Process

Accounts on the URI media server are available only to faculty, instructors and staff.

To request an account on the URI media server, you must complete the application and mail to:

Ignacio Pérez-Ibáñez
Supervisor, Language Learning Resource Center
 Independence Hall

You will be notified of your account activation within 48 hours of receipt of your application. 

The URI media server is unix-based, Therefore, certain restrictions on file naming exist.  

1. Unix is case-sensitive.  So apple.mov and Apple.mov are two different file names.  It is easier if you name your files consistently all upper or all lower case.

2. Unix does not recognize file names with spaces in them. For example, a file named "apple orchard.mov' will not work on a unix server.  You have several options, including either "appleorchard.mov" (no spaces) or "apple_orchard.mov" (an underscore used instead of the space).

3. File names with any of the following special characters will not work:

4. Periods should be used with caution, as they typically separate the file name from the file type.  

5. Slash marks (/) separate directories in a web address, so they should also not be used in a title.

6. International accent marks or special characters should not be used.

7. CGI scripting is not allowed on the URI media server. 

File information 

There are many types of media files. But choosing the right one can make a difference to your students in terms of making the files easily accessible, increasing the ease of use and decreasing the time to download.

At URI, we recommend you use QuickTime for your video files. 
QuickTime is truly cross-platform and has no restrictions on the number of clients that can connect to the server at any time (for no cost). Real Media restricts the server to 60 clients accessing the server for .rm/.ram files at any one time.   That is 60 clients on the server for .rm/.ram files in aggregate--not just your one file.  So if ten professors post .rm/.ram files, there could be significant congestion to get to their files.  

But there are no-cost alternatives: Windows Media and QuickTime.  In recent years, Microsoft has made great strides in developing the Mac version of the Windows Media Player.  The current version is near-perfect.  Thus if you wish to post simple audio or video files, they can easily be either QuickTime or Windows Media files.

Why do we push QuickTime?  QuickTime is much more versatile than Windows Media and can support more different types of media files (animation, interactivity, multiple audio and video tracks, PowerPoint movies, text movies, subtitles, etc...)  The Office of Information Services offers short courses in the development of QuickTime media and we have QuickTime  documentation posted to the web. 

All students may not be able to play MPEG2 or MPEG 4 video content.  Some of these files can only be played in proprietary software (for fee) and some files are not compatible with older browsers and media players. 

There are many more choices available for posting audio only files. These include:

QuickTime and Windows Media Players can play most of these files. Most students have their computers configured to play .mp3 files, so using this format will accommodate most students.  The .mp3 format is also very good for voices that are slurred or musical in intonation.

.mov files are restricted to QuickTime, .wmp are restricted to Windows Media Player and .aac are restricted to iTunes (which is also cross platform.  Both .au and .aif files tend to be too large for web download unless the files are very short. The .wav file format is not always cross-platform.  

Therefore, we recommend either .mp3, .mov or .wmp for your audio files.

File Transfer 

Once you get an account on the media server, you can use any File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software to post your files.  FTP software is generally free (such as Ipswitch [Win 2K] or Cute FTP) in a no-frills form for Windows machines.  There is a free FTP software for Apple Computers in Mac OS 9 (Fetch). Apple provides a nifty free utility for servers in Mac OS X (under the Go menu, Connect to Server) but this does not work with all servers, including our media server.  However, the media server will work with Mac OS X through one of the low-cost FTP software programs such as Captain FTP ($25).

You will use the FTP software to transfer files from your computer to the media server. Some FTP programs work in a drag-and-drop fashion while others use buttons to move highlighted files from one location to another.

Your URL (web address) will vary depending on the name you choose for your directory (folder) on the server, but in general your media files can be linked from a web page with an address similar to this:

http://media.uri.edu/yourfolder/filename.mov

For more information

If you have any remaining questions, please address them via  email to the server administrator.