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This article appeared in the Dec. 2004 issue of Min
Manjari, the e-journal of INFITT, the
International Forum for
Information
Technology in Tamil.
“The 16 Oct. 2004, and 15 Oct. 2005,
Webcasted-Videoconferences
for the Demonstration and Discussion of Children’s Tamil (and Other)
Songs/Chants/Dances/Games,
and Methods of Teaching and Learning Spoken Tamil Language”
by Eric Miller
ko-lai-ya, ko-lai-ya mun-thi-ri-kaa,
ne-Ra-ya, ne-Ra-ya ceet-thu vaa!
a bunch, a bunch of cashew-nut fruits,
more, more add and come!
These words are chanted by a player as he or she circles
around a ring
of seated players, at the beginning of one of Tamil Nadu’s most popular
children’s songs-dances-games. This was one of the
songs-dances-games
demonstrated by the Tamil children in Chennai in the course of our 16
Oct.
2004 “webcasted-videoconference.” In this event, myself and Tamil
children (and others) at a site in Chennai videoconferenced with
children
of Tamil descent (and others) at a site in Philadelphia, USA.
This article considers certain technical issues raised by
the 16 Oct.
2004 videoconference -- especially the issue of methods of displaying
electronic
text in the course of a videoconference. The article also looks
forward
to the repeat of the event, scheduled for 15 Oct. 2005. This
article
is a follow-up to my paper, “Chennai
and Videoconferencing,” which was
presented at the 2003 INFITT (International Forum for Information
Technology
in Tamil) conference in Chennai.
To begin with, I must apologise that this article is being
written in
English, and that no Tamil characters appear herein. The words of
the Tamil songs-dances-games under study -- in Tamil characters, along
with English transliterations and translations -- are available here (click "Chapter IV").
An audio-video
recording of Tamil children performing 14 of the songs-dances-games in
their
village
in southwestern Tamil Nadu is here.
At this juncture it may be helpful for me to define some
terms as they
are used in this article: Videoconferencing and webcasting are
two
forms of “tele-presence,” or “video-mediated communication.” In a
videoconference, all parties can send and receive audio and video to
and
from each other. A videoconference may occur via the Internet, or
via other systems. A webcast, on the other hand, occurs via the
Internet
only, and only one party transmits the audio and/or video “stream”
(those
who receive the stream may respond via e-mail, etc.). In a
webcasted-videoconference,
a mix of the videoconferencing parties’ audio and video is
near-instantaneously
relayed onto the Internet so that an audience can observe the
videoconference
conversation.
The 16 Oct. 2004 webcasted-videoconference began at Saturday
10:30pm
in Chennai, which was Saturday 1pm in Philadelphia. On that date,
Chennai time (like the time in all of India) was 9.5 hours ahead of USA
East Coast time. Presently (in Nov.), Chennai is 10.5 hours ahead
of USA East Coast time, as the USA’s “Daylights Saving Time” period has
ended. Daylights Saving Time is a system of adjusting
time-measurement,
used by the USA to ensure that daylight there occurs during
approximately
the same hours throughout the year. It involves clocks being
moved
ahead one hour during half of the year (April-Oct.). To be
precise,
Daylights Saving Time begins on the first Sunday of each April (when
clocks
are moved ahead one hour), and ends on the last Sunday of each Oct.
(when
clocks are moved back one hour) -- thus the saying, “Spring ahead, Fall
behind.”
When videoconferencing with students, audiences, and others,
in different
countries, we in Chennai will often need to videoconference at odd
hours,
and to be aware of other countries’ time-keeping customs. This
will
be necessary in order for us to be able to cater to our clients around
the world, that is, to make communication with us optimally attractive
and convenient.
The 16 Oct. 2004 event was a three-ISDN-line, non-Internet,
videoconference
between two sites: one in Chennai (at the Reliance Webworld facility on
TTK Road, in Alwarpet), and one in Philadelphia, USA (at the University
of Pennsylvania). However, two innovations were added:
1) At the Philadelphia site, a video mixer was used to
combine the incoming
and local pictures in a split-screen fashion. As both written
Tamil
and English are read from left to right, we decided to place the
Chennai
picture on the left side of the screen, in the initiating position, and
the Philadelphia picture on the right side of the screen, in the
responding
position. This was meant to represent that in this
videoconference,
the primary demonstrating was being done at the Chennai site.
