Open Learning Network

When we stare at our televisions in the evening maybe we don't think of them as places were we could use Open Educational Resources (OER). After all, this is a world where you have to be a big organisation to produce and transmit content, and for most people their involvement will be limited to passive consumption. Until now that is. Many changes are happening that mean people are taking control with their remotes. Opportunities are even emerging to experiment with shifting OER from the laptop to the living room, and it is not as difficult to get involved as you might think.

These opportunities are becoming possible thanks to technological developments that are bringing video, audio and text content from the Internet right into the living room. Typically this will involve connecting some form of computer to the television, but that machine might not be something thought of as a traditional computer, it could be a set top box, a games console or a small “media centre” computer. The ways in which these devices are perceived (and maybe how difficult they are thought of as being to use) can be very different from traditional laptops and desktops.

Some of these platforms will be closed, so you cannot get content onto them without first partnering with the companies behind them, but some open platforms have emerged, and that means there is an opportunity to experiment. In some ways when we are thinking about bringing OER into the living room, the technology is sometimes not as interesting as the experience we are trying to create. Creating a user interface that works on a TV set with a remote is as big a change for a developer as moving from developing for desktop to mobile; I know because I've tried it!

The key advantage of a set top box type platform is ease of use. The whole interface can be driven with just six keys on a remote control; the directional keys, an 'OK' button and a 'back' button. You don't need a degree in Computer Science to operate it, which means that OER opportunities could be opened up to a wider range of people. Everything on the screen should be easily navigable and visible from across your living room. All of these ideas are known as the 10-foot user experience. This platform shifting challenge could be quite a reason to remix an OER.

One open system that I have worked with in the past is Boxee. This aims to bring audio and video content from the Internet to your TV via an interface that is designed to be used with a remote while you sit comfortably on your sofa. No more being huddled uncomfortably over a laptop or desktop watching video. Boxee also has the advantage that you can create “apps” for it that bring in content with a custom user interface. We created an app (shown above) to bring Open University podcasts to the platform, but there are also other notable applications such as OpenCourseWare (below) and the Research Channel for educational uses.

Experimenting with OER concepts on set top boxes doesn't have to be as hard as you might think. Boxee lets you build full scale user interfaces if you want, giving a rich user experience. A good place to start is their developer page at: http://developer.boxee.tv/Main_Page. The skills you need for this task are XML and Python, which are widely used technologies anyway. If those words didn't mean anything to you, or you just want to create something quickly, Boxee also accepts RSS feeds. An example of how these are displayed is shown below.

A good starting point might be something like Tony Hirst's DeliTV, a mashup that lets you create a feed for Boxee using the social bookmarking service Delicious. You don't need to do any programming to use this, but you can still put together a rich collection of OER resources. If you have an RSS feed that is ready to go, you can create a simple application in just a few lines following these instructions: How to build a basic RSS feed application for Boxee. Even producing video has got easier, videos can be uploaded to YouTube, or if you want a simple way to shoot video, have a look at Qik, which puts a small application on your mobile phone and lets you stream to the Internet in almost real time. Both of these services offer RSS feeds which could be used in an application.

When you get your OER for TV application running I would definitely recommend hooking your computer up to the TV and trying Boxee out with a remote control (apps are available for Android and iPhone, you can also use remotes under LIRC on Linux). This gives you a more meaningful experience and after a while you might even forget that you are using a computer and get a real feel for the “ten foot user experience”.