Securing web cams

[Smith, Doug]

We are seeing a huge spike in requests for web cams to support Zoom and Skype in the classrooms.  I'm curious if anyone out there has found a good way to secure them so they don't walk away.

Doug Smith, Ph.D., CTS-D

Director

Learning Spaces and Audio/Visual Technologies

Illinois State University

Campus Box 6380

Normal, IL 61790-6380

ph 309-438-3685

[Schuch, Joe]

Hi Doug,

 

In older rooms where we add a MS Lifecam, we use wireties to secure the cable all the way back to the PC.

In newer rooms, we use the Elmo TT-12 doccam, which has UVC compliant USB, enabling it to present itself as a webcam to the PC.

 

Cheers,

 

Joe Schuch

Classroom Technology Specialist

ITS ETAC Helpdesk

North Carolina Central University

Durham, NC 27707   USA

v. 919-530-5091  m. 919-442-8802

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[Charles Barbour]

+1 to this question. I want to leave it flexible enough that faculty could reposition it but I also don't want it to walk away.

I've thought about adopting the gas-station-bathroom-key approach. (Securing 20 pounds of steel around the cable or gluing a garish plastic flower to the back of it.)

Charles Barbour | Educational Technologist | University of Notre Dame

Office — 574-631-2386 | Cell — 574-485-6076

Organizations are destroyed by behaviors that should be confronted but are condoned by silence. — Dan Rockwell

[Jim Spencer]

Hey Doug, 

We designed a little 3D printed bracket that lets us mount our Logitech webcams to the computer monitors in each room. The monitor mounts articulate, so it's very simple and intuitive for faculty to just turn the monitor if they need to pan the camera. The bracket uses the top two Vesa holes on the monitor mount, and the Logitech webcams unfold in a way that lets you run a 1/4-20 tripod screw through the back to hold everything together... Kids with screwdrivers could still score a webcam, but we've never had that happen, and you could probably source security screws for both parts if you needed to. 

Now that I'm looking at it, I realize that I never actually published this file. Let me know if you want the STL, and I'll get it uploaded and shoot you the ThingiVerse link. 

As a side note... If you're looking at the Logitech webcams, they make a model called the C930e, and it's the 'enterprise' version of the camera. It doesn't install a bunch of bloatware and auto update tools, etc... It gets rid of all the annoying notifications and makes for a much nicer user experience. 

Thanks! 

Jim 

[Thomas, Harry (CIV)]

Here's the high tech approach.

*************************************
Harry Thomas
AV/VTC Engineer

ITACS Educational Technologies
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA

Office:   831-656-7671
Mobile: 831-402-1993
*************************************

---

From: av...@googlegroups.com <av...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jim Spencer <jspe...@nd.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 6, 2018 7:48:49 AM
To: av...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [av-1] RE: Securing web cams

 

[Schuch, Joe]

Hi Doug,

 

None* of the webcam-based applications work perfectly in a large classroom or with multiple remote participants.

(*) WebEx and perhaps a few others mitigates this somewhat my enabling the instructor to MUTE all remote participants’ mics.

 

Often, we are torn between choosing to increase the speaker volume sufficiently to hear the remote participants or cutting it to eliminate feedback/echo. Here are a few strategies we use…

 

1.       Free: Require ALL remote participants to wear earphones. This will break the feedback loop at the remote endpoints.

2.       Free: Train faculty to mediate interactions between local participants (students sitting in classroom) and remote endpoints. Local participants are sitting too far from the mic to be heard anyway, so when a student has a question, they raise their hand and wait to be called on by the instructor/mediator. The instructor/mediator listens to the question, walks up to the mic and repeats the question for the remote participants.

3.       $90: Purchase a Marshall/MXL AC-404 USB boundary mic and USB extension cable and place it close to the center of the room. It does an excellent job of rejecting ambient noise while picking up speech in a 20-ft radius. You will need to instruct students to avoid shuffling papers, etc. This mic will need to be setup prior to each webvideo session as it cannot be secured.

