Broadcasting Debate in a Converged World

Cambridge Union Society – Case Study Broadcasting debate in a converged world

In the past 20 years, technology has changed work and life environments at an unprecedented rate. The internet has changed how we interact and communicate with each other, both socially and professionally.

High-quality education and technology are very powerful tools that enable and support the learning process. Traditional bricks and mortar classrooms and open, empty school halls are being transformed into multimedia rich, technologically advanced spaces where no stone has been untouched when developing, designing and kitting out schools, colleges and universities into fully-functioning world class centres of education.

This is another example of audio and visual working together – increasing engagement, facilitating collaboration, showcasing different learning styles and igniting excitement amongst students to therefore ultimately improve learning outcomes.

Today’s solutions allow for instant, high-quality communication and this case study addresses important requirements in any successful messaging conveyance – namely quality and accessibility. This case study demonstrates how the latest broadcasting technology and livestreaming can ensure messages are available, in high definition and crystal-clear audio, to a wider audience.

Stakeholder profiles

Cambridge Union Society Presentation Media

There are 22,000 students at Cambridge. The Presentation Media is a presentation solution provider Cambridge Union is not to be confused with The based in Christchurch, Dorset, offering presentation Cambridge Student Union (CUSU), which is the and teaching solutions to Education, Government and official student union for students at the University Corporate sectors. technology solutions for the education market technology solutions for the education market of Cambridge. The Cambridge Union is a membership based debating society open to students from the Trading since 2001, they have established a well University of Cambridge or Anglia Ruskin University, respected service to schools and businesses throughout upon the payment of a membership fee. The Cambridge the UK. Union receives no formal funding from the University. Presentation Media can offer a complete solution from The exact origin of the Society remains steeped in demonstrations, consultation on bespoke solutions, legend, but as the story goes, the Union was founded supply of equipment, through to final installation and in 1815 at the conclusion of a drunken brawl between commissioning, including training on the use of the several smaller college debating societies. The "union" equipment. of the three societies provided the basis for the name 'The Cambridge Union Society.' Presentation Media has been supplying With past high-profile speakers ranging, from Winston and installing various Churchill to Russell Brand, the Society is known for projectors, speakers tackling a wide range of issues and debates. and lecterns at CUS for the past year.

Want to find out more? Call the Midwich sales team on 01379 649200 www.midwich.com

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Midwich, an award winning trade-only distributor of cutting edge technology, employs over 450 staff serving customers in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

The Group is privately owned by its working directors, and with over 30 years of expertise The Midwich Group is renowned in the industry for its innovations and being first to take the latest technology trends to market. Uniquely offering resellers the complete solution comprising of world leading technologies and full project support.

Midwich is dedicated to its resellers and vendors alike, with a strong focus on providing an excellent customer experience at every touch point.

The challenge

With a long history of topical debate, the CUS was keen to improve its broadcast ability and to bring quality video and audio to not only its students, but to audiences globally.

Oliver Mosely, Executive Officer at the CUS, explains: “We were using a system that provided poor quality video and audio that, at times, was lost. The CUS has been an advocate of free speech and debate for over 200 years and we needed a solution that allowed for quality recordings with the ability to convey the Union’s activity to a wide audience.”

He added: “Being a student society, we also wanted a solution that would be simple to understand and straightforward in its operation – both by operators of the recording equipment and the end users viewing content. We have a natural change of users of this technology so it was vital that it could be mastered in a relatively short period of time.”

The CUS solution needed to provide sound and vision to numerous endpoints, while also providing broadcast quality output across the internet

The solution

Presentation Media met with CUS in February 2014 to put a proposal together for live streaming/broadcasting to the web. technology solutions for the education market technologytechnology solutions solutions for for the the education education market market technology solutions for the education market Presentation Media, along with specialists from Midwich, carried out various site surveys. Representatives from the CUS then visited Midwich offices in Berkshire to watch a demonstration of the LiveStream solution.

On seeing the equipment in action, and the final proposal for the solution, Presentation Media, working closely with Midwich, were awarded the contract in April 2014.

As well as vastly improved broadcast and audio solutions, video conferencing was included in the proposal. With a video conferencing solution, overseas CUS members could participate in the live debates, exclusively for union members only.

A complete solution was provided to house their existing audio microphones into a new double width lectern for the LiveStream and video conferencing system, with a touchscreen. High definition Panasonic cameras were used in the main Chamber with various controls to split the signal from the Chamber to five other rooms within the building.

Matthew Webster, Business Development Manager at Midwich, was involved with the project from the start. He said: “It was important with this project to support both Presentation Media and the CUS as the end user. Although in principle what the CUS were looking to achieve was straightforward on paper, there was a technically complex design that needed to be formulated, whilst still providing a system that was “simple to understand and straightforward in its operation” as required by the CUS. The technical design developed from site meetings at CUS and close collaboration with the different elements of the Midwich Group. On several occasions we sat around tables, discussed the plans, and made sure that the separate bits of technology (broadcast, livestreaming, video conferencing, traditional AV) would all work seamlessly together.”

Want to find out more? Call the Midwich sales team on 01379 649200 www.midwich.com

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The products chosen had to fulfil the client’s and end user’s requirements, meet the technical brief, whilst also being compatible with the budget. Members of the CUS visited the Midwich office, where a demonstration of the equipment in a live scenario was presented. Training sessions ran to ensure the maximum efficiency H1 — Raleway Lightand return 36px on investment for the CUS.

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Livestream HD1700 Panasonic HE60 cameras Equipment supplied: Livestream Enterprise Platform Panasonic RP50 camera controller Avaya VC codec Blackmagic and Aten HDMI to HDSDI converters ASSETS

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