The School of Information Management and Systems is creating a facility to support research and teaching in the field of digital media production and reuse. Recognizing the significance of digital media as a growing part of information systems, SIMS is developing a state-of-the-art studio for students and faculty to collaboratively research projects in this field. Combining computational resources with broadcast-quality audio and video capture equipment as well as the latest in mobile media techonology supports the development of reusable networked multimedia content.

The SIMS Digital Media Studio is comprised of five multimedia workstations, two high-performance web servers, a high-resolution video capture area, and a 1 Terabyte file server, all connected via Gigabit Ethernet. In addition to live video capture using greenscreen and a high-resolution video camera, students are able to compile video from numerous sources such as miniDV, DVD, SVHS, and Hi8.

The SIMS Studio provides students access to 40 miniature SiPix digital cameras, 60 Nokia 3650 cameraphones, and 60 state-of-the-art Nokia 7610 cameraphones with HP Bluetooth wireless GPS receivers. The SIMS Studio showcases software systems and prototypes for automating media production and reuse developed by Garage Cinema Research and other SIMS research projects in digital media. The SIMS Studio became available for SIMS students and faculty in Spring 2003.