This combined, split-screen picture was sent back to us in
Chennai as
the videoconference signal coming from the Philadelphia site.
Thus
we in Chennai saw our own image with a double-delay: the delay caused
by
us sending our picture to Philadelphia, and the delay caused by
Philadelphia
sending it back to us. (We in Chennai had practised in advance
seeing
our own image with such an approximately two-second delay). The
same
split-screen picture was displayed on a large screen both in the
Philadelphia
room and in the Chennai room.
2) The Philadelphia site also relayed the split-screen
picture onto
the Internet as a live audio-video webcast. This sort of
webcasted-videoconference
is a practice we have been developing for a number of years at the
University
of Pennsylvania. For viewers of the (live, and now, recorded)
webcast,
the experience is similar to that of viewing on television a
videoconferenced
conversation between, say, a news-anchorperson in a studio, and a
distant
reporter or interviewee.
We are looking forward to making a number of improvements in
the repeat
event, scheduled for Saturday 15 Oct. 2005. One area slated for
possible
improvement is the method of displaying (Tamil and English) text during
the event.
Methods of Displaying Text in a Videoconference
In the 16 Oct. 2004 event, the method of displaying text was
a bit cumbersome:
In the Chennai videoconferencing room, I used a laptop computer and a
projector
to show texts (in Tamil and English) on a large white cloth held
against
the back wall of the room. Reliance Webworld videoconferencing
suites
feature a beautifully-designed graphic on the back wall. As this
was a special academic and dance event, Reliance kindly permitted us to
hang a large blue cloth against the back wall, to give a solid, neutral
surface. During the times when text was projected, a large white
cloth was held in front of this large blue cloth.
Another way that we in Chennai could have displayed text
during the
videoconference would have been to temporarily replace our outgoing
video
picture with a computer-generated picture. Or, a
picture-in-picture
combination could have been used (with the Chennai computer picture
small,
inserted into a section of the Chennai video picture; or vice-versa,
with
the Chennai video picture small, inserted into a section of the Chennai
computer picture).
However, I tend to prefer the use of a “video wall” --
whether created
by video projection (as was the case in the 16 Oct. 2004 event), or by
video panels. With a video wall, all present in the room can see
the display clearly, and there is the option of the presenter sitting
or
standing in front of, and gesturing at, what is being shown.
In the 16 Oct. 2004 event, frontal video projection was
used.
Rear projection can also be used -- in the case of rear projection,
parts
of the projected material does not go onto the body of a presenter who
might be in front of the video wall. A disadvantage of projection
is that the room lighting tends to wash out the picture.
Advantages
of projection include that it is relatively inexpensive, and that the
projected
picture is not segmented.
Video panels, on the other hand, produce a segmented video
wall -- a
narrow border appears around each panel. Another disadvantage of
video panels is that their use tends to be very expensive.
An advantage of video panels is that they stand up to the room lighting
very well. Anyone who watched CNN during the recent USA
presidential
election was treated to see a splendid application of a large video
wall
composed of video panels. This video wall was three panels high
(coming
to approximately eight feet), and about 12 panels wide (coming to
approximately
40 feet). A wide variety of material was shown on this video wall
during height of the election coverage (over an almost-24-hour period),
including words, numbers, and live and pre-recorded video. The
in-studio
hosts and guests stood in front of this video wall and used their
entire
bodies to gesture at sections of the wall.
Yet another possible method of presenting text in a
videoconference
is a “chroma-key” process. A chroma-key (a video production term)
is created by placing a solid color background, typically a certain
shade
of blue, behind the human presenter. That solid field of color is
then, in the outgoing picture, electronically replaced by another
source
(a computer-generated picture, for example). A disadvantage of
this
method is that the presenter (and other people in the room) cannot see
the computer-generated material by looking at the room’s back wall --
instead,
they need to look at a nearby video monitor to see the other material,
and the way that the presenter’s image appears as it is superimposed
over
that other material. This is a type of “virtual set.” It
has
for many years been a favourite technique for television weather
presentations;
in some cases, it now is used for entire television news
programmes.
