Public-i

Public-i, formerly UKCouncil, is a streaming media company, based in Lewes, East Sussex, that provides webcasting solutions for clients. Primarily aimed at councils, the public-i system is a full webcasting system comprising of the hardware (cameras, encoding machine, etc.), custom built control software (allowing the whole multi camera system to be controlled by a single operator), media hosting and the web front end for viewing.

As well as the actual media stream the system allows synchronised names, index points and graphics based presentations, along with non-syncronised surveys, presentations, polls and speaker profiles. The existing system consisted of a single transmission page that provided the complete web based front end. The first task that I was given was to produce a stand alone web based player that would allow users to view the webcasts.

public-i Player

The public-i Player has a number of built in features to aid the user in viewing the webcast. Along with detailed browser detection the Player also detect the media players that the use has installed on the system. Defaulting to the standard Real Media format if Real Player is installed, the Player will automatically switch to Windows Media if the stream is available if Real Player isn't installed. In addition to the presenting the webcast the system uses the latest technology to automatically display the synchronised information at the correct times for both archived and live transmissions.

public-i Website

Along with the public-i Player, I have also worked on a number of other projects including redesigning and creating the public-i website and also a template system for creating media sites for Conferences.

The public-i website was changed to coincide with the company's change of name and also to add a much greater level of accessibility to visitors. It was down to the redevelopment of the public-i website that allowed me to greatly increase my knowledge about website accessiblity and the design issues involved. Thus the new website is designed to maximise ease of use for everyone without compromising the design and the functionality.

Conference TV Template System

The Conference TV template allows rapid development of websites to provide clients with a platform for distributing information, streaming pre-recorder sponsored films and also streaming live footage from the conference. The template is designed to allow a great degree of flexibility with regards to the content whilst still being simple to add or amend content. As with the public-i website, the basic design principles have been applied to ensure that the sites are as accessible and cross platform compatible as possible .

The next step is to redesign and recreate the current public-i system transmission page and to apply the accessibility design principles to the next generation version of the public-i Player.