Internet Lectures Research: Benefits of Web lectures

Internet Lectures Research:

Broadening the Audience for Live Slide Show Presentations

Sections:

Introduction

Benefits of Web lectures

Scope of opportunity

Barriers

Solutions

TFAO financial assistance

Other multimedia projects

For further study

Responses to inquiries

Notes

Benefits of Web lectures:

Web lectures are available at the convenience of the audience instead of the presenter. They are available for replay 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year to audiences worldwide, reaching persons who are unable to be present for the "in person" lectures. Web lectures enable audiences to easily control the learning experience. Viewers can watch the parts of the lecture that interest them, skip over others and "drill down" to additional resources with hyperlinks. Web lectures save the audience time in retrieving relevant information within a presentation.

Although live presentations in a brick and mortar room are not available for retrieval, Web lectures can be permanently archived, indexed and replayed, extending their usefulness.

Web lectures provide a means for museums to record for posterity the spoken words of artists, relatives of artists and others who have a special connection to art works.

For the benefit of persons with hearing disabilities Web lectures can show captions for each image/voice segment and complete printed text of the audio narration.

Errors and omissions in the original live lectures may be amended in the production of Web lectures. Previously posted Web lectures may also be amended from time to time to add additional content.

Web lectures may be seen without charge if a museum chooses that option. Alternately, they may be made available free only to museum members if an institution makes "in person" lectures available to members without charge as a member benefit. [1]

Web lectures may be indexed by keywords so that they are searchable by Web search engines such as Google.

Web lectures can be unlimited in length of time and can be segmented on an image-by-image basis. Each image can have a separate accompanying voice component. The image/voice segments can be played in the same fashion as a DVD. Segments can be paused, played or replayed. [2]

Web lectures can be viewed using "dial-up" connections with low bandwidth. They do not require broadband connections although they may be best viewed with broadband. They also allow for much larger size images on monitor screens compared to online full motion video since still pictures accompanied by audio require far less bandwidth.

Since Web lectures are convertible to DVD format, those prepared for automatic play can be shown in museum theaters during exhibitions using DVD players and projection or conventional TV equipment.

While the main focus of this study is Web lectures, there are other opportunities for the use of illustrated audio. See other creative ways to use illustrated audio.

1. Web lectures can also be offered for a period of time exclusively to members and to non-members for a fee. If a museum already has an online ordering and payment module to support its bookstore, Web lectures can be part of the available merchandise in the form of a CD or online download. Web lectures can be offered as part of a suite of online services to members. For instance, member newsletters or magazine issues can be also placed online in the form of PDF files and archived for future access. CD copies of Web lectures may be placed in the museum's library for use by the staff of the museum's education department or the public.

2. On a computer monitor screen there appears a set of virtual controls resembling those for a physical cassette, VHS or DVD player. Depending on the virtual player screen used, a variety of virtual buttons can be clicked or moved along slider bars for:

Pause
Play
Beginning (rewind slide show to the first slide or segment)
End (fast forward slide show to the last slide or segment)
Previous (move to the previous slide or segment)
Next (move to the next slide or segment)
Close (close the slide show)
Sound (loudness)

rev. 3/28/05

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