New Directions in courseware delivery: Multimedia, CDROM and the Internet.

Background

In 1994 the Department of Library and Information Science introduced a new unit in Electronic Recordkeeping as part of its Graduate Diploma of Science(Archive Studies) programme. The unit was also selected as a test-bed for the creation of a multi-media CDROM containing electronic copy of the traditional courseware as well as interactive exercises in support of the text.

Potential Modes of Delivery

The existing Edith Cowan University paper based mode of delivery requires a number of volumes to be provided, these are delivered to students via post. The documentation students typically receive includes a unit outline and study plan, the course notes and study guide, a reader containing copies of the required readings for the unit, and any supplementary study materials such as audio and video cassettes or computer software. The basic structure of the materials provided to students studying in external mode are proscribed by Edith Cowan University's Division of University Learning Systems(DULS)[1]. Staff are typically issued with word processor templates which they use in the creation of the course materials.

CD-ROM based multimedia delivery of course materials. The use of multimedia course materials supplemented by computer moderated activities and exercises is potentially the most dynamic and stimulating means of presenting courseware to students.

Internet delivery via the World Wide Web uses a hypermedia paradigm and provides numerous advantages as a means of courseware delivery. WWW documents; are available from anywhere in the world (given a means of connecting to the internet), use simple text and graphics formats and are inherently platform independent, they also support continuous media such as sound and graphics.

As the project evolved, it became clear that the use of traditional multimedia development techniques would be problematic in the context of a new tertiary level course of this nature. This is due to a number of factors:

Time and Cost - Creation of a CD-ROM based product using typical multimedia development tools would be time consuming and expensive. Our time-frame was 6 months and our budget was effectively nil.

Cross-platform Flexibility - Cross platform development is not straight forward at this point in time using traditional multimedia development environments.

Maintenance - Tertiary level units of this nature need to be revised on a regular basis to maintain currency of their information. The courseware materials were also in their first generation, meaning initial updates would probably occur at a more rapid pace. Multimedia products are not typically easy to update without significant development input.

As a result of these concerns it was decided to attempt a hybrid system delivered via CD-ROM and/or the Internet. The hybrid consists of an electronic book developed in HTML (our defacto portable document format), multimedia activities and materials, such as sound and video, developed to support the EText and a Multimedia Shell which provides access to these elements when delivered on CD-ROM.

HTML when used as a portable document format (PDF), essentially provides students with an electronic book containing the course text and readings with the addition of graphics and navigational paradigms. A video tape had been produced to support the traditional course materials and it was also important to digitise sections of the video to support the electronic book. The decision to use HTML was made on the basis of having the traditional materials available upon which to base the EText and upon using freely available WWW browsers to access information contained on the CDROM.

The original documents were in Microsoft Word format and were converted to HTML using the freely available (via Internet) RTFtoHTML[HREF3] application.

Electronic Publishing using HTML

The Results

Production of E-Text

The production of HTML EText was greatly simplified by the existence of traditional paper-based materials in digital form. Creation of HTML from word processor documents is achieved using any of a number of public domain filters available on the internet. In this case we used a freeware file filter called RTFtoHTML[HREF3] which converts Rich Text Format (the Microsoft supported text interchange format) to HTML on the basis of a style sheet which must be applied to the original Word Processor document.

Filters typically support the specification of anchors and links, the style-based markup of documents using HTML standards, the automatic generation of headers, footers and footnotes, tables and the inclusion of graphics which are generated by the filter. Newer systems, such as the MSWord Internet Assistant, provide a WYSIWYG browser based Editor in one system, these have the potential to simplify the production of HTML.

The EText includes courseware text, readings, and navigational structures such as menus and tables of contents, these have all been generated using this methodology.

Cross platform development of the materials

Platform independence of text and graphic information is a non-issue with HTML, a document need only conform to HTML documents structuring rules and it will be readable on any platform. The graphics standard file formats supported by most browsers are Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format, keeping to these is straightforward.

Continuous media does, however, create a problem as the standards are typically platform dependant. Sound and video files (especially) require some thought before inclusion to ensure that they are readable by others.

Maintenance strategies

Editing and revision of documents is greatly simplified by the use of filters for the creation of HTML. The source documents may simply be edited/updated by the courseware author and then filtered to generated the new HTML. This is the main advantage of using HTML for courseware delivery, materials typically need yearly updates which are problematic using traditional Multimedia Development methods.

As a result of selecting HTML as a portable document format and the hybrid strategy for courseware development that we have adopted, the materials are now in use as part of the Graduate Diploma of Science (Archive Studies) at Edith Cowan University. The IST4235 Electronic text [HREF2] and video materials are available for access via the WWW for students who have access to the Internet. A CD-ROM (Macintosh and Windows(TM)) has been produced which contains the HTML Etext and Video material, accessed using a WWW browser and a multimedia front end to provide access to video material.

Figure 1 - CD-ROM Multimedia Shell with HTML Browser

The production of Multimedia activities for inclusion on the CDROM version and for download via the WWW is currently in progress. The nature of the activities required has meant that traditional multimedia development environments must be used and hence the associated time-lines are far greater than the rest of the product. In the final form, we envisage a CD-ROM containing the EText and video material supported by 12 multimedia activities, these same elements will also be available via the WWW.

As with any project, their are problems which arise in the strategy adopted, these will be explored in the next section.

