GirlGeeks.com
Uses Avid Xpress DV to Inspire Young Women and to Explore the Female Side
of Computing
As
any pop psychologist will tell you, role models are key to influencing
development. That’s precisely the strategy used at www.girlgeeks.com.
Girl Geeks exists to educate and inspire women to embrace new technology
and provide a home in cyberspace for those who have already done so.
Their dynamic "community empowerment" website relies heavily on video
streaming and webcasts to deliver a fun mix of mentor profiles, training
opportunities and newsy pieces on the under-explored "female side of
computing". There’s enough entertainment value on the site to attract
the male side of computing too.
"In
the early days of computing, many women didn’t realize how cool technology
could be," points out Girl Geeks co-founder Kristine Hanna,
a former producer at Lucas Films. "But technology isn’t just about
numbers and hardware, it’s about life. And we’re spreading the word
that you can use technology to open new doors; to be an artist, build
a career or schedule your household."
Production
for the more conventional medium of television is another side of the
Girl Geeks operation. They’re not shy about using their website to promote
a PBS special with an ambitious 14-minute video trailer – more appropriate
for viewing by female geeks with a high-speed connection. Producing
for both the Web and TV places Girls Geeks right in the midst of the
conversion stream but until now, without the necessary paddle.
"Technical
standards differ greatly between the Web and TV and it often feels like
we’re working on two different projects when it’s really the same one,"
explains Kristine, an enthusiastic Beta-tester for the Avid Xpress
DV product. "We’re looking to streamline the process with a technology
that would enable us to use the same process to produce content in both
formats."
Editing the stack of tapes they shoot for television is fairly standard.
Shoot in DV. Pull selects. Offline on an Avid Xpress system and finish
on an Avid Media Composer system. But, in contrast with the fast turnaround
times normally associated with web publishing, editing the web clips
is protracted.
Selects
are first edited and then must be encoded into various media formats
before the content can be published on girlgeeks.com. The catch is that,
in the absence of affordable, professional-caliber web publishing technology
that could be brought in house, the encoding must be outsourced to a
different third party supplier for each web media format. Not only does
this step increase post-production time up to a week it also results
in loss of momentum in editing web content that seriously limits the
team’s creative options.
"Once we’ve encoded our initial selections, we don’t have the freedom
to change our minds," reports Kristine, a longtime devotee of Avid
nonlinear editing systems. "If we really want a certain clip, it
means we need to outsource the footage a second time, adding expense,
delays and frustration to the process."
The
Avid Xpress DV system is changing all that. This native DV system supporting
IEEE 1394 and built on award-winning ninth generation Avid editing software
code, offers all the rich editing features professional editors have
come to expect. And, the Avid Xpress DV on IBM IntelliStation M Pro
workstation, is a fully-configured solution that will allow Girl Geeks
to bring the whole process in house, at an affordable price. As a result,
the team will regain more creative control and can get more video out
to the Web a lot faster.
"I’m routinely staring at a stack of tapes that have been sitting
there for weeks just waiting to have selects pulled and be sent out
for encoding," she says. "With the Avid Xpress DV, we’ll be able
to pump those clips out twice as fast."
What’s more, the creative process won’t get bogged down in technical
logistics. The system supports multiple digital distribution options
such as a RealVideo G2, Microsoft Windows Media Technologies, QuickTime
and multiple MPEG formats.
"This product shows once again the Avid ability to think ahead,"
notes Kristine. "The thinking that went into Avid Xpress DV is going
to allow us to get back to doing what we do best as content creators,
that is focus on building a great story."
As
any pop psychologist will tell you, role models are key to influencing
development. That’s precisely the strategy used at 
"In
the early days of computing, many women didn’t realize how cool technology
could be," points out Girl Geeks co-founder Kristine Hanna,
a former producer at Lucas Films. "But technology isn’t just about
numbers and hardware, it’s about life. And we’re spreading the word
that you can use technology to open new doors; to be an artist, build
a career or schedule your household." 
Production
for the more conventional medium of television is another side of the
Girl Geeks operation. They’re not shy about using their website to promote
a PBS special with an ambitious 14-minute video trailer – more appropriate
for viewing by female geeks with a high-speed connection. Producing
for both the Web and TV places Girls Geeks right in the midst of the
conversion stream but until now, without the necessary paddle. 
"Technical
standards differ greatly between the Web and TV and it often feels like
we’re working on two different projects when it’s really the same one,"
explains Kristine, an enthusiastic Beta-tester for the Avid Xpress
DV product. "We’re looking to streamline the process with a technology
that would enable us to use the same process to produce content in both
formats." 
Selects
are first edited and then must be encoded into various media formats
before the content can be published on girlgeeks.com. The catch is that,
in the absence of affordable, professional-caliber web publishing technology
that could be brought in house, the encoding must be outsourced to a
different third party supplier for each web media format. Not only does
this step increase post-production time up to a week it also results
in loss of momentum in editing web content that seriously limits the
team’s creative options. 
The
Avid Xpress DV system is changing all that. This native DV system supporting
IEEE 1394 and built on award-winning ninth generation Avid editing software
code, offers all the rich editing features professional editors have
come to expect. And, the Avid Xpress DV on IBM IntelliStation M Pro
workstation, is a fully-configured solution that will allow Girl Geeks
to bring the whole process in house, at an affordable price. As a result,
the team will regain more creative control and can get more video out
to the Web a lot faster.