Universal access in digital libraries

Digital libraries are concerned with the creation and management of information sources, the movement of information across global networks and the effective use of this information by a wide range of users. A digital library is a vast collection of obj ects that are of multimedia nature, e.g., text, video, images, and audio. Users wishing to access the digital library objects may possess varying capabilities, preferences, domain expertise, and may use different information appliances. With the phenomenal growth of the Internet, the number of different information appliances will, if not already, increase substantially in the near future. Facilitating access to complex multimedia digital library obj ects that suits to the users\u27 requirements is known as universal access. The main objective of this thesis is to present our research work in the area of Universal Access within digital library environment. In this thesis, we will first present the current and future trend in information appliances, followed by discussion on the scope of our work. We propose an object manifestation approach in which digital library objects automatically manifest themselves to cater to the users\u27 capabilities and characteristics. We provide a formal framework, based on Petri nets, to represent the various components of the digital library objects, their modality and fidelity and the playback synchronization relationships among them. We develop methodologies for object delivery without any deadtime under network delays. We have implemented a working system prototype to realize our approach

Validation of the CIDOC CRM using both extended graphical and category theory representations : includes two New Zealand case studies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Information Systems at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

There is considerable interest in the use of the Internet to retrieve and integrate multimedia information from centres of cultural heritage such as museums and art galleries. The ultimate desire of most devotees of cultural matters is to have universal access, through a single portal, to detailed information from sites throughout the world. This level of interoperability is not an easy task both technically and culturally. To provide an avenue where some of the technical problems of accessing information from a huge range of unique database environments can be resolved, a semantic conceptual reference model (CRM) was proposed by The International Committee for Documentation of the International Council of Museums (ICOM-CIDOC). The model provides definitions and a formal structure for describing the implicit and explicit concepts and relationships used in cultural heritage documentation. It is intended to provide a common and extensible semantic framework to which any cultural heritage information can be mapped. In this research two methods are proposed and developed to support the validation of the Conceptual Reference Model. The methodologies, one graphical and the other based on category theory, are used to replicate three published international validation activities and two new validations based on information supplied by two New Zealand heritage sites. This report also includes a literature review describing the main ideas and structures that form the basis of the CRM

Electronic Social Networks as Supporting Means of Educational Process in Higher Education Institutions

Given research describes experience of electronic social networks use in educational practices. It was determined that electronic social networks can be a powerful tool for support of educational process in higher education institutions, namely to support study of different disciplines. There are main advantages of electronic social networks use for education: universal accessibility and free of charge; possibility of instant messaging and multimedia data; user-friendly intuitive interface; ability to search data and information; availability of event scheduling, invitations, reminder settings; support for synchronous and asynchronous communication between network members; access from different devices. It is emphasized that one of the main advantages of electronic social networks is receipt of quick feedback and convenience of their tools and services. Nowadays, it is important to include network educational interaction in existing models of study organization. It is advisable to use electronic social networks to manage educational process in higher education institution. Efficiency of electronic social networks use depends on intensity and need for their use in educational system management for implementation of organizational, educational, psychological and pedagogical functions and ensuring universal communication with subjects of educational process. Expediency of electronic social networks use to carry out research work at university is described. Electronic social networks are convenient tool to conduct surveys and questionnaires, to create thematic groups for specific issue discussion. Also it is possible to interact with researchers from different countries, share experiences and disseminate research findings, invite those who wish to participate in various scientific activities using these networks

