CHORUS Deliverable 2.1: State of the Art on Multimedia Search Engines

Based on the information provided by European projects and national initiatives related to multimedia search as well as domains experts that participated in the CHORUS Think-thanks and workshops, this document reports on the state of the art related to multimedia content search from, a technical, and socio-economic perspective. The technical perspective includes an up to date view on content based indexing and retrieval technologies, multimedia search in the context of mobile devices and peer-to-peer networks, and an overview of current evaluation and benchmark inititiatives to measure the performance of multimedia search engines. From a socio-economic perspective we inventorize the impact and legal consequences of these technical advances and point out future directions of research

Emotion-oriented interventions for environment and the facilitation of pro-environmental behavior

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Ambiente, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e TecnologiaThis research aimed at studying the facilitating pro-environmental behavior problem by approaching new pro-environmental interventions. The following elements make this study particularly relevant: a) the actual debate concerning the impact of scientific and technological innovations and b) the consideration of new emotional research findings, which stress that emotion is an essential part of information processing. However, the role of emotions is still largely absent from most pro-environmental studies. This situation highlights the importance of conceiving personal and professional initiatives aimed at encouraging reflection and supporting proenvironmental behaviors research while focusing on emotional issues. The study involved an interpretative approach of a qualitative nature, organized in two complementary phases. The first phase evaluated the possible impact of the purposed research. It involved different collaborations and the first experimental research study was implemented as a proof-of-concept approach. In addition, this phase research advanced a new model of proenvironmental behavior and a design framework. The second phase of the study, motivated by the results of the first phase, led to advancing emotion-oriented interventions scenarios and also planning and implementing their evaluation. This initiative showed two technological opportunities to consider for future developments: Affective images rewarding systems using digital material and sensorial feedback tools using non-digital material. The planned qualitative research included questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, panels, observation and the analysis of documents. The results of this study have several implications. Among the most relevant are: a) the potential of combined research methods in investigating individuals conceptions and perceptions about environmental behavior; b) the importance of discussions about new pro-environmental interventions for facilitating pro-environmental behavior; c) the importance of multi-disciplinary research approaches for advancing new technological options; and d) the relevance of considering an emotion-oriented approach.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES)- (SFRH/BD/21408/2005

Cultural journalism in a digital environment : new models, practices and possibilities

