Case Study: Deep Earth Academy achieves portable, professional live deep-sea educational webcasts with Telestream's Wirecast

Deep Earth Academy Takes Wirecast to the Bottom of the Sea for Educational Webcasts

Deep Earth Academy, the education and outreach arm of the International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), needed a way to run live, interactive webcasts from the 470‑foot JOIDES Resolution while a single education officer hosted and operated a laptop webcam. Moving around the ship, keeping audio and video steady in noisy environments, and showing pre‑produced footage (like core-sample procedures and microscopic shots) made one-person webcasts awkward and limited the depth of the presentations.

Video producer Lisa Strong installed Telestream Wirecast on a Mac and used a simple USB audio converter so the teacher could host while she produced, switched cameras, and cued pre‑produced segments and animated maps. The setup replaced bulky gear, made shows smoother and more visually rich, allowed on‑the‑spot cutaways and location moves without losing audience engagement, and proved easy enough for non‑technical educators to use — improving flow, steadiness, and storytelling for live classroom webcasts.

Deep Earth Academy

Lisa Strong

Video/Multimedia Producer