4.       $200: Purchase a Revolabs xTag USB Wireless Mic System. The single, wireless mic can be worn as a lavalier mic, or passed around like a “Donahue” mic.

 

 

Joe Schuch

Classroom Technology Specialist

ITS ETAC Helpdesk

North Carolina Central University

Durham, NC 27707   USA

v. 919-530-5091  m. 919-442-8802

 

 

 

 

From: Smith, Doug [mailto:dos...@ilstu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, September 6, 2018 10:34 AM
To: Schuch, Joe <Joe.S...@NCCU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Securing web cams

 

Joe, we've got the TT-12 in many of our rooms as well but we kept running into an issue of the mic on the doc cam being open and creating feedback when using Skype.  Have you experienced that?

 

Doug Smith, Ph.D., CTS-D

Director

Learning Spaces and Audio/Visual Technologies

Illinois State University

Campus Box 6380

Normal, IL 61790-6380

ph 309-438-3685

 

 

[Keith Mills]

How much longer will we be able to use the “Donahue” reference to refer to a hand-held wireless microphone getting passed around?

 

K.

[Schuch, Joe]

That ~does~ date me, doesn’t it?!

[Wadlinger, Greg]

To my knowledge Donahue was the first to make microphone handling increase the visual interest of the scene. Odd how his show has been off the air 22 years but is still remembered for its mic handling.

 

We also use mic balls on occasion. They are fun and keep the students awake.

 

https://www.bigmicball.com/

 

g

 

Greg Wadlinger

Digital Education/Instructional Technology

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH 03755

wadl...@dartmouth.edu

603.646-0228

[Todd Austin]

Michigan is a BlueJeans shop. For in-room hardware (mostly conference rooms), we've used a combination of Logitech PTZ Pro and AMX NMX-VCC-1000. With the PTZ Pro, we use a number of different microphones - mostly ceiling-mounted, like the AKG MB3. Our classroom hardware is almost all mobile, so our staff deliver and configure equipment as needed for the class, which results in less exposure of such hardware to the students.

We frankly haven't had significant issues with theft. Perhaps thieves are more after the consumer-level gear with which they're familiar? A piece of hardware with cut cables (from ripping it out) isn't going to be much use to the casual thief.

Todd

Todd L. Austin, Instructional Technologist - Videoconferencing Lead

College of Literature, Science, and the Arts | University of Michigan
LSA Technology Services | G353 Mason Hall | 419 S. State Street | Ann Arbor, MI I 48109

Desk:  +1.734.764.1534 | Mobile and WhatsApp:  +1.734.274.7259

For Immediate Assistance:  +1.734.615.0100 | E-mail: lau...@umich.edu

Submit a support request any time using our Guided Web Form.

Brief Tech survey for U Michigan affiliates:  http://bit.ly/2hMYAtL

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[Keith Mills]

Doug—

 

I was going to give you grief for buying an English throwable microphone, instead of buying American.  And then I found out that the Catchbox throwable microphone is Latvian.

 

K.

[Benjamin Pinkham]

Hey Jim,

Those webcam mounts are wicked slick. We are getting more and more request's for guest speakers via Zoom and this looks like a clean way to add a webcam to a smaller classroom. Would you be interested in sharing the file for us to bring to our 3D printer on campus?

Best,

Benjamin Pinkham, CTS l DMC-E-4K

A/V Analyst l Bates College

(207) 576-0372 bpin...@bates.edu

[Elaine M Mello]

I guess my MIT students over engineered our 3D camera mount.  ;)  It’s definitely not as flexible, but then we were going for more security and less tweaking in the classroom…. ;)

 

Elaine Mello, CTS
Educational Technology Manager for Learning Environments
ODL Residential
MIT Open Learning

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue - Rm NE49-2000
Cambridge, MA 02139

 

From: av...@googlegroups.com [mailto:av...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Benjamin Pinkham
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2019 1:56 PM
To: av...@googlegroups.com; jspe...@nd.edu
Subject: Re: [av-1] RE: Securing web cams

 

Hey Jim,

 

Those webcam mounts are wicked slick. We are getting more and more request's for guest speakers via Zoom and this looks like a clean way to add a webcam to a smaller classroom. Would you be interested in sharing the file for us to bring to our 3D printer on campus?