Both culture coverage and digital journalism are contemporary phenomena that have undergone several transformations within a short period of time. Whenever the media enters a period of uncertainty such as the present one, there is an attempt to innovate in order to seek sustainability, skip the crisis or find a new public. This indicates that there are new trends to be understood and explored, i.e., how are media innovating in a digital environment? Not only does the professional debate about the future of journalism justify the need to explore the issue, but so do the academic approaches to cultural journalism. However, none of the studies so far have considered innovation as a motto or driver and tried to explain how the media are covering culture, achieving sustainability and engaging with the readers in a digital environment. This research examines how European media which specialize in culture or have an important cultural section are innovating in a digital environment. Specifically, we see how these innovation strategies are being taken in relation to the approach to culture and dominant cultural areas, editorial models, the use of digital tools for telling stories, overall brand positioning and extensions, engagement with the public and business models. We conducted a mixed methods study combining case studies of four media projects, which integrates qualitative web features and content analysis, with quantitative web content analysis. Two major general-interest journalistic brands which started as physical newspapers – The Guardian (London, UK) and Público (Lisbon, Portugal) – a magazine specialized in international affairs, culture and design – Monocle (London, UK) – and a native digital media project that was launched by a cultural organization – Notodo, by La Fábrica – were the four case studies chosen. Findings suggest, on one hand, that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in culture coverage in a digital environment, challenging traditional boundaries related to cultural themes and scope, angles, genres, content format and delivery, engagement and business models. Innovation in the four case studies lies especially along the product dimensions (format and content), brand positioning and process (business model and ways to engage with users). On the other hand, there are still perennial values that are crucial to innovation and sustainability, such as commitment to journalism, consistency (to the reader, to brand extensions and to the advertiser), intelligent differentiation and the capability of knowing what innovation means and how it can be applied, since this thesis also confirms that one formula doesn´t suit all. Changing minds, exceeding cultural inertia and optimizing the memory of the websites, looking at them as living, organic bodies, which continuously interact with the readers in many different ways, and not as a closed collection of articles, are still the main challenges for some media.Both culture coverage and digital journalism are contemporary phenomena that have undergone several transformations within a short period of time. Whenever the media enters a period of uncertainty such as the present one, there is an attempt to innovate in order to seek sustainability, skip the crisis or find a new public. This indicates that there are new trends to be understood and explored, i.e., how are media innovating in a digital environment? Not only does the professional debate about the future of journalism justify the need to explore the issue, but so do the academic approaches to cultural journalism. However, none of the studies so far have considered innovation as a motto or driver and tried to explain how the media are covering culture, achieving sustainability and engaging with the readers in a digital environment. This research examines how European media which specialize in culture or have an important cultural section are innovating in a digital environment. Specifically, we see how these innovation strategies are being taken in relation to the approach to culture and dominant cultural areas, editorial models, the use of digital tools for telling stories, overall brand positioning and extensions, engagement with the public and business models. We conducted a mixed methods study combining case studies of four media projects, which integrates qualitative web features and content analysis, with quantitative web content analysis. Two major general-interest journalistic brands which started as physical newspapers – The Guardian (London, UK) and Público (Lisbon, Portugal) – a magazine specialized in international affairs, culture and design – Monocle (London, UK) – and a native digital media project that was launched by a cultural organization – Notodo, by La Fábrica – were the four case studies chosen. Findings suggest, on one hand, that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in culture coverage in a digital environment, challenging traditional boundaries related to cultural themes and scope, angles, genres, content format and delivery, engagement and business models. Innovation in the four case studies lies especially along the product dimensions (format and content), brand positioning and process (business model and ways to engage with users). On the other hand, there are still perennial values that are crucial to innovation and sustainability, such as commitment to journalism, consistency (to the reader, to brand extensions and to the advertiser), intelligent differentiation and the capability of knowing what innovation means and how it can be applied, since this thesis also confirms that one formula doesn´t suit all. Changing minds, exceeding cultural inertia and optimizing the memory of the websites, looking at them as living, organic bodies, which continuously interact with the readers in many different ways, and not as a closed collection of articles, are still the main challenges for some media

The impact of technology: value-added classroom practice: final report

This report extends Becta’s enquiries into the ways in which digital technologies are supporting learning. It looks in detail at the learning practices mediated by ICT in nine secondary schools in which ICT for learning is well embedded. The project proposes a broader perspective on the notion of ‘impact’ that is rather different from a number of previous studies investigating impact. Previous studies have been limited in that they have either focused on a single innovation or have reported on institutional level factors. However, in both cases this pays insufficient attention to the contexts of learning. In this project, the focus has been on the learning practices of the classroom and the contexts of ICT-supported learning. The study reports an analysis of 85 lesson logs, in which teachers recorded their use of space, digital technology and student outcomes in relation to student engagement and learning. The teachers who filled in the logs, as well as their schools’ senior managers, were interviewed as part of a ‘deep audit’ of ICT provision conducted over two days. One-hour follow-up interviews with the teachers were carried out after the teachers’ log activity. The aim of this was to obtain a broader contextualisation of their teaching

Building the New Babel of Transnational Literacies: Preparing Education for World Citizens

The transnational diasporas in a technological world that is postmodern and posthuman mean both exciting diverse communities and challenging problems. On the one hand, globalization brought human beings the convenience of exchanging ideas, doing business, and building a better world together. On the other hand, the political economy of nation states that shaped non-translational ideologies, created at the same time conflicts and misunderstandings among citizens from different parts of the world. Responding to the current transnational clashes in flow (information dissemination) and contra flow (surveillance and control of information flow) of our information age, this dissertation builds up a transnational rhetoric and communication model that can be used to examine the curriculum design, teaching materials, and pedagogy in communication and writing studies, especially in technical communication. In addition, this study investigates the present state of curriculum design, teaching materials, and pedagogies in a southeastern higher education institution. Empirical data was collected from students, instructors, and administrators from different departments of this institution to determine whether and how do curriculum design, teaching materials, and pedagogies frame and teach transnational literacy. Further, to engage the conversation with a national audience, major introductory technical communication textbooks were analyzed based on both the empirical data and the transnational rhetoric and communication model using content analysis. The findings indicate that although curriculum design, textbooks, and pedagogies have transnational components, they generally reply on traditional models and stereotypical examples that cannot meet with students’ needs in order for them to become genuine world citizens with transnational awareness and competence. The transnational rhetoric and communication model helps to fill the gaps in curriculum design, textbook revision, and pedagogies in cultivating world citizens

