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The Frequency
Clock: Free Media System is a open source software system created
to manage streaming audio and video channels. The Frequency Clock Free Media System is designed for people who work with streaming media material. It allows creators and users of streaming media to organise their files into dynamic channels which can be played back using a specially designed web-based streaming media player. For producers of online media, the Frequency Clock Free Media System is a powerful content management system, which provides sophisticated control over streaming data. Key features of the system include an inventive customised streaming media player, which can handle different file types, searchable archives, and real-time statistical analysis. The Frequency Clock: Free Media System is free and open source. It is created by r a d i o q u a l i a with the input of many developers, artists, designers and cultural practitioners, specifically with arts, cultural and independent broadcasting in mind. - WHAT DOES IT DO? - The Frequency Clock Free Media System is a shared resource for building streaming channels. It features a programme database, timetabling system and a customised streaming media player: - PLAYER - Perhaps the most
significant and innovative element of the system is the Frequency
Clock Player. The Player addresses one of the key issues that producers
of streaming media face - the range of different streaming media
formats. Streaming media content can be produced in a variety of
different proprietary formats - for example, WindowsMedia, Real,
and Quicktime. When users play a streaming media file, it opens
within a specific streaming media player. If you watch a WindowsMedia
file, it opens in the WindowsMedia player, a Real file opens within
the Real Player and so on. Users must open and close a number of
players in order to view different streaming media formats. This
can be disruptive to the continuity of the experience. One of the other issues which arises when using streaming media, is that content usually has to be presented within the design context of the various commerical media players. For many users this is undesirable. The Frequency Clock Player provides a solution to this problem, by allowing significant elements of customisation. Producers have control over the Player's look and feel, enabling them to design their Player, so that it fits within the overall design of their website. You can see images of customised Players, by visiting: http://www.frequencyclock.net/index2.html - TIMETABLER - The engine which drives the creation of streaming channels is a programme database and timetable generator. The programme database stores information about live and pre-recorded streaming audio or video programmes. It is essentially a database for managing meta-data (information and links to programmes, rather than the programmes themselves), and can organise information about files stored anywhere on the internet. The timetabling system is a tool for placing entries from the database into a schedule. Users can timetable audio or video programmes from the database into specific time slots within their schedule, creating a continuous and ongoing channel, or alternatively, a channel which broadcasts only at special times. Producers can also instruct the timetabling system to play 'default' audio or video, when a time slot has nothing scheduled. This means that audiences will always have something to see or hear when visiting a channel. For further information on the functionality of The Frequency Clock: Free Media System, please visit: http://www.frequencyclock.net/index2.html - STATISTICS - The Frequency Clock: Free Media System also contains an effective statistical analysis system. Producers can receive real time updates of the number of users connected, how long they've been connected, from which country they are connecting from, and what operating system and streaming media software they are running. Usually this information can only be supplied from server logs, which are not usually available to producers in real time. This kind of statistical monitoring allows producers to get immediate feedback about their channels, and adjust programming accordingly. - BACKGROUND - The Frequency
Clock Free Media System is part of a larger ongoing project called
The Frequency Clock by the online art group, r a d i o q u a l i
a In order to make this process possible, it was necessary to develop reliable interactive software which allowed users to construct of timetables of live and archived streaming media content, and a mechanism which could play back these timetables. Four years of research, conceptual and pragmatic experimentation, and shared code development has resulted in the Frequency Clock: Free Media System. For more information about The Frequency Clock, visit: http://radioqualia.va.com.au/freqclock/central.html - WHO IS IT FOR? - The Frequency Clock: Free Media System is aimed at cultural producers of audio and video, who wish to present their material online. Existing or past users of the system include: community radio stations, community cable television operators, film and video organisations, museums and galleries, filmmakers and documentary-makers, artists, DJs and musicians. The system could also be utilised by independent news broadcasters, film festivals, conferences and any other developers of cultural content. The Frequency Clock: Free Media System would also be useful for any organisation or individual who uses streaming media for presenting or archiving events, such as conferences, meetings, briefings, workshops, festivals, film productions, or streaming files such as music videos, short films, animations, workshop footage, performances etc. What the users of The Frequency Clock: Free Media System say: "its an excellent concept thats going to play a big part in the near future of streaming / audio/video" "i really hope it will make life easier and even more interesting to number of people, the creators of streming content - and somehow - i don't doubt it will." "The Arts Online: More Often More Better Open Platform for the Arts FQ: Streaming the Real World to You" "I see great potential in the frequency clock. a self-subscribed multi channel programming [environment]. in a communal sense, it also allows intervention to happen." There are other
Frequency Clock systems implemented at: - CREDITS - The Frequency
Clock: Free Media System was made possible by: r a d i o q u a l i a would also like to thank: Robert Geus, Nic Limper, The Society for Old and New Media, James Stevens, Luka Princic, Vedran Gulin / mi2, Micz Flor, Radio FRO, Mauzz / De Digital Stadt, The World Service, The South Australian Government through Arts SA, The Experimental Art Foundation, the Australian Network for Art and Technology, the Media Resource Centre, Kass Schmitt, Rene Leitof, Alex Galloway, Gio D'Angelo, Luka Frelih, Salto TV and Source Forge & Xchange. - MORE INFORMATION - If you would like more information about The Frequency Clock: Free Media System, please contact: r a d i o q u
a l i a PH: + 31 6 29036248
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