New Center For Creativity Uses Videoconferencing To Extend Its Mission.

The videoconferencing system at the Kaneko UNO library is available to university members at no charge.

Where do ideas come from? How does a community foster creative thinking? What resources do creative people need to bring new artwork, technologies, music, organizational forms, and other creative work to fruition?

These are some of the questions behind the creation of the new Kaneko UNO Library in Omaha, NE, a joint venture of the new Kaneko Center and the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO). Two new videoconferencing systems installed by St. Louis, MO-based Conference Technologies are at the heart of the library’s mission.

“Part of the philosophy was that there is a world community of creative thinkers,” says Audrey DeFrank, Acting Dean of Libraries at UNO. “We thought, being able to have this technology at the Kaneko is to be able to connect these people from around the world and bring more of this community into Omaha, and Omaha out to the world.”

FACILITATING CREATIVITY

The Kaneko describes itself as “an open space for creativity…a showcase as well as a magnet for those interested in the process of creation.” The brainchild of contemporary artist Jun Kaneko and his wife Ree, it consists of galleries, meeting spaces, and the library, all located within a few blocks of downtown Omaha.

Open to members in the Omaha community as well as UNO students and faculty, the library itself serves several functions within the Kaneko complex, housing research materials, special displays, and classrooms, all on the theme of creativity. But more than that, “there’s the concept of the third place,” DeFrank explains, meaning a social and work environment separate from the home and traditional workplace. “People are not really tied down to a physical work space any more. That’s why you go to Starbucks or a Panera Bread and sit down for hours with your laptop.”

DeFrank says this “third place” concept is a guiding principal for all of the UNO libraries, but the Kaneko Library expands it dramatically by using videoconferencing to include anyone in the world with a video connection — creating, among other things, a long-distance artists in residence program.

The library also makes the installed systems available to any Kaneko or university members at no charge, to conference with anyone anywhere for almost any purpose.

HIGH DEFINITION

The Kaneko Library’s ability to make use of these systems and offer them so generously has a lot to do with recent advances in technology.

According to Adam Rosenthal of Conference Technologies (CTI), who designed the Kaneko videoconferencing systems, there were three main goals in mind. “First, we provided high-definition systems, because that was the only way to get the clarity needed to see an artist at work.” Second, the systems are IP-based, which means, given that the library had already invested in a high-end T1-based network for data communications and research purposes, they could operate them at essentially no cost. Third, because they’re standards-based, they can connect with virtually any IP-based videoconference system, no matter what the brand or model.

Rosenthal says, for each of the installations, CTI installers wired three 52-inch LG 52LG50DC flat panel displays that the university had purchased and mounted on articulating Chief wall mounts. All three have their own dedicated PCs with wireless keyboards and mice, and CTI connected two of them to a LifeSize Team 200 videoconferencing unit. Each installation is tucked into a corner of the main floor of the library. An additional wall isolates the systems to some degree from the rest of the space while still making it easy for patrons to stop by and view an ongoing conference or, when they’re available, use the systems as they wish.

“When there is no videoconference going on, you can sit down and browse the internet and do any kind of research, viewing your Creative Collaboration NEW CENTER FOR CREATIVITY USES VIDEOCONFERENCING TO EXTEND ITS MISSION. yourworld education The videoconferencing system at the Kaneko UNO library is available to university members at no charge. work on those individual TVs,” he explains. “When a videoconference is up and running, one of the PCs becomes a video source for the LifeSize system, so you can share information from the internet or that you have loaded up on that computer with people on your far end.”

Rosenthal says that, while there is a certain amount of background noise coming from the library, the microphone pod, or “Lifesize Phone” that’s part of the Team 200 system, handles it well. “It has 16 microphones in a circular array, ” he explains. “You put it on the table during a conference and it senses who the speaker is, then shifts the coverage so it picks up sound only from that one direction.” [See sidebar.] Because of the small size of the space, CTI was able to use the loudspeakers built into the LG displays as the only loudspeakers for the system.

In addition to providing the videoconferencing gear at the library, Rosenthal suggested that UNO purchase a LifeSize Express 200 portable unit, which staff can ship to artists in residence, lecturers, business leaders, or others they want to bring electronically into the library. “The idea,” he explains, “is that users can sit on couches in the library and watch artists or other creative people do their work, and at the same time ask them questions and share ideas.”

The quality of the video and audio depends on the internet connection, but H.264 compression is so good now that a 720p call requires only about 1 Mb/s up and down, which is easily available even for home connections in the United States and much of Europe and Asia. “High definition is definitely important in the visual arts, where we want to have a true representation of the art coming across,” DeFrank says. “When we had our opening we had several of these connections with artists in L.A. and other locations. People were able to experience how the work was being done almost as if they were there.”

Though a 720p call requires only 1 Mb/s in bandwidth, Rosenthal says 1.5 Mb/s is more typical, with the additional 500 Kb/s dedicated to data sharing. The LifeSize Team 200 is actually a multipoint unit, with the ability to connect up to four sites at one time, so it will, at times, require more bandwidth.

“The videoconferencing units are sharing bandwidth with the rest of the library, ” Rosenthal explains. “We don’t have a dedicated T1 and have not partitioned off a part of the network in any way. But one nice thing about that unit is that it has an auto bandwidth feature. It rides secondary, so it will only take what’s actually available to it. Your quality, of course, adjusts with the amount of bandwidth available, but it’s not sitting there saying, ‘I have to have a meg in order to run.’” Rosenthal says the systems were relatively inexpensive: roughly $15,000 for all of the electronics used in each setup.

A WORLDWIDE COMMUNITY

DeFrank reports that the UNO library system now offers patrons access to over 200 research databases, 65,000 full text journal and magazine titles, plus video news feeds, films, and other programming in six foreign languages, all in addition to its more traditional print and media collections. “The library today puts the world at your fingertips,” she says. The connection to UNO is crucial to the Kaneko’s mission. “It’s one thing to have a spark of creativity. We also provide the ability to delve deeper into our research resources once someone has that spark.”

The video systems are one more step in this ongoing process — one that is beginning to allow face-to-face communications with anyone, anywhere.

“This is just a natural extension to the way people are communicating and socializing online,” says DeFrank. “It’s another way to bring creative people together.”