Making a Presentation Playlist

If you would like to create your own presentation playlist, there are four ways to do so:

• Use the Visual Playlist Editor on the SOS computer
• Use the Playlist Builder in the SOS Remote App
• Use the Playlist Builder on the SOS website
• Write it out by hand

Each of these options has different pros and cons, which are discussed below.

The Visual Playlist Editor (VPLE) is an incredibly powerful tool for SOS users. It can be used to create both datasets and presentation playlists. In addition to creating presentation playlists and adding presenter notes, the VPLE also allows you to modify the datasets in your presentation playlists by extending them or overriding preset attributes. This is something that you are not able to do with either of the Playlist Builders. The downside of the VPLE is that it must be run on the SOS computer. You can get to it from the VPLE icon on the SOS computer desktop.

Because the VPLE is such a robust and powerful tool, its use has been documented in a separate Visual Playlist Editor Manual.

The Playlist Builder in the SOS Remote App is a convenient way to create a presentation playlist. It allows you to add datasets to a playlist and add presenter notes, but you’re not able to modify the datasets in the presentation. A benefit of using the Playlist Builder in the SOS Remote App is that it’s easy to load datasets on the sphere while you’re building your playlist, giving you a good preview of what you’re including in your presentation. If a site has multiple iPads connected to the SOS computer, it’s possible for one person to be creating a presentation playlist with the Playlist Builder while another gives a presentation at the same time. You can read more about the Playlist Builder and how to use it in the Playlist Builder section of the Remote App Manual.

There is also a simplified Playlist Builder available on the SOS website in the Data Catalog that allows you to put datasets into a playlist. The benefit of this Playlist Builder is that it can be used on any computer that has an internet connection. Because it is a simplified version, however, you cannot add presenter notes and you cannot modify the datasets.

• Firefox
• Chrome
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari

Unfortunately we’re not able to support Internet Explorer. We apologize for any inconvenience.

You can add datasets to your playlist directly from the Dataset Catalog on the website. Each dataset “card” will display a button above its cover image labelled “Add to Playlist”.

Clicking the “Add to Playlist” button will display a message telling you that the dataset was added to your playlist. You can add as many datasets as you like, and you can add the same dataset multiple times.

You can work on only one playlist at a time in your browser. Playlists are stored in your browser’s “local storage”, so you can safely close your browser and when you come back to the playlist builder later, your playlist will still be there. You cannot, however, work on multiple playlists at a time in the browser. If you clear the datasets from your playlist to start a new one, the first one will be gone.

At the top of the Dataset Catalog, you’ll find a “View My Playlist” button that will take you to your playlist. Each dataset in your playlist has a set of four buttons you can use to manipulate it. The up and down arrows allow you to change its order. The red button with the minus sign inside of a circle will remove the dataset from your playlist. The first button — the one with two overlapping squares — duplicates that dataset, in case you want more than one copy of a dataset in your playlist.

Some datasets have multiple “variations”. A dataset variation is an alternate version of the dataset with some small changes to the dataset. Blue Marble, for example, has a variation called “Blue Marble (with audio)” that adds an audio track to the basic Blue Marble dataset. The Hurricane Season - 2005 dataset has five variations, each of which focuses on one of the major hurricanes from that season, sometimes with audio, sometimes without.

When you add a dataset that has variations to your playlist, you’ll be provided with a dropdown menu beneath the dataset’s title that allows you to choose which variation you’d like to use in your playlist.

You can use multiple variations of the same dataset in a playlist by duplicating that dataset and selecting a different variation for each row in the playlist.

Once you’re happy with your presentation playlist, you can download it using the “Download” button at the top right of the playlist builder interface.

The default name for the playlist will be custom_playlist.sos, or you can provide your own file name in the “Playlist Name” field to the left of the “Download” button. You can also just rename the file once you’ve downloaded it. The name must have no spaces and no special characters. You can download the file to any location you want on your computer.

In order to use the presentation playlist that you downloaded, it will need to be put in the sosrc directory in the home folder of the SOS computer. You can get it on the SOS computer with a thumbdrive, or by emailing it to yourself, or by using cloud storage, or however you prefer. The important part is that it ends up in /home/sos/sosrc or /home/sosdemo/sosrc.

If you prefer to do things by hand and don’t want to use one of the three options above, a presentation playlist can always be written by hand in a simple text editor. To do this, you must know the location of all the datasets that you want to use and be familiar with all the playlist attributes. You can also choose to use one of the three options above and then modify the resulting presentation playlist by hand. This is only recommended if you are comfortable with the playlist format and datasets.

The basic format of a playlist is a file that points to all of the playlist.sos files for the datasets that you want to show. The Datasets Manual has more details about about playlist files.

include = /shared/sos/media/oceans/indian_tsunami/playlist.sos
include = /shared/sos/media/astronomy/xray_sun/playlist.sos
include = /shared/sos/media/models/ipcc_temp/gfdl/playlist.sos

Each “include” is used to point to a different dataset. This example playlist includes the Indian Ocean Tsunami, the X-Ray Sun and the GFDL Temperature Change Model. All of the information about the labels, color bars and timing is saved in each of the separate playlist.sos files. The nice thing about this format is that everyone’s playlists will be using the same versions of the data. However, if you do want to modify some of the options for a dataset, within only your personal playlist, you can do that by either using the VPLE or by modifying the file by hand. The modifications you make apply only in your presentation playlist and don’t impact other’s. List any changes you want below each include.

include = /shared/sos/media/oceans/indian_tsunami/playlist.sos
lastdwell = 7000

include = /shared/sos/media/astronomy/xray_sun/playlist.sos
fps = 50

include = /shared/sos/media/models/ipcc_temp/gfdl/playlist.sos

Presenter Notes may be added to any presentation playlist file. Presenter notes are accessed from the iPad’s SOS Remote app’s Presentation tab, and can be edited either from the app’s Playlist Builder tab, the VPLE, or manually using a text editor. If editing a playlist file manually, each line that is to be a presenter note should begin with #>. Presenter note lines should go at the very bottom of the presentation playlist.

include = /shared/sos/media/land/blue_marble/blue_marble/playlist.sos
include = /shared/sos/media/astronomy/mars/original/playlist.sos

#> Features to note about blue marble:
#> - Vastness of the Sahara Desert
#> - Shading done in true color: gives Earth's appearance from space
#>
#> Features to note about mars:
#> - Olympus Mons: highest point in the solar system at 88,500 feet