EP Topic News: 26th July 2001EP Topic News: 26th July 2001
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The European Commission sponsors an awareness activity related to research and development projects focused on the subject of: "tackling the controversial issue of illegal, harmful and racist content on the Internet". To raise awareness of the issues involved, the Internet Action Plan (IAP) publishes a newsletter (available in pdf format) which provides news clips on: EU initiatives in the area, Global developments, software and technical developments concerning protection of minors, along with a calendar of events. Subscribe to the newsletter via the web site.
At a time of intense debate over key Internet policy issues, ranging from antitrust to privacy regulation, open access and taxation of online commerce, a new body of opinion research sponsored by the Markle Foundation shows that the American public wants a broad range of perspectives and interests involved in decisions about the Internet.
The report, "Toward a Framework for Internet Accountability", finds that the US-public is extremely enthusiastic about the Internet, particularly as a source of information, but is looking for new forms of public, private and non-profit governance of the Internet in order to give people more protection and control when they go on-line. The full report is available for download in pdf format.
Articles in the July/August 2001 issue of D-Lib Magazine include:
- "Generalizing the OpenURL Framework beyond References to Scholarly Works: The Bison Fute Model";
- "Digital Libraries and Education: Trends and Opportunities";
- "E-Books and Their Future in Academic Libraries: An Overview";
- "Penn State Visual Image User Study".
URL: http://www.dlib.org/
URL: table of contents http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july01/07contents.html
The iSavvix Java Community (IJC) is described as a portal for software developers wishing to share information and code relating to Java development. Featured in a review by the Developer Web (the email news service of the internet.com family of web sites), the description includes reference to a positive assessment of the site featured on Sun's official Java site for developers.
The site apparently won the award for "Outstanding Contribution to the Growth of the Java Community (Group/Organization)" at the JavaOne Event this year, and claims to have around "35,000 users".
URL: IJC http://java.isavvix.com/index.jsp
URL: Sun's review of IJC http://java.sun.com/features/2001/03/isavvix.html
URL: Developer.com Update http://www.developer.com/
Issue No. 9 of the eCulture Newsletter on cultural content and digital heritage has been published. This issue contains a Special Supplement on Trials, R&D projects considering new access models to cultural and scientific content. Available as an 8-page PDF document and also via the web, the free newsletter provides a timely update on the Cultural Heritage Applications sector of the European Commission's IST programme.
URL: eCulture Newsletter http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka3/digicult/en/newsletter.html
The Open University, the major distance learning institution in the UK, plans to use Tridion's DialogServer as a core component in it's "production service". The intention, according to Tridion, is for the latest content management platform to provide facilities to create, store and manage content which can then be delivered over multiple channels. The system will apparently make extensive use of XML.
The July 2001 issue of First Monday (volume 6, number 7) is now available and includes the following articles:
- "Some Economics of Personal Activity and Implications for the Digital Economy";
- "E-Commerce Web Queries: Excite and Ask Jeeves Study";
- "The IMLS Digital Cultural Heritage Community Project: A Case Study of Tools for Effective Project Management and Collaboration";
- "Positioning the Public Library in the Modern State: The Opportunity of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)".
Germany company, data ex machina, has announced a technology demonstration of Natix, its native XML engine. According to the release notes, the demo version allows you to mount the Natix Kernel as a file system. Any application that can deal with regular files can be used to import and export XML documents and to evaluate queries on them. Further information about Natix and data ex machina is also available from the web site.
URL: download http://www.dataexmachina.de/download.html
URL: http://www.dataexmachina.de/
DOMC is a light weight implementation of the Document Object Model (DOM) in ANSI C as specified in the W3C DOM Core Level 1 recommendation. According to its developers:
- when coupled with the Expat XML Parser Toolkit, DOMC can load, store, build, and directly manipulate XML documents represented as a tree in memory;
- the Document Object Model is the W3C recommended way to manipulate XML and HTML documents as a tree of nodes. It is the more sophisticated but more memory constraining alternative to the SAX API.
URL: DOMC http://auditorymodels.org/domc/
URL: W3C DOM Core Level 1 rec. http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-DOM-Level-1-19981001/level-one-core.html
URL: download http://auditorymodels.org/domc/src/
A new paper from IBM entitled: "The Future of Wireless Banking", considers the issues surrounding implementation of successful wireless banking applications, albeit a view based on use of IBM technologies. It explains the principles of enabling users to interact with data easily and safely, regardless of the hand-held device or network operator.
URL: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wireless/library/wi-banking/?l=swalert
Two papers published on the O'Reilly network with particular focus on web-based publishing include:
- "The Evolution of SOAP LITE", in which the author considers how SOAP functionality is developing and its likely future directions.
URL: http://onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2001/06/29/soap_lite.html- "Getting Flashy With PHP", which addresses web site animation and how dynamic Flash animations can be added to a web site using PHP.
