DEDICATED - learning on networked multimedia platforms

The development of a distributed and heterogeneous generic multimedia learning environment presents many issues. The hardware, software and network platforms are heterogeneous, so device-independence and interoperability are vital. Therefore, the primary objective of the research presented here is to introduce and to specify a generic learning architecture, including communication mechanisms and multimedia features. This architecture provides application-independent functionality in the areas of transfer, processing, storage, presentation and interaction, and allows the development of distributed learning applications in a great variety of fields (such as Scientific Visualisation, CAD, Rendering). In addition, co-operation and timing control paradigms must be introduced to allow real-time communication and remote access; such features are termed Tele-Media (tele-communicating multimedia).