EP Topic News: 12th July 2001EP Topic News: 12th July 2001
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Rightscom, a UK-based digital rights strategy consultancy for the publishing and music business has been appointed by the International DOI Foundation (IDF) and EDItEUR to manage a consortium being assembled to develop a standard data dictionary for digital rights management (DRM). The primary objective of the indecs2 project is to facilitate the mapping of proprietary solutions form different software vendors onto a common data layer thereby expanding interoperability between competing systems.
The consortium are hoping that the provision of interoperable systems will accelerate the adoption and application of DRM technology by rights holders.
URL: Rightscom http://www.rightscom.com/
URL: IDF http://www.doi.org/
URL: EDItEUR http://www.editeur.org/
The 1.0 release of XML Query Engine, is a Java-based search engine component that apparently allows you to search small to medium-size collections of XML documents for full-text content using XQL, a de facto XML query language standard that's nearly identical to the abbreviated form of XPath.
The engine is small (roughly 160 kb) and has a straightforward API that let's you wire it in to your own own Java applications using a SAX1 or SAX2 parser of your choice. The engine also has early experimental support for XQuery. There's a free evaluation version downloadable at the website. The evaluation version is unsupported but is otherwise identical to the production version, minus the availability of a persistent index feature.
"XML and the Enterprise for Managers", described as a simple and comprehensive introduction to XML, has been published by MightyWords an online seller and distributor. Written by XML expert Benoit Marchal, the downloadable, 38-page printable work (in PDF format) is available for US$12.95 and will also be available soon via Mighty Network partners Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and Fatbrain. Marchal is also using Mighty Network e-commerce fulfillment technology to power sales of the title from his own site.
The title provides consumers and IT managers with clear answers to questions including: What is XML, why is XML important to the enterprise, and why should IT managers consider using XML? The title can be viewed and printed using Acrobat Reader, versions 4.0 and 5.0.
URL: Benoit Marchal's web site http://www.marchal.com/
URL: MightyWords http://www.mightywords.com/
Among the main articles in the latest issue of Ariadne are:
- "Scalable Vector Graphics for the Web", in which the author discusses the Web Consortium's (W3C) Scalable Vector Graphics markup language for 2 dimensional graphics.
- "Personalization of Web Services: Opportunities and Challenges", which gives an overview of personalization on the web and discusses ideas for development within resource discovery systems.
- "The eLib Hybrid Library Projects", which provides overviews of the latest projects from this UK-sponsored library technology R&D programme.
- "The Reading Experience Database Project" provides insight into a new web-based project designed to collate evidence for changing reading habits through history.
- "A Simple OpenURL Resolver", which describes UKOLN's freely available demonstration OpenURL resolver.
There's also the regular columns which consider a wide range of issues relating to electronic publishing and it's application, particularly in network-based collaboration systems.
".NET Framework Essentials" explores the potential and the challenges of Microsoft's new strategy. The book is founded on a technical overview of the .NET framework, and aims to help programmers make the transition to the world of .NET programming. The text is based on the latest beta 2 framework, and is written for intermediate to advanced VB, C/C++, Java, and Delphi developers. Chapter 6, "Web Services", is available free online.
URL: free chapter http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/dotnetfrmess/chapter/ch06.html
URL: .NET resources http://www.oreillynet.com/dotnet/
URL: Table of Contents http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/dotnetfrmess/
A new service from the European Commission's Cordis R&D web site is aiming to support R&D projects developing mobile multimedia applications and services. Focussing on technical issues the site aims to provide:
- background information on the latest mobile technology developments;
- partner search tool - for potential proposers to search for partner organisations and create clusters;
- information on upcoming calls for proposals and programme actions.
The developer of XGMML (eXtensible Graph Markup and Modeling Language) has updated its schema which is now based on XML Schema W3C Recommendation 2 May 2001. XGMML is an XML application based on GML which is used for graph description. XGMML uses tags to describe nodes and edges of a graph. The purpose of the markup is to make possible the exchange of graphs between different authoring and browsing tools for graphs. Further information is available online.
URL: XGMML Site http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~puninj/XGMML/
European telecoms standardisation organisation, ETSI, publishes a useful email-based news service concerning its standardisation programme and the deliverables it publishes. Subscribe to the weekly emails via the link below, a flavour of the type of items published:
- ETSI has announced the publication of a DVD containing the meeting reports and documents, which chronicle the development of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).
- details of a workshop on speech recognition for ICT products and services which considers the concept of a generic vocabulary for spoken commands.
Also included is a list of upcoming events. To review the technology areas ETSI gets involved in see the deliverables web page.
URL: list of ETSI deliverables http://webapp.etsi.org/deliverables/home.asp
URL: subscribe to a weekly e-mails http://webapp.etsi.org/deliverables/Subscribe.asp
URL: ETSI home page http://www.etsi.org/
Gerry McKiernan writes: "In an effort to expedite the publication of conference proceedings in high-energy physics, personnel affiliated with the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) have developed eConf, an experimental web-based service and archive. eConf offers an electronic environment in which conference organizers and proceedings editors can publish conference proceedings at low cost, with limited delay, thereby enhancing access to time-sensitive scholarship at no direct cost to the reader".
Gerry goes on to say: "Although originally developed for the field of high-energy physics, eConf can also serve as a model for conference publication and distribution in non-scientific and other scientific disciplines".
A summary of the proceedings from a conference which considered the potential of the e-economy in Europe are available online. The conference attempted to provide an understanding of the changes brought about by digital technologies to the economy and the implications for policy making. The conference was supported by the European Commission's Enterprise DG with a copy of the report available via the Europa server.
URL: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/events/e-economy/index.htm
The US pressure group, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) has released "TV That Watches You: The Prying Eyes of Interactive Television", a report which examines interactive TV and its likely impact on personal privacy. Concerns have been raised over the collection of data about viewers (used for profiling) and the potential for the misuse of such data. The report is available in pdf format via the link below.
URL: http://www.democraticmedia.org/
URL: download report http://www.democraticmedia.org/privacyreport.pdf
A moderated bilingual (German and English) mailing list which focuses on cultural heritage with particular emphasis on museums and evolving information and communications technologies.
A new publication reviewing the work of the European Commission sponsored, Educational Multimedia Task Force has been published and reports on the completion of over 40 projects in the area of educational multimedia research.
iBuilder from Context Media is a SMIL (Synchronous Multimedia Integration Language) authoring application that gives web developers and authors the ability to synchronise video, text, animation and audio content and specify exactly when and how those elements are presented. The SMIL presentations created can be played by a number of multimedia players, including RealPlayer 8, QuickTime 4.1, and many others which are listed at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) SMIL web site.
Created and developed by the W3C, SMIL is an open, XML-based layout format that specifies the playback of any combination of multiple media types over the Internet. As a layout language, SMIL supports the presentation of a wide range of container file formats, audio, video, animation, images, and text.
iBuilder will be available directly from Context Media in the third quarter of 2001 at price of around US$650.00. Those interested can register for iBuilder "early access" via the link below.
URL: http://www.contextmedia.com/ibuilder.html
URL: W3C SMIL pages http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/
The European Commission's DG for Research held a conference (in March 2001) which considered the contribution of socio-economic research can make to the benchmarking of research policies in Europe. From material presented at the conference, the sector has developed an information service which focuses on: "Improving human research potential and the socio-economic knowledge base". They believe the site will be of use to policy-makers, particularly those concerned with future RTD policy.
URL: http://www.cordis.lu/improving/socio-economic/conf_bench.htm
BotBox, a commercial spinoff of the Swedish Institute for Computer Science, has developed BotBox Personal Assistant 1.0 which the company claims: "gives you a set of information monitoring agents that automate the tedious task of monitoring, retrieving and filtering relevant information", from IP-based networks (intranets and the Internet). A free evaluation copy of BotBox personal Internet agents is available for download.
The Wireless Advertising Association (WAA) has announced a number of what it calls, "draft standards for mobile and wireless advertising". The association has been working in four platform/protocol areas: Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Short Message Service (SMS), and Voice/Audio Portals. The WAA membership is made up of hand held device manufacturers, carriers & operators, software providers, agencies, marketers & retailers, advertisers and service providers of mobile wireless marketing and advertising. See their site for further details.
A new network, called GÉANT is being developed to "facilitate innovative approaches to research in topics such as weather forecasting, high-energy physics and telecommunications networking itself". It will enable researchers geographically distributed across Europe to cooperate with one another as if they were in the same laboratory - a direct result of the significant increase in the power and transmission capacity of the network. Being developed by DANTE, the administrators have announced the purchase from COLT Telecom of a number of 10 and 2.5 Gigabit wavelength services which will be incorporated in a new super fast backbone network interconnecting 32 countries across Europe.
Since its creation in 1993, DANTE has been responsible for four consecutive generations of European research networks, and is active in the ongoing development of European research networking. DANTE has developed a range of interconnectivity agreements with other national research networks, such as ESnet, Abilene and the Internet2 project in the United States, CANARIE in Canada and NII in Japan. More information on DANTE and on GÉANT is available on the DANTE web site.
URL: COLT http://www.colt-telecom.com/
URL: DANTE http://www.dante.net/
We have been requested to forward news from a number of IST research programme sectors, concerning their activities relating to the latest IST Call for Proposals (No. 7), published on 7 July and which is due to close on 3 October, 2001.
- Franco Mastroddi (DG-Information Society, Unit D5) has confirmed that amongst the action lines is one focusing on: "Semantic Web Technologies", which may be of particular interest to readers of El.pub. Details of draft guidelines to the call process are available via Cordis, more detailed information concerning the European Commission's research programme's interest in Semantic Web Technologies is available via the web site below.
URL: 7th call draft guidelines http://www.cordis.lu/ist/calls/200102.htm
URL: Semantic Web Technologies http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka3/iaf/index.htm
Email: Franco Mastroddi mailto:franco.mastroddi@cec.eu.int- Mats Ljungqvist has confirmed that research and technological development and demonstration projects in the area of "Multimodal Multisensorial Dialogue Modes". This activity is a so called Cross Programme Action (CPA) which spans over themes of common interest to the whole IST programme. More detailed information on the CPA 2 activity, in the from of a leaflet in pdf-format is available online or from Mats Ljungqvist.
URL: 7th call draft guidelines http://www.cordis.lu/ist/calls/200102.htm
URL: Information on CPA 2 http://www.cordis.lu/ist/cpt/cpa2.htm
Email: Mats Ljungqvist mailto:mats.ljungqvist@cec.eu.int
The latest editions of the Journal of Information Law & Technology (JILT), and Law, Social Justice and Global Development (LGD) are now available from the Electronic Law Journals Project at Warwick. JILT Issue No. 2 2001 covers many diverse IT and law topics including: Internet regulation; privacy, consumer protection and human rights; data, software and intellectual property protection; e-commerce, business and legal practice; as well as touching on accessibility issues, the information society and CAL and distance learning.
It includes nine refereed articles, two commentaries, four book reviews and a Work in Progress piece, and international perspectives are offered from Australia, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, the UK and the US. The editors of the journals are keen to highlight developing areas of research, and invite El.pub readers to contact them if you have a paper you would like to be considered for publication in either journal, be it an academic paper, commentary, information paper, a work in progress or book or IT review.
URL: Electronic Law Journals Project http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/
URL: JILT Issue No. 2, 2001 http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/01-2/
URL: LGD Issue No. 1, 2001http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/global/
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