EP Topic News: 20th June 2002EP Topic News: 20th June 2002
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Future
of Interactive Digital Content study
IEP Conference papers online
FP6 project evaluations streamlined?
FP6 for SMEs info day
FP6 mobilisation event Dublin
FP6 online discussion forum
"A Realist's SMIL Manifesto"
XML and out-of-line markup
Xara updates Webstyle
Facilitating and regulating e-business
Accessibility in online learning
XSLToolbox, open source toolkit
European e-Content Industries Futures CFP
Flash and SVG discussed
MetaText Server 2.0
Mobile application development s/w
Bluetooth USB dongle ref. design
WPPT enters into force
IP phone announced
Web searching mapped
Mobile digital content study
Open technology forum about SAGA
USB Instant DVD
Belux XML Users Group Conference
IPR-Helpdesk launch event
Playback Media offline/online learning
Java developer XML toolkits
"Radio text" for Cars
In the recent reader survey, many people expressed an interest in providing feedback on topics. We have decided to initiate a Delphi style study to gather your views on the future development of interactive digital content. The results will feed into the European Commission's programme development, be reported to people taking part in the study and a summary published as part of the El.pub information service.
If you take part you need to choose one of a number of areas that you have particular expertise or interest in. You will be sent a small number of questions and asked to write a response to the questions and any other views you have about the area. The replies will be merged and summarised, possibly into alternative scenarios. These will be circulated for a second set of responses.
At this point a cross-impact matrix will be drawn up using the area results and the matrix circulated to everyone for an assessment of the impact between different outcomes in the areas.
The areas are:
• Market aspects such as business models, pay for content, e-books, convergence, mergers, ease of use
• Delivery issues such as mobility, broadband, screen size, interactive TV, finding info
• Regulation / management issues such as IPR, DRM, content management
• Creation aspects such as authoring tools, interfaces, text / video / animation, navigation, usability
If you wish to take part in the study email to mailto:delphi@ketlux.demon.co.uk and indicate which area ONLY ONE you wish to be part of in the first stage. If you think there are other important areas or topics please list them in your reply.
The study is being run by Geoffrey Stephenson the INFORM project co-ordinator.
Papers presented at the Interactive Electronic Publishing Conference entitled: "Multimedia Content & Tools - Towards Information & Knowledge" organised by the INFORM project are available for download from El.pub. The conference held on May 30-31, 2002 in London was used by the European Commission to both publicise and develop their thinking on how multimedia content and tools will develop prior to the launch of the next EC funding programme, FP6, which will focus on this sector. The PowerPoint presentations (available for download via the link below) include those from:
Introduction to FP6
Franco Mastroddi, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission, Information Society DG
- Achievements of FP5 projects
- What have we learnt - what are the developing trends?
- Introduction to FP6 - what is it about? Where will it lead us?The knowledge lifecycle,
David Worlock, Chairman, EPS
- What do we mean by 'knowledge lifecycle'?
- What processes are involved?
- Which technologies can be most effective?Where are we now?
Paul Ormerod, Director, Synchroni Ltd
- Where have we got to in terms of multimedia content handling?
- What are the current challenges we are facing?
- Cross-sectoral case studies drawn from both the corporate and public service environmentsKnowledge Technologies for the Semantic Web: Reality, Hype, Hopes and Fears
Prof. Nigel Shadbolt, AKT Project, Southampton University
- Review of technologies for knowledge management
- The role of knowledge technologies in the Semantic Web
- The achievements and aspirations of the UK funded Advanced Knowledge Technologies projectInteractive Digital Content Technologies
Anne Foster, Founder, LaneFoster
- Introduction to the session and speakers
- What are 'interactive digital content technologies'?
- Meeting the demands for content 'any time - anywhere'Case Study - KnowledgeBoard, building a community of KM professionals
Ben Heald, Co-Founder and Director of Communities, SIFT
- Introduction to KnowledgeBoard
- Key issues and lessons learned
- Future developments - how will the community develop?Web Publishing: Metadata, Ontologies & Semantics
Prof. Michael Wilson, Manager of the UK office of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- The development of the cognitive approach
- The introduction of the semantic network
- The Semantic Web - past, present and futureCase Study - the Knowledge Media Institute (KMi)
Dr Enrico Motta, Director Knowledge Media Institute
- Introduction to the work of the KMi
- Multimedia content and the learner experience
- Role and strategic impact of knowledge management
- Project ONTOWEBCase Study - IMS
Kevin Riley, Director, European Development IMS Global Learning Consortium
- Introduction to the IMS Global Learning Consortium
- Developing web technologies and their impact on education and learning
- Developing open technical specifications - supporting distributed learningThe event was attended by business development directors, technology directors, technology operatives - all those with an interest in information and knowledge systems and how they may affect their business. It provided detailed background information to all those interested in applying for funding from the European Commission for their work in this area.
