WCCA

Be on TV! Stop by WCCA TV 13 on December 5th from 5pm-8pm and give a "holiday shout out" to your family and friends on WCCA TV Channel 13!

The "shout outs" will be seen throughout December.

The idea is that you probably have the equipment to make a TV show, or can borrow what you don't have. I'll show you how to get the best-quality video possible, how to edit it, how to put it online, and how to get it on WCCA TV13, Worcester's cable access station.

The WCCA "Quick Start" class will be about 2 hours long, and will be held Dec 8 at noon and 6:30pm, Dec 10 at noon and 6:30pm, Dec 11 at noon and 6:30pm, and Dec 12 at noon and 6:30pm.

To sign up, e-mail mike@wccatv.org. You must sign up at least 24 hours before your class.

Class materials cost $5. The class itself is free for WCCA members. We're asking an additional $5 donation for non-members. But if you sign up by Dec 5, the class is free!

• Teen Central

Happy Holidays!

Due to the Christmas and New Years’ Holiday

(quickly approaching)

we may have to alter the “regular program schedule”

for these days:
Tuesday, Dec. 23 (7pm-12 am altered)
Wednesday, Dec. 24 (altered all day)
Thursday, Dec. 25(altered all day)
Friday, Dec. 26 (8am-8:30pm altered)

Tuesday, Dec. 30 (7pm-12 am altered)
Wednesday, Dec. 31 (altered all day)
Thursday, Jan. 1 (altered all day)

Weekend programming should remain unchanged. All shows to air on the weekend of Christmas are due to Charlie Thanas by 5pm, Tuesday, December 23, 2008 and those to air the weekend of New Years due by 5pm Tuesday, Dec. 30th, 2008.

As we noted three weeks ago, the Internet Archive is changing the videos it "derives" from the original videos uploaded to the site.

Here's the official news. In short, they are now making Ogg Theora derivatives, and continuing to make higher-quality MPEG-4 videos.

There are also changes in the way thumbnails work.

They'll be deleting derived FLV videos, and the lower-quality MPEG-4 videos they used to derive. This is annoying, as there are presumably many pages out there linking to the old MPEG4s. (The existence of the FLVs was downplayed, so they're not such a problem.)

Here at WCCA, we need to change the "content type" (Drupal jargon) of our older video posts anyway, so this doesn't make much more work for us. Others may not be so lucky.

By the way, the Embedded Media Field plugin for archive.org should already work great under this new system. We'll be keeping an eye out for any problems.

Members of the Pack 37 Tiger Cubs at Christ the King church recently visited WCCA.
The scouts and their parents did a tour of the station and participated in a hands-on production experience. Their visit was a part of their Tiger Scout achievement requirement for learning how the media is used to communicate with many people at once.
Their final production will be used as part of Young Views Real News and be shown at an upcoming Pack meeting.
Photos of their visit can be seen at WCCA's Flickr page

• KidsNet/Youth Channel

To get a full copy of directions you may email wcaclum@verizon.net

Call the government body of your choice and ask who has custody of the records. Sen a letter to the person who has custody of the record(s) that you wish to receive.

In the letter include the following:

"I am requesting under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 4, Section 7, Clause 26 and Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 66, Section 10 the written ...(Identify clearly the document(s) you would like, with date, etc). "Thank you for your cooperation."

If you do not get the document(s) within 10 days send a copy of your letter to:

Supervisor of Public Records
Office of the Secretary of the State
1 Ashburton Place, Room 1701
Boston, MA 02108

The telephone number of the Supervisor of Public Records is 617-727-2832

Be sure to inform the Supervisor of Public Records that you have not received the information that you have requested. Include a copy of the letter you sent tot he person who has custody of the records. Ask for a ruling.

Thanks to Ron Madnick for passing this information on to WCCA web viewers.

When I see the word 'copyright' while I install a computer game or watch a movie, it usually goes like this: "This product is protected by copyright laws and may not be reproduced or resold in any way.  Any violators will face criminal penalties with either a fine or 5 years in prison."  This is an industrial regulation that serves to prevent product pirating, right?  But when it comes to just simply sharing any creative product free of charge, whether it be music, movies, and video games, the definition of 'copyright' gets really blurry.

I've been thinking about the issue recently.  As I was planning to write this blog, I just happen to come across a few interesting articles that discuss the flaws of copyright and the potential impact that it can have on creativity and cultural interaction.  Here are the links to the articles:

http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2008/11/cory-doctorow-why-i-copyfight.html

http://www.wccatv.com/node/13494

Suppose I just happen to view an uploaded movie on Youtube or AOL Video.  Who would be violating the copyright laws?  Me, the viewer, or whoever uploaded it in the first place?  Also, when I temporarilly download a comic book from a fan website and view it before I delete it from the temporary file folder, is it a violation of copyright law?  Finally, if a download a program that lets me install computer games that are more than 10 years old, such as Doom, Duke Nukem, or Dark Forces, for free, am I violating copyright law for downloading an DOS program, which is obsolete by today's standards?  I just wish this whole copyright thing makes more sense.  It should be understandable by basically not being so grey as it is right now.  

• Teen Central

Just a reminder: tonight ftom 7pm-8:30pm is WCCA's annual meeting for staff, volunteers, members, producers, and board members.

Day in and day out, WCCA helps local folks share video via cable TV. Among the issues on our radar are copyright, free speech, and access to distribution channels. Here are a couple recent links we found thought-provoking.

Cory Doctorow, "Why I Copyfight":

Why does all this copyright reform stuff matter, anyway? What's at stake?

Everything.

Doctorow is on the board of Worcester's own Participatory Culture Foundation. Here's an interview about internet video, especially local video, with PCF head Nicholas Reville (who recently appeared on Soapbox):


How do you watch online video? from Knight Pulse on Vimeo.

