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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoPlainText>G'day Sumover Colleagues<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I hope this is the right forum to discuss some comments
for the "vic" software. If not, please disregard my email below
as I only subscribed to this mailing list today.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>For those who don't know me, my name is Jason Bell and I
am heavily involved with Access Grids within the Australian Region. I am
also involved with Quality Assuring Australian Access Grids and have been using
the AG software with differing versions of "vic" now for over 6
years. (My first introduction to the AG was to simply run vic and rat
manually via the command line.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>The purpose of this email is to provide a discussion with
a number of issues that has been raise to me in regards to the "vic"
software.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Now, I will apologize in advance if many or all of these
issues have already been highlighted, but I was hoping to get some responses.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Most of the issues I would like to discuss are simple
usability issues in which "I think" could easily be fixed or
improved. Note: I personally don't have any issues with the software, but
I think the reason for this is that because I have been using the software long
enough, I know the tips and tricks to get the best performance out of the
software.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Anyway, a number of these issues were highlighted to me
recently when installed a "portable" AG node in my supervisor's
office and some of the following issues occurred:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:
l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>1.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>To resize a
video window, the key (S, M or L) have to be pressed... Since there is no
indication on how this could be done, ie, no menu option within a video stream
or whatever, my supervisor had to ask me how to do this a number of
times. Now, I know that by pressing these keys, resizing will work, but
for those who are new to the software, this isn’t an intuitive function to use.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:
l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>2.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>Another
issue that was highlighted is if video streams come and go, then they get
displayed lower and lower within the video thumbnail screen within vic (with
blank spaces being left). If a number of streams appear and disappear,
the new streams are no longer displayed on the screen. Now, I know
personally if I hit the number 1 - 8 the vic application will "re-sort"
the streams and re-arrange the thumbnails in the appropriate tile
columns. Again, this is not an obvious function nor is it
institutive. My supervisor initially to overcome this problem restarted
the AG software every time he wanted to resort the vic thumbnails.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:
l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>3.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>Similar to
the issue above, there is no indication from the display thumbnail screen if
any addition video thumbnails exist by a Vertical Scroll bar or the likes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>The reason why the issues above (I believe) are quite
important, is because I am seeing a number of researchers using the AG software
(which includes the sumover media tools) as a tool for video
collaboration. Generally speaking, researchers do not want to have to
learn new software, they simply want it to work and not be overly
complicated. Unfortunately, the feedback I receive on a regular basis is
that this currently isn’t the case!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Therefore, with the issues mentioned above, it is my
opinion that some very basic solutions could be implemented that coule resolved
these issues. These being (solutions as numbers to the issues above):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:54.0pt;text-indent:-36.0pt;mso-list:
l1 level1 lfo4'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>1.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>The
issue for me here is that I wouldn't like to clutter up the video streams with
addition menu options, like an old version of the openmash version of vic, but
it would be useful if a user could somehow have a menu option (or whatever)
that allows them to resize, or other vic "shortcut" key options...
(How many people know that by hitting the "<" button on a video
stream, they can scroll through the video streams)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:54.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:54.0pt;text-indent:-36.0pt;mso-list:
l1 level1 lfo4'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>2.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>This
issue I think could be resolved by having a "menu/button" that allows
the user to "refresh" thumbnail placement and it would even be better
by having an option that they could select the column tile placement directly
on the "front" of the vic application.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:54.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:54.0pt;text-indent:-36.0pt;mso-list:
l1 level1 lfo4'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>3.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>Again,
by having some form of scroll bars in use, this would make things a lot
simpler.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Please don't take the suggestions above has what
"has" to be done but rather a commencement of a dialog about the best
potential options for making "vic" more usable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I do apologise if this isn't the "right" forum
to discuss these issues, is it just that I am personally involved with the
usability issues for the Access Grid and it’s use of the Sumover media tools
and would like to be involved with making this software more user-friendly. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I would be happy to discuss many more issues and possible
improvements and be involved with any testing. I am not sure if I can be
involved with the actual "coding", but that is always a possibility
as well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Thanks for your time,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Jason. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>--------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Jason Bell, B.I.T.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>B. Info. Tech. (Honours)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>High Performance Computing Support Officer, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Network Engineer <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Information Technology Division <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Central Queensland University<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>E-mail : j.bell@cqu.edu.au<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Work : 07 4930 9229<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Mobile : 0409 630897<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>--------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Patience is a virtue.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>But if I wanted Patience,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I would have become a Doctor.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>--------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
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