FP6 Newsletter
The INFORM project has launched a FREE email newsletter with information about the 6th FP in relation to projects concerned with digital content. The newsletter appears occasionally (once every month or so) and will point to recent information on CORDIS and in other documents, and to meetings relevant to the programme organised by the Commission and other organisations, and projects. If you are interested in receiving this free newsletter please subscribe by sending an email to the address below, with "Subscribe FP6News" in the subject field.
Email: mailto:fp6iepnews@ketlux.demon.co.uk
URL: download papers from agenda23.htm
CORDIS Focus reports that EURAB - the independent European Advisory Board has suggested some changes to the way that project proposals for the 6th Framework Programme (FP6) should be evaluated. Whilst EURAB suggests retention of some of the elements of the previous Framework Programme it suggested among other things, that:
• anonymity of proposals should be dropped;
• anonymity of evaluators should be removed, enabling proposers the opportunity to veto evaluators (along with justification for their reasons);
• evaluations could be carried-out in a distributed fashion, rather than centrally in Brussels as is now the case.Further information on EURAB's recommendations is available via the web link below. EURAB, established in June 2001, is made up of 45 representatives from science and industry throughout Europe.
This Fourth SME Technology Days Conference is scheduled to take place in Leeds, UK on September 26-27, 2002. It aims to promote FP6 and SME specific measures. Attendees will obtain the latest information on FP6 from the European Commission, gain insight into the successes and experiences of European SMEs, participate in panel discussions, display posters of European projects. For further information, and to register see the web site below.
A mobilisation event aimed at helping Irish researchers prepare for FP6 will take place in Dublin, Ireland on July 12, 2002. The event is being organised by Forfas, Ireland's advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation. Plenaries, presented by European Commission representatives will cover FP6 participation guidelines, whilst parallel conference sessions will examine the key thematic areas of FP6.
URL: http://www.forfas.ie
A new online discussion forum which aims "to boost networking between research centres, scientific organisations and SMEs in preparation for FP6" has been launched by a Spanish research group. The organisers of discussion list hope that it will help to generate ideas for proposals to be put forward under the Information Society Technologies (IST) part of FP6. The list is being run by Comercio Electronico Global, Spain - the Spanish Centre of Excellence in Information Society Technologies. Subscribe by sending an email to the address below.
Email: mailto:fp6_PLTFRM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
URL: Comercio Electronico Global http://www.e-global.es
XML.com includes a feature which focuses on SMIL, the W3C's Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language. Although SMIL has been around for several years, and is supported in RealPlayer and Quicktime, it has yet to achieve its full potential in delivering web multimedia. In the first part of "A Realist's SMIL Manifesto", Fabio Arciniegas describes the state of SMIL so far, including liberally illustrated examples of current SMIL concepts and considers how it can realistically be used in video and multimedia deployment today.
Simon St.Laurent, a leading developer in the XML development community has announced the release of "an initial version of Ool, a set of Java SAX filters for working with out-of-line markup in XML". According to Simon, "Ool can separate XML documents into files containing their markup and their (element) text, using ool:text elements to indicate which part of the text file goes where in the document. It can also reconstruct documents from the separate markup and text files". Find out more via the link below.
Xara Webstyle, a web graphics creation package has been updated. The company claim that the software can be used to "produce top quality, fully customised web graphics, with no design skill or software expertise required".
URL: http://www.xara.com/
In collaboration with the European Multimedia Associations' Convention and with the support of Ulys and Euractiv, the European Multimedia Forum (EMF) is organising its second "EU Regulatory Update Conference - Facilitating and Regulating e-Business", on 25-26 June 2002 in Brussels. The conference will start with an overall review of current EU regulatory and policy initiatives given by Mr Paul Timmers, member of the cabinet of Commissioner Liikanen. Other topics covered are:
• developing a single market for e-Business
• selling financial services online
• removing the restrictions on online sales promotions
• protecting intellectual property
• towards a European regulatory framework for online gambling
• building and regulating networks conducive to e-Business
• update on the 6th Framework Programme for R&D (with a special focus on encouraging the participation of SMEs in EU projects)Further information including the full conference programme and a registration form are available online. The European Multimedia Forum is the main European trade association promoting the competitiveness of the digital media industries in the global market place.