This program will be cablecast Monday, Nov 17, at 5pm; Thursday, Nov 20, at 10:30am,; and Friday, Nov 21, at 2pm.

For another perspective on the effects of moving to a greener economy, see this Tom Friedman lecture:

WCCA TV 13 is proud to be a part of the City of Worcester's Festival of Lights on Friday, December 5th. Visit our studio at 415 Main Street  from 6pm-8pm and be on TV! Give a holiday "shout out" to your friends and family right here on WCCA TV 13. For more details, contact Tracy Foley at 508-755-1880. Happy Holidays!

UPDATE November 14,2008
Charter technicians have done some work on the problem this afternoon. Today they ran additional tests. It still is uncertain why the grainy images appear on and off. We have come up with a temporary fix until Monday. The Charter technician, said he will return on Monday to continue to find a resolution to the problem. Please let us know if you continue to see problems with the quality of channel 13 at your home.
Thank you for your continuing support, for your patience, and for watching WCCA TV 13.
# # #

It's too early for snow in Worcester unless your the public access channel.

We have experienced poor signal quality consistently, off and on, for years. WCCA is sending a clear quality signal out, but viewers are seeing grainy images with intermittent hum, and over all, an embarrassingly poor signal quality.

It is frustrating. The city administration tells us they have contacted Charter. They tell us that first they have to determine if there is a problem. Once they determine the problem exist they will negotiate with Charter toward a solution.

Charter's technicians have been responsive but have failed to provide a long term remedy on a timely basis. I have a letter from 2004 sent to Charter complaining of the same issue.

Many public access / community producers put a lot of time, hundreds of hours, and many days, each week to produce and present their videos on Channel 13. It is so disappointing that there seems to be no urgency from Charter to rectify the matter.

The city's cable franchise agreement obligates Charter Communications to provide the Public Access channel with a signal quality equal to all the other channels on the cable system. To the thousands and thousands of cable subscribers, to the producers, show host, guest, and volunteers, WCCA wants you to know that we are doing our best to get the situation cleared up immediately.

ATTENTION BANDS AND PERFORMING ARTIST:

WCCA TV's live-in-studio music showcase "BAND EDGE" has completed it's fall season and will be resuming a new season in January 2009.

Thank you to the eight local Worcester area groups who have participated for the fall season:
Beatles For Sale, Tall Heights, Dan Lewis, Matt Schwachman, Pueblo Nuevo, Johnny Dollar Experiment, WPI Stage Band, Carmen Spada.

We look forward to another great season showcasing local talent on the music scene. WCCA supports local music and we thank everyone for their support of public access television.

Feel to contact me at any time if you are interested in scheduling to be a part of the show as volunteer crew, or to perform.

Please feel free to share this news with other talented performers as well.

Looking forward to seeing you on WCCA TV 13
Thank you

Mauro DePasquale, WCCA TV 13, "The People's Channel"

Community Media Public Access since 1986

P.S. WCCA TV cameras were also recently at Hanover Theater to video tape legendary Zonkeraz. Look for this on WCCA TV coming soon.

Congrats to John! His photo (above) is one of the 12 that will be used in the 2009 Worcester Park Spirit calendar. (He also had a photo in the 2008 calendar.)

Calendars will be on sale at the following locations by November 15: WPL (Main Branch), City Hall, Senior Center, Mass Audubon, Blue Jeans Pizza

Proceeds of the sales will be used to to benefit Worcester Parks & Recreation.

The contest for the 2010 calendar will be held next November. If you'd like to see your photo in the Parks Spirit calendar grab your camera and start taking photos in the Worcester parks. The contest is open to all ages and levels.

Park Spirit of Worcester is a non-profit advocacy group for Worcester's parks.

Our office is closed today for Veterans Day.

The office will reopen Nov 12.

DV 2010 is the diversity visa lottery program which is going to be held from 02/10/2008 to 01/12/2008. This program will issue 50,000 immigrant visas in the fiscal year 2010, through a computer random draw to the people from countries which did sent less people to the USA within the last five years. Eligible people can apply for this lottery only through the one and only American Government's official web site. DV2010 is run by the state department through the KCC. In our web pages you can find related information on DV 2008, 2009 Results, instruction and how to apply for the DV lottery 2010.

Llotaria amerikane 2010 eshte nje program llotarie  qe mbahet nga data 2 tetor 2008 deri me 1 dhjetor 2008. Sipas ketij programi parashikohen te jepen viza emigrimi per rreth 50 000 persona per vitin fiskal 2010 sipas nje poerzgjedhje te rastesishme te kompjuterit. Aplikimi duhet te behet vetem ne faqen zyrtare te emigrimit kombetar amerikan.

• Albanian World

If WCCA TV13 looks fuzzier than other channels on your TV, you are not alone. This has consistently been the case, despite the high quality of the video that WCCA transmits. The problem seems to be on the cable company's end.

Today WCCA requested that the City Manager finally take steps to fix this. From the letter we sent him:

Due to the poor signal quality transmitting from WCCA TV 13's assigned Return Channel 18 or sometimes referred to sub carrier line 18, for the past ten years, we request that the channel be replaced with a fiber connection, similar to the one now being installed at city hall for the Government Channel, immediately.

Pursuant to the City Franchise Agreement with Charter Communications we request the current Return Channel 18, transmitting WCCA TV signal out to Charter, be abandoned and be replaced with a new dedicated fiber channel.

The city's current and past contract obligates Charter to provide the PEG channels with a signal of equal quality to ALL other channels on the Charter system. This has not been the case for years.

Interesting how things get delayed and maneuvered for deliberations during a election and holiday season when people have so many other distractions.

Link to story here