URL: http://oreillynet.com/pub/a/php/2001/06/28/flash.html
US company, Where2Net, has released the second beta of its visual development tool, Where2Net daVinci Studio, for "multi-channel and mobile web development". Available for download, the software is aimed at developers, building interactive business applications for access via PDAs, WAP and smart phones, kiosks, pagers and PCs. To participate in the 3rd beta trial, email Where2Net at the email address below.
URL: http://www.where2net.com/
URL: beta trial email request mailto:beta3@where2net.com
Apple Computer has joined European Schoolnet as a corporate member and sponsor. Ulf Lundin, Director of the European Schoolnet Office in Brussels said: "Apple's longstanding commitment to the innovative use of ICT in education and its leadership in technology development will be of great value as we continue to promote new learning tools and digital literacy among teachers and students in Europe."
URL: http://www.eun.org/eun.org2/goto.cfm?did=7113
URL: European Schoolnet http://www.eun.org/
GlobalTable from Teliris is described as a system for convening and holding meetings at different venues across the world simultaneously - in such a natural environment that executives soon forget that they are not in the same room. By studying both the physical and psychological aspects how people react in meetings, the company has designed a system using camera angles, for example, to achieve the level of eye-contact and directional consistency required for a "natural" meeting environment.
Judge for yourself whether this latest in a long line of video-conferencing products removes the need for physical meetings, so long promised by the industry.
Edugen is an integrated set of modules developed and used by the UK-based Maris development team to create custom-designed e-learning courseware for clients. The software (based on XML and Java) can be used to generate new courseware or convert existing print-based training and reference material into customisable courses. Its developers claim that the authoring software can "interface with third party applications including: content management systems, databases, learning management systems, and e-commerce applications".
Maris have also announced that they plan to make Edugen available to clients as an internal development tool. Visit the site for a guided tour which includes explanations and case study screen shots, or to run an operational on-line demo.
The Digital Performance Archive (DPA) is a major UK-based research project documenting developments in the creative use of computer technologies in performance, from live theatre and dance productions that incorporate digital media, to cyberspace interactive dramas and webcasts. DPA also collates examples of the use of computer technologies to document, discuss or analyse performance - from specialist web sites and e-zines, to academic CD-ROMS.
DPA would like to make contact with interested practitioners who would like to have their work included in the archive. As a central aim DPA is collating an extensive online searchable database of virtual theatre performance and related events 1990-2000, including selected video documentation and statements by creators.
The Digital Performance Archive will also:
- create an interactive DVD which archives and critically examines significant examples of digitally-related performance;
- and produce a written word publication presenting a critical overview of the field.
The project aims to be of value to researchers across a wide range of academic disciplines, from drama and performance to art and design, from the social sciences to computer science and cybernetics. The archive is a joint project between the Digital Research Unit of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at The Nottingham Trent University and the Media and Performance Research Unit, School of Media, Music and Performance at the University of Salford.
The site provides the following departments:
- acquisitions from previous months;
- search the DPA database;
- a listing of digital performance and related events;
- an A-Z listing of practitioners/groups on the database;
- a DPA bibliography.
The Metadata for Education Group (MEG) draws together practitioners from both the public and private sectors in the UK in an attempt to define metadata for resources in order that they can be "described, found and used as effectively as possible". The first notable deliverable from the group is the MEG Concord - which explains the key objectives of group members.
Agora is one of five eLib hybrid library projects (sponsored through UK government funding) that are investigating issues surrounding the integration of digital and traditional library resources. The project is developing a hybrid library management system (HLMS) as a "proof of concept" and will consider the benefits of a standards-based management framework.
The hybrid library created contains: library catalogues, museum databases, archives, electronic journal databases, images, Internet web sites and search engines, intranet services and online bookstores. It has also enabled this library to be accessible via a single interface which offers simple and advanced searching across all resources. There is an Agora demonstrator online.
VFZ (Vector Format for Zooming), is a digital image file format from VFZoom. VFZ technology was used to create an international "virtual exhibition", which was demonstrated at the product's launch in London. The exhibition showcased projected works from The Wallace Collection, the research and restoration centre of The Louvre, The Smithsonian Institution, and the Kyoto National Museum in Japan. The event also featured photography from Alinari in Florence, the world's oldest photographic library.
VFZ files are designed to provide the highest image quality within a small file size. The format is being promoted for use in applications where the high fidelity images being created lead to very large file sizes. Image-intensive applications from art institutions, graphic designers, fashion houses, car manufacturers and medical institutions, for example. The technology is vector rather than pixel based and according to the developers lends itself towards the archiving, preservation and sharing of artworks and other high end images in digital format. Apparently the format is being used by IST project (Key Action Line III - Multimedia Content & Tools), CRISATEL, in its digital archiving activities.
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