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Nature Trail & New Orchard

The summer and the COVID have been keeping me busy, to say the least, and I finally have something interesting worth posting about.  Today with some help from some other folks at BCC we began a project to take some videos, 360/VR videos, and pictures to document the BCC Nature Trail.

It was a rainy start to the day so the trail itself was a little damp.  When we first met for lunch it was still raining, but after some Teo’s and some patient waiting the showers disappeared and the sun came out to dry things up a bit.  We decided to do just the drone portion of the mission, the sky is not wet after all, and wait for a dryer time to do the 360/VR video.

Here’s a video from the first part of our drone mission, to capture some closeup video of some of the cliff swallow nests on the side of Hawthorne.  I don’t know much about these birds, other than BCC used to be a popular nesting spot however lately their numbers have been declining.  These nests are to attempt to encourage them to return.

After that we walked the BCC nature trail and while taking video, measured the height of the radio tower (80 feet) and some key trees in the area.  We took some low to the ground video of some interesting plants, although I’m not sure how well those will come out.

To wrap up our tasks today, the BCC Alumni Association recently planted a new orchard on campus, a collection of apple trees near the North Parking Lot.  Here’s some of the video.

We will reschedule the 360/VR video shoot to another day soon, perhaps next week.

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Virtual Tour – Remote Everything

Yes, it’s been quite a while since I last posted.  A little over two months to be exact.  The grind of remote work has really been a challenge, especially since the Summer Semester began.  It’s really difficult to provide technology support remotely, especially when the individual is lacking basic computer skills.  It’s a real challenge to walk someone through changing a setting when they don’t know how to right-click.

Today is one of the first days I’m working back in my office.  The Library and Digital Commons are still closed so there’s no users in the lab.  It’s good to come here and get back in a work groove and there are several projects to be worked on.

One project is a Virtual Tour, although most of my role is done.  With help from STEM the college was able to get our hands on a Vuze VR/360 Camera.  The camera is pretty good and takes much of the work out of stitching together videos.  The video can then be edited right in Adobe Premiere, which is where the project is at now.

Last week I met with Josh from Security, Nolan from STEM, and Jonah from Marketing so that we could capture areas on campus for the virtual tour.  For about 2 hours we took 2-4 minutes of video from about 30 different locations all around campus.  Here’s a test below with 4 of the locations, outside of Hoffman, Chemistry Lab, Boland Theater, and the Digital Commons where my office is.

Marketing is now editing the final version, I’m really excited to see what they come up with!  Some of my drone video was used in the latest BCC commercial and I’m glad to see it put to good use.  There’s a shot of flying over Patterson where you can see the entire campus and also a rising shot of the nurses from a ceremony a month ago where they were outside, wearing masks and social distancing.

You will also see Jason, one of the Lab Assistants who worked in the Digital Commons as the thumbnail.  Jason went to study at UMASS I believe — I miss him and all the other Lab Assistants!

Since it’s been so long since posting I have all sorts of media and drone flights from the interim. Here’s a bonus drone video from Jones Nose on Mount Greylock!

 

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Zoom, Zoom, and more Zoom

LA ghost town

LA with no people, from a drone.

With everyone working from home, schooling from home, celebrating from home, and in some cases

mourning from home, Zoom has become a commonly heard word.  Zoom this Zoom that, I typically find myself attending a minimum of 3 Zoom meetings each workday and I think my record is 10 Zoom meetings in one day, but who’s counting because I’ve completely lost track! My mom was supposed to go to Austin, TX for a wedding, but that was changed and was also on Zoom with quite a few folks in virtual attendance.

Last week my aunt Rachel passed away and there was a memorial over the weekend.  (FYI, we don’t know if she had COVID, she was in Williamstown Commons but was not tested as she didn’t meet the criteria.) My mom and I attended her service via Duo, another video app similar to Zoom but made by Google. My brother was nice enough to help out while wearing a mask and social distancing by holding his cellphone for us to see.  We couldn’t hear what the priest was saying as he was so far away, but that was OK.  This was still the safest way for everyone to attend.  We are planning a full memorial for everyone in the family at a later date.

There’s lots of concern for privacy with Zoom, and rightfully so.  Zoom is super easy to use, and that’s it’s main weakness while at the same time being it’s greatest strength.  Here’s an article from the New York Times that explains pretty well.   Some students have reached out to me and the school with concerns ghost me!around using Zoom, but it’s just as safe as Facebook or Instagram or any of those other “free” things  Speaking of those, there’s are some ways to have fun with Zoom.  For example, you can use fun filters like on Instagram or Snapchat by installing this fun program described here on CNET.  I tried it and it works, but it can be a resource hog on your system.

Saturday Night Live had a great skit about and filmed entirely within Zoom from the SNL At Home show this past weekend hosted by Tom Hanks – a COVID survivor.  It’s out there for free on YouTube and here it is for you to enjoy! (Tom Hanks isn’t in the skit sadly, I could have used a cameo from David S Pumpkins!)

There’s many options for staying connected while we all practice social distancing and stay at home.  Now if only the weather would improve so I could fly some drones!