Thunder rolls in Nottingham

Questmark has completed the first UK installation of Thunder at the University of Nottingham. Laura Hailstone reports

Bringing the Thunder: The University of Nottingham's Visual Learning Lab bought two Thunder systems

Imagine a room where graphs, images, text, video and other information surround you on the walls ­ a room where you are immersed in content.
All of this information is virtual, so it can be displayed, updated and shared in real time around the globe or just around the corner.

Reseller Questmark has successfully completed the first UK installation of PolyVision’s virtual flipchart collaboration system ­ Thunder ­ which makes all of the above possible.

With a basic system costing in the region of £100,000, Thunder is not a quick sell, as Questmark knows, and the system is such an innovative concept that it needs to be seen in the flesh.

A Thunder system, at its largest, can consist of up to eight projectors and 16 large-format display screens in one room. Thunder’s simplest function is to replace traditional paper flipcharts with digital images enabling multiple pieces of information to be viewed simultaneously.

However Thunder is much more than just a virtual flipchart: it can enable data in any format to be communicated, stored, displayed, organised and captured all on an unlimited, shared group canvas in real time. Teams can also connect with one another from anywhere in the world through Thunder, drastically reducing excess travel.

US vendor PolyVision first unveiled Thunder way back in 2005. In early 2006, the vendor appointed Maverick as its sole UK distributor for Thunder, with Nottingham-based Questmark signing up as the first authorised Thunder VAR in March 2006. Shortly afterwards, audiovisual reseller Bulletpoint became the second authorised UK Thunder VAR. However, Bulletpoint entered administration during June 2006.

Despite having ambitious plans to recruit about 30 resellers as authorised Thunder partners, Maverick did not manage to attract any more Thunder resellers and Questmark remained the only certified Thunder reseller to serve the whole of the UK market.

After sending five of its engineers to PolyVision’s US headquarters to become authorised Thunder engineers, and investing significantly in its Thunder showroom, Questmark focused on the job of being the UK’s only Thunder reseller.

Having already established a relationship with the University of Nottingham’s Visual Learning Lab (VLL) through the provision of videoconferencing (VC), Questmark managing director Sam McMaster was keen to invite his university contacts over to Questmark’s Thunder showroom to show them the next generation of collaborative technology.

“Thunder was a very raw product when we first became a Thunder reseller,” said McMaster. “However, as soon as the VLL saw it they wanted it ­ and not just one Thunder system, but two.”
The VLL was set up in March 2005 with a grant from the Higher Education Council for England (HEFCE) and is one of 74 HEFCE Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Prior to being shown Thunder, the VLL had invested in a range of visual learning projects across the University of Nottingham, which involved combining a number of technologies such as interactive whiteboards (IWBs) with VC, as well as digital cameras.

Dr Do Coyle, co-director of the VLL, told CRN: “We had been looking for further technologies and applications that would enable us to do things that we could not do with VC and IWBs alone. As soon as we saw Thunder it was immediately apparent that the system could be applied to a large number of different applications.”

Coyle and her team then decided that they wanted a six-screen Thunder system installed in the VLL classroom, where the system would be used in a controlled, formal teaching environment, while a second,
larger system would be deployed in the university’s new self-access Hallward Library. Here an eight-screen system was deployed on a curved wall which students can access 24 hours a day.

“We had to install the first system during evenings and at weekends because they needed to use the VLL during the day so it took just over two weeks to complete,” McMaster said. “The Hallward library installation was easier because the whole library was refurbished at the same time, so we did that in just four days.”

All five Thunder engineers were used for the project because they needed to get their hands dirty
on a real live Thunder install Mc-Master added.
There were no major hurdles during the project because Questmark and the VLL team worked very closely together.

“It was a period of about eight months from initially discussing how Thunder would work and be applied at the university, to installing it,” explained McMaster. “This was because it was such a unique and new product and it was also an expensive piece of kit, so we needed to get it right first time.”

Coyle said it helped to have regular meetings with Questmark.
“We were able to really plan exactly how we wanted the installation to work for us,” she said.
“For example, the Thunder easel has a large amount of cable attached to it and we did not want to have the easel fixed in one place in the VLL; we wanted it to have some mobility so that we could move it into the middle of the room if we wanted to and Questmark was able to do this for us.”

Being such a new piece of technology, the introduction of Thunder to both staff and students had to be a gradual process.

“We have invited three specific departments to work with us initially to look at how they can use Thunder,” said Coyle. “We have already started with the built-environment students; then we will look at the classics department and then we will go into media studies and drama.

“We want to establish what the potential is for this kind of digital tool to enable students to work more effectively and more creatively together across a wide range of university courses.”
The built-environment students, who are training to be architects, have found the simplest use of Thunder to be most beneficial, according to Coyle.

“Previously, they would use PowerPoint to display their building plans, but could only view one image at a time,” she explained. “Using Thunder, they can now view multiple perspectives of buildings simultaneously ­ really helping them with their critiques, which is an essential part of their course.”

Asked if Questmark had any more Thunder installations in the pipeline, McMaster revealed: “We have two more universities lined up that we are aiming
to do the installations for during the summer when they are closed; we have a business development agency signed up, and we have recently received some interest from a car manufacturer.”