Learning Mineralogy in a virtual didactic environment

Las colecciones de minerales de las universidades constituyen un valioso patrimonio geológico mueble, aunque suelen tener un uso limitado como material didáctico en las sesiones de prácticas. Los sistemas de comunicación digitales a través de internet permiten utilizar nuevos entornos didácticos virtuales y ofrecer un acceso universal a las colecciones, de modo dinámico e interactivo, proporcionando múltiples niveles de información sobre los minerales. En esta ponencia se pretende comunicar la metodología y los resultados de un proyecto de innovación docente para la creación del Museo Virtual de Mineralogía de la Universidad de Huelva, al objeto de promover la aplicación de recursos multimedia que estimulan un aprendizaje más autónomo y una mayor participación en las actividades grupales. La web se diseñó mediante una estructura hipertextual, considerando los requerimientos y características de los usuarios potenciales, con textos vinculados a bases de datos mineralógicas multimedia. El Museo Virtual de Mineralogía es un paso más en el proceso de adaptación a las TICs, para afrontar los retos que plantea el nuevo modelo educativo de enseñanza-aprendizaje y, al mismo tiempo, proyecta de forma novedosa y universal la acción formativa y divulgadora del patrimonio mineralógico, pues tiene la ventaja de permitir el acceso remoto a cualquier cibernauta interesado en sus contenidos digitales, a cualquier hora y desde cualquier lugar del mundo.The university mineral collections are a valuable geological heritage despite having a limited use as a didactic material in the practical sessions. The digital media allow the use of new virtual learning environment and offer a global access to the collections in a dynamic and interactive way, thus allowing different dimensions of information on the Science of Minerals. This presentation aims to communicate the methodology and results of a teaching innovation project conducted at the University of Huelva for the creation of a virtual museum of Mineralogy. The web technology has been used as the main tool to promote the application of multimedia resources that encourage a more independent learning and more engagement in group activities. A website has been developed through a basic hypertext structure in order to complement and globalise training and disseminative actions. The design of the web took into account the requirements of the potential users allowing an easy access to the digital contents, including links to multimedia mineralogical databases. The virtual museum of Mineralogy is a further step in the process of integrating the new information and communications technology to tackle the challenges that the modern educational system of teaching and learning brings. Furthermore, the university mineral collection is disseminated to a wide and diversified audience given that the virtual museum allows the remote access to any web user interested in their digital contents, at any time and anywhere in the world

Universal multimedia access from wired and wireless systems

Personal computing and communication devices such as computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones are moving to their next generation in which the end user will be able to access a multitude of information with a single device either locally or through a network. One likely trend in future personal computing and personal communication is that there will not be a single but several equivalent devices available to users allowing access to information in various forms. Each user, depending on his/her needs would access one or several among them depending on the situation and his/her preference. Using existing protocol mechanisms, in this case, a mapping and negotiation of resources during connection setup would be performed, which would remain in place throughout the life of the connection. This paper provides an overview of universal multimedia access (UMA), a concept for accessing multimedia content through a variety of possible schemes, and discusses some of the issues that arise regarding its deployment. In particular, UMA will provide a solution for adapting the delivered content when users attempt to access their choice irrespective of their terminal characteristics and communication infrastructure, as apposed to the assumption that the content remains fixed and the objective is to deliver the original content at all times. This recognition represents the impetus for the development of media descriptions and hence UMA; that is, the notion that valuable information can be derived from a variety of conversions of a multimedia content source. The issues discussed are future requirements on content servers and multimedia viewers, media conversions, UMA protocols, and UMA network architectures. The problems addressed are quality of service issues in network solutions for multimedia communications and reconfigurable architectures and network control based on source adaptations through media conversions and transcoding

Museums as disseminators of niche knowledge: Universality in accessibility for all

Accessibility has faced several challenges within audiovisual translation Studies and gained great opportunities for its establishment as a methodologically and theoretically well-founded discipline. Initially conceived as a set of services and practices that provides access to audiovisual media content for persons with sensory impairment, today accessibility can be viewed as a concept involving more and more universality thanks to its contribution to the dissemination of audiovisual products on the topic of marginalisation. Against this theoretical backdrop, accessibility is scrutinised from the perspective of aesthetics of migration and minorities within the field of the visual arts in museum settings. These aesthetic narrative forms act as modalities that encourage the diffusion of ‘niche’ knowledge, where processes of translation and interpretation provide access to all knowledge as counter discourse. Within this framework, the ways in which language is used can be considered the beginning of a type of local grammar in English as lingua franca for interlingual translation and subtitling, both of which ensure access to knowledge for all citizens as a human rights principle and regardless of cultural and social differences. Accessibility is thus gaining momentum as an agent for the democratisation and transparency of information against media discourse distortions and oversimplifications

Using multimedia to enhance the accessibility of the learning environment for disabled students: reflections from the Skills for Access project

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible web‐based materials seem at odds with the creative and innovative use of multimedia to support learning and teaching, as well as concerns over the time and cost of providing accessibility features that can hold back resource development and application. Yet, effective use of multimedia offers a way of enhancing the accessibility of the learning environment for many groups of disabled students. Using the development of ‘Skills for Access’, a web resource supporting the dual aims of creating optimally accessible multimedia for learning, as an example, the attitudinal, practical and technical challenges facing the effective use of multimedia as an accessibility aid in a learning environment will be explored. Reasons why a holistic approach to accessibility may be the most effective in ensuring that multimedia reaches its full potential in enabling and supporting students in learning, regardless of any disability they may have, will be outlined and discussed

Editorial

Disability, technology and e‐learning: challenging conception