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Shared Calendar for Interpreting Suite Bookings on Windows Live: Frequently asked questions

2009/02/25 Leave a comment
  1. Problem: How do I return to “Windows live”?
    1. Solution: AFTER you followed the “accept” button in the invitation e
      mail, you can return to the calendar by simply going to http://calendar.live.com. Or for easy access to other windows live services like groups, go through http://home.live.com and the top menu “more”/ “calendar”.
  2. Problem: I seem to have lost access to the calendar?
    1. Solution: if you go to http://login.live.com, make sure you are logged in with the windows live account that you gave us for calendar access (if you are logged in under a different name, log out from that account first) . Then go to http://calendar.live.com: you should have access now.
  3. Problem: My calendar time seems off?
    1. Solution: adjust your time zone: after going to http://calendar.live.com, in the upper right hand side, click on options / more options / time zone: change this to “Greenwich mean time [….] LONDON” (do NOT choose GMT UNIVERSAL time”, this has no daylight savings time adjustment!). Then click “save”at the bottom Please let me know of any other issues (please provide OS and browser version and error message).
  4. Problem: Other users cannot see my calendar appointments.
    1. Solution: Make sure you added them to the right calendar, called “MGB-36” (an option when you add an appointment). There are now several calendars for other purposes, but booking of the suite is done in “MGB-36”. You can see something went wrong if your appointment stands out in a different colour (see legend), like here:
  5. Problem: I would like to book some space (booths) in the suite, but the entire suite seems already booked – what should I do?
    1. Solution: The original calendar instructions mentioned to start a booking with your email address under “what” and qualify under “where” if you require only parts of the interpreting suite for your class. If only the latter has been omitted, you can still email the colleague to inquire. If the former has been omitted also, we will have to try tracking down which the information which will take time.
  6. Problem: There is a (recurring) event which I can not delete (I get the error: “there’s a problem connecting to windows live calendar”).
    1. Solution: The error message is misleading. This seems a bug in the software. You can try to work around it like this

      : Move one occurrence of the event (drag it with your mouse to a different time). This breaks the recurrence. Now left-click on the moved event to edit it. From the popup, choose to “Edit every occurrence” instead of “Edit this one occurrence”. This should get you to the “Event details” page, where you can delete the entire event from the top menu.

Categories: e-infrastructure, Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, Interpreting, MGB-36 Tags: , , ,

How to use language services digital videos

2009/02/24 Leave a comment
  • Language Services produced digital videos
    • Are MPEG4-compressed to a size and format and stored in a location to be the most versatile answer to your playing needs
      • Play over the  network shares not only in the interpreting suite (mgb-36) or the moorgate library language centre (mg4-11)
      • But from any computer on the campus network, student or staff computer
      • Provided access to network shares, see network shares.
    • attempt to ensure widest possible compatibility
      • by using widely-used audio and video codecs (Windows Media Video 9, Windows Media Audio3, Windows Media Video Screen , MP3) which MS also supports on the Mac-Platform (free download of wmv/wma support for the Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later, QuickTime version 7.0 or later) from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx ).
      • Have been tested to work in the HALE interpreting suite (mgb-36) and the moorgate library language centre (mg4-11)
      • For playing videos on your PC, staff can get necessary upgrades from x4444.
      • For playing videos on your home PC, students can contact the student helpdesk.
Categories: e-infrastructure, Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, learning-materials, multimedia-recording, Videos Tags: ,

Digital videos on network share

2009/02/24 Leave a comment
  • interpreting mock conference speech videos are now available in an improved format
    • small file size -> portable: videos compressed to the equivalent of 360mb/hr, which makes them easily accessible
      • wherever you can access the local network (classrooms, your office, library: I uploaded all 6 videos in 2 minutes)
      • or copy to a USB stick to take home (or, in the future, go into an Weblearn e-repository)
    • widely compatible:
    • searchable teaching material eRepository (poor man’s version):
      • filename of video contains date, speaker, language
      • catalogue of videos in the spreadsheet online_resources.xls
        • students can read,
        • instructors [if you do not have access, request it from ictservicesdesk for \\lgu.ac.uk\lgu$\multimedia%20student) can write (in green cells, to provide “metadata” to students for searching: topic, exercise types, difficulty rating), or else request write permission  from x4444
        • catalogue layout is subject to review. 17/04/2009: I updated, the metadata columns, following the example of SIMON, the “Shared Interpreting Materials Online” Database that ETI is developing:
        • title
          speaker
          date
          venue
          modality
          language( combination)
          (progression) level
          (particular) skill (trained)
    • have your students access the videos through the blog link here.
  • we could also collect recorded satellite tv in this form (see Spanish video sample from TVE in spreadsheet online_resources.xls – and probably should, especially if you want flexibility in adapting the materials pedagogically and reusing them -, both
Categories: assessments, erepository, Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, Interpreting, service-is-assessing, service-is-learning-materials-creation, service-is-library, Spreadsheets, Translation, Videos Tags: , , , , ,

