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Edited & Last Updated 3/7/2002 by jow

Megaconference Working Group

** Now Including the First On-Line Internet2 Member Meeting **

Beth Fellendorf, UB/MFC Distance Learning Operations
Peter Jörgensen, UB/CIT/ITS & School of Informatics
James O. Whitlock, UB/CIT/WNY-HPNVI

WNY Local Megaconference-III/Internet2 News

20011004:

• With excellent live streams of the Internet2 meetings available direct from conference organizers and no known local interest in live interactive participation, public participation sites and relay streams from our Sandbox will not be maintained on 10/4 or 10/5.  See Virtual Internet2 Member Meeting - Live Streams for information and links to the live conference streams.

• The Megaconference-III was, again, a remarkable success and record-breaking on-line global conference.  All continents were represented. At least six WNY H.323 videoconferencing sites participated interactively and two sites were open for public participation.  The BISSNET site at Nichols Academy even won a door prize!  WNY participants established promising new collaborative contacts and many valuable lessons were learned by IP-video technology developers and support staff.  We'll provide a summary of experiences and lessons learned as time permits.

20011003:

• Final MC-III connection instructions have been posted at Megaconference-III & Internet2 Transmittals.

• Please review my notes on Appropriate Expectations for Quality.

• The WMP stream server instability experienced yesterday should be corrected by the beginning of today's on-line events.

• Please remember to keep your microphone muted while on-line.

20011002:

• Instructions for participating in and viewing streams from the Virtual Internet2 Member Meeting (VIMM) are now posted at Megaconference-III & Internet2 Transmittals.  

• A portal for the VIMM has been created, the Main Entrance.  Start there for the latest program details, procedural FAQ's and connection details.

• See Where to go in WNY for local viewing and participation sites and contacts.

• UB Campus cable will carry VIMM and Megaconference-III sessions live on Channel 44.  Live programming will be maintained on a best-effort basis.  Contact Peter Jörgensen for information and assistance.

• WNY-HPNVI Sandbox Status:  Streams will be maintained on a best-effort basis.  All local interested sites are connecting directly.  The MCU may be involved in tests for the Megaconference-III.  Please make prior arrangements with Jim Whitlock by email or phone/pager if you need to use Sandbox facilities this week.

20010927:

• The latest instructions for dialing-in to the Megaconference-III rehearsal on Friday, September 28^th at 11:00 EDT have been posted on our site at Megaconference-III & Internet2 Transmittals.

• We are ViDeNet Members and our Exit Zone Prefix is "0" (zero).  The How to Participate as a Site and How to Test Connectivity sections below have been revised to note that explicitly.  Always check our Sandbox Facilities Guide for current Gatekeeper and Sandbox configuration details.

• BISSNET will be  happy to welcome WNY to Nichols Academy to observe the Megaconference. The videoconferencing system  is located in the basement of Moot Hall. Parking is available behind the school and there will  posted.  Contact Carol A Kostyniak for further details.

20010926:

• The Department of Library and Information Studies, School of Informatics conference room on the fifth floor of Baldy Hall will be live for the entire Megaconference-III event.  See Where to go in WNY and/or WNY Local Megaconference-III/Internet2 Transmittals for details.

• Due to technical problems with cascades on the new facilities at OSU supporting the conferences next week, we are not yet sure whether or not our local MCU will be part of the live conference events.  Our priority, in any case, is to have local WNY endpoints connect directly in order to avoid the additional latency and complexity of local cascades.  See How to Test Connectivity below, run tests with your endpoint system and contact Jim Whitlock if you find that the local MCU is significantly better for you.  We do not expect that to be so for on-campus sites.

20010925:

• A preliminary Program for the first ever Virtual Internet2 Member Meeting has been posted on the new Internet2 Virtual Conference site.  This on-line conference will wrap around the Megaconference-III and use the same facilities and technologies as well as a few more!

• Peter Jörgensen and Beth Fellendorf have started working on the possibility of feeding a campus cable-TV channel with next week's Megaconference-III and Virtual Internet2 Member Meetings.

• Dialing and Connection Instructions have been posted for the rehearsal tests on Tuesday 9/25 at 11:00 EDT.  Please review recent Megaconference-III posts and check the Megaconference-III Web site for complete information on participation.  We expect the local MCU and streams to also be available.  Plans for assignments to local and central MCU's will be posted here and on local lists as soon as they are available.  Contact Jim Whitlock if you need Gateway access or technical support.

20010923:

• The Internet2 Fall Membership Meeting in Austin is being cancelled.  Plans are to support an expanded number of sessions on the Megaconference-III with its massive global conferencing facilities.

• Don't miss the excellent Megaconference-III Schedule and Conference Program Poster PDF file.  It should print fine on 8.5x11.0 paper.

