Video Management Services FAQ

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illumira Branding Changes

Q: What is illumira?

A: illumira is the re-branding of NJVID. Everything you already know or have learned about NJVID is exactly the same!

Q: What do I need to do?

A: By June 1, 2019, update any NJVid hyperlinks, including links to playlists and videos. Change “njvid” to “illumira” in the URL. For example, change jmu.njvid.net to jmu.illumira.net.

Example:
https://jmu.njvid.net/show.php?pid=njcore:16566
will need to change to
https://jmu.illumira.net/show.php?pid=njcore:16566

Q: We just moved to NJVID! Why do we have to go through and update everything already?

A: This change was presented to us by the vendor in June 2018. The vendor, NJEdge, is a non-profit member-driven consortium in New Jersey, and NJVid has outgrown its initial state-focused mission so they want to remove the “NJ” from the name as something that needed to be taken care of right away. While their plan was to shut down the NJVID site after they made their own changes, we have requested the vendor keep of redirects in place at least into the first couple weeks of December 2018.

Q: What about all the videos / playlists / etc. I already created in NJVID?

A: All of those will still be there, exactly as you left them – but you will need to update any links to them by June 1, 2019! Change “njvid” to “illumira” in the URL.

Q: Will you be updating links for us?

A: We will help in updating as many links in Canvas as we are able. If you have links outside of Canvas, we likely do not have the power to changes those. If you are not sure, please do write LETSupport@jmu.edu to ask.

Who Has Access

Q: Can students upload to illumira?

A: At this time, illumira is a service for JMU faculty and staff only.

Classroom Recordings (CRASS) FAQ

Q: How long will it take my classroom recording to upload to illumira?

A: The amount of internet traffic can greatly affect this answer, but a rule-of-thumb is one minute of upload time per minute of recording time. Therefore a 15-minute video should take about 15 minutes, and a 60-minute video should take about 60 minutes. Also, illumira ‘harvests’ videos every 15 minutes “on the quarter hour,” so a one-minute video recorded at 9:05am might not be available until 9:15am.

illumira FAQ

Q: Why won’t my file upload to illumira?

A: If your file is larger than 5GB, it may not upload to illumira . Please contact us for assistance.

Q: Can I use the illumira Canvas LTI? What does it do?

A: Read about the Canvas LTI on the illumira support site. If you want to try it, contact us for assistance. Some additional notes:

  • Student uploads will need to be approved by instructors
  • Students given the ‘instructor’ role’ can upload video without approval
  • Uploaded videos can only be removed by the user who uploaded them, or by the Institutional Administrator. Please contact us for assistance.

Q: I accidentally deleted a video. Help!

A: Please contact us for assistance.

Q: I need to change my name / eID in illumira. Help!

A: We can help! Changes can be made within a few business days. Please contact us for assistance.

Q: Can I make another illumira user an Additional Owner of my video, for example to ‘transfer’ a video from one account to another?

A: If one has permissions to other Collections, they may add/remove media to/from collections as appropriate. May also add other owners (also in bulk), but it does not look like metadata field of Creator may be changed.

Q: How can I upload my Adobe Captivate, Presenter, Canvas Studio, or Camtasia presentation to illumira?

A: illumira is designed to host audio and video only. If your presentations will still be effective without interactivity, you can save them as MP4 files to upload to illumira:

Q: What is the “Expiry Date?” How does it work?

A: After the “Expiry Date” passes, the video is suppressed from illumira (not deleted). This may be undone by altering the Expiry Date. If the Expiry Date is not removed, after two weeks the media will be deleted.

Q: How can I post my video so that it cannot be downloaded?

A: Short of using digital rights management (DRM), there is no way to fully prevent your video from being downloaded.

Q: I work with students who need to link to videos from online resumes or e-portfolios. Is illumira appropriate for this?

A: illumira is for active, instructional content only and therefore is not appropriate. Students would also not be able to control their own content in illumira. We recommend students set up a YouTube account or Dropbox shared folder so they can fully control their video content.

Q: What is “active, instructional content?”

A: “Instructional” means the content is used for a JMU course, workshop, or other instructional intervention. This can include videos used by a department to support courses, such as lab safety training videos. “Active” means you have specific plans to use the content currently or at a known future point in time. For example, if you teach a class every other year using the same videos, you can leave those videos in illumira. If content becomes more than two years old and is not viewed or modified, we may contact you to verify whether it is still needed. illumira is not intended for storage of video, and is not a preservation system. Good media habits include keeping original files and source files on local media or your local computer.

illumira Feature Requests in Queue

We have requested the following features from illumira:

  • Detecting file size of video uploads and warning the user about the 5GB upload limit
  • Enhanced security for ftp upload option
  • Building a custom metadata functionality so that institutions can pre-define what type of objects and this will include the requested feature of being able to make certain fields mandatory