The term “streaming media” refers to unidirectional audio-visual presentations that can be presented over the Internet as near real time broadcasts, on-demand to individual users, or delivered to clients on CDs or other storage media suitable for use with personal computers.  The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has used this technology to create a video archive of medical school lectures and assorted presentations. 

There are a number of options for streaming and archiving audio-visual material.  Systems can be homegrown and operated locally using existing equipment and software built into various versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. There are also third-party solutions which offer most or all of what is needed in one package. The majority of the service may also be outsourced.  Whatever technical solution is chosen, certain non-technical hurdles such as faculty objection and copyright issues will be encountered and must be confronted.