Live a little: Get standard software

2009/02/24 Leave a comment

You make not only your own, but everybody’s life easier if you upgrade to standardized software. The University is now on Win XP Service-Pack 2, with Office 2003 and Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3. At work, call x4444 to get upgraded. At home, you can download Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 3 (also available for MAC OS-X)  for free. Plus, as University employee, you can get other Microsoft software “for cheap”, as I explained here.

Categories: e-infrastructure, Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, software Tags: , , ,

Whisper interpreting with radio transmitter/receiver (“bidule” by williamssound.com)

2009/02/24 Leave a comment

We have:

    • 3 transmitters (larger antenna), with headset (with microphone) or collar microphone: 
    • 10 receivers with regular 3.5 mm headphones (without microphones):

Usage:

    • Speaker speaks
    • Interpreter
      • listens to speaker in room
      • wearing one of the  transmitters, whisper interprets into target language channel 1,2or 3
    • delegates
      • wearing receiver and headphones, listens to one of the interpreter channels

Troubleshooting:

  • If you cannot send/receive audio at all, check
  • Channel selector on top of unit: make sure you are on the right channel
  • Power indicator light is on? If not , adjust batteries in compartment at rear of unit
  • If you cannot send/receive audio well, check
  • Transmitter:
        • microphone adjustment wheel under rear panel door
        • position yourself and the microphone so that there is no ambient noise going into your (sensitive) microphone, especially not from the speaker
  • Receiver: Volume wheel on top of unit
Categories: audiovisual, Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, Interpreting Tags: , ,

Network shares: What you need to know

2009/02/18 Leave a comment

NetworkPath

Mapped as for

Staff can

Student can

Language services use

Staff

Student

read

write

read

 write

 

\\lgu.ac.uk\lgu$\londonmet departments

J:

 

yes

yes

no

no

\Humanities arts and languages (HAL)\Language_services: documentation for internal use

\\stushare_server\StuShare

K:

S:

 

 

yes

 

\Humanities, Arts and Languages\Language_Services: public documentation ( including services manual)

\\lgu.ac.uk\lgu$\misres$

M:

 

 

 

 

 

 

\\lgu.ac.uk\lgu$\apps07

N:

N:

 

 

 

 

 

\\lgu.ac.uk\lgu$\multimedia student\mmedia\mmedia1

O: if requested

O: if requested

some(if not, request access)

some

Yes

no

\Language_services: (large) multimedia files (including teaching materials video clips)

\\lgu.ac.uk\lgu$\multimedia student\mmedia\mmedia2

 

 

some

some

no

no

 

\\datacty01\staff$

S:

 

yes

no: todo

 

 

TBA

\\venus\homes

X:

 

 

 

 

 

 

\\misres01\eureka

Y:

 

yes

no

 

 

 

If mapping failed, from desktop, run , then click button   

Categories: e-infrastructure, Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, Interpreting, Translation Tags: , ,

How to access trprecord.exe

2009/02/17 Leave a comment

In the interpreting suite, students can click , click , paste “\\lgu.ac.uk\lgu$\multimedia student\mmedia\mmedia1\language_services\software\trprecord.exe”, click . More help.

Categories: Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, Interpreting, multimedia-recording Tags: , ,

Blackboard VLE Training Videos Overview

2009/02/15 Leave a comment
Categories: documentation, e-learning, Institution-is-Aston-University, Institution-is-London-Metropolitan-University, Institution-is-Loyola-University-Maryland, lms, Screencasts Tags: