Media Hopper Create - Retention Policy

This policy details processes and criteria for routine deletion of Media Hopper Create video or audio recordings that are no longer being used. It will be developed further, in line with the University’s Account Expiry Policy and Student records retention schedule.

Purpose and overview 

With increased use of Media Hopper Create to create and stream teaching materials, we now need to ensure the service continues to meet the needs of all users. An important element of that is to make sure our storage is efficient.

Longer term, we are working with you to ensure the University can comply with data protection legislation by regularly deleting personal data it no longer requires.  This will be a second phase of this Data Retention Policy.

We will begin a phased approach to media clean up as follows: 

  • Phase 1 - Beginning 1st October 2021 - Managing your media source files 
  • Phase 2 – Full deletion based on account expiry.  Planning currently in progress. Details will be shared in due course. 

 

Phase 1 -Managing your media source files

Start date: October, 2021 for content over 2 years old, November, 2021 for content over 6 months old

When you upload media to Media Hopper Create, the service takes the source file you send it, compresses it and makes a variety of different-quality versions of the media.  It is then able to stream a version at a quality or resolution appropriate to each device that plays back the recording.  The original source file is never streamed but is stored alongside all the other versions of the media to allow editing.  The process of creating these different versions is important to allow video streaming to be the best quality it can be for all different situations, but it also means the amount of storage required per media item is a multiple of the original source file size.   

Most users only edit their media item close to when the item is initially created and source files are therefore rarely used beyond a few weeks after upload.

Source files are large and take up a lot of space.  Storage of these large files costs the University a lot of money and so we are making efforts to streamline and be efficient in the service so that we get best value for money for the university. 

Therefore, starting in October 2021, the Media Hopper Create Service team will regularly run an automatic process to remove source files:

  • From 1st October, 2021: the source files for any media which is 2 years or older will be deleted.
  • From 1st November, 2021: the source files for any media which is 6 months or older will be deleted.

After this, we will regularly delete source files for media which are 6 months or older going forward.  We do not intend to send email warnings to users prior to these source file deletions (from first removal in October and going forward).  This means users do not have to worry about managing files and space as the Service Team will do this for them.

The version you have shared with your students is NOT being deleted. It will still be available to support your teaching, the deletion won't affect playback of your media.  In fact, it is likely that you won't be impacted by this deletion. However, if you wish, you can back up your source files before we delete them.  Note that, even after deletion, it will still be possible for you to recreate the source files from other versions of the media that haven't been deleted, albeit the recreated source file may be of a slightly lower quality than the original source.

It is possible to opt-in to have the source file for your content preserved beyond the 6-month point.  This option should only be enabled if a user is confident that they would be wanting to preserve the editing option on a video beyond the 6-month retention period, as these source files are otherwise not required for playback and often take up a lot of storage space on the service.  Setting your preference to opt-in to the source file being retained can be done by setting the ‘Retain Source File’ option to Yes on an entry’s metadata page, either during the upload process, or from the Edit screen.  Leaving the default value will result in the source file being removed.

The edit screen for existing entries can be found by clicking ‘Actions’ then ‘Edit’ under the player on a video playback screen, or by clicking on the ‘Edit’ icon from your My Media page.  Both content owners and co-editors can enable this option.

If you need any help or advice, please contact us.

Phase 2 – Full deletion based on account expiry

Start date: TBA 

The Media Hopper Create service team has started investigating various further data clean-up options, including how we align the clean-up process with the University’s account expiry policy and data retention schedules. This should allow us, under appropriate conditions, to delete an entire media asset uploaded by a member of staff or student who no longer works or studies with us.  Colleagues will be consulted on proposals coming out of this work in due course. 

We plan to consult with users about how this will work, if you want to be involved please contact us.

 

Policy Information

This policy is effective from the 20th of May, 2021.

The Learning, Teaching and Web Services section is responsible for maintenance and review of this policy. 

The contact officer for the policy is Stephen Donnelly, Media Team Manager (Stephen.Donnelly@ed.ac.uk).   

Amendments:  (none) 

Next review due:  Summer 2022

If you require this document in an alternative format, please email(Stephen.Donnelly@ed.ac.uk).

 

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