Respecting the Video Pit
The SCCS Video Pit is a space filled with an awesome projector, multiple consoles and lots of games, all provided free of charge for the entire Swarthmore campus and cared for by a group of volunteers.
This morning I came down to the SCCS space to find the Video Pit completely trashed. The guitars and controllers were everywhere, batteries scattered on the floor along with some fragments of potato chips and unidentified plastic things. There was a broken swivel chair lying upside down at the bottom of the pit. On the table with the games (which was also a mess of batteries, instruction manuals, and controllers) I found a paper cup with something that looked vaguely like strawberry ice cream in it (don’t know how long that was there).
I cleaned up the equipment, vacuumed the floor, and will attempt to fix the chair once I find some superglue. I don’t really understand what could have happened to leave the guitars without their shoulder straps, the mic stand without the little plastic stand piece, and the drum set without its foam sign thingie (all these pieces were not gone, but scattered around).
I know not everyone who uses the pit leaves it trashed. But it seems that every time I come down for office hours on Sunday morning, it is a mess. I am asking that whoever is leaving stuff in disarray please stop, and everyone take a little more notice of how the space looks when you leave.
I became an SCCS admin because I like to do cool stuff with computers, not because I like to clean up other people’s messes. Again, the Video Pit is a communal space provided free of charge, and it deserves a lot more respect. Clean up after yourself! Try to leave the space in a better state than you found it. If conscience isn’t motivation enough, we do have cameras! We can do better than this.
Announcing: Concierge
It is perhaps a well-kept secret that SCCS has a lot of resources to offer to the community that are hidden under Tarble. With the arrival of our slick cabinet, the Media Pit is finally unlocked and available on a first-come/first-serve basis unless it’s reserved, which is done through email to staff@sccs.swarthmore.edu. Reservations of camera equipment are likewise done through email.
This system could stand improvement. Currently if you want to reserve something, there are too many round-trips over email: you have to find out if it’s available, how long you can have it, when you can pick it up, et cetera. It would be nice if there were some way, maybe a convenient web interface, where one could browse through the near future and check out what is available. Perhaps one could even put a reservation in motion right from this interface.
Good news: rather late in the semester, and very much past its due date, SCCS is launching Concierge, a brand new shiny interface for doing exactly that. We urge anyone who wants to reserve equipment in the future to use this instead of sending us an email directly.
Like any other new software, Concierge certainly has quite a few bugs and rough edges. There is a link in the upper right corner of every page for reporting bugs (note: bad explanations and missing features count as bugs). Please bear with us as we improve Concierge!
Video Pit Sound System Replacement
Last week the sound system in the Video Pit failed. We’ve received the new speaker system and are in the process of replacing the hardware. However, this replacement will take a few days and until it’s ready, the pit will be closed and locked. We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but we think you’ll love the new system once it’s in place.
Projector Problems
Last Friday, the projector made a popping sound and has stopped functioning. We’ll be trying to figure out the problem in the next few days … but until it is fixed, the pit will be closed for business.