The Institute - March 2007 - 18

Pro ducts & Services

that they view their association
with the IEEE as an essential part
of their careers," Day says.

Pedro Ray, vice president, Regional
Activities [left], about to be filmed by
John Day, IEEE.tv product manager [center],
and two producers for an introduction
to an IEEE.tv program.

IEEE, the TV Network
By Willie D. Jones

or the last eight months,
the IEEE has been producing videos of all types
for its own TV network.
So far, 16 videos about technology and engineering are available for viewing on demand
from IEEE.tv.
The lineup has summaries of
information presented at IEEE
conferences, overviews of books
put out by Wiley-IEEE Press, discussions of employment trends,
and descriptions of new products introduced by the institute.
The show Conference Highlights includes clips from September's IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference in
San Jose, Calif., and discussions
from the June IEEE Society on
Social Implications of Technology's International Symposium
in New York City. A video featuring highlights from June's Symposium on VLSI Circuits held in
Honolulu was to be added in the
first quarter of this year.
"We're not just taping conferences or streaming taped lectures," explains John Day, senior
manager for business development for IEEE Regional Activities, in Piscataway, N.J., the unit

The Institute | March 2007

in charge of IEEE.tv. "Our aim is
to deliver finely polished productions that are not just informative
but present engineering topics
in a compelling manner."
Interviews with industry
experts who have published
books with Wiley-IEEE Press
include Carl Selinger giving tips
from his Stuff You Don't Learn
in Engineering School, which
focuses on the soft skills engineers need to climb the corporate ladder, or start their own
business. Mark Montrose provides highlights from his book
on electromagnetic compatibility, Testing for EMC Compliance: Approaches and Techniques,
and Richard Schreier, author of
Understanding Delta Sigma Data
Converters, provides an overview
of the converter technology.
Other programs include
Profiles in Volunteering, which
highlights the skill-building
and leadership experience that
comes with being an IEEE volunteer. Recycling: Computers &
Electronics discusses what happens to electronic devices destined for the scrap heap at the
end of their useful lives.
WHY TV? "We're trying to reach
a younger demographic that is

multimedia-oriented," says David
Green, senior member and IEEE
treasurer. He sits on the advisory
board that oversaw the creation of
IEEE.tv. "The IEEE has to serve
four generations of members-
which presents a big challenge in
terms of serving them all well."
IEEE.tv seems to be reaching younger IEEE members.
According to Day, although student members make up about
20 percent of overall IEEE membership, they represent close to
half of IEEE.tv viewers.
"Giving them access to information on their terms will help
them stay connected to the rest of
the membership, to get involved
in IEEE activities, and ensure

ON THE WAY A number of IEEE
groups are creating IEEE.tv programs of their own, tailored to
their members' interests. Groups
are lining up to ensure that video-
taped portions of their conferences make their way onto the
network. For example, the IEEE
Broadcast Technology Society
hired videographers to shoot
nearly every minute of the society's annual Broadcast Symposium, held in Washington, D.C.,
in September. "The raw footage
is being edited and repurposed
in a number of ways, including
long tutorials and conference
highlights, and for videos aimed
at encouraging membership,"
says Senior Member Tom Gurley, the society's past president.
Gurley likes the idea that
tutorials offered at IEEE conferences and other events will not
be limited to people who can
travel to the meetings. "With
IEEE.tv transmitting information directly to desktops, anyone
can have access," he points out.
Groups are also looking to
IEEE.tv's production staff to
help them produce tutorials. For
instance, the IEEE Professional
Communication Society has
expressed interest in creating videos aimed at helping engineers
improve their business-writing
and public-speaking skills.
Some programs will come
ready-made. Day notes that the
IEEE student branch at Dartmouth College, in Hanover,
N.H., has asked that IEEE.tv
host a video the branch produced about students there who
built hybrid-electric Formula
One race cars from the chassis

up, as well as an upcoming competition pitting the cars against
those from other schools.
Day notes that members
have been offering suggestions
to help make what they see as
a good thing even better. There
have been requests for other
media players, such as Flash and
Quick Time, besides Windows
Media and Real players, which
are the only options now available. Members also would like
to download files to local drives
for viewing, or to portable digital media players such as iPods
so they can watch programs on
the go. Another request was for
closed-captioning for the hearing
impaired and for those whose
mother tongue is not English.
In the interest of meeting
another of the IEEE's principal
aims, which is to shine a positive light on the engineering
profession, IEEE.tv's creators
have included a general-interest
series, Careers in Technology. It
spotlights various careers in
engineering, providing overviews
of technological developments
made possible by engineers.
Videos in the series are accessible by the general public, as a
way to interest non-engineers in
engineering careers, or at least
give them a better understanding of what engineers do. Three
episodes are available so far:
"Careers in Information Technology," "Power Engineering:
Careers That Make Technology
Work," and "What's Out There:
Careers for Electrical Engineers
and Computer Scientists." Day
says more such programs are in
the works.
To tune in, go to the IEEE.tv
welcome page at http://www.
ieee.org/ieeetv. From there, you
can select a program.
*

Programs now showing on
conference
Highlights

Meet the
Authors

careers
ieee.tv
in technology specials

ieee
Products

electric ships
Technology symposium

richard schreier:
Understanding Delta
Sigma Data Converters

careers in Information
Technology

The Ieee in china

Ieee Member
Digital Library

Profiles in
Volunteering

Ieee expert now

Ieee std. 1680
electronic Product
environmental
assessment Tool

Vuspec series

Doing the right Thing:
social Implications of
Technology
recycling:
computers
& electronics

Mark Montrose:
Testing for EMC
Compliance: Approaches
Power engineering:
and Techniques
careers That Make
Technology Work
carl selinger:
Stuff You Don't Learn
in Engineering School

http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www.IEEE.tv http://www http://www.ieee.org/ieeetv http://www.ieee.tv

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