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Project  bwOpencast

Creating a central service to store, process and make lecture recordings available with the open source software Opencast

This project aims to develop a centrally provided, state-wide service (Opencast-as-a-Service) for the storage, processing and provision of lecture recordings and other video formats. Access to educational videos is essential for flexible and inclusive learning. 

The goal of this project is to provide an efficient solution for lecture recording on a per-use basis to all interested universities, without the need to develop their own in-house resources. This will be achieved by creating a central infrastructure as a state-wide service that will be connected to the bwCloud. The central service, in addition to Opencast as a backend service, also includes the associated frontend video portal, Tobira.

The project is the result of the dialogue process ‘Zukunftslabor Hochschulen in der digitalen Welt’ (Future Lab for Universities in the Digital World) initiated by the Ministry of Science, Research and Art (MWK) of Baden-Württemberg with broad participation from higher education institutions of all types. It was created with the aim of bundling competencies so that smaller universities can also benefit from “Opencast-as-a-Service”.  

The University of Stuttgart is heading the project and is responsible for server operation, service management and integrating central services such as the infrastructure bwCloud. 
The University Computing Centre of Heidelberg University is in charge of customizing and providing the video portal Tobira, whose user-friendly interface makes for a simple and intuitive design (media search, management, uploading, etc.). 

Status and Duration

The current period of this project is from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2025.

Project Partners

The following institutions are part of this project:

  • University of Stuttgart (Project leadership; operations and development; service management; integration with central systems such as bwCloud)
  • Heidelberg University (Tobira customization and provision)
  • Higher education institutions of Baden-Württemberg

Funding

The Opencast project is funded by the Ministry for Sciences, Research and Arts of Baden-Württemberg.

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