One of the excellent features of the technology is the ability to record entire meetings, conferences or seminars. These recordings include the audio conversations and optionally, the text conversations and the URLs used for the web content. This article will cover the steps required to setup, record and playback recordings. Movies are included to demonstrate these steps.
Room configuration parameters are included to enable/disable recordings for both moderators and users (non-moderators).
To start recording:
Browser pages will only be recorded if the URLs are pushed. This is accomplished when a moderator turns on Follow Me (Click Administration menu and select Follow Me - the word SYNC will appear in the status area - you could also use the F3 shortcut). When Follow Me is on, all pages loaded into the co-browser will be pushed to all individuals in the room. The moderator could also use the Send Current Page. (Click Administration menu and select Send Current Page - or use the F2 shortcut) to push the current page. The individual pushing the URLs doesn't need to be the same individual who is recording.
The talk key must be used by somebody in the room to record audio. This action is indicated with a "talk"
bubble beside a users name. The user speaking will press the Talk Key - Ctrl or lock the
Talk Key by clicking the microphone icon or by using the Alt+L shortcut) - the microphone icon
will turn red. (ensure that talk key is unlocked when the conversation ends).
To preview a recording:
Recording may be published and viewed at a later time. There are different ways to publish a recording.
The next step is to acquire the URL for the published recording. You would distribute that information to potential viewers or include the URL as links on web pages.
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The Private Document Center Utility is the same as Document Center Utility except it will publish to a personal web space rather than the web space provided by the technology. The settings such as user name and password must be specified.
The recording may be published to any web site using a ftp program. Some knowledge of the web site and FTP will be required.
The recordings are kept in My Document/My Recording Files. Each recording is a folder with the same name as the recording name used when the recording was created. This folder will be copied to the web site.
The last step is to determine the URL required to view the recording. This will include the name of the folder on the web site where the recording folder resides. Therefore if the path name was www.yourdomain.com/archives, and the recording name was recording1 the URL to access the recording will be www.yourdomain.com/archives/recording1
To view a web published recording users need the URL for the recording. The URL could be
sent in an email, quoted verbally or you could add links to web pages. There are many ways to add links.
The following movies are examples of a few different approaches. Typically this work would be done by a
web site developer. Therefore the instructions in the movies do not provide in-depth details
but do illustrate what is possible.
View Creating Menus using HTML movie
View Creating Menus using Web Site Creator Tools movie
Rather than playing a recording from a web site, the recording may be distributed on a CD, or similar media. To use this option the recording folder will be copied to the CD. The instructions to play the recording must be provided or a HTML type menu provided. This discussion will cover the creation of a simple HTML menu - the statement needed to manually play the recording can be derived from that information.
There are several files in the recording folder. One of those files is player.exe which is used to view the recording on local media such as a CD. This file could also be used to preview recordings by opening the recording folder and launching that file. It could also be used to view recordings published on web sites but typically index.html, another file in the recording folder, is used in that case.
In this example we will assume a recording with the name samplerec is to be distributed on a CD. The following HTML statement would be required to provide a menu list for the recording: <a href="samplerec/player.exe">Recording Title</a>. If there will be multiple recordings on the CD, add statements similar to the above for each recording. In addition you may want to include an AUTORUN function so the menu will automatically display when the CD is started. Instruction are not include in this article.
Steps to publish on CD:
An alternative to using a HTML Menu file might be to use Microsoft PowerPoint to create this interface to the recording or recordings. Use Insert HyperLink to link to player.exe for the appropriate recording, and use File/Package for CD to create the package required for the CD. After creating the package, add the recordings folders to the package and burn the CD. A CD created using this approach will include the AUTORUN function.
Note: An Internet connection will be required when these CDs are played.
An added bonus with a recording is the ability to playback the recording in the room. This will give the appearance of a live discussion or presentation. During playback, the recording may be paused and the moderator may make additional remarks or comments. Published recording or local recording may be used.
Replay a local recording:
Replay a Recording archived in the Document Center:
To use recording archived in the Private Document center, select Use Private Document Center and follow the above steps.
This topic is covered in more detail in another article. You may select to unlock the talk key when the recording ends, repeat the recording and specify the URL for recordings published elsewhere.
In this section we will offers tips to help you enhance and improve your recordings. Some of the discussion may be somewhat technical, therefore skim the topics and use those that work for you.
The URLs are recorded when the web page is pushed. Therefore if the recording was started after the first page was pushed, the first URL a viewer of the recording will see will be the second URL. The simplest way to avoid this issue is to work out a procedure that will: 1) Start The Recording 2) Push the first URL 3)Push the Talk Key (or lock the talk key) 4)Begin speaking. This will require some coordination if the presenter and the recorder are different individuals. There is a way to fix this issue after the recording was made. This will be covered later.
The recordings display the current content of the URLs pushed during the recording. Therefore if the URL content has changed after the recording was made, the new content of the URL will show when it is viewed. If the URL no longer exists the viewer will see an error message saying the page cannot be displayed (error code 400). PowerPoint presentations that have been converted to HTML (tool provided with the technology) and used in recordings, perhaps are more likely to be changed or deleted. To avoid these possible issues, you may need to preserve the original PowerPoint files so that they remain the same for the expected life of the recording archive. The recording files may be edited to correct such problems. This will be discussed later/
It is very likely you will at, at some time, use the technology to create a recording withot an audience. This is simple to do but you do need to remember two critical facts: 1)URLs are recorded when they are pushed and 2)Audio is recorded when the Talk Key is pushed or locked. If you are recording with a live audience present, this is not a problem - the audience will quickly tell you all is not well, but without an audience you need to ensure: 1)you have turned on Follow Me and 2) you are pushing or have locked the talk key.
The Whiteboard drawing and Desktop Sharing activity is not captured in recordings. The audio will be recorded however.
PowerePoint presentations uploaded using the HTML option may not display correctly with non Internet Explorer browsers. Therefore if recordings include PowerPoint pages and will be viewed with browsers other that Internet Explorer, the GIF or JPG conversion option should be selected when they are uploaded.
The mp3 files can be edited to remove unwanted content. However these changes may impact the timing for displaying URLs and text chat conversations. The good news is these timings can be altered. Additionally the URL's themselves can also be altered and added - e.g. to add a URL at the beginning of a recording if the URL was pushed before the recording was started. A small utility, available from Technical Support, is provided to help make these changes.
All the timings are kept in the recordingname.js file. Backup the file before making any changes - the format is sensitive and typos may make the file unusable. This editing can be very tedious and labor intensive. The best advise I can give is for you to practice making recordings, developing procedures that work for you and learning when to use the pause key so editing will not be necessary. But if it is necessary it can be done.
The variable part of each record consists of a time in seconds from the beginning, the type of record - URL or
TEXT - and the details - URL or text message. Editing may require changing any or all of this data, deleting records
and adding records. Caution: do not use a "0" time - it will cause the recording to repeat automatically.
The following movie will demonstrate how to edit the file.
Editing recording control file movie