In the Discovery Commons in the Faculty of Medicine, we've created an umbrella project to facilitate experimentation with video-on-demand content in Health Sciences. We call the project MedSchoolTV. There are four main initiatives within the MedSchoolTV project at the moment.

	One is to digitize a large historical collection of films and videos. These films were originally produced by an earlier, pre-computer version of our department called Instructional Media Services. In some cases we have digitized films directly from 16 mm film that date back more than 30 years.
	The second initiative is to serve as a host for instructors and students who want to experiment with producing their own videos for public broadcast. Our department provides recording studio space, and editing services, and then hosts the final products for broadcast. Think of this as public-access cable in the digital age.
	The third initiative is to produce our own, new content for broadcast. If the metaphor for MedSchoolTV is a channel, then the "Health Studio" is our featured program - consisting of 10-15 minute interviews with members of our community. Think of PBS-meets-medical-education.
	The final initiative involves identifying other, similar channels that exist in the world, and providing the viewing audience with a master listing of health sciences video-on-demand services; the metaphor here is TV Guide.

Underlying all of these initiatives is a research agenda - namely, the opportunity to test and analyse how different kinds of viewers and learners interact with different formats of production (for example, interviews versus docudramas), and which kinds of technologies facilitate which kinds of experiences. To this end, we have experimented with different technologies such as ePresence, Flash, progressive streaming, etc.

Finally, we are particularly indebted to our colleagues at the University of Toronto Libraries, particularly the TSpace project, for their ongoing support and collaboration. Naturally, we are more than happy to work with any colleagues who have an interest in this area.

Discovery Commons
www.discoverycommons.ca
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