Workflows in Media

Workflows in Media

Workflows means “we wrote down how to get the work done in a series of composable tasks”. Workflows range from low level device control of lens settings to high level lifecycle management of assets streamed to a consumer.

This course is dedicated to giving an introduction to workflow thinking. With many practical exercises and hands-on exercises with tools that you’re likely to find or be given. We’ll work through some examples of workflow design, workflow debugging and how AI can be used to improve your performance instead of being just a buzz-word.

The course is the second part of the wonderful Broadcast Technical Assistants Skills Bootcamp that is a Free two-week training introducing you to the fundamentals of Broadcast Engineering and live production.

To sign up for the course, visit All Spring Media and click on the Go To Application button.

An exploration of different workflow types featuring:

• What is workflow – lifecycle of media end-to-end / glass -to-glass / phone-to-phone
• Role play of how an AI will interpret tasks
• Investigating the steps for generating a news / sports story on a news show
• Replicating those steps and using AI tools to create a story
• Looking at tools for archiving that story

Learning outcomes

• Differentiate between automation and workflow
• Basic understanding of AI usage pitfalls
• Have completed a simple AI assisted content creation workflow

An exploration of what AI is and how it works & fails:

• Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning
• Large Language Models - what they are, how they work, how they fail
• AI Agents & MCP - what are they, how they work, how they fail
• Generative AI - what is it, how does it work?
• AI terminology - what you need to know
• Looking at tools for archiving that story

Learning outcomes

• Differentiate between automation and workflow
• Basic understanding of AI usage pitfalls
• Have completed a simple AI assisted content creation workflow

To many emails? Need content in a different format? Want notifications from tools that don’t generate them?

• Workflow vs. Automation - is there a difference?
• Post-its – the old fashioned workflow controller
• IFTTT & Zapier - make life easier
• Node-Red - it’s free, it’s powerful, it’s sometimes easy
• n8n, prismatic, roll-your own & good old Claude code
• Google opal - a game changer?

Learning outcomes

• Basic understanding of business workflow involving humans + machines
• Practical experience of common free tools for experimentation and prototyping
• Understanding No-Code, Scripted and Coded tools – where to use what, when

What to do when things go wrong - designing in visibility & observability

• Everything will eventually break - make a plan
• If you can make it, you can hack it – make a plan
• The weakest link is often the humans – make a plan
• A plan is just another workflow!
• Some stories of mega-oops. Crowdstrike, Reply-all, fragile file names, shared drives, live-on-air post-its on monitors…
• Think like a baddie - security start with line 1 of your planned workflow, zero-trust red team / blue team speed dating - will your workflow survive your colleagues?

Learning outcomes

• Understanding the difference between a prototype and a production workflow
• Basic understanding of workflow security topics
• Understanding that defenders have to succeed every time, attackers only have to succeed once
• Basic understanding of how fragile workflows can be

Now your learning has matured, there will be a selection of challenges to choose from including:

• Low level workflow
  Using AI to assist in the creation of a workflow to construct a widget with a Plug and Make kit. You can’t start making until you’ve finished the workflow and emailed the drawing to the course leader. Now use the workflow to build the widget.
• QC workflow using SaaS tools to perform captions QC
  Log into the Venera Caption QC tool and edit + qc the provided piece of content. Now create a workflow for a human who receives a link to some content. They will follow your workflow to achieve the results you want e.g. pass QC, foreign language dub etc.
• Distribution workflow
  Shoot a piece of video on your phone, use Zapier or node-red or any tool that might be useful to modify the video and send a link of the modified video to the course leader. Send the workflow diagram to the course leader.
• Content workflow using AI
  Create a Google Opal AI to generate a blog post with media. Send the workflow diagram to the course leader
• News/Sports workflow using AI
  With your new found knowledge recreate the workflow from the morning of day 1.
• Roll your own custom workflow with Node Red & Claude code – free form hackathon.

Complete 2 or 3 of the challenges during the day, At the lunchtime and at the end of the day, everyone chooses a workflow from another team and attempts to follow it.

Last Hour: Round-up – what did you expect, what did you learn, what would you like to do next, what was missing?