• The School of Informatics will provide a public-access Megaconference-III viewing and participation site.  Details will be announced on local lists.  Contact Peter Jörgensen for details, directions, and updates.

• Nichols and St. Josephs, two of the BISSNET schools, report that their Veraview designed videoconferencing systems are installed and ready to use.  They're working on establishing connectivity with the Megaconference-III over their own I1 facilities.  Whether they will be able to offer public access for viewing and participation is not known at this time.

• There are no other known plans for public-access Megaconference-III viewing and participation sites in WNY at this time.

• The WNY-HPNVI and Veraview will support live streams and limited VOD after-the-fact.  Our usual 24/7 live streams will carry live content, our IP/TV Content Manager will index any MPEG-1 VOD captured, and Veraview will index any WPM VOD captured.  See WNY-HPNVI - Live Streams & Video-On-Demand for more details.  

• The WNY-HPNVI will play a small role this year since more sites can connect directly and there will be no local on-line conference presentations.  All interested sites should register for the Megaconference-II as soon as possible.  No coordination with the WNY-HPNVI is necessary but we would like to know about WNY site plans.  Contact Jim Whitlock with any news, updates or requests for subscriptions to the local IP-video distribution and discussion lists.

20010718: 

• The immediate priority for the 2001 Megaconference event this Fall, will be deciding how broad our regional participation can be given other project, advocacy, and developmental project loads.  I personally cannot repeat last year's testing, educating, certification and coordination efforts without bringing everything else to a standstill for about two months of wall-clock time and far more time actually invested.

• As of 7/18/2001, Bob Dixon had just started to float heads-ups that the final plan for this year would soon be announced.  We expect the new Internet2 Commons, a massive video related project, to launch about the same time -- so it will be a double-whammy trying to get and stay on top of it all.

• More to follow ATP.

• Contact me if you're willing to volunteer, whether you're technically sophisticated or not.  We will need writers, coordination help, technical help, and lots more -- maybe even a bake sale to raise funds.

WNY Local Megaconference-III & Internet2 Transmittals

• 10080 - Appropriate Expectations for IP-Video Quality - 20011002 - whitlock.eml
• 10070 - I2 Megaconference Public Access Site - P Jorgensen 20010926.txt
• 10060 - Megaconference to be Small Part of Larger Internet2 On-Line Conference.txt
• 10050 - Announcing Megaconference III - Oct 3.txt
• 10040 - Re: Washington Internet2 Meeting Cancelled - Megaconference May Provide Partial Solution.txt
• 10030 - Washington Internet2 Meeting Cancelled - Megaconference May Provide Partial Solution.txt
• 10020 - Re_ CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN MEGACONFERENCE III !.txt
• 10010 - Re_ Please Join the Commons_Megaconference Load Tests.txt

Megaconference-III & Internet2 Transmittals

• 00120b - Final Megaconference III Announcement - CORRECTION - 20011003.eml - email version with links preserved

• 00110b - Final Megaconference III Announcement - 20011003b.eml - email version with links preserved

• 00100 - Welcome to the Virtual Internet2 Member Meeting - 20011001.eml - email version with links preserved

• 00100 - Welcome to the Virtual Internet2 Member Meeting - 20011001.txt

• 00090 - Dialing Information and Megaconference Update 27 Sept 01.txt

• 00080 - Dialing Information for Megaconference Rehearsal 25 Sept.txt

• 00070 - How to see the Slides in the Megaconference.txt

• 00060 - CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN MEGACONFERENCE III !.txt

• 00050 - RESULTS OF THE 2ND COMMONS_MEGACONFERENCE MCU LOAD TEST.txt

• 00041 - Commemorative Tin Order Info.doc

• 00040 - Special Megaconference Virtual Picnic Instructions.txt

• 00030 - CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN MEGACONFERENCE III !.txt

