About Computers and Videos
Do you believe that your personal computer is able to play videos?
I do not or I did not until I visited the Centre
Départemental de Documentation Pédagogique d'Annecy (CDDP).
"What has this to do with videos on my personal computer?" you might
ask. From a very superficial point of view not an awful lot. At first glance
the CDDP seems to be one of those centres that support teachers with pedagogical
material on paper, audio or video cassettes and CD-ROMs. The centre holds
a documentation about this material in the form of catalogues and also
develops educational, interactive CD-ROMs.
Except for the beautiful location in Annecy nothing in this centre
seems to be extraordinary or has anything to do with videos on personal
computers. There must be something behind the scene and really at a second
glance a fascinating opportunity hidden behind the abbreviation MEEL becomes
visible.
MEEL, the "Multimediathèque
Educative En Ligne", an online multimedia library is an ambitious research
project that will not only make videos accessible on screen but will allow
for the real time replay without download to a hard disk.
"Impossible" you will say, "even with the fastest modem it takes ages
to download the 1.2 gigabytes necessary to play a 1 1/2 hour video." But
the research consortium, formed by the "Plate-form
Universitaire Multimedia"(PUMMA) (application development) of the University
of Savoie and the CDDP (network provider), technically supported
by Lyonnaise Câble
and Alex Informatique (server provider),
has found means to circumvent this problem.
The idea is simple but extraordinary. The data is transported via the
TV cable network. This improves speed and guarantees excellent quality
data transport. A big step towards establishment of constant lines to connect
personal computers with the world wide web - that many users expect to
be established in the near future - is done.
The video server, however, is not the only target of MEEL. The program
intends to install a whole system of technical tools but also of possible
users.
The technical side will innovate three main aspects
-
three servers; a web server, a database server and a video server connected
by an interface that will allow homogenous accessibility with classic web
tools like Netscape or Internet Explorer
-
functionality and performance support by the use of the cable network
-
installation of an interactive interface to enable query processing
The usage side intends to
-
offer a user-friendly and immediate access to the catalogue
-
use of the synergistic effect of CDDP and its partners
-
offer a workspace for the creation of new pedagogical support
-
perform an analysis how users accept and use this new technology
These short term goals are open to further evolution, possible future perspectives
have already been pointed out
-
possibilities of virtual exhibitions
-
integration of new multimedia tools
-
integration of further educational or documentary fields
-
extension to other regions
-
connection to new experimental research fields
MEEL seems to offer an excellent opportunity to improve the accessibility
of multimedia files through a public network, however, problems like copyright
and security may come up ...
©, Marion Hachmann-Gleixner (23/03/99) staf 13/ updated 26/03/99
gleixner@smile.ch