OpenBroadcaster is a web-based,

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

system to run

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

broadcast transmitters with a simple

web interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fro ...

History

The initial concept was to develop a web based radio system to run emergency messages and public service announcements for export to Africa by using a windup radio designed by Trevor Baylis. . It was part of a

Yukon College Yukon University (formerly Yukon College) is a public university in the Canadian territory of Yukon. The university main campus is based in Whitehorse, although the institution also operates 12 campuses throughout the territory. The university c ...

innovation project originating from

Tagish The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan ( Tagish: ; ) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory ...

Yukon Territory Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s westernmost territory and the smallest ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. On Labour Day weekend, 1997 CFET-FM 106.7FM was launched, for the benefit of communities in Tagish, Johnson's Crossing and Marsh Lake, YT. It was a one-man operation, but local volunteers could record material for sending to the station via the internet for broadcast. The system was used for the community's local

emergency population warning An emergency population warning, or public warning system is a method where by local, regional, or national authorities can contact or notify members of the public to warn them of an impending emergency. These warnings may be necessary for a numbe ...

for instantaneous relay of Yukon Forestry Service alerts for

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

situations. 2004 CFET-FM Radio began using OpenBroadcaster for User Generated Radio followed by CJUC-FM forming a Yukon network of radio stations. Similar models of indigenous community radio networks are supported nationally for language revitalization.

Version history

Components

*OBServer: HTML5 AJAX

web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is created with web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to dynamically build a response to the request, ...

for uploading content, creating smart playlists, managing users, assigning users to timeslots and for scheduling music. Decentralized file storage with centralized

cloud computing Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

management. *OBPlayer: Linux application with

GUI Gui or GUI may refer to: People Surname * Gui (surname), an ancient Chinese surname, ''xing'' * Bernard Gui (1261 or 1262–1331), inquisitor of the Dominican Order * Luigi Gui (1914–2010), Italian politician * Gui Minhai (born 1964), Ch ...

for

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksAudio over IP Audio over IP (AoIP) is the distribution of digital audio across an IP network such as the Internet. It is used increasingly to provide high-quality audio feeds over long distances. The application is also known as audio contribution over IP (ACI ...

Ravenna (networking). *Mobile:

Cross platform Within computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform softw ...

application written in

PhoneGap Apache Cordova (formerly PhoneGap) is a mobile application development framework created by Nitobi. Adobe Systems purchased Nitobi in 2011, rebranded it as PhoneGap, and later released an open-source version of the software called Apache Cordova. ...

to allow users the ability to pitch

electronic money Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

to performers and artists in real time.

Practical Uses

Audio

Source client for

Icecast Icecast is a streaming media project released as free software maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. It also refers specifically to the Server (computing), server program which is part of the project. Icecast was created in December 1998/Janua ...

Shoutcast streaming media server,

LPFM Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonl ...

and under regulated radio, Smart music scheduling system to microbroadcast theme based music segments for restaurants and public spaces, Tourism Radio with

Audio tour An audio tour or audio guide provides a Sound recording, recorded spoken commentary, normally through a handheld device, to a visitor attraction such as a museum. They are also available for self-guided tours of outdoor locations, or as a part of ...

GPS coded triggering for multicultural visitor experience,

tourist information A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center or tourist information centre is a physical location that provides information to tourists. Types A visitor center may be a Civic ce ...

and

highway advisory radio A travelers' information station (TIS), also called highway advisory radio (HAR) by the United States Department of Transportation, is a licensed low-powered non-commercial radio station, used to broadcast information to the general public, inclu ...

, User Determined Music Discovery Service, Dynamic

Podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

assembler, Logging and archiving,

Community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

Campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

and

High school radio High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first li ...

networking, Special interest

multicultural media in Canada Multicultural media in Canada, also referred to as “ethnic media” or “third media” (as it may use languages other than official bilingualism in Canada, Canada's two official languages, Canadian French, French and Canadian English, English), ...

broadcasters, Syndicated in store advertising and

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

distribution,

Music on hold Music on hold (MOH) or hold music is the business practice of playing recorded music to fill the silence that would be heard by telephone callers who have been placed on hold. It is especially common in situations involving customer service. D ...

for telephone systems, Computer DJ Crowdcasting Community

Jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that plays a user-selected song from a self-contained media library. Traditional jukeboxes contain records, compact discs, or digital files, and allow user ...

, Source for interplanetary Active SETI, RDS and

Datacasting Datacasting (data broadcasting) is the transmission of data over a wide area using radio waves. It typically refers to supplemental information sent by television stations alongside digital terrestrial television (DTT) signals. However, datacas ...

to remotely control

Addressability Addressability is the ability of a digital device to individually respond to a message sent to many similar devices. Examples include pagers, mobile phones and set-top boxes for pay TV. Computer networks are also addressable via the MAC address o ...

devices with

Crisis mapping Crisis mapping (also known as disaster mapping) is the real-time gathering, display and analysis of data during a crisis, usually a natural disaster or social/political conflict (violence, elections, etc.). Crisis mapping projects usually allow ...

, Song Requester 100% user-controlled radio.

Video

Low power

Community television Community television is a form of mass media in which a television station is owned, operated or programmed by a community group to provide television programs of local interest known as local programming. Community television stations are most ...

, under regulated TV service, User generated

Community channel (Canada) Community television in Canada is a form of media that carries programming of local community interest produced by a cable television company and by independent community groups and distributed by a local cable company. A community channel is a f ...

Cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

, User Generated Adult Entertainment Channel

Digital signage Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage that uses Electronic visual display, digital display technologies to present multimedia content in both public and private environments. Content may include video, images, text, or interactive me ...

and visitor information, Analogue and Digital source material distribution and archiving for display in museums,

Video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

with podcasting utilizing

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

Out-of-home advertising Outdoor advertising or out-of-home (OOH) advertising includes public billboards, wallscapes, and posters seen while "on the go". OOH advertising formats fall into four main categories: billboards, street furniture, Transit media, transit, and a ...

via shopping mall directories and digital menu boards with point-of-purchase promotions.

References

External links

* {{Broadcasting Broadcasting Community radio organizations Emergency management software Emergency population warning systems Free audio software Free multimedia software Internet radio software Streaming television Media servers Multimedia software Radio technology Software that uses GStreamer Software using the GNU Affero General Public License Streaming media systems Streaming software