The Problems with HTML as a PDF

HTTP handling of non-HTML media

HTML documents on the WWW are displayed with a browser by first downloading a marked up text file and displaying this in its formatted state, each graphic element to be displayed(references by the <image...> tag) is successively downloaded and displayed in position. Browsers typically only support styled text and static graphics(GIF and JPEG) within their overall operation. Continuous media such as sound and video and any other media or application file are handled by 'helper' applications which are used to display the media file transferred via HTTP. Helper applications are specified within a browsers preferences and are selected upon the file extension of the media file to be displayed.

All media files are 'downloaded' before display by a helper application, even those which are held on the local file system, we have found no browser which directly loads the media file into a helper application without the download step. It is impractical to access large sound, video and other media/multimedia files from CD-ROM due to response time and often local storage space considerations.

The time required before the display of a media file is significant when we may wish to view a video of more than about 1Mb. Similarly sound can cause delays and large multimedia applications which must be copied and then executed are also problematic. This temporary storage of large media files also has the potential of expending what remains of local storage space, since browsers typically only delete them when the application quits.

This problem could logically be overcome by an intelligent browser which displays locally stored media streams without the 'download' step. Another restriction comes about when one wishes to download and then execute an application, for example an interactive exercise. There is no mechanism by which this is supported within the HTTP implementation. The only platform independent solution being to provide instructions for a user to launch the downloaded application themselves.

Memory Constraints

Display of media files using helper applications also becomes problematic due to the typical hardware configuration of the target audience. Low power computers are the norm amongst students at home with limited physical hard drive and RAM available.

To make use of a WWW browser for viewing an HTML document, one needs enough physical RAM to support the WWW browser as well as any helper applications that are required. Complex HTML documents using copious amounts of graphics require a browser to be allocated a large amount of RAM, which may then not be available for helper applications required to display other media.

Platform/Browser specific problems

Each WWW browser seems to render HTML and interact with the underlying operating system in a different way, this is especially so between platforms. These rendering inconsistencies range from incorrect rendering of the HTML, to font size and selection problems and support provided for the different media types. Whilst all Apple Macintosh browsers operate quite happily without a network being present, the majority of Windows(TM) based browsers 'fall over', even if the HTML document to be displayed resides locally.

Media standards for sound and video are platform specific. Video media streams pose the biggest problem; Apple uses Quicktime, Windows uses AVI and UNIX uses MPEG. The final solution for CD-ROM was to use Quicktime and provide the Quicktime for Windows (free on Internet) installation disks with the CD for Windows users.

Other Issues

Development Tools

HTML is a HyperMedia document specification. Unfortunately the tools available for creating HTML documents typically fail to take this into account or are built within existing word processors or text editors. Development tools are either primitive or inflexible (or both) and are without exception complex. Whatever tool you use, you will probably not escape without manually editing the HTML source output from your filter.

Copyright

Obtaining permission to reproduce electronically journal articles, chapters from books and diagrams has proven more difficult than first envisaged. Under current Australian copyright law and related agreements the reproduction of a `fair proportion' of a publish work delivered conventionally in multiple copy form for bona fide educational purposes is facilitated, but no provision exists for the delivery of electronic copy. In terms of the law, electronic publishing is frontier activity, requiring a publisher to proceed with caution.

Experience with permissions requests involving publishing houses has ranged from the co-operative (small or obscure groups) to uncooperative and even obstructionist (the big names). A familiar line from the larger houses has been `sorry, but we're currently formulating our policy'. Some publishing houses did not respond at all to written and fax permissions requests, involving substantial wastage of effort and eventual requiring substitutions to be made. One publisher who did respond requested a detailed financial statement for the project inclusive of projected sales and income projections, before it would even consider our request!

To the extent that we were able to agree terms with copyright holders, this was mostly based on the formula of right to reproduce for a fixed period, involving one edition, and a fixed number of reproductions (CD pressings).

To some extent the depiction of electronic publishing as an area rich in copyright complexity is misleading. Sure the law is an ass, but the biggest obstacle electronic publishers face is that traditonal publishing houses see profitability in books and journals, but not in electronic publishing. This is unlikely to change in the near future.

Security and Authentication

Authentication of users who access your electronic documents needs to be considered for a number of reasons. Firstly, it may be a means by which copyright clearance for Internet reproduction may be obtained, based upon the argument that a regulated body of users are accessing the materials. Security is becoming an issue in the WWW as creative individuals discover new and more lethal means of causing havoc. Commercial sale of course materials which may be accessed across the internet is also possible but requires restriction on access to the general user community.

Future Extensions

Currently, trials are being carried out to investigate the potential of using a mixed Internet/CDROM delivery mode. As most students access the WWW via slow PPP/SLIP line protocol, there are merits in providing the text via network and the storage intensive media directly from a locally mounted CDROM. Video, Sound, Graphics and multimedia applications are stored on the CD and referenced via the network loaded HTML document. This is quite easy to achieve and results in a much better performance when using a slow network connection. It fails to solve the inherent problems with HTTP/browsers for local use but provides a means by which content could be maintained in one centralised point.

The delivery of video, sound and multimedia application files is impractical across a slow PPP or slip connection, making the CDROM/Internet solution quite attractive.

The commericialisation and globalisation of university courses in an increasingly competetive marketplace ensures that innovative and flexible delivery methods must be available to ensure that the demands of students with regard to courses and modes of study are met.

References

Hypertext References

HREF1

http://139.230.164.66 - The infobaRn (Department of Library and Information Science)

HREF2

http://139.230.164.66/Courseware/IST4235/IST4235.htm - The IST4235 Electronic Text

HREF3

ftp://ftp.cray.com/src/WWWstuff/RTF/rtftohtml_overview.html - RTFtoHTML Overview

Copyright