Funding
From Martin:
I’ve got a total of $11,171.70 in grant funds available for Prairienet access sites. We can spend a fair chunk of that at Salem assuming their board is OK with this being a shared venture with Prairienet. I’ll work on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding that. Here’s what I could see allocating to Salem at this time:
$5000 for computers. I’d like to see if included in the computer purchase could be a laptop with docking station. Optimally we’d provide 19″ flat screen monitors with the systems. We can use the University contract with Dell to get discounted pricing.
$800 for multimedia. This would include a Canon ZR950 camcorder, a digital camera, and a wireless microphone kit. It might also be good to include at least one webcam.
$1225 for software, specifically Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12 for each station. But depending on the video editing capability of the version of Windows installed on the computers, this might not be needed, or we might want to use it on alternate software, or a combination, outfitting one station as the higher-end multimedia station. Some of the software money might also be spent on software that could help Mo Betta Music.
$1425 for peripherals. This currently is listed for an InFocus IN2104EP LCD projector and a Synology DS209+ 1.5 TB NAS (network attached storage – essentially a file server and hard drive inclosure in a box with simplified web management tool). Not sure we need the LCD projector, given the size of the room. Or it might be valuable in conjunction with a laptop. Something to brainstorm about. The NAS is only needed if a whole lab might be doing video editing, say for a class assignment. Again, something to brainstorm about.
Anyway, that’s a quick rundown of available funding. We don’t need to spend all the funds here, either. The overall needs for tool design and the programs the tools will support should drive the decisions, obviously. But it does give some flexibility that other groups don’t have.
– Martin