• 00020 - Second Megaconference_Commons MCU Load Test.txt

• 00010 - Megaconference 2.5_ Results.txt

• 00000 - Please Join the Commons_Megaconference Load Tests.txt

How to Participate as a Site

• Register your site for Megaconference-III immediately.
• Read Bob Dixon's Megaconference-III Transmittals, at least the most recent ones for dialing instructions and more complete information on participation.
• Check the schedule and participate in the practice sessions.  Don't embarrass WNY, this does take practice.
• Contact Jim Whitlock or Ken Szczepanski before registering new endpoint systems on the WNY-HPNVI Gatekeeper.  They will  also provide procedural and technical assistance.
• NB: We are members of ViDeNet so the Megaconference dialing instructions are correct as noted.  Our <Exit Zone Prefix> is <0>.  The correct dial number for the first MC-III rehearsal MCU conference listed, for example, if your system is registered on the WNY-HPNVI Gatekeeper, is <06127674391973*1234>.  Current information on our Gatekeeper configuration and on our Sandbox facilities in general can be found  in our Facilities Guide.
• If you are an Internet1 site 
  • and have high bandwidth high quality connectivity to our campus (e.g. FDDI) 
  • and believe your video might be better on our local MCU because of a poor I1 path to the conference MCU 
  • and you accept the additional latency that a cascade connection imposes, 
  • then contact Jim Whitlock to coordinate a local MCU connection.  An operator with a mutable telephone that can be used for off-line coordination at all times is a requirement for local MCU connections.
• If you would like to participate but only have H.320 ISDN dial-up videoconferencing capabilities, contact Jim Whitlock for possible Gatewayed connections.  Please note whether you are willing to be a public access viewing and participation site for the conference.  There is very limited Gateway capacity and tests and practices will be required.  

How to Test Connectivity

To register with the WNY-HPNVI Gatekeeper:

• If you have not registered the system on our Gatekeeper before and completed basic interoperability tests, please contact Jim Whitlock before registering your system.

• If the system has been certified with us before, set the Gatekeeper address to <128.205.10.2>, <wny-gk.buffalo.edu>.

To test with the Megaconference MCU

• When rehearsals are in progress, join them.

• When rehearsals are in not progress, test against the OSU Megaconference Open MCU.  The dial numbers provided in the instructions are correct when registered on the WNY-HPNVI Gatekeeper.

• NB: We are members of ViDeNet so the Megaconference dialing instructions are correct as noted.  Our <Exit Zone Prefix> is <0>.  The correct dial number for the first MC-III rehearsal MCU conference listed, for example, if your system is registered on the WNY-HPNVI Gatekeeper, is <06127674391973*1234>.  Current information on our Gatekeeper configuration and on our Sandbox facilities in general can be found  in our Facilities Guide.

To test with the WNY-HPNVI MCU

• Register with the WNY-HPNVI Gatekeeper (see above) or with the GK of a site with which we are Neighbored (see WNY-HPNVI Sandbox Facilities and Access.txt).

• Dial the default 384 Kbps H.261 conference at <70*1234> with appropriate <exit-zone> and <zone-prefix> if calling from an out-of-zone Neighbored GK.

Where to go in WNY

• Nichols Academy:

  • BISSNET will be  happy to welcome WNY to Nichols Academy to observe the Megaconference. The videoconferencing system  is located in the basement of Moot Hall. Parking is available behind the school and there will  posted.  Contact Carol A Kostyniak for further details.

• University at Buffalo:

  • The Department of Library and Information Studies, School of Informatics conference room on the fifth floor of Baldy Hall will be live for the entire Megaconference-III event.  Internet2 Virtual Member Meeting coverage is not yet known..  Contact Peter Jörgensen for the latest details and updates. The complete text of his latest relevant transmittal follows:

    Greetings, Please distribute this to faculty and staff in your area. I'm happy to announce that with the cooperation of Dean Penniman the entire MegaConference <http://www.mega-net.net/megaconference> will be accessible in the Department of Library and Information Studies, School of Informatics conference room on the fifth floor of Baldy Hall. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided to enhance the "conference" atmosphere - name badges are optional ;-). You do not need to register for this event, just come by for which ever presentations you think will interest you. The schedule of presentations is at     http://www.mega-net.net/megaconference/Schedule.htm This will be an interactive video connection so you will be able to ask questions of the presenters and talk to other virtual attendees during the breaks. We are exploring the possiblity of providing access to the other I2 conference events in this location as well. An update will follow when details are available. Peter Jorgensen Manager - CIT Advanced Technology Skunkworks 716-645-3879 peter@jorg2.cit.buffalo.edu

   

• There are no other known plans for public-access Megaconference-III viewing and participation sites in WNY at this time.  New public access site locations will be publicized on the WNY-HPNVI  IP-Video interest group listserv and on this page.

Calendar and Schedule

For the latest Megaconference-III schedule updates, always check the Megaconference-III Schedule. 

• The next rehearsal is Tuesday Sept 25 at 11 am EDT.

• The final rehearsal is Friday Sept 28 at 11 am EDT.

Please be there, especially if you were not in the first rehearsal.

What and Why

• Megaconference-III Home Page

• WNY-HPNVI - About The Annual Megaconference

• Why Bother with the Megaconference - 20001101d.pdf

• Obstacles to Regional HPNV Connectivity - 20000410b.pdf

• Record Breaking On-Line Conference Features WNY Presenters - 20001110a.pdf

• Post-Mortem Participation Report from The WNY-HPNVI - 20001102a.pdf

• Bob Dixon Educause Award Nomination - 20010131.pdf