Introducing Classcaster - A full featured blogging and podcasting system for educators.

[[Asterisk|http://www.asterisk.org/]] provides the telephony backend that allows the recording of phone calls for podcasts. Creating podcasts using any telephone and having the MP3 files posted directly to a blog is one of the key features of Classcaster. \n\nA call to Classcaster's Asterisk PBX launches an interactive voice menu system that guides the caller through recording and saving a call. The caller keys in their 10 digit phone number and a 4 digit PIN to log into the system and provide the link to their blog. Once logged in, the call is recorded by Asterisk as a .WAV file. We have successfully recorded calls of nearly 3 hours in length. When the caller wishes to stop recording, the # key is pressed. This moves the call into the review and save phase. Once saved, the .WAV file is transcoded into an ~MP3 and posted to the callers blog using the ~MetaWeblog API.\n\n3-way and conference calls can be recorded using Classcaster as one of callers. This allows faculty to record interviews or panel discussions. We have tested the recording of Asterisk Meetme conference calls as podcasts and anticipate rolling out a podcast confernece call system this summer.\n\nConnection to POTS is through a Digium X100 analog card and a couple of ~VoicePulse numbers. Direct SIP and IAX calls can also be recorded and posted as podcasts.\n

[[Introducing Classcaster]]\n[[Overview]]

Elmer R. Masters\nDirector of Internet Development\nCenter for ~Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction\n404-712-2211 emasters@cali.org

To find out more about Classcaster visit [[www.classcaster.net|http://www.classcaster.net/]], the Classcaster development community website. There you will find instructions for installing and deploying your own Classcaster system, including downloads of the files needed to turn ~LifeType and Asterisk into Classcaster.

This is an introduction to [[Classcaster|http://www.classcaster.org]]. It looks at some of the design issues and technical details of the system.\nClick on the links below to get details.\n*[[Who Am I]]\n*[[What Is CALI?]]\n*[[Overview]]\n*[[Why Classcaster]]\n*LifeType\n*[[Asterisk PBX]]\n*[[Our Secret Sauce]]\n*[[Find Out More]]

[[LifeType|http://www.lifetype.net/]] is the blogging software formerly known as pLog. It provides a key set of feature necessary to make Classcaster work. This feature set includes:\n*Multiple authors and multiple blogs on a single database\n*[[RSS 2.0 enclosure|http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss#hrelementsOfLtitemgt]] support\n*[[Metaweblog API|http://www.xmlrpc.com/metaWeblogApi]] support for ~NewMediaObject creation\n*Basic file management \n*A well documented and functional [[API|http://www.lifetype.net/api/]]\n*[[Easily hackable|http://forums.lifetype.net/viewtopic.php?t=3307&highlight=classcaster]] \n\nA base ~LifeType install was modified to include:\n*Altered the user registration process to point at a captive form that requires new users to have credentials on the CALI website before they can create a blog.\n*Altered the blog creation process to automatically create a podcast folder in the resource area and create a podcast category\n*a custom plugin to allow blog owners to activate the podcast recording features of the system. This included a new table to store a 10 didigt phone number and a 4 didgt PIN.\n*Altered the english locale file to change some of the text used in the interface.\n*Installed, reviewed, and altered 48 templates to include links to the Dashboard and File area\n*Altered the XMLRPC interface to except and decode Base64 files for the ~MetaWeblog:newMediaObject function.\n\n

[[Introducing Classcaster]]\n[[CALI|http://www.cali.org/]]\n[[Classcaster|http://www.classcaster.org/]]\n[[Developers|http://www.classcaster.net/]]\n\n\nPowered by [[TiddlyWiki|http://www.tiddlywiki.com/]]

These interface options for customising [[TiddlyWiki|http://www.tiddlywiki.com/]] are saved in your browser\n\n<<option chkRegExpSearch>> RegExpSearch\n<<option chkCaseSensitiveSearch>> CaseSensitiveSearch\n<<option chkAnimate>> EnableAnimations\n\nSee AdvancedOptions

The secret sauce that binds [[LifeType|http://www.lifetype.net/]] and [[Asterisk|http://www.asterisk.org/]] together is just 105 lines of Perl. It is a basic XMLRPC client that takes an id from Asterisk, uses it to identify the person making the call and their blog, adds the ~MP3 of the call to the blog file store and creates a basic draft post on the blog using ~MetaWeblog API calls.\n

Classcaster is a course blogging system that provides faculty, librarians, and staff of CALI member schools with a new way to interact with students and communities. A Classcaster blog provides authors with tools for posting not only traditional blog articles but also tools for podcasting and sharing any documents and/or files with students and communities. CALI's Classcaster community lives at [[www.classcaster.org|http://www.classcaster.org]]. \n\nClasscaster uses:\n*[[Lifetype|http://www.lifetype.org/]] for blogging and podcasting\n*[[Asterisk|http://www.asterisk.org/]] for recording podcasts, conference calls, and more\nrunning on Linux with Apache, ~MySQL, PHP, and Perl performing their usual roles. A website is available for those interested in deploying or developing their own Classcaster installations at [[www.classcaster.net|http://www.calsscaster.net/]]

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A full featured blogging and podcasting system for educators.

Introducing Classcaster

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The [[Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction|http://www.cali.org]] is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit consortium of law schools that researches and develops computer-mediated legal instruction and supports institutions and individuals using technology and distance learning in legal education.\n\nOur mission is to advance global legal education through computer technology, employ research, collaboration, and leadership to assist a diverse audience in the effective use of this technology in legal education, and promote access to justice through the use of computer technology.\n\nCALI has [[offices|http://www2.cali.org/index.php?fuseaction=static.board#staff]] at:\n*~Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, IL\n*University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN\n*Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, GA

Elmer R. Masters\nDirector of Internet Development\nCenter for ~Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction\n404-712-2211 emasters@cali.org\n\nI have been working with technology in U.S. law schools since 1992, first as an electronic resource librarian at Syracuse, then as director of IT at Cornell and Emory. I began my work with CALI in January 2003, after having served as a consult and member of CALI's board of directors for a number of years.\n\n

We developed [[Classcaster|http://www.classcaster.org/]] in response to a perceived need for a set of focused tools that would allow law school faculty to easily create course related blogs and podcasts. Classcaster provides authors with a simple to use blog that is pre-confgured for podcasting and document sharing. Unlike course or lesson management systems like Blackboard or ~WebCT, the focus is on providing teachers with a straight forward and easy to use platform for sharing information with students, not total management of the course. Classcaster is not a course management system, it a course communication platform. \n\nA professor who decides to use Classcaster can create a blog, record a podcast, edit the blog post containing the podcast and publish it in less than 10 minutes.

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