Editing OMwiki:FAQ

==Q: Is this thing for real?==
'''A:''' Yes, but it's still very young.  Be gentle.  Releasing an unpolished web platform allows for participation and innovation.


==Q: What's the story behind the typewriter?==
'''A:''' The logo is adopted from [http://www.archive.org/details/manualofstenogra00bart a 19<sup>th</sup> century Caligraph ad] published by The American Writing Machine Co.; "Type Writer" was a Remington brand name at the time.  The ad reads:
<blockquote>
<tt>The "CALIGRAPH" is the only writing machine that fully economizes time and labor, and economy of time and labor is the best reason we know for soliciting trade.</tt>
</blockquote>

The logo is not trademarked and represents more of an idea than a brand identity.


==Q: What meetings are available?==
'''A:''' As of 2-October-2009, the collection consists of 44 meetings pertaining to shared governance at [http://www.psu.edu The Pennsylvania State University], 16 sessions from the [http://openvideoconference.org Open Video Conference], 3 sessions from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Wiki-Conference_2009 Wiki-Conference 2009], and 4 sessions from [http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org Wikimania 2006].  [[OMwiki:Submissions|Video submissions]] are welcome.


==Q: How do I embed a clip on my site?==
'''A:''' Please see [[OMwiki:Reuse]].


==Q: How do I subscribe with Miro?==
'''A:''' Install [http://www.getmiro.com/ Miro] (previously known as Democracy Player), find the RSS feed link listed at the top of the [[OMwiki:Finding_aid|visual finding aid]] or linked from an Internet Archive item description page, launch Miro, press CTRL-N, and enter the feed URL.

Miro will automatically download new meetings for your viewing convenience.


==Q: I've been recorded, but where's the video?==
'''A:'''  Please check the [[OMwiki:Finding_aid|finding aid]] to see if your video has been published.  If not there, it may be awaiting publication by another organization -- please see our [[OMwiki:Publishers|list of organizations]] that have submitted content to OpenMeetings.org.


==Q: Does OpenMeetings.org provide livestreaming?==
'''A:''' Not directly, but a future OpenMeetings.org project may allow [[OMwiki:Delivery|network pass-through]] for livestreamed meetings.


==Q: I would like to have a meeting hosted on OpenMeetings.org.  How do I go about this?==
'''A:'''  Please see [[OMwiki:Submissions]].


==Q: Is paid transcription OK?==
'''A:''' Yes, as long as it is done impartially and improves the overall quality of the transcript.  Any such editing (''e.g.'', use of Amazon Mechanical Turk) is a separate transaction from OpenMeetings.org.


==Q: Why all the black?  It's eerie.==
'''A:'''  For cinematic effect: it's easier to watch video against a black backdrop.  White-on-black text is an unfortunate causality.

Options are to change the site skinning under personal preferences, or to develop a skin that fades the background to black only during video playback.


==Q: I'm getting pop-up error messages and slow page loading.==
'''A:''' Apologies for the inconvenience – this is a known issue relating lack of a content delivery network and use of shared hosting.  Best recommendations are to use a recent version of Firefox on a dedicated high-bandwidth connection and to refesh the page when needed ''via'' CTRL-F5.

High-speed internet connections originating from Penn State University, Pittsburgh, Virgina, Washington D.C., and surrounding areas should have excellent connectivity.  Visitors outside of this core coverage area may experience delayed playback.



==Q: Is there a way to view video using [my favorite web browser]?==
'''A:''' Depends.

:-Safari: install [http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/ XiphQT], which also provides export to Ogg Theora from any QuickTime-based application.

You should be able to view transcripts in most cases.


==Q: Is there a way to view video using [my favorite mobile device]?==
'''A:''' You will be able to view wikipages and transcripts, but video playback and JavaScript-based navigation likely will not work.  Device bandwidth/memory will not be high enough to load the [[visual finding aid]] pending site improvements.


==Q: Is it possible to create my own video mashup?==
'''A:'''  If your video editor is able to import Ogg Theora, yes, but not many editors are able to do so.  Please see [http://wiki.xiph.org/TheoraSoftwarePlayers TheoraSoftwarePlayers] for options.

For in-browser mashups, please see [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Sequencer Extension:Sequencer].  It isn't ready for production use, but feel free [http://openmeetings.org/w/js2/mwEmbed/tests/Sequence_Editor.html to play] with a beta version.


==Q: Are high-resolution copies available?==
'''A:'''  Depends on the date.  Please send an inquiry to [[User:GChriss|GChriss]].


==Q: Are compute nodes available for doing [something mind-blowing] with video?==
'''A:'''  I'm glad you asked!  Yes, please see [[OMwiki:Nodes]].  You can remotely monitor the node load balance [http://echo.openmeetings.org:8080/ganglia/ here].

To obtain an account, please contact [[User:GChriss|GChriss]].  Any request related to free culture hacking will probably be approved.


==Q: How do I ask a question not listed here or send feedback?==
'''A:''' Please [http://openmeetings.org/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=OMwiki:FAQ login], click [http://openmeetings.org/w/index.php?title=OMwiki:FAQ&action=edit edit], then list your question after a blank '''Q:'''.


==Q: Why should I make an user account?==
'''A:''' Creating an user account helps identify contributors and users within the site, communicate strengths via user pages, and helps with history logs.


==Q: How are transcripts integrated with [http://universalsubtitles.org/ Universal Subtitles]?==
'''A:'''


==Q: How can I help?==
'''A:'''
@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
-==Q:Pages are really slow to load.==
+==Q: I'm getting pop-up error messages and slow page loading.==
-'''A:''' Apologies for the inconvenience – this is a known issue relating lack of a content delivery network and use of shared hosting.  Best recommendations are to use a recent version of Firefox on a dedicated high-bandwidth connection.
+'''A:''' Apologies for the inconvenience – this is a known issue relating lack of a content delivery network and use of shared hosting.  Best recommendations are to use a recent version of Firefox on a dedicated high-bandwidth connection and to refesh the page when needed ''via'' CTRL-F5.
+High-speed internet connections originating from Penn State University, Pittsburgh, Virgina, Washington D.C., and surrounding areas should have excellent connectivity.  Visitors outside of this core coverage area may experience delayed playback.
-High-speed internet connections originating from Penn State University, Pittsburgh, Virgina, Washington D.C., and surrounding areas should have excellent connectivity.  Visitors outside of this core coverage area may experience delayed video playback.