Chroma-keys are also often used in special effect movie-making: and a
version
of this process is employed to create the “holodeck” in the Star Trek
television
series, and films.
Utilising and experimenting with the above-described options
-- along
with the possibilities of participants drawing and painting
electronically,
and having their body movements automatically effect electronic
graphics
-- can transform a videoconference room into a multimedia classroom,
or,
thought of in another way, into an artistic and expressive
environment.
Such activity can make a videoconference room similar to a television
studio
or a movie set, or an artist’s studio. In the past,
videoconference
rooms have generally been considered to be places suitable only for
serious
and formal business meetings, typically with people statically sitting
around large tables. This arrangement was perhaps thought to give
a sense of dignity and power to the participants. In the 16 Oct.
2004 event, we used a variety of camera shots: group shots, and various
types of close-ups. This also differed from the standard business
videoconference practice, which has been to primarily show people’s
images
from the middle part of the body to the top of the head.
Lessons Learned from the 16 Oct. 2004 Event, and Ideas
for Next Year
It seems that only a few people watched the live webcast on
16 Oct.
2004. Although viewers were invited to send in e-mails and to
enter
a text chat room, no text questions or comments from viewers reached
the
videoconference participants during the event. Next year, we hope
to be more successful in alerting people about the live webcast, and in
structuring matters so that incoming questions and comments can
periodically
be responded to by the videoconferencing participants. Two of our
target audiences for next year’s webcast are people around the world
who
appreciate 1) Tamil language and culture, and 2) children’s
songs-dances-games.
One thing we learned from the 16 Oct. 2004 event was that
ring games
are especially interesting in the videoconference context. In
some
ring games, one player circles around the outside of the ring; in
others,
the entire ring circles around. Next year we are planning to once
again mostly use a split-screen configuration, and, at least during
some
of the ring games, we are considering the possibility of having one
side
of the screen show half of the ring from one site, and of having the
other
half of the screen show the other half of the ring from the other
site.
In this way, people in two different locations would attempt to play a
single ring game together.
In the course of the 16 Oct. 2004 event, the children in
Philadelphia
demonstrated one English-language ring game -- “Ring Around the
Rosie.”
Eventually, we in Chennai formed our own ring, and we followed
along.
After the children in Philadelphia sang the line, “Ashes, ashes, we all
fall down!”, children on both sides of the videoconference, in their
separate
rings, fell down. Because of the transmission delay, however, on
the screen in the Philadelphia room, the images of the Chennai children
fell down approximately one second after the Philadelphia children had
fallen down. It is useful to engage in an activity like this --
with
both vocal and physical components -- near the beginning of a
videoconference.
This way, people on both sides of the videoconference can be aware of
the
transmission-delay: they can be aware that the people on the other end
are going to take an extra second or so to hear and respond to each
message.
Another thing we observed on 16 Oct. 2004 is that the
children seemed
to enjoy speaking to each other through the use of hand puppets.
Using the split-screen configuration the way we did necessitated that
people
in each room saw both the local and the distant pictures -- that is,
they
saw their own images, as well as the images from the distant
site.
Seeing oneself can cause some self-consciousness. However,
holding
up a hand puppet and presenting that image on the screen -- whether or
not one’s face also appears -- seems to take away some of the
self-consciousness
and pressure that can develop when people seek to communicate primarily
face-to-face in a videoconference. Using the puppets as a playful
form of mediation seemed to relax people. The hand puppets were a
tiger on the Chennai side, and a lion and a bear on the Philadelphia
side.
The children operating the puppets had these animals asking each other
what their names and native places were, and what food they liked to
eat.
These were among the initial questions that the children had been
asking
each other in the language-practice session that had occurred some time
earlier in the videoconference.