 

Best,

Benjamin Pinkham, CTS l DMC-E-4K

A/V Analyst l Bates College

(207) 576-0372 bpin...@bates.edu

 

 

On Thu, Sep 6, 2018 at 10:49 AM Jim Spencer <jspe...@nd.edu> wrote:

Hey Doug, 

 

We designed a little 3D printed bracket that lets us mount our Logitech webcams to the computer monitors in each room. The monitor mounts articulate, so it's very simple and intuitive for faculty to just turn the monitor if they need to pan the camera. The bracket uses the top two Vesa holes on the monitor mount, and the Logitech webcams unfold in a way that lets you run a 1/4-20 tripod screw through the back to hold everything together... Kids with screwdrivers could still score a webcam, but we've never had that happen, and you could probably source security screws for both parts if you needed to. 

 

 

Now that I'm looking at it, I realize that I never actually published this file. Let me know if you want the STL, and I'll get it uploaded and shoot you the ThingiVerse link. 

 

As a side note... If you're looking at the Logitech webcams, they make a model called the C930e, and it's the 'enterprise' version of the camera. It doesn't install a bunch of bloatware and auto update tools, etc... It gets rid of all the annoying notifications and makes for a much nicer user experience. 

 

Thanks! 

 

Jim 

 

 

On Thu, Sep 6, 2018 at 10:22 AM Schuch, Joe <Joe.S...@nccu.edu> wrote:

Hi Doug,

 

In older rooms where we add a MS Lifecam, we use wireties to secure the cable all the way back to the PC.

In newer rooms, we use the Elmo TT-12 doccam, which has UVC compliant USB, enabling it to present itself as a webcam to the PC.

 

Cheers,

[Charles Barbour]

Pretty sure that's a Dalek in disguise. Possibly a Class M-3 Model B-9 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot prototype.

Chaz

Charles Barbour

Educational Technology Arcanist

University of Notre Dame

cbar...@nd.edu

Cell: 574-485-6076

Zoom Meeting Room: https://notredame.zoom.us/my/cbarbour

Organizations are destroyed by behaviors that should be confronted but are condoned by silence. — Dan Rockwell

[Keith Mills]

Speaking of Daleks, on our campus they’ve been breeding with Roombas!  See attached.

 

K.

 

Keith Mills

Manager, Communications/Media

Information Technologies

University of Calgary

MB 25, 2500 University Drive, NW

Calgary, Alberta Canada

T2N 1N4

Phone: (403)-220-6386; Cell: (403)-816-1008

Fax: (403)-284-5116

E-mail: kmi...@ucalgary.ca

[Jim Spencer]

Thanks, Benjamin. 

For anyone who's interested, the camera mount is published on Thingiverse. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3086587

Hope you're all having a great day! 

Jim 

[RUEGSEGGER, JASON]

Looks good Keith! How much, and does also it scrub toilets? So far, it looks at least twice as efficient as our third best custodian!

 

Jason Ruegsegger

Educational Technology Designer

Kent State University at Tuscarawas

 

Office: 330-308-7506

[Keith Mills]

I think you still need a person to do toilets, or an original Dalek with the standard toilet plunger arm.

 

 

As for cost, I’m told that they’re roughly equivalent to one salary.

 

K.

 

PS.  It must be Friday if we’re talking about Daleks, caretaking, and toilet cleaning on an AV listserve.  Mind you, I guess I started it!

[Elaine M Mello]

Then would this be the hybrid union member upgrade?

 

Elaine Mello, CTS
Educational Technology Manager for Learning Environments
ODL Residential
MIT Open Learning

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue - Rm NE49-2000
Cambridge, MA 02139

 

[Keith Mills]

Why isn’t he on long term disability?

 

K.

[Kenneth Persing]

He's still ambulatory.

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From: av...@googlegroups.com [av...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Keith Mills [kmi...@ucalgary.ca]
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2019 3:02 PM