Mobile telecommunication networks and mobile commerce : towards its applications in chinese market

La télécommunication mobile connecte les personnes de n'importe où à tout moment. La transmission de la voix et des données à travers les réseaux de télécommunication mobile permet d'envoyer des informations et de diriger des transactions d'une manière nouvelle. Cela crée un nouveau domaine d'affaires qui s'appelle du commerce mobile, une affaire étendue basée sur l'Internet avec de nombreux des caractéristiques uniques ajoutés. Comme un soutien fondamental du plate-forme, les réseaux de la télécommunication mobile joue un rôle essentiel dans le commerce mobile. Leurs caractéristiques techniques et le déploiement déterminent l'essence pour le commerce mobile. Dans cette mémoire, nous étudions et présentons les caractéristiques techniques des technologies communications mobiles du réseau 1G à 3G et au-delà. Nous étudions également les technologies WLAN et WAP qui sont courantes dans le commerce mobile en Chine et dans le monde. Le commerce mobile est en train de se développer, le nombre d'utilisateurs de téléphones mobiles sont de plus en plus en Chine et dans ce monde. Les utilisateurs mobiles énormes en Chine ainsi que la maturité des technologies 3G affichent un fort potentiel pour offrir et d'adopter plus les nouveaux services mobiles. Après réviser l'évolution du commerce mobile et l'histoire du succès i-mode au Japon, nous nous concentrons sur le mobile du marché chinois de manière à découvrir son marché, l'infrastructure du réseau mobile, et le modèle d'affaires. Fondé sur la base de notre enquête sur le commerce mobile chinois, nous présentons, selon notre jugement, les services mobiles et des applications que sont convenables pour la Chine. Parmi eux, nous pensons qu'il y a la tendance sur les services basés sur la localisation et services orientées de l'architectures. Cette tendance peut attirer plus d'attention à offrir de nouveaux services. En plus, elle peut offrir des services d'intégration et de personnalisation qui viennent de fournisseurs de services mobiles et des utilisateurs finaux. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Gestion intégrée et écosystémique, Principe de précaution, Communication entre acteurs, Risques sur l'environnement et la santé

Seedfeed: The Interactive Marketing and Design of a Digital Video Ecosystem

seedfeed™ is an interdisciplinary work that explores the business and strategic use of emerging interaction design (IxD) methodologies for understanding the interactive production, use and value of archives of digital media – i.e. digital ecosystems. It attempts to apply non-traditional IxD methods to a developing prototype of digital, non-professional concert video content, a mix of Standard Definition and High Definition content captured with consumer-level equipment. Through the project’s sponsor, Burnaby’s Teradici Corporation and its PCoIP™ remote video protocol, this archive of recorded live music events will be opened up as an interactive online ecosystem for use in an industry co-op program for digital video production. The project’s goals are to investigate emerging IxD methods as ways to better understand the complex and interactive dynamics of digital ecosystems, particularly their sustainability and the role of disruptive innovations in evaluating PCoIP™’s market potential and marketing strategies for higher education and the entertainment industry

To design an interactive compact disk as an audiovisual resource to be used on english teaching-learning process in the ninth grade of basic education at 'El Triunfo' High School in the school year 2011-2012

How I would like to say that there is not a single problem in the English teaching-learning process as second language in my beloved city! But I can not do this! The problem has been kept quiet for long years, and almost everybody have become accomplices of a fact that we have been tried to cover during all those years: the lack of two of the most important skills in the communication, in English's teachers, not only of who we have educated ourselves in the University, and we are trying to transmit a knowledge that we do not acquire. The flaw is not alone our but of the same professors that taught us to be excellent grammarians, without any doubt, but they did not have developed its speaking and listening communication level, therefore we had two of the biggest holes in the development of our professionalism. The easiest thing was closing the School of Languages, not forcing teachers of the university to attend seminaries, workshops to demonstrate they are really qualified to be able to teach to teach. Another of the big problems is the fact of not knowing how to use strategies, TICs or any material resources in our classes. This project analyzes and it suggests a guide of concepts to understand the problem better and trying to improve the process transforming it from a vertical one...into a horizontal process which becomes the best medicine ever for a good development of the teaching-learning process