Operate audio-visual equipment

Little of this can be handed to software today.

This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.

Key facts about this work activity
How automatableBarely automatable
Kind of workPhysical, manual and inspection work
Jobs that do it1 occupation
Tool categories that applyNone
O*NET activityControlling Machines and Processes (4.A.3.a.3)

What this looks like on the job

Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 1 occupation that perform it.

  • Start projectors and open shutters to project images onto screens.
  • Operate equipment to show films in a number of theaters simultaneously.
  • Set up and adjust picture projectors and screens to achieve proper size, illumination, and focus of images, and proper volume and tone of sound.
  • Set up and inspect curtain and screen controls.
  • Coordinate equipment operation with presentation of supplemental material, such as music, oral commentaries, or sound effects.
  • Observe projector operation to anticipate need to transfer operations from one projector to another.
  • Remove full take-up reels and run film through rewinding machines to rewind projected films so they may be shown again.
  • Install and connect auxiliary equipment, such as microphones, amplifiers, disc playback machines, and lights.

What we would actually use

Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.

Our pickBuy nothing

Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.

Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.

Who does this work

1 occupation in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.

Work that goes with it

O*NET groups these under “Operate audiovisual or related equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.

Related work activities
ActivityJobs
Operate still or video cameras or related equipment8
Operate control consoles for sound, lighting or video7
Operate audio recording equipment6
Operate surveillance equipment to detect suspicious or illegal activities4
Operate audiovisual equipment4

Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.