1. About `openEyA`

EyA stands for "Enhance your Audience". It is a tool used to record continuosly, and without human intervention, complete traditional Maths and Physics lectures as for example those within the ICTP Diploma Programme as can be seen at the website www.ictp.tv

Recordings of International conferences (with parallel sessions), seminars, talks, etc using EyA technologies can be seen at the website sdu.ictp.it

EyA technologies can be also used in e-Learning programs as educational content producer.

The automated EyA recording system was reviewed in the Physics World Magazine in December 2007, and won the Innovation Prize of Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia of Italy in the non-profit and public institutions category in February 2008.

openEyA is the Linux-based alternative to EyA also developed by the ICTP Science Dissemination Unit (SDU: see section Contacts).

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1.1 `openEyA` Features

openEyA integrates different technologies under Linux O.S. Ubuntu 9.04 to synchronize:

video in Flash format (to see whatever happens in front of a classroom),
high resolution digital photos (to zoom specific areas of the classroom podium, blackboard and projector screen -if any), and
classroom audio (without the need to wear a microphone) ... and much more.

openEyA (and EyA) allows to archive and share traditional scientific lectures and talks carried out using, for instance, very large chalkboards found in classrooms and/or using modern presentations (PPT, PDF, animations, etc). It is innovative because of these main features:

- no dedicated human intervention during recording and post-processing (there is no need for an operator or editor); the automated audio-video-slides synchronization is done in few minutes with just a mouse click.
- Scalable architecture and portable (from one classroom to many);
- no special requirements for the speaker or lecturer (there is no need to press buttons during the lecture or to wear a microphone, etc) ;
- high resolution of zoomable images; space disk is saved by cropping pictures when processing the synchronized audio-video-slides openEyA recordings. Duplicated photos, or photos that have slighltly changed, are automatically discarded. Furthermore, Photos can easily be straighten out.
- Low total cost of hardware implementation (see section Requirements);
- low-bandwidth features (synchronized recordings can be compressed as Zip files).