为更好的流媒体收集“垃圾”

一年多以前, Dom Robinson and I wrote an article about the need to consider the impact that streaming at a global scale has on power consumption. 这篇文章, 名为“流媒体的绿化”,认为有三个p应该被考虑, adding power (consumption) to the traditional price-performance considerations most streaming companies use to sell or buy products and services.

你可以在Dom的后续文章中读到，流媒体的绿色化:一年过去了" we've not just pitched the idea to the industry; instead, we've actively worked to raise awareness of the importance of greening by launching a 相同名称的正式倡议. 你读到这篇文章的时候, we'll have had our first Greening of Streaming virtual roundtable and will be moving on towards several member-only events in the last quarter of 2021.

To say that I advocate for anyone involved in the business of streaming—from cameras and content acquisition through encoders to content delivery networks to end-user playback peripherals—to lend their voice to the Greening of Streaming initiative would be an understatement. 为了环境和社会的原因，现在就行动吧.

There's a second initiative that I'd also like the industry to get behind: collecting "junk" as a way to research better streaming approaches.

大约在我参与“绿化”讨论的三年前, a group of industry veterans got together to discuss ideas on how to lower the digital divide. 我们最初的方法, and the driving force behind starting up a not-for-profit charitable organization—now a 501(c)3 called Help Me Stream 研究 Foundation—was to focus on the digital divide in emerging economies.

要做到这一点, we needed to gather first-world electronic "junk" that's sitting in drawers and closets across the United States (and Canada and Europe, for that matter) and repurpose that into efficient and very inexpensive streaming solutions that could run on intermittent power.

Beyond emerging economies and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that serve them, we've also been challenged to provide solutions for disaster areas and—with the advent of COVID-related lockdowns last year, which laid bare the rural-urban digital divide in the United States—to consider solutions for rural communities.

I'm happy to report that we've caught enough attention—both from key influencers and forward-looking companies in the streaming space—that Help Me Stream is opening its first test lab this month, where we'll not only validate claims made about newer gear in the industry but also work to turn that donated "junk" into streaming systems to distribute to NGOs in key markets across the globe.

我们正在与一个全国知名的公共卫生项目合作, where we'll have the opportunity to turn that "junk" not only into robust streaming solutions, 而且还帮助教授医学生——许多医学生可能在美国医学研究领域工作.S. or the world where resources are limited to what one has on hand—to identify components from a variety of abandoned computers to build a working device that could power not only an electronic medical records solution but also a basic on-demand playback system to offer education to those who may not be able to otherwise access it.

反过来，我们将从经验中获益东田纳西州立大学的公共卫生项目 already has in training its students to use bicycle parts to create small power generators that are currently used to power small water pumps for better hygiene and crop irrigation.

The common thread between the Greening of Streaming and Help Me Stream 研究 Foundation initiatives is to simultaneously grow the streaming industry's innovations for at-scale delivery, while also reducing electronic landfill through the intentional repurposing of older desktops, 笔记本电脑, 服务器, 智能手机, 和平板电脑.

你能帮什么忙?? 在考虑加入“流媒体绿化”之后, 花几分钟在你的衣柜里翻找一下, 袜子抽屉, 或车库, 看看有没有你想捐的"垃圾. As a 501(c)3 we're able to give donation letters—either for this "junk" or any monetary donation to the mission—and we'd love to have your insights into projects that would benefit from the "junk" you've found. 访问 hmsrf.org/donate 或电子邮件 donations@hmsrf.org 欲知详情.

免费的

合资格订户

现在就订阅最新一期过去的问题

Progress Towards Giving the Gift of Streaming: Help Me Stream’s 2023 研究 Highlights

Year full of research preps significant 2024 acceleration to give "the gift of streaming" globally

2023年12月21日

订阅和潜艇

What do Lewis Carroll, OTT subscriptions, and submarine power cables have in common? 继续读下去!

2022年6月17日

帮助他人流媒体

Those of us in the industry sometimes lose sight of the fact that billions of people around the world have never used the internet, 更少使用Zoom或观看4K版的《百家乐软件app最新版下载》. Here's one way you can help streaming video reach those who don't have good connectivity.

2022年3月27日