Resource of the Week — UChannel
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
We regularly post links to webcasts here on ResourceShelf, and you may have noticed that a fair number of these originate at universities. Which makes sense, since most institutions of higher learning regularly play host to well-known speakers, sponsor lecture series, organize panel discussions, etc. These days, thanks to the Internet, you don’t have to be a member of a university community to partake of such events. If you’ve got a decent connection, you can be anywhere in the world — and listen or watch at your leisure.
If you enjoy webcasts of this nature, you will definitely want to spend some time at UChannel — “A collection of public affairs lectures, panels and events from academic institutions all over the world — for you to view, listen to, stream or download.” UChannel (or University Channel) is a project of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The About page tells us:
It is a place where academics can air their ideas and present research in a full-length, uncut format. Contributors with greater video production capabilities can submit original productions.
The UChannel presents ideas in a way commercial news or public affairs programming cannot. Because it is neither constrained by time nor dependent upon commercial feedback, the UChannel’s video content can be broad and flexible enough to cover the full gamut of academic investigation.
While it has unlimited potential, the UChannel begins with a focus on public and international affairs, because this is an area which lends itself most naturally to a many-sided discussion. Perhaps of greatest advantage to universities who seek to expand their dialog with overseas institutions and international affairs, the UChannel can “go global” and become a truly international forum.
The UChannel aims to become, literally, a “channel” for important thought, to be heard in its entirety. Television has become so much a part of the fabric of our world that it should be more than an academic interest. It should be an academic tool.
The tag cloud at the top of the home page makes for a very simple navigation scheme. Alternately, there’s a simple keyword search box on the lefthand side. While most of the tags are topical, several are school names, so you can go directly to media available from a particular institution. A list of contributors is available. The most recent additions, on the home page, clearly demonstrate the eclectic mix of content here, including:
The presentations are in a variety of formats — mp3 audio, mp4 video, and several flavors of streaming audio and video. Member institutions can access broadcast quality mpeg2 video. UChannel also “provides free quality programming to TV operations that serve the public interest.”
You can subscribe to any or all of four RSS feeds here, described as follows:
1. Main - shows all new entries to the website
2. Podcast - shows all new mp3 audio files
3. Vodcast - shows all new mpeg4 (mp4 or m4v) video files (these are much larger than the audio files, and run about 200 MB for a one-hour lecture)
4. Blog - shows any new entry in our “Read This” column, which is reserved for news items related to the UChannel or its content
If you prefer, you can also watch these presentations via YouTube or Facebook, or access them via Apple’s iTunes Store. They are distributed under the Creative Commons ‘Attribution, NonCommercial, NoDerivatives’ Deed.
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