URL: conference http://www.e-multimedia.org/regul
URL: European Multimedia Forum http://www.e-multimedia.org
URL: Ulys http://www.ulys.net
URL: Euractiv http://www.euractiv.com
A special issue of the online journal "Educational Technology Review" focuses on: "Accessibility...An Integral Part of Online Learning", and includes articles entitled:
• "Accessibility...An Integral Part of Online Learning";
• "Electronic Accessibility: United States and International Perspectives";
• "The Need for Assistive Technology in Educational Technology";
• "Distance Learning: Universal Design, Universal Access";
• "Web Design for Accessibility: Policies and Practice";
• "Online Course Accessibility: A Call for Responsibility and Necessity".There is also a book review of "Trends and Issues in Instructional Technology". Subscribe to the free electronic email notification service from the web site below.
An updated release of the XSLToolbox is available for free download. The toolbox is described as an open source toolkit which aims to help developers avoid the drudgery of writing the complicated XSLT transforms often needed to integrate XML applications. The XSLToolbox contains two tools, both written in XSLT:
• APEX - an application for transforming XML documents as specified by architectural forms;
• ATTS - a stylesheet generator for adding default attribute values to XML documents.The release includes numerous APEX usage examples, documentation, and a (recently added) application implementing an easy-to-edit XML vocabulary for creating slide presentations.
The XSLToolbox requires an XSLT processor and the Apache Ant build tool (if you want to run all the included example in one fell swoop). The slide presentation application requires Python, the ReportLab Toolkit, and the Gnome XML libraries (with their Python bindings).
A call for papers has been issued for a conference entitled: "Understanding the Future of European e-Content Industries" to be held in Tampere, Finland, on November 14-15, 2002. Key topics include:
• Future perspectives for content production and industries;
• The economics of (interactive) content production including: multimedia business models and corporate strategies; analysing the multimedia value chain; multimedia distribution issues; new business models and rights issues for cross media content exploitation.
• Contents and uses including: new interactive content formats; cultural differences in approaching multimedia; multimedia in education and learning; e-Contents as entertainment; virtual simulation applications; studies of use and usability; "Presence" studies of "point of reception".
• Technologies and tools including: multimedia internet technologies; mobile multimedia; new tools for multimedia production; interactive television and broadband multimedia; multichannel content delivery; interactive publishing; interactive platforms and authoring packages issues.The deadline for abstracts is July 15, 2002 with final papers due October 30, 2002. Further information from the email below.
The O'Reilly Network newsletter writes: "Two heavyweights dominate animated vector graphics on the Web: Flash and SVG (scalable vector graphics). Flash is the seasoned veteran; SVG is the rising star. Flash is proprietary (owned by Macromedia); SVG is open source and an official W3C recommendation. Flash requires a plug-in (that nearly every computer on the planet already has); SVG will eventually be built right in to the browser". O'Reilly have published two articles on their Web DevCenter which explain each:
• "SVG On the Rise" - Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are working their way into the fabric of the web and mobile devices. SVG Working Group member Dean Jackson outlines SVG's progress and builds a case for its growth in popularity.
URL: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2002/06/06/svg_future.html
• "SWF Is Not Flash (and Other Vectored Thoughts)" - with increased interest in SVG, some are saying Flash technology might be on its way out. "Not so fast," says Jacek Artymiak. Flash has more to offer than many realise.
URL: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2002/05/24/swf_not_flash.html
Inxight MetaText Server 2.0 aims to unlock enterprise information held as unstructured data in email, text files, web pages, and news feeds. The new version includes a repository for storing metadata from the information resources; a collection manager for "scheduling web and file system crawls" to update the information stored in repositories; search integration with third-party search engines; the addition of full-text search, including Boolean query support for Italian, Portuguese and Dutch. The product also supports English, French, German and Spanish.
The company also claims that MetaText Server provides "open, standard interfaces for easy integration with other systems including enterprise portals and customer relationship management, text mining, business intelligence, content, document and knowledge management applications".
The server supports over 70 common word processing file formats including HTML, PDF, Microsoft Office documents, e-mail, Lotus Notes and text documents and runs under Windows NT/2000 and Sun Solaris.
mNET from Invertix is described as an "integrated Mobile Internet and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) suite of applications, client interfaces and developer tools". mNET includes:
• mNET Service Platform - a fully integrated mobile Internet service provisioning and delivery environment for SMS, MMS, WAP, i-Mode and Web that includes network presence, location, message routing, uthentication, security and privacy.
