The GLIFOS - social media toolset automates the production, cataloguing, digital preservation, access, and sharing of rich-media over diverse presentation devices (PCs, PDAs, smart phones), data transport platforms (Web, streaming media, CDs, DVDs), and operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux). Moreover, the use of an XML-based open specification, which is technology-, platform- and format-independent, guarantees content portability to platforms that will arise in the future (digital preservation).

gmPlayer, gmPocket, gmNotes: Accessing Rich-Media Content

Rich-media content integrates video, text, and images to such an extent that it transmits the richness of video (a manufacturing process, a doctor’s bedside manner, the passion of a lecturer) without losing the functionality of a book: finding a word, studying a diagram in detail, making annotations, bookmarking specific sections, and extracting references. gmPlayer synchronizes video and audio content with an unlimited number of tables of content, transcripts in one or more languages, references, slides, and student notes via the gmNotes functionality.

gmCreator: Producing Rich-Media Content

gmCreator automates the production of rich-media content to the point where it is faster, less costly, and more effective to create a complete course using rich-media than it is to create the equivalent course materials in print form. It is generally easier to videotape an excellent professor while he or she teaches a course, than it is to have this busy professor take time off to write a textbook or an academic paper.

At the same time, less effort is needed to explain and learn visual and auditory concepts or manual procedures via rich-media than via elaborated textual descriptions.

gmWiki: Sharing Rich-Media

Rich-media integrates multiple media (video and/or audio) within the same content page. Social rich-media allows for collaborative content creation via a wiki cooperative environment, where one can manage an unlimited number of synchronized content (transcript, translations, table of contents, presentation slides, photographs pictures) per video.

• Synchronization: links from a wiki's textual content to specific media segments.

• Notes: visitors can annotate video with synchronized marks, and they can selectively publish their notes for private or public use. Access this functionality could be restricted to specific registered users or open to the public.

• Clips: visitors can mark specific segments within a video and 1) save them along with their browser’s bookmarks (favorites), 2) generate URL links to include in other webpages or documents, and 3) send them by email or share them through a social networking site (e.g., facebook, digg).

• Repurposing: the wiki environment facilitates media reusability for diverse learning contexts and for creating collaborative derivative works or individual essays.

• Key Media Wiki software functionality:
  • User access control to edit the collection (either open to the public or restricted to specific registered users).
  • Complete edit history and capacity to revert content to any previous point in history.

• Synchronize and fully integrate videos streamed directly from YouTube, the leading video website.

• Wide client-side compatibility: Windows+IE, Windows+FireFox, Mac+Safari, Mac+FireFox, and Adobe Flash streaming media.

• Compatibility: server side compatibility with most Linux flavors (Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu) and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and with streaming services and servers (Flash Media Streaming Server, Red5, and Wowza)

gmLibrary: Content Cataloguing and Access

gmLibrary and gmPlayer mirror the traditional structure of library catalogs and indexes in order to allow access to any video fragment, at any time, from virtually anywhere. High speed networks (10/100 Mbps or faster) have become common on today's university and corporate campuses. At such speeds, high quality streamed video can be almost compared to dvd quality. gmLibrary finds content by its bibliographic record, metadata description, and fulltext from tables of content and transcripts. And gmPlayer takes you directly to the segment of the video that is related to a section, or even a word. Unlike many closed courseware models, the digital library model makes it natural to reference and reuse content in part or as a whole.

GML & gmSkins: Digital Preservation

The use of an XML-based open specification (GML), which is technology-, platform-, and format-independent, guarantees content portability to diverse platforms in use today (PCs, PDAs, smartphones, tablet PCs), as well as those that will arise in the future, thus maintaining the usefulness of the contents even if technology changes, and even if institutional image or preferences change. Using gmSkins, the same content can be easily repurposed for various data transport platforms (Web, streaming media, CDs, DVDs) and presentation devices.

Academic Applications

• Support and reference materials for traditional education.
  • At any time, a student (or a study group) can learn from the best professors at the university, playing back the difficult parts as often as needed, and going at their own pace.
  • An excellent introduction to any topic, e.g., international commerce, can be used in several courses, such as economics, business, and international law.
• Distance Education.
  • The best teaching environment (with the exception of learning face to face with an excellent professor) is via rich-media contents, which are accessible remotely (via Web, CDs, and DVDs), and at the student’s own pace.
  • Professors can refer students to specific segments as an aid to solving questions remotely. They can even develop specific Q&A contents.
• Digital archive for events, lectures, and distinguished visitors.
  • A conference taught by a visiting lecturer who may never return to the institution, becomes an invaluable academic and historic resource. In a similar way, the institution can record events that are relevant for its community, such as: graduation ceremonies, seminars, interviews, news, etc.
• Digital AV Preservation.
  • When copyright laws so allow, GLIFOS - social media offers the ideal platform to preserve, catalog and access the institution's AV collections.

Configurations

It is possible to implement GLIFOS - social media in incremental steps, according to each institution's needs:

• Rich-media content: acquire specific contents developed by other publishers for gmPlayer and gmPocket.
• Basic configuration: develop rich-media content for full featured presentation via gmPlayer and digital preservation via gmSkin.
• Full configuration: systematize the production, cataloging, digital preservation, access, and content presentation via rich media (see diagram).