'Swarmcasting' Software Developed at U. of Texas-Austin Lets Anyone Run an Internet TV Station

By BROCK READ

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A team of students at the University of Texas at Austin is set to release a software tool designed to turn any Internet-connected computer into a TV station.

The software, called Alluvium, uses peer-to-peer technology to let people stream video to multiple users nonstop -- even without high-speed Internet connections. It's not just for tech enthusiasts and struggling artists, says Joseph T. Lopez, a graduate student who co-founded the software project. Alluvium, he says, could serve plenty of prosaic purposes -- like letting parents broadcast their childrens' soccer games for family members, or helping community groups find a high-tech alternative to public-access TV.

The program specializes in "swarmcasting," says Mr. Lopez. Much like BitTorrent, the file-swapping program popular with movie downloaders, the swarmcasting program breaks video files into small pieces, so that a computer user can download component parts simultaneously from any other machines that are storing or streaming the files.

But unlike BitTorrent, Alluvium -- which was designed by Brandon Wiley, also a graduate student at Austin -- orders those component parts before downloading them. Users of the software can simulate the experience of watching live TV, by streaming video as they finish downloading it.

So will Alluvium be the latest tool to help those who pirate video programming? No, Mr. Lopez says, because the program's focus on video streaming, not downloading, makes it inconvenient for file swappers. The software "isn't about illegal file sharing," he says. "It's about getting people's messages out."

Internet television is not a completely new concept, says Mr. Lopez, who has run stations of his own online in the past. But swarmcasting software could democratize the technology, he says, just as "podcasting" software has done for online audio distribution. "This is a much more efficient way of running a station for someone with just a cable modem," he says. "We're trying to make it so anyone can use this software."

Mr. Lopez and Mr. Wiley are serious about spreading the gospel of Internet television. They plan, for example, to post their program online as open-source software. And they are preparing a pair of how-to guides to accompany the program. One will discuss the technological requirements for an online TV channel, and the other will offer tips on using a station to build a community of filmmakers and artists.

In fact, Mr. Lopez sees the program as a tool for independent artists to disseminate their work without turning to the entertainment industry for help. "The distribution system for music and movies is broken right now, and it's going to take the RIAA and the MPAA two or three years to figure it out," says Mr. Lopez, referring to the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America. "I think our model could help change the way films are distributed."

Mr. Lopez and Mr. Wiley will present their vision of a personal Internet-TV station in July, when their ACTLab TV station makes its debut on the Web. The station will have plenty of content to offer. It will broadcast more than a thousand videos, including experimental films and documentaries, created by students for the university's ACTLab, an art- and technology-based program for which both Mr. Lopez and Mr. Wiley serve as teaching assistants.

To keep their station running 24 hours a day, Mr. Lopez and Mr. Wiley are already accepting submissions from outside sources -- including, Mr. Lopez says, "animation, puppet shows, and some really unique content."

But before the station goes live (on the project's Web site), Mr. Lopez and Mr. Wiley say they still have plenty of work to do. Along with a staff of four, they have been pulling nearly sleepless nights archiving video footage and testing their software.

No one is getting paid for the work, and neither Mr. Lopez nor Mr. Wiley views the project as a business venture. But the project's shoestring budget is part of the point, according to Mr. Lopez. "We're just sitting here with machines that we had lying around, and we threw this together," he says. "Our whole idea was that it doesn't take $20,000 worth of electronics to run a TV station online."