EP Topic News: 30th August 2001

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CONTENTS

Lib. of Congress web plan
Pirates!
Diagrammatic reasoning
New re-mixing software from Cakewalk
Content management check-list
ERCIM and HCI
Is your newsletter getting to your readers?
Removing the digital divide
Distance learning resources
eBooks in the news
European Digital Cinema Forum
MP3 on steroids
TV Linux Alliance
The next big ..sorry, SMALL!.. thing

Lib. of Congress web plan

The library of Congress has published "Bibliographic Control of Web Resources: A Library of Congress Action Plan" as a follow-up to a conference on the subject they ran in November 2000. The primary goals of the Conference were: 1) to develop an overall strategy to address the challenges of improved access to Web resources through library catalogs and applications of metadata; and 2) to identify attainable actions for achieving the overall strategy. 30/8/01

URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/bibcontrol/draftplan.html

Pirates!

The Pirates! project is a joint research initiative between Nokia Research Center (NRC) and PLAY. Pirates! is a multi-player, computer game for handheld devices connected in a wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. The game is, as its name implies, staged in a seaworld, with a free harbor, an island archipelago, and of course lots of water. You are the captain of a ship, sailing the ocean, exploring islands in search for treasures and trading commodities. The computer is fitted with a proximity sensor that is used to determine where in physical space your ship is located. As you are walking about in the physical space, i.e. sailing your ship, you may encounter islands and other ships. Technical papers on the project can be downloaded from the web site. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.viktoria.informatik.gu.se/groups/play/projects/pirates/pirates.html

Diagrammatic reasoning

Visual programming languages, visualisation, graphic interaction, HCI strands, all this and more is linked to through Michael Anderson's web site. It is a gateway to research work in related fields where computers and graphics are used to extend reasoning and communication. "Here you will find contributions by researchers, and pointers to research, on diagrammatic, spatial, and other visual representations that will inform you about how natural and artificial agents create, manipulate, reason about, solve problems with, and in general use such representations in a variety of interesting ways. ", he says. Research sites, books, bibliography, lists, journals, conferences - a very fruitful tree to explore. 30/8/01

URL: http://morpheus.hartford.edu/~anderson/

New re-mixing software from Cakewalk

Cakewalk, developer of the world's best-selling music and sound software for Windows, has announced Cakewalk Plasma™, the first loop-based music creation and remix software to integrate audio and MIDI composition, DXi software synth plug-ins, and joystick-controlled DJ FX mixing. Plasma is derived from Cakewalk's award-winning SONAR™ audio and MIDI technology, and brings professional recording and mixing tools out of the professional studio and into the home. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.cakewalk.com/

Content management check-list

CMSWatch has put a CM healthcheck on their web site. The El.pub site scored "Congratulations! You reside among the minority of organizations successfully addressing online content challenges." However on the CM site at present are a number of useful articles including one comparing CM software with Quark Publishing System etc. and saying "., think about the Web CM products. Categorize them according to the functionality, workflow, and content they support. Can’t do it? Web content management hasn’t matured enough to let us talk comfortably about the different feature categories, and the tools certainly haven’t caught up yet either.", and another on the problems of DIY systems. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.cmswatch.com/

ERCIM and HCI

The latest edition of ERCIM News is devoted to HCI (ERCIM is a grouping of European R&D centres). The special theme of this ERCIM News reflects the increasing importance of the HCI field in the wider context of research and development activities for Information Society Technologies, and sheds light on the multidisciplinary and evolving nature of work in this field, as well as on current trends and initiatives. The call for contributions has met overwhelming interest, and an unprecedented number of contributions are included, reflecting a wide variety of issues, such as novel interface development approaches, interaction techniques and devices for multimodal, continuous and ubiquitous computing, access to information, and applications in different domains. There are nearly 50 papers on all aspects of European HCI R&D. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw46/

Is your newsletter getting to your readers?

