Sam's suggestion (in MMD 981007) for putting an Internet-based museum
together is an interesting one. Personally, I get a lot of excitement
from seeing the mechanisms in action, and like the idea of video,
HOWEVER it's also necessary to be realistic. Most people (in 1998) don't
have the bandwidth (or the patience) to download very large files, and
even with streaming technology, there's a limit to what a slow
connection can offer.

I'm a proponent of low-bandwidth solutions, and I would suggest
something that provides good audio quality, but cuts down on the video
to 2-6 frames per second. I don't know if RealAudio has a way to
configure such a format, but a progression of still images can probably
give the viewer a good idea of what the mechanism is doing, without
bothering to provide full-rate video.

Even an animated GIF that shows a few frames of the action and is not
synchronized with the sound would probably convey a lot of information.
Yes, it's low tech, but it's probably going to provide more people with
access to the information.

I'd be happy to help with this effort.

Bob Fitterman (New York, NY)
bobf@ilx.com

 [ Bob,  (and others who have written offering to help)
 [    Robbie retires this January and is very interested in
 [ improving the MMD Website.  I look forward to helping
 [ Robbie coordinate the efforts of a number of our subscribers
 [ in adding a serious museum section.  We've got virtually
 [ unlimited bandwidth and disk space.  I will look into
 [ getting the streaming RealMedia server software when
 [ its appropriate.  I agree that we should be bandwidth
 [ sensitive, but I'd like to keep high quality master files
 [ so that we can improve the quality as the transmission
 [ technology advances.  I can't wait until Robbie gets back...
 [ Jody