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Presentation Systems
Control Freak
6/1/2007
(UAMS' Bailey was in the group, as well.) Supporters of the initiative believe that operation of a professionally installed AV presentation system should be as easy as driving a car. "Think about it: If I need to rent a car, and I decide that I'd like to get a convertible for a change, I shouldn't have to pull out a manual because I usually drive a hardtop," Bronson explains. "And I don't: The gas pedal isn't on the left and the steering wheel isn't in the back seat, because there are standards in place. The 'interfaces' in both types of cars have the same look and feel. Why should AV controller interfaces be any different?"To manage a range of multimedia resources, Cornell has deployed several models of Crestron controllers in classrooms and conference rooms throughout the campus. The controllers are built into lecterns and are flush-mounted on hardware racks. For classrooms integrated with dedicated resources, the touchpanel has become the primary instructor interface, Bronson says. In fact, the InfoComm Dashboard project was an outgrowth of Bronson's work to standardize touchpanel design and function campuswide in those deployments.
"This is primarily an issue of interoperability," Bronson explains. "If you look at the basic premise of a control system in an AV environment, it's really a protocol converter; it has to be able to communicate with all the other devices, so that system has to be based on standards. As more and more of this technology moves toward an IT-based infrastructure, it really has to embrace the standards of the IT department, so it can conform to IT's needs and expectations."
FOCUS ON REMOTE AV
'Remote access allows me to better manage the technology: I can check how many hours [the control podium] has been turned on, which buttons are being pushed, and which features are being used. I might notice, for instance, that none of the presenters are using the VCRs, so when I design a new room, I might leave that piece of equipment out of the mix.'-- Ernie Bailey, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Even as far back as 2000, the school had rolled out guidelines that Bronson describes as a "manufacturer-agnostic" document. Still, "We didn't want to undercut programmer creativity," he says. "We don't say that certain buttons have to be a certain color, or that certain graphic styles have to be used. We do want to see the difference between that convertible and that hardtop." But the Cornell guidelines did serve as the basis for InfoComm's Dashboard for Controls Template, Dashboard for Controls Design Reference, and Dashboard for Controls Integrators Guide, available for free download.
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