25, 1994. That will be 1:00 AM to 4:00 AM EST on Friday. (All other U.S time zones will still be in Thursday November 24, 1994.) This will be a live broadcast to celebrate 1125 (lines in HDTV [high-definition television] picture).

Because of the nature of live TV we ask that you can sign on and be configured by 5:00 PM (3:00 AM EST) and plan to remain on line until the end of the program (one hour) The live portion will actually hit the air at about 3:45 AM EST.

We will feature a 6 minute segment of the discussion. An NHK newscaster will be speaking from a position live in the studio, and during that time we will send the live feed over the CU-SeeMe link.

Any person who would like to participate, please email.

Post-broadcast report:

The NHK broadcast Earth, Humans, and the Future 25-11-94

Arthur C. Clarke introduced the programme from a garden somewhere in, I believe, Sri Lanka. The program started with a quote of his "Any sufficiently advanced technically civilization is indistinguishable from magic." Clarke spoke after each report for the three-hour program and was the continuing thread.

The programme went out from 15.00-18.00 JP time (6.00-9.00AM GMT). I connected at 5.30AM GMT and the Producer and the Interviewer did a brief CU-SeeMe session to let me know the format. The entire programme was fed through on the net. While the programme was going out there were 3 CU-SeeMe windows - the broadcast, mine in Plymouth, and NHK's staff's.

Adam, the HIV-positive volunteer, phoned me the night before to say that he was willing to talk on the programme. I had never met him before and he said he would meet me at the roundabout at the end of the street at 8AM. We had no idea whether he would turn up or not; we knew nothing about his condition. When he did arrive it was 20 minutes to air-time and we had to communicate his information to NHK via keying in text on the CU-SeeMe window and talking to Jim, who translated into Japanese. Adam had not seen the technology before and didn't want to be screened; he stayed off camera and I keyed in text as he spoke. The timing was very tight and he agreed to speak over the phone with his voice modulated only 5 minutes before going live!

We watched the Teen AIDS report from San Francisco via CU and then we were interviewed on the content.

Section on AIDS and HIV:

Adam (not his real name) has been HIV-positive for 9 years and has provided support for many people both with HIV and AIDS. A report on Teen AIDS in San Francisco was shown. A young girl interviewed explained that she could not find a way to tell her parents - Adam has not told his parents and he said he was glad because his mother has since died from cancer and he is grateful that this problem did not add to her suffering. His father still does not know.

He said that he thought it was marvellous that the net could be used to educate people in different countries and provide comfort through support.

As I was the only CU-SeeMe person, they blew my screen up on a large wall and I was interviewed; I responded keying in text. I said that as a technician in the Social Science Department in the University of Plymouth, I thought that there are great opportunities to use this technology as a means of educating (especially) third world countries and preventing suffering. I related that educators in my department were currently using satellite communications to train social workers in Romania.

I shared with them that there were a number of sites for information on safe sex on the Internet, and that AIDS and HIV newsgroups provided a means of support and comfort for sufferers both on a private basis and group discussion.

We were on air live for 6 minutes. The Interviewer spoke in Japanese and then translated into English. The text I keyed in (in English) was translated into Japanese; the telephone conversation was translated into Japanese.

Party Girl

From: Jay M. Williams
Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 22:16:40 -0500

We will be broadcasting the full-length motion picture Party Girl live in conjunction with the preview at the Seattle Film Festival on June 3rd 1995 at 9pm PST. We're working with Apple Computer, Silicon Graphics, and many others to put this on and we need reflector sites to tie into our mian side and act as feeds to the rest of the world. We are getting a lot of media attention and I have various local reports looking for carriers in their areas to do stories on, etc... If you are interested in being a downstream reflector site, please email me directly off list. We are currently still looking for sites in New York and Continental Europe, but we'll consider others if you have the bandwidth to spare! Thanks!

For more information on viewing the broadcast check out

http://www.polis.com/firstlook/party/default.html

--
jmw@polis.com -- Jay M. Williams -- Williams Enterprises
Wide Area Network Design and Internet Consulting
voice:713-416-2216 fax:713-688-1194 http://www.polis.com

Voices for Diversity

From: roberson keith
Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 08:47:23 -0400

Keith and Kirsten invite you to join us in...

