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Students use Blackboard to access streamed video of operas
The Music Library, the Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center, and Digital Media Services have been collaborating for more than two years to make many of the Library's music and video collections available via the campus network. Recently, School of Music associate professor Jesse Rosenberg added digitally streamed opera videos to the viewing options available to his students. Rosenberg, who has taught many opera-related courses, feels that students must be exposed to the complete performance: "Sound recordings, scores, librettos, and the like are necessary, but fall far short of the total experience of attending live opera, where all of its constituent elements come together: music, drama, poetry, dance, etc."
The 18 operas that Rosenberg selected include several from the Mitchell Multimedia Center: a 2001 CBC production of "Anna Bolena," Vienna State Opera's 1987 "Wozzeck," and a spectacular Royal Opera House "Othello" featuring Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa. Students log into Blackboard to watch the operas from their dorms, in networked classrooms, in the Library, and in computer labs across campus. Rosenberg also makes use of the accurate time-keeping feature of streamed video, which allows him to jump quickly to a specific point in a performance or to assign several short segments for viewing. "I plan to expand my use of this technology in the direction of non-operatic materials which could nevertheless greatly benefit from a visual component," he says.
Digital Media Services provides non-text (images, audio, and video) digitization services and support, free of charge, to all Northwestern faculty and graduate students. Staff work closely with selectors and curators in a number of Library departments to ensure that materials are properly handled and copyright concerns addressed. For more information, see the Digital Media Services web site.
-- Claire Stewart