• mNET Applications - a suite of SMS, MMS, WAP, i-Mode and Web based mobile Internet applications, including Chat, Instant Messaging, Dating and Gaming;
• mNET Clients - a suite of SMS, MMS, WAP, i-Mode, J2ME, Pocket PC and Web based mobile Internet client interfaces available for mNET Applications.
• Invertix Developer Network (IDN) - which a Mobile Internet Service Development Kit (SDK), API and testing tools and libraries.According to Invertix - its solutions have been deployed by leading mobile network operators and service providers, including Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.
WIDCOMM and Texas Instruments have unveiled a new Bluetooth USB dongle reference design which combines USB plug-and-play with fully embedded Bluetooth functionality. According to the companies, the WIDCOMM/TI dongle "allows wireless connectivity between a PC and peripherals, printers, or mobile phones and provides Bluetooth functionality without the need for software installation and configuration".
Prototypes with Human Interface Devices (HID) support are now available for Bluetooth-enabled peripheral devices (keyboard and mouse). Later releases will include dial-up support to be used in combination with mobile phones (DUN-profile) and printing support (HCRP, BPP, BIP profiles). Production versions based on the reference design are expected to be available as an OEM product in Q3 2002.
URL: WIDCOMM http://www.widcomm.com
URL: Texas Instruments http://www.ti.com
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Phonograms and Performances Treaty (WPPT), one of two key treaties that adapt copyright law to the digital age, entered into force on May 20, 2002. The first of these so-called "Internet treaties", the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), entered into force on March 6, 2002. The treaties set out the legal framework to safeguard the interests of creators in cyberspace and open new horizons for composers, artists, writers and others to use the Internet with confidence to create, distribute and control the use of their works within the digital environment.
The Director General of WIPO, Dr. Kamil Idris, underlined the importance of the new standards provided for in the WCT and the WPPT in creating an environment to foster the future development of the Internet, electronic commerce and culture and information industries. He urged the wide adoption of the treaties by countries in all regions of the world.
URL: WIPO http://www.wipo.org/
InnoMedia has announced the launch of its MTA 3308 IP Phone, a product targeted at broadband service providers who are looking to provide IP-based telephony services to their customers.
URL: MTA 3308 IP Phone http://www.innomedia.com/mta3308
URL: InnoMedia http://www.innomedia.com
KartOO is a web search engine that presents results as an interesting interconnected "map". The KartOO technology is the result of three years of research by its developers which focused on the "optimisation of systems that collect, analyse, organise and release structured and unstructured data". Derivatives of KartOO are available to developers for integration into a wide range of applications and environments requiring intuitive search.
A report prepared by Arthur Andersen, Belgium for the European Commission's Information Society DG and based on interviews with "important industry figures", identifies a large number of factors - business, cultural and technical on which the success of digital mobile services in Europe depend. The study categorises mobile applications as "communication centric", "transaction centric" and "content centric" and attempts to make business predictions as to the types of applications likely to succeed. The full report is available free on CD-ROM with a free executive summary available in English, French and German available for download via the link below.
SAGA is the abbreviation for Standards and architectures in eGovernment applications and the title of a document, that has been released by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior. This first draft is available on the web and deals with technical questions and recommendations for the German BundOnline2005 initiative. The aim of SAGA is to define standards for the flow of digital information between citizens, economy and the federal administration.
SAGA will be updated regularly in respect to technical developments. To enhance the proposed standards of the SAGA document, the federal administration portal has opened a technology forum. German speaking technology experts are invited to discuss the multiple aspects of SAGA, e.g. process and data modelling or backend interfaces.
URL: SAGA draft http://www.bund.de/saga
URL: technology forum http://foren.bund.de/
ADS Technologies, a leader in consumer video editing solutions, has announced the UK launch of its USB Instant DVD, an external USB device that allows home video enthusiasts to capture and convert analogue video into full-resolution, professional quality, DVD format. The USB Instant DVD enables users to record, archive, and duplicate home movies into DVD, MPEG2, MPEG1, VCD, and SVCD formats, and to store them on a PC.
According to the company, "a simple software interface permits even the most inexperienced user to import video images from any analogue source including VHS tapes, camcorders, DVD players, laser discs, and television. The captured video can then be edited on a PC, authored, and burned to a CD or DVD recordable disc via the users own CD or DVD writer". The software is priced at 229.00 UK pounds, and is also available throughout Europe from ADS Technologies' resellers.