VOICES FOR DIVERSITY / the collabarena Internet Festival

Opening Ceremony "FINDING A RHYTHM" (drumming circle via NetPhone, CU-SeeMe)

At Dusk, Evening of Friday May 19, 1995 (approximately 7:30EST or 12:30am GMT)

You are invited to bring drums, "musical instruments","singing voices",and anything else to contribute to a communal rhythm. We will find a rhythm and maintain it for as long as it needs to breathe. As the rhythm finds its silence we will light the projected flame.

Conferencing Circle "SEEN AND HEARD"

Night of Friday May 19, 1995

All participants are invited to take a turn speaking. We will move from each individual in the physical circle to individuals on the global projection until we come full circle. Participants are invited to read a short poem, story, or article; sing or play a short song; dance a brief movement; or hold up a drawing, painting or object that reflects her/his identity.

Closing Ceremony "CARRY THE FLAME"

through the Morning of Saturday May 20, 1995

As the flame fades within the arena, participants will receive a totem of the flame as a symbol of the power of diversity.

If you are in the the Baltimore area, please join us within the Collabarena at: The University of Maryland Baltimore County, UMBC Fine Arts Amphitheatre...Visual Arts Building

Members of the global internet and UMBC community are invited to participate in a global video conference to dialogue on issues of identity and diversity. The goal of this event is to promote visible diversity over the net and on this campus via video links with individuals and universities here and abroad who share concerns.

Bring sleeping bags and food for your overnight stay. Coffee and beverages will be provided in the collabarena Reservations are not required but encouraged.

For complete details, see http://imda.umbc.edu/imda/keith/net_event/netevent2.html

or contact:

Keith Roberson
(410)455-2150
Kirsten D`Andrea
(410)455-2150

The Virtual Human Body - Performance Art

From:
Date: Thu, 4 May 1995 18:53:42 -0500

on the EDEN MATRIX Reflector: 199.171.21.8 available using CU-SEEME Internet teleconferencing software.

for more information about this performance, try the performance Homepage, http://yar.cs.wisc.edu/~void/

The VIRTUAL HUMAN BODY is a 24-hour live Performance Art event created and performed exclusively on the Internet. It involves the broadcast of digital video/audio data over the Internet and can be experienced anywhere on the planet that supports an Internet connection and can run CU-SeeMe teleconferencing software.

• I will broadcast images of by interactions with technologies

• I will welcome and accept comment, critique, and discussion via email or CU-SeeMe

• I will explore, in part, my relationship with technology - past, present, future and ponder the role techology might play in a society dedicated to technological advancement and innovation

This performance will be broadcast on the EDEN MATRIX multiconferencing reflector site. You can reach the EDEN MATRIX Homepage @ http://www.eden.com/

Flyvision and Spyder World-Wide Web

From: Jonathan Sarno
Date: Sat, 13 May 1995 07:48:22 -0400 (EDT)

"Flyvision" and "Spyder World Wide Web" cordially invite you

to New York's first CU-SeeMe WORLD PARTY TOUR featuring

the Cyberspace premiere of the French techno-film masterpiece

Join the WORLD PARTY TOUR virtually!

The tour's itinerary is available at:

http://www.escape.com/~spyder/INTERNETTVHP.HTML

http://www.interport.net/~fly/CU-SeeFly/index.html

Join the WORLD PARTY TOUR physically!

On a large video projector we will travel together with fellow CU-SeeMe

fanatics from around the world, checking out CU-SeeMe reflector sites in

Europe, North America and Asia.

New York Cyber Salon physical location:

130 West 3rd Street, Apt# 4

(Off Sixth Avenue)

A project by members of Navigating Global Cultures:

Artists, Educators, and The New Technologies.

(http://www.interport.net/~fly/NGC/index.html)

New York University

Commission on Experimental Aesthetics

Simulcast Interview of Daniel Fortune

From: daniel fortune
Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 13:15:15 -0600

This past Sunday we performed an experimental simulcast with CU-SeeMe and KSJS 90.5 FM radio in the San Francisco Bay Area. The format was an hour long interview of Daniel Fortune on multimedia, technology and CU-SeeMe.

We broadcast the live interview via FM transmitter, and we transmitted the image via the internet. Listeners to the show could call in and ask questions, or they could dial up CU-SeeMe on the Cornell reflector and asked questions via talk window while listening to the broadcast on 90.5 FM.

It was an interesting experience to interact with the people on CU-SeeMe while being interviewed live. People on CU-SeeMe who were listening to the broadcast could ask questions via talk window, or they called into the show.

The goal of the experiment was to aquaint people with digital video transmission via the internet with CU-SeeMe, which as you all know is in its infancy. I guess we take for granted the fact that since we know how the technology works, everyone else should as well.

However, it is new technology, and as such we should not make the assumptions that people are as far up the learning curve as we are. We are the pioneers.

My conclusion is that many people are interested in the technology, as it truly is an exciting way to communicate with other people, but they have to learn about the techology first.

Imagine if mainstream public and commercial radio provided a simple way for the listeners to "watch" and participate with simple technology such as CU-SeeMe. I believe that as digital video transmission becomes an accepted norm, we will experience a slow but steady cultural revamping of how we view traditional media sources.

For more information, go to http://www.fortune.org/simulcast.html for a review of the show.... For a transcript of the interview, email me at dfortune@best.com.

--
* http://www.fortune.org
* Great spirits have always encountered
* violent opposition from mediocre minds...
* Albert Einstein

Project BillVision

Date: 03 May 95 11:58:26 EDT
From: John.S.Erickson@Dartmouth.EDU (John S. Erickson)

On Sunday, 11 June, President Bill Clinton will be delivering the commencement address at Dartmouth's graduation. This is to announce "Project BillVision", an effort by students at the Thayer School of Engineering and the staff of the Kiewit Computation Center to carry that address live on the 'Net using CU-SeeMe.

For more information...check out the Project BillVision Home Page:

http://picard.dartmouth.edu/~oly/BillVision.html

We have over 15 reflectors set up worldwide to mirror the Dartmouth transmission. Those reflectors connected as mirrors will receive packets from Dartmouth and rebroadcast to the viewer. To help viewers find the various mirrors, we have created a custom BillVision Nicknames file which you put into your preferences folder before starting CU-SeeMe.

General Information:

The Office of Instructional Services at Dartmouth will be providing multi-camera coverage of President Clinton's speech and will supply a live feed to various campus buildings and local cable. Project BillVision, based at the Thayer School of Engineering, will separate video & audio, feeding both into a Macintosh Quadra 840AV running CU-SeeMe. At Dartmouth's Kiewit Computation Center a high-end server running the CU-SeeMe reflector will receive this transmission and rebroadcast the packets to all connected clients. These could be users running CU-SeeMe or, preferably, reflectors set up to mirror the Dartmouth transmission.

______________John Erickson_______________
Interactive Media Lab Dartmouth Med School
Hanover, NH 03755 VOICE: 603-650-1821
oly@dartmouth.edu FAX: 603-650-1164
http://picard.dartmouth.edu/~oly/oly.html

The Lobster Lives

From: Borre Ludvigsen
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 15:46:36 -0500

2 years back a group of my multimedia students took one of those skeletal models of animals made of plywood (a lobster I had bought at the educational toy store on Harvard Square during a visit to the US), built a double scale model painted red, made an animated replica on their Macs and used them as a "mascot" in their stand at the annual software exhibition in Oslo.

The model been hanging in the ceiling in their lab ever since and the other day, someone, somewhere in this world, moved our remote-controlled CU-SeeMe camera a bit too far to the right. So we decided to try to make that the camera's "home" position.

That's what you see in the "mm94@hiof.no" CU-SeeMe window at the 158.36.33.3 reflector. mm94 is the class, hiof is Norwegian for Ostfold Regional College and no is Norway. And, yes, that is the email address to that class of students. And the URL in the bottom of the window does allow you to run the camera. But please be kind _and_ patient. You might be sharing it with someone else. (Anyone want to do the AppleScript code to restrict usage to one IP address for 5 minutes?)

Just in case you were wondering what it all was.

Japan-Stanford Videobridge

From: Michael Bayle
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 20:18:45 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Michael...

...essentially TEPIA is a MITI- funded organization in Japan which has a large exhibit hall. The annual exhibit opens Friday in Japan, but we (Stanford University) always get a sneak preview of selected exhibits via videoconference. It is our goal this year to try and provide as much video as possible over CU-SeeMe...this is technically a challenge as we have many video feeds coming in and out of our auditorium on campus. Given that you are in the Bay Area, if interested, I could fax you a map of the campus should you wish to come in person. We will have many high-level people here including Becky Morgan (original founder of Smart Valley) Harry Saal (CEO of Smart Valley), Bill Wong of COmmerceNet, etc.... not to mention our "virtual audience" in Japan.

Here's the announcement:

The following will be broadcasted on CU-SeeMe live this Wednesday, 4/26/95 at 6PM-8:15PM PST (10AM-12:15PM Japan Thursday). It will be available on 36.4.0.111

An agenda follows...please note that for two of the presentations, our broadcast will be temporarily halted as the speakers require a quick connection to the net (we are only using one machine for this.)

Please join us if you have a chance!!!

In this live two-way video bridge with the TEPIA convention center in Tokyo, Japan, we will get a pre-opening view of the multimedia exhibition which doesn't open publicly until the next day.

6:00 MC in Japan: Miss Kuniko Yamashita
Opening message from President Shigeru Harada
Greeting from MITI, Mr. Hideo Morimoto

MC at Stanford: Mr. Richard Dasher
Opening message from Dean Dwain Fullerton
Greeting from Dr. Masahiro Kawahata
Greeting from Professor Joseph Goodman

Presentations from Stanford
Dr. Harry Saal - Smart Valley
Dr. William Wong - CommerceNet (5 min. blackout on CUSEEME)
Mr. Burt Lee - Japan Window (10 min. blackout on CUSEEME)
7:05 Introduction of exhibition hall and exhibitions from TEPIA
1. TEO - Another Earth
Presented by Mr. Atsushi Yagi from Fujitsu, Ltd.
2. Video on Demand
Presented by Mr. Hideki Sakamoto from NTT
3. Hi-Vision Interactive Images
Presented by Mr. Toshiyuki Takarada,NHK Enterprises
4. Virtual Skiing
Presented by Mr. Kunihiro Nakagawa from NEC
5. Automated Building Construction System
Presented by Mr. Yoshihiro Ichioka from Obayashi Corp.

7:30 MC in Japan
Discussion (Q&A session; 2-way video, 2-way audio

8:15 End

Michael Bayle
US-Japan Technology Management Center
Department of Computer Science

CNN via CU-SeeMe at The Aerospace Corporation

From: Louis McDonald
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 07:10:50 -0700

Within our firewalled network, I am using CU-SeeMe to run a feed of CNN or Headline News. The output of the cable/VCR is going into a Mac AV which connects to our reflector. A number of users like having Headline News since it is "news on the half hour".

We also use this set up to broadcast Corporate VTCs that are using the VTC network on ISDN (we branch the video out to another Mac AV).

Louis McDonald
The Aerospace Corporation.

Virtual Office Project

From: GENE@JOHNSON.CORNELL.EDU
Date: Wed, 10 May 1995 11:14:28 -0500 (EST)

Michael, I have been using CU SeeMe for about 18 months. In November of 93, I started something I call the "virtual office project". I belong to a national association of business school computing directors who meet two or three times a year and between meetings communicate electronically. The project put seven people from this organization on CU-SeeMe sharing a private reflector which I run here at Cornell.

We all come to work in the morning and connect to the reflector, and stay parked on each others screens much of the day. The "we" includes my compatriots at MIT, Emory, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, and Purdue. We started it just to see what sorts of interaction opportunities presented themselves because of the ready availability of the technology. It has been really interesting. I had it in mind to write the story anyway, but had not decided on the media.

On a related note, we are planning to use CU SeeMe for a pilot project for HelpDesk consulting next year.

_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ GENE ZIEGLER, alias Dr.Z
_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ Director of Computing Services
_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ Johnson School of Management
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ Cornell University
_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ (607)255-3217

The Oklahoma City Bombing

From: Matthew Sanderson
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 00:54:45 -0400 (EDT)

I'm posting this as an aid to those who truly need the information,

not as a tourist attraction. Please use discretion.

