Opencast BigBlueButton Integration

This repository contains BigBlueButton processing scripts as well as documentation to configure BigBlueButton to send recordings to Opencast under two different workflow scenarios. Make sure to read through the different options and evaluate which integration best fits your use case.

• Post-publish Integration – This integration leverages the recording processing capabilities of BigBlueButton to then transfer the processed video files to Opencast. The advantage is that this integration is relatively small and easy to use. The downside is that a lot of the processing happens on the BigBlueButton servers, taking away processing power from your next video conference.

• Post-archive Integration – This integration sends the raw recording data from a BigBlueButton Meeting to Opencast and relies on Opencast itself to process it. The advantage of this is that it reduces the load on BigBlueButton servers. The downside of this is that this solution is less feature complete, as Opencast still needs to be taught how to properly process webconferencing data.

Possibly helpful ressources might also be the BigBlueButton documentation on recordings and the Opencast documentation on workflows.

Installation

Generally, for this integration to work you need to configure and install the processing scripts on your BigBlueButton servers and adjust the workflows accordingly in your Opencast installation. For details consult the readmes in the respective subfolders to understand how to set up each scenario. For the installation and configuration on your BigBlueButton servers you can also use the ansible-role.

Opencast Metadata and Parameters

You can pass meeting metadata and other parameters to Opencast through the create-API-call from BigBlueButton. This metadata should then later appear in the Opencast recordings. The followings lists illustrate which metadata can be passed.

Note that these values are not case sensitive.

Dublincore Metadata Definition

Variable	Default Value	Description
opencast-dc-title	Room name	Title of the Opencast episode
opencast-dc-identifier	None	Media package and event identifier, has to be a valid UUID
opencast-dc-creator	None	The person primary reponsible for the creation of the event
opencast-dc-isPartOf	None	Series identifier of which the event is part of
opencast-dc-contributor	None	People contributing to the event
opencast-dc-subject	None	A topic of the event
opencast-dc-language	None	The primary language, language codes can be found in the Opencast repository
opencast-dc-description	None or shared notes (configurable)	Description of the event
opencast-dc-spatial	"BigBlueButton"	Location of the event
opencast-dc-created	Meeting start date	Date of the event
opencast-dc-rightsHolder	None	Rights holder of the resulting video
opencast-dc-license	None	License of the resulting video, license codes can be found in the Opencast repository
opencast-dc-publisher	None	An entity responsible for making the resource available

User access data

Variable	Default Value	Description
opencast-acl-user-id	None	User that gets read and write access via ACL
opencast-acl-read-roles	Example: ROLE_USER,ROLE_X	Roles that can read
opencast-acl-write-roles	Example: ROLE_XY	Roles that can write

Series Metadata Definition

If a UID for a series is provided in opencast-dc-isPartOf, but that series does not exist yet, it is possible for a new series to be created with which the recording can then be associated. The list below defines which metadata can be passed along to the series.

Variable	Default Value	Description
opencast-series-dc-title	Room name	Title of the Opencast serie
opencast-series-dc-creator	None	The persons primary reponsible for the creation of the event
opencast-series-dc-contributor	None	People contributing to the event
opencast-series-dc-subject	None	A topic of the event
opencast-series-dc-language	None	The primary language, language codes can be found in the Opencast repository
opencast-series-dc-description	None	Description of the event
opencast-series-dc-rightsHolder	None	Rights holder of the resulting video
opencast-series-dc-license	None	License of the resulting video, license codes can be found in the Opencast repository
opencast-series-dc-publisher	None	Entities responsible for making the resource available

Series user access data

An addition to the ACLs of the meeting, the series can have its own ACLs as well.

Variable	Default Value	Description
opencast-series-acl-user-id	None	User that gets read and write access via ACL
opencast-series-acl-read-roles	Example: ROLE_USER,ROLE_X	Roles that can read
opencast-series-acl-write-roles	Example: ROLE_XY	Roles that can write

Other Parameters

Various parameters that change the behaviour of the integrations.

• opencast-add-webcams:
  • Boolean on whether webcams should be sent to Opencast
  • Important: The post-archive integration also has this a global configuration option. If that is set to false, the parameter will be ignored!
  • Default for post-publish: true
  • Default for post-archive: The global configuration option