URL: ADS Technologies http://www.adstech.com
The 2002 conference of the Belux XML users group will be held on the November 21, 2002 in Nazareth, Belgium. Following the success of last year's conference and the increasing application of XML there will be three tracks at this year's gathering. One will be primarily focussed on the use of XML for data applications and the other on its use in the documentation domain. The third track is dedicated to vendor presentations.
The conference is aimed at ICT managers, decision makers, developers and XML users. There is a call for papers open from those who have been involved in interesting applications in either domain and the organisers are particularly interested in papers concentrating on XML modeling, transformations, XML databases and interoperability. Abstracts of 250-300 words, that clearly outline the content of the presentation, along with a short presenter biography, should be sent to the emails below by June 30, 2002.
Email: data domain track mailto:stevenn@outerthought.org
Email: documentation domain track mailto:joanna.okelly@lms.be
URL: http://www.xmlbelux.be/
The IPR-Helpdesk is organising a free-of-charge event at the "Palais de Justice" in Brussels, on July 4, 2002. This event aims to present the activities of the project: new web site structure, Helpline, new Community diffusion and protection rules in international research projects. The IPR-Helpdesk project is based on the experience achieved in a pilot project launched by the European Commission in 1998.
The present IPR-Helpdesk is a European Commission’s co-financed initiative, funded as an "Accompanying Measure" run by a Consortium of European organisations coordinated by the University of Alicante, Spain), since 1 January 2002. The main objective of the IPR-Helpdesk is to assist potential and current contractors taking part in Community funded research and technological development projects on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues, and in particular on Community diffusion and protection rules and issues relating to IPR in international research projects.
If you are interested in attending this event, please be so kind to contact the project by email, phone or fax - before 25 June 2002, indicating your name, organisation and contact details. Due to limited availability of places, participants will be selected on a first come - first served basis.
Contact: Carlos Soares, Project Manager, IPR-Helpdesk Representative Office
E-mail: mailto:ipr-helpdesk@global-eu.com
Tel: + 32 2 649 53 33
Fax: + 32 2 647 59 34
URL: http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org
Playback Media Courseware and Media Mobile Learner have been launched to "address the needs of organisations requiring an e-Learning delivery method that can be integrated within their company network". Playback Media Courseware is web-based, AICC compliant software that allows any organisation to access Playback Media's streaming video content, either hosted on their company network or integrated onto a new or existing learning management system (LMS). The Media Mobile Learner module of the software allows learners to download Playback Media content onto remote computers such as laptops. Tracking data gathered while learning offline can be uploaded to the LMS when the employee returns to the office. Because Playback Media programs may now be viewed without an Internet connection, employees who travel often are now able to keep up with their e-Learning curricula.
URL: Playback Media http://www.playback.com/
Phaos Technology has released three XML toolkits:
• Phaos XML Security Suite 1.3 supporting the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) encryption and signature standards, a comprehensive solution for creating secure (XML) applications in Java
• Phaos XKMS 1.0, used for developing applications using the W3C Key Management Standards (XKMS)
• Phaos SAML 1.0, which enables application development using OASIS' Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML).According to the company, "using the Phaos XML Security Suite, Java developers can rapidly build sophisticated, interoperable and secure XML-based applications that benefit from the code portability and scalability of Java. As a pure Java toolkit, Phaos XML Security Suite enables XML applications to run on any Java platform". Phaos XML Security Suite also supports Phaos XKMS and Phaos SAML toolkits.
URL: Phaos Technology http://www.phaos.com/
dMarc Networks, a US-based radio frequency subcarrier management and wireless data distribution firm, has announced the production launch of its dRDS (Dynamic Radio Data Service) system, which allows text to be broadcast and displayed on car radio LCD and LED screens. In partnership with Clear Channel Radio Los Angeles, dRDS is making its debut on five Los Angeles-area radio stations, and expects to deploy dRDS across Clear Channel Radio Los Angeles' entire 27 trading area FM stations in Southern California over the next several months.
Through its patent-pending technology, collectively called dMarcNet, dMarc is utilising the FM subcarrier spectrum and dRDS is an example of one application supported by this technology, which has the potential to "expand a radio broadcast station's revenue opportunities while seamlessly co-existing with the stations' traditional audio broadcasts". dMarc is planning a national expansion of the dRDS throughout the US towards the end of 2002.
URL: dMarc Networks http://www.dmarcnetworks.com/
URL: Clear Channel Communications http://www.clearchannel.com/
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