WOUB, Immersive Media Initiative to live stream Homecoming Parade
A highlight of every Ohio University Homecoming Parade is the style and sound of the “Most Exciting Band in the Land,” OHIO’s Marching 110. Beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, WOUB and the Immersive Media Initiative will be live streaming from this year’s annual Homecoming Parade.
So enter the time of year that beckons all Bobcats back to the bricks of Athens.
Homecoming 2018 is underway and about to kick into high gear as Ohio University alumni return to their home away from home for Homecoming Weekend and the ever-popular Homecoming Parade. Keeping in mind those Bobcats who are unable to make it back to the bricks for Homecoming Weekend, WOUB Public Media and OHIO’s Immersive Media Initiative will be bringing some of the festivities to them.
Beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, WOUB and the Immersive Media Initiative will be live streaming from OHIO’s annual Homecoming Parade. The event coverage will include two concurrent live web streams—a traditional multi-camera live stream and an immersive 360-degree live stream.
This marks the sixth consecutive year of the parade being streamed by WOUB Public Media, incorporating student volunteers from multiple schools in the Scripps College of Communication. The broadcast also includes OHIO students majoring in meteorology who will be offering game day weather forecasts.
This is only the second year that the Homecoming Parade will be streamed using 360-degree immersive technology, which allows viewers to feel as though they are physically in the location being filmed. Through 360-degree technology, views can see everything at the location being filmed—all 360 degrees of sight—and hear the sounds as though they are actually there.
The 360-degree live stream of the Homecoming Parade is the result of a partnership between WOUB and the Immersive Media Initiative, part of OHIO’s Scripps College of Communication. The Immersive Media Initiative is an innovative student education and workforce training program designed to provide students the technology, facilities, instruction and opportunities they need to become leaders in industries employing the use of virtual and augmented reality.
This year’s parade will feature spirited floats, banners and displays all celebrating the Homecoming theme “Athens State of Mind,” a tribute to the special place that both Ohio University and Athens hold in the hearts of every Bobcat.
The parade route will follow the same path as the past two years, beginning on West Union Street near Factory Street, traveling up Union Street toward uptown Athens and turning right onto South Congress Street. From there, the route will:
- Turn left onto President Street
- Turn left onto Court Street
- Turn right onto Washington Street
- Turn right onto College Street
- Turn left onto Union Street
- Turn right onto University Terrace
The parade will end at Ohio University’s Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Judging of floats and banners will take place on the patio of OHIO’s Schoonover Center for Communication at Union and College Streets. WOUB’s live stream of the parade will be playing on display screens located inside the Schoonover Center lobby.
For more information about the Homecoming Parade and all of this year’s Homecoming festivities, visit Ohio University’s Homecoming website and follow #OHIOHC2018 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.