In next year’s event, we are looking forward to facilitating
more back-and-forth,
question-and-answer exchanges between people at the two sites --
especially
during the language-practice section of the event. A number of
the
children’s Tamil songs-games-dances we are working with involve the
chanting
of a series of brief questions-and-answers. In some games, one
word
is taken from each answer, and a new question is made using that
word.
Ancient forms of Tamil poetry -- such as the Bhakti form of poetry, an-thaa-thi,
practised especially by the poet, Abirami Pattar -- have also followed
versions of this pattern. A recent Tamil television programme,
“Paattukku
Paattu,” is also built around this universally-common principle of
artistic
composition. We are eager to develop versions of this pattern for
language-practice exercises.
Long-term Projects
Uma Ramesh, who owns the Reliance Webworld facility
on TTK Road
in Alwarpet, Chennai,
was especially helpful in regard to the 16 Oct. 2004
webcasted-videoconference:
we owe much of the success this event may have enjoyed to the splendid
services provided by her, and by Reliance Infocom in
general.
Ms. Ramesh also happens to be an excellent performer and teacher of
Bharata
Natyam dance. She is interested in the possibility of beginning a
Virtual
Dance School. Eventually, numerous aspects of Chennai’s
December
classical music and dance season could be shared with the world via
videoconferencing
and webcasting.
My specialty as a Folklore scholar is forms of
storytelling. I
am hoping to help to facilitate (videoconference and other) classes in Kathaiyum-paaTTum
(story and song, typically practiced in small villages); VillupaaTTu;
and Katha Kalak Chepam, also known as Harikatha
(traditionally
an orthodox Hindu form of religious discourse -- on a similar level of
culture with Carnatic music and Bharata Natyam dance). All three
of these forms of storytelling involve the performer alternating
between
a variety of styles of speaking, chanting, and singing.
These classes may develop into an institute for the study
of, and training
in, forms of storytelling. This projected International
Storytelling
Institute might eventually be affiliated with universities and/or
non-government-organisations,
such as, for example, India’s National Folklore Support Centre
(based
in Velachery, Chennai), which has kindly been supervising my Folklore
Ph.D.
fieldwork here in India. The NFSC, by the way, is scheduled to
begin
the Asian School of Folklore Studies, which is also planning to
offer courses and training via webcast and videoconference.
Classes
in children’s Tamil songs-dances-games are among those scheduled to be
offered (both to those physically-present and to those tele-present).
In all of these cases, teachers could give instruction via
videoconference,
and then, perhaps once or twice a year, could meet the students in
person,
either by traveling to the students, or by the students traveling to
Chennai.
Numerous studies have shown that videoconference education is most
effective
when teachers and students also periodically meet physically.
Thus,
videoconferenced communication should not be seen as a substitute for
physically-present
communication, but rather as a complement to it. Thus, I submit
that
building up Chennai’s abilities to videoconference and webcast in
relation
to the performing arts and education will only increase the physical
travel
to and from the city.
In today’s world, individuals interested in receiving
training in rare
art forms may not be living in the same location in which those art
forms
originated, and in which teachers of those art forms are based.
These
students may not even be of the same ethnic backgrounds as the
originators
of those art forms. Through videoconferencing and webcasting,
individuals
with specialised common interests can teach and learn from each other,
and in the process they can help ancient art forms to survive and
develop.
Although videoconferencing has been in existence for quite
some time
(especially in certain business and government circles), it is only now
beginning to come into its own as a medium for members of the public to
use for private and civic meetings, artistic events, and other social
purposes.
We are fortunate to be living at a time when we can help to give shape
to this new medium, and to use it to share beautiful culture around the
world.
We in Chennai are in need of numerous large and flexible
spaces for
videoconferencing, which can be called “teletoriums.” The
excellent videoconferencing suites offered by Reliance
Webworld
are simply not spacious enough for videoconferences which may involve
dozens
of participants and observers at each site.
Eric Miller (<eric@storytellinginstitute.org>, www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com
) was a Ph.D. candidate in Folklore (University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia,
USA), at the time of writing this article: he has since graduated.