From web page http://www.ionet.net/explode.shtml:

For live feed from KOCO Channel 5 (ABC) in Oklahoma City, go to 204.96.200.5 with CU-SeeMe. The feed from Channel 5 is up. This feed is throttled for 1 fps to conserve bandwidth. Please do not transmit to our site, recieve only.

/ Matthew Sanderson CIS: 70733,2700 'net: matthews@hookup.net
http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/hpp/matthews.html /

Machine room Surveilance

Date: Mon, 08 May 95 09:25:18 CET
From: Espen Lyngaas

The Norwegian School of Management tried CU-SeeMe as a machine room surveilance system :-) This worked fine. Then we installed a video camera in the students computer lab so that students (from home) could see how many people were using the lab (i.e. if there were queues, they wouldn't have to travel go to school until more computers were vacant).

I know that these uses were not that "serious" and probably not what CU-SeeMe was made for :-). However both things worked great. Unfortunately we've had to take them down due to the massive bandwidth CU-SeeMe uses. (We only have one 64Kbps line to the outside world).

Espen Lyngaas Norwegian School of Managment
Computer Systems Administrator Computing Center
EARN: edb88002@nobivm Internet: edb88002@vm.bi.no
Phone: +47-67570708 Cellular: +47-94341160 Fax: +47-67570555

Giving Consumers a Choice: The New World of Telecommunications

From: "Chuck Poulton"
Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 10:03:02 EST -0500

Jacqueline F. Woods, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ameritech Ohio, will present "Giving Consumers a Choice: The New World of Telecommunications" this Thursday, May 18th, 12:30 pm EDT (16:30 GMT) at the monthly meeting of the Akron Roundtable in Akron, Ohio. The audio from this talk will be carried live via the MBONE and CU-SeeMe.

CU-SeeMe users can connect via our reflector at 131.123.89.8 (mozart.wksu.kent.edu). The MBONE session will be announced via sd.

Questions for the speaker can be mailed to roundtable@wksu.kent.edu, and further information can be found at http://www.wksu.kent.edu/rt.html . A RealAudio version of the speech will also be available at the above URL soon after the event has concluded.

Feedback on audio quality to the above e-mail address is always appreciated.

The Buckman School

From: Larry Helseth
Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 09:55:58 -0700

We've used CU-SeeMe to allow the kids to interview people from our classroom. Interviewees have included Craig Hickman, the creator of Kid Pix, Jeff Price, a graphics researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Borre Ludvigsen, a professor from Norway.

The Buckman School's Room 100 QuickCam Page,

http://buckman.pps.k12.or.us/picturecam.html

provides a view of what the kids are doing EVERY 10 MINUTES throughout the day. This is running a [Common Gateway Interface program] and serving up a picture for each log-in as a web page. Pretty nice application. They've also got a pointer from their home page to a page with images of people they've met using CU-SeeMe,

http://buckman.pps.k12.or.us/cuseeme/cuseeme.html

Check it out!

We're just beginning to set up CU-SeeMe with a secure reflector for use for internal communinication within our corporation. I'll send you more info on our plans when I get time. We got started after my wife saw the "Cyberscope" announcement in Newsweek last August describing CU-SeeMe.

Good luck with the book. It'll be a hot seller at Baxter!

--
Supporting Baxter Healthcare's Biotech Community
Larry Helseth, Ph.D.
Baxter Healthcare-Round Lake, IL 60073-0490
(708) 270-5384 [VOICE] (708) 270-5381 [FAX]

Earth Day 1995

Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 14:35:06 -0400
From: Tim_Dorcey@cornell.edu (Tim Dorcey)

Hi Michael,

I've been following your progress with the book deal...I thought I'd sift through some old e-mail, and forward anything that might be of interest. Believe me, I have produced a lot of verbiage on CU-SeeMe over the past couple years.

What follows here is a press release for an event we did at Cornell. Of course, CU-SeeMe is not really designed for this kind of "big event," (a 500-channel cable TV system would be much better suited), but it does illustrate the global nature of CU-SeeMe. I guess the process of collecting the 7 video signals was distinctly CU-SeeMe-ish, whereas the idea of creating a show that lot's of people will simultaneous watch is not characteristic of CU-SeeMe, if that makes sense.

