Driving Large Scale Installation Design with Adobe Flex

Prepared for Adobe Partners by Design Annual Meeting 2009

Andrew McAllister Manager, Academic Computing amcallister@ocad.ca Christopher Bennell Faculty IT Support Technician, Academic Computing cbennell@faculty.ocad.ca

About OCAD
UNDERGRADUATE
Graphic Design Drawing & Painting Illustration Advertising Industrial Design Photography Environmental Design Integrated Media Sculpture & Installation Printmaking Criticism & Curatorial Practice

GRADUATE
Interdisciplinary Masters in Art & Design Criticism & Curatorial Practice Executive Masters in Design Advertising Masters in Strategic Foresight and Innovation

Key Indicators
133 Years Old Publicly Funded Tuition $5,285 BFA, BDes, MA, MFA, MDes, Executive MDes 3500 Students 400 Faculty 30 IT Staff (6 Full-time Academic Computing Staff)

Analog Signage

Digital Signage: Why? Communicate to Students Events and Important Deadlines Showcase Student and Faculty work Emergency Communication

Archival Images

Archival Images

Project Status Displays installed, tested National Digital Media Day test-run Flex solution is 70% complete Some wins, some misses

Digital Signage 1360 x 768 (720p) 16:9

Digital Signage

1360 x 768 (720p) 16:9

Digital Signage

Digital Signage

Digital Signage

Digital Signage

Buy vs. Build Analysis

BUY
- Ease of implementation - Partnership with integrator - No development, but customization - Higher hard cost, lower soft cost

BUILD
- Totally custom product - Development time required - DIY - Lower hard costs, higher soft cost

Buy vs. Build Analysis

BUY
- Ease of implementation - Partnership with integrator - No development, but customization - Higher hard cost, lower soft cost

BUILD
- Totally custom product - Development time required - DIY - Lower hard costs, higher soft cost

To FLEX or Not to FLEX

PROS
- Rich interface / interactivity - Ability to do rich visual design Easy to integrate different media formats - Same interface for admin as display - Easy to deploy on any machine - Modular structure - Large dev community - Easier development than some alternatives

CONS
- Learning Curve - Proprietary system - More complex than a traditional web app - No built-in ability to talk to a database necessitates a web service

Existing Infrastructure
DIGITAL IMAGE
60000+ digital images of faculty and student work Web enabled, includes video Extensis Portfolio + MS SQL

EVENT CALENDAR
Custom PHP application for displaying events on institutional website RSS enabled

PODCASTING
Leopard Server with Xgrid node Telestream Episode Podcast Adobe Flash Media Server

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/integrated_php.html

Key Features Supports displays of different sizes Multiple media formats Leverages existing infrastructure Reduces manual processes

Unanticipated Complexity & Benefits of Layout Slightly longer delivery Fussy hardware management Can I use the display for X? Stakeholder management

THANKS!
Christopher Bennell Faculty IT Support Technician 416.977.6000 x2525 cbennell@faculty.ocad.ca Andrew McAllister Manager, Academic Computing 416.977.6000 x304 amcallister@ocad.ca