A new problem for e-mail newsletter publishers is the automatic designation, by some big ISPs like AOL, Yahoo and Hotmail, of some user incoming e-mail to bulk folders (aka spam) that are rarely accessed by users. The filters used often trap opt-in newsletters that the reader has requested. The links below are to two of the original articles on the subject with links to later follow-ups. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1804
URL: http://209.11.43.220/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_ content_id=1011343

Removing the digital divide

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI) to promote open and democratic access to the Internet in developing countries to foster development. The partnership will take advantage of the global reach of UNDP and its leadership in placing information and communications technology (ICT) on the international development agenda and GIPI's work to promote wider development and accessibility of ICT. GIPI and UNDP intend to kick off projects this year in Africa, Arab States, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2001/august/15aug01/index.html

Distance learning resources

eLRN Network Inc., a key resource for the distance learning and education industries, has announced the launch of the information-based Distance Learning Portal, the education-based eLRN University and the expert-based Network Consulting Group. Collectively, they offer an integrated system of resources and services- information/education/consultation - to the distance learning and education industries and the populations they serve. The Distance Learning Portal addresses the needs of users by providing content-specific information about distance learning. eLRN University enables adult learners to access online education via the Internet. Associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs are cited and continuing education opportunities range from single courses to comprehensive certification programs. The Network Consulting Group was formed to respond to a need many organizations have today - to transition from traditional teaching methods to distance learning alternatives, using the Internet as the primary delivery mode. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.elrnnetwork.com/

eBooks in the news

Reports of the eBook market are dismal. A recent article in the NYT said "Publishers and online bookstores say only the very few best-selling electronic editions have sold more than a thousand copies, and most sell far fewer." and blames poor technology and customer reluctance to switch from paper. A report on ipicturebooks (funded by Time Warner) test of business models is no better, "...the Company's 'Shrek Activity eBook' was the #1 bestselling eBook at Amazon in June, Jim Kirchman, VP Marketing [but] admits that the title only sold "hundreds of copies."." The Open eBook Forum, whose aim is to create and maintain standards and promote the successful adoption of electronic books, has elevated its Publication Structure Specification 1.0.1 to the status of "Recommended Specification." but probably needs to do more if eBooks are to take off. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/28/technology/ebusiness/28EBOO.html
URL: http://www.contentbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1802
URL: http://www.openebook.org/

European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF)

In January 2001 the Swedish Film Institue set up the Swedish Workgroup for E-Cinema to promote, develop and experiment with e-cinema. The group has organised conferences (the next in December 2001) and published reports. In June the European Digital Cinema Forum was launched in Stockholm. EDCF will present itself officially on Sept 18th during the IBC 2001 conference in Amsterdam, when a trans-atlantic round-table discussion on e- and d-cinema standard issues also will be arranged. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.sfi.se/akt/aebio/aebifor/aebifor.htm EDCF announcment
URL: http://www.sfi.se/akt/aebio/aebieng/aebieng.htm Swedish workgroup

MP3 on steroids

Thomson-multimedia have released an improved MP3 encoder/player mp3PRO that can be downloaded from their web site. "The world's most popular audio compression format gets even better! mp3PRO audio technology is both backwards and forwards compatible with mp3 and creates files that are 1/2 or less the size of original mp3 files, with great sound quality. Developed by Coding Technologies, mp3PRO utilizes both Coding Technologies' codec enhancement technology and the pioneering work in the field of perceptual audio coding covered under the basic mp3 patents owned by Thomson and Fraunhofer.", says the announcement. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.thomson-multimedia.com/gb/00/index.htm

TV Linux Alliance

TV Linux Alliance is a consortium of technology suppliers to cable, satellite and telco network operators who wish to roll out digital set-top boxes with interactive television applications. The Founders of the TV Linux Alliance are working together to create a series of open-standard specifications for the Linux operating systems designed to run on a digital set-top box. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.tvlinuxalliance.org/html/index.html

The next big ...sorry, SMALL!... thing

Dataplay is a start-up that has caught the attention of big players. The "thing" is a 500MB disk the size of a quarter dollar and expected to sell for around $10 a disk. The disks should become available early 2002 and many companies are busy creating devices to use them. The obvious markets are imaging applications such as digital cameras, and mp3 players, but PDAs and e-books (RosettaBooks) are also in the market. 30/8/01

URL: http://www.dataplay.com/

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