-Tim

Here's what we used as the reflector message of the day to set the stage....

Welcome to Earth Watch 95!

This is the earth. Not a video game or other treat for the senses but simple scenes from around the world, as it exists live at this moment in 1995. It is not a very big place anymore. You have friends in some of these places, or will someday soon. We are all connected. Let your eyes roam our home for a time. Then learn something new about the earth today (you might want to start at http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/).

And here's the press release:

Chris Stuart, cs10@cornell.edu, Information Systems Manager
Center for the Environment, 200 Rice Hall, (607) 255-3972
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu
environment-L@cornell.edu

FOR EARTH DAY, CORNELL WILL CONNECT SEVEN CONTINENTS WITH LIVE VIDEO VIA THE INTERNET

ITHACA, NY - Visiting all continents on the first Earth Day would have required a fast (and air-polluting) jet. Environmentally conscious celebrants of Earth Day '95 will make the same trip, from the comfort of their computers, in an Internet videoconference sponsored by Cornell University's Center for the Environment.

Beginning about 12 noon EST on Friday, April 21, live video from New York City; Tokyo; Rio de Janeiro; Salzburg, Austria; Cape Town, South Africa; Adelaide, Australia; and Antarctica's McMurdo Research Station will appear in seven separate windows on computer screens connected to "EarthWatch '95."

The global view is available to anyone with an Apple Macintosh or an IBM or compatible PC running Microsoft Windows, an Internet connection, and a freely available piece of videoconferencing software called "CU-SeeMe," which was developed at Cornell.

"This will be something like the 1950s, when Edward R. Murrow heralded the age of television by delivering live views of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans simultaneously to homes across the country," said Chris Stuart, the Cornell Center for the Environment director of computing who is coordinating the connection. "The idea is to show how technology has made the world seem smaller while pointing out what has always been true - that we are all interconnected ecologically."

The North American video camera will show the New York City skyline, Stuart said. Live from South America, videoconference viewers will see a rain forest scene, while the European view will originate outside a Salzburg cathedral. The Adelaide camera will be set up on the quadrangle of Flinders University of South Australia to show Earth Day events there. "We're not sure what Tokyo is showing, and there probably won't be much excitement in Antarctica," Stuart said, "although a few penguins may wander by." Video camera operators were recruited from the worldwide legion of CU-SeeMe users, he noted.

EarthWatch '95 will close its video eyes Saturday, April 22, around midnight EST.

The Center for the Environment is an interdisciplinary research, education and outreach program at Cornell University. CU-SeeMe was developed by Tim Dorcey, a senior programmer at Cornell Information Technologies. The "reflector" computer for the videoconference, a Sun SPARC station, is located at Cornell.

Instructions for connecting to EarthWatch '95 and a free download of the CU-SeeMe software are available on World Wide Web at or by anonymous ftp from .

Beijing Spectrometer experiment

From: Joseph M. Izen
Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 10:51:12 -0500

I have been using CU-SeeMe to host weekly analysis meetings between grad students and faculty collaborating on the Beijing Spectrometer experiment. People make GIF versions of their plots, and put them out on the WWW. You're welcome to spy on our meetings as long as you understand that the actual physics results should not be discussed with others. I host the meetings on the [reflector name withheld by request], and typically Colorado State and the Univ of Hawaii, and sometimes Univ of Washington and Cal Tech join in.

We have also experimented with netcasting monthly collaboration meetings when we are all in one place. It takes someone to grab a frame in a slide window and transmit it, and it only works with an AV mac and a real camcorder. The QuickCam images are too small.

This summer we are going to experiment with using it over the internet link to China which was created for my experiment which actually is in Beijing. The ESnet people have warned us to expect audio dropouts since the total bandwidth to china is 64 Kbaud. I suspect CU-SeeMe will be the application that will force the bandwidth issue so that we can get the link upgraded. At present, we have occasional phone conference calls to China which are always initiated (for financial reasons) on the US side. If CU-SeeMe works, than my Chinese collaborators, can initiate calls themselves and I think this will have an extremely healthy impact on the collaboration.

Best regards,
Joe Izen
Assoc. Prof. of Physics.