Research initiative V 3 D 2 of the German Research Foundation (DFG)

1. Research initiative V3D2 of the German Research Foundation (DFG) „Distributed Processing and Exchange of Digital Documents“ MAVA multimedia document versatile architecture Jürgen Hauser Ltd. Bib.-Direktor W. Stephan Universitätsbibliothek Universität Stuttgart Holzgartenstr. 16 D-70174 Stuttgart Prof. Dr. K. Rothermel Institut für Parallele und Verteilte Höchstleistungsrechner (IPVR) Breitwiesenstr. 20-22 D-70565 Stuttgart

2. Application Areas for Multimedia Documents Broad range of application areas for multimedia documents CBT&Games (Informatics) CBT&Games (Chemistry) CBT & Games ITV & Games ITV CBT Games

3. 1. Approach: Generic Systems ITV & Games CBT & Games ITV CBT Games primitive concepts Disadvantages • No support for application areas • Document authoring is (very) complex • Programming instead of design Examples: Mheg-1 HyTime

4. 2. Approach: Application Specific Systems ITV & Games CBT & Games ITV CBT Games ITV concepts Game concepts CBT concepts Disadvantages • Missing reuse for other application areas • Several different formats, editors and presentation systems • Missing extension of concepts Examples: Authorware for CBT MHEG5 for ITV

5. MAVA Idea: Ad hoc Extensible System • User requests document • Loading of document • Sector information stored with documents • Extension of the presentation engine according to the sector information of the document presentation engine • Loading of required program code MAVA document storage MAVA class storage CBT & GA.. Sector information Games CBT

6. MAVA Idea: Ad hoc Extensible System • Sector for the document • Extension of the editor • Document design Document editor • Putting the document into thedocument storage • Analog approach for the document editor MAVA document storage MAVA class storage CBT & Ga. Games CBT

7. Goals of the MAVA Approach • Extensibility and Reusability • Development of new concepts basing on existing concepts • Ad hoc Extensibility • Functionality of the presentation engine is dynamic extensible • Functionality of the document editor is dynamic extensible • Additional functionality is dynamic loadable over the network Development of an extensible multimedia document system

8. Work Packages: Phase 1 Document MAVA engine • General Architecture • Base document model • Architecture of the presentation system • Base media items • Basing on JMF • Base managers and operators MAVAdocument storage MAVAclass storage Media Viewer/ Loader class loader

9. Phase 1: Base Document Model and Concepts interfaces • Interfaces (API) • Presentation engine/manager • Manager/manager API Meta document model API API Operator Media Media Event management MAVA engine • Base concepts • Event management • Generic model (Scheduling graph)

10. Phase 1: Extensibility / Reusability • Presentation engine/manager interface • New manager for a new concept • Manager/Manager interface • Defined API (by the developer of a manager) • API / Internal representation is optional • Example.: Analog usage like the scheduling graph • Utilization of inheritance • Specialization of operator semantics • Adding of new operators • Example: Usage of operators in a new context • Media viewers • Presentation of particular media formats

11. Phase 1: Integration of Existing Approaches MAVA engine • Mapping on MAVA concepts MAVAdocument Example.: SMIL-MAVA- mapper SMILdocument SMIL • As viewer/media item defined interface Example.: Excel dataset Viewer Media item

12. Work Packages: Phase 2 document MAVA engine MAVA editor • Exchange format • Class loader • Document editor • Integration in Digital Libraries • Development of a particular sector Digital Library MAVA document storage MAVAclass storage Media viewer/ loader Class loader Editor viewer Class loader

13. Phase 2: Document Exchange Format Internal representation DTD MAVA document • Conception of a XML-bases exchange format • Modeling of the extensibility • Automatic DTD generation • Integration of sector information for realization of ad hoc extensibility DTD generator XMLgenerator

14. Phase 2: Class Manager DTD Internal representation MAVA document • Dynamic loading of MAVA program code • Definition of sector information • Mechanisms to realize the class loader • Prefetching • Caching sector classes Class manager Document loader

15. Phase 2: Dynamic Extensible Document Editor • Architecture of a dynamic extensible editor • Conception of a suitable user interface to reduce complexity of authoring • Conception of multimedia (document) templates • To simplify document authoring or provide a layout • Extension of the document model of the editor

16. Phase 2: Integration into Digital Libraries • Integration of the MAVA class and document storage into Digital Libraries • Technical aspects • Organizational aspects • Integration of MAVA and OPUS • Requirement analysis of the sector „scientific multimedia publications“ • Realization of the sector „ scientific multimedia publications“

17. Advantages of the MAVA Approach for Authors • Simplified document authoring • No programming required • Exception: Development of new managers or media items • Authoring paradigm independent of sector • Meta document model • Extensibility • No standardization required • Everyone can provide extensions • Ad hoc extensibility • Automatic extension of the functionality of the presentation system and editor (over network)

18. Summary & Outlook Work packages phase 1 Work packages phase 2 General architecture Base document model Architecture of a presentation system Base media items and concepts Exchange format Class manager Dynamic extensible editor Integration in Digital Libraries done started