IEEE CollaborateCom 2012 Contributions from the ACIS Group at RWTH Aachen University

This is our first presentation for the the IEEE CollaborateCom 2012 in Pittsburgh, USA. Dejan Kovachev gave the presentation on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 in the Collaboration in Mobile Environments
session.

A Real-time Collaboration-enabled Mobile Augmented Reality System with Semantic Multimedia from Dejan Kovachev

Abstract—Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) enables overlays of semantically-enriched multimedia on video streams of smart phone cameras. These new ways to interact with digital objects via position and 3D movement can be helpful for on-site professional communities. However, current MAR applications lack real-time collaborative features. Moreover, blending multimedia semantics in collaborative MAR is still challenging. In this paper, we present a mobile real-time semantic multimedia-based collaborative system with augmented reality features based on open standards like XMPP and MPEG-7. The prototype system is evaluated in the digital documentation of historical sites for cultural heritage management. The evaluation results indicate increased productivity and awareness within on-site professional communities. 


Our second presentation will come in a later post.

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Building mobile multimedia services: a hybrid cloud computing approach

Today, the online first version of our journal paper Building mobile multimedia services: a hybrid cloud computing approach appeared.

Dejan Kovachev, Yiwei Cao and Ralf Klamma:  Building mobile multimedia services: a hybrid cloud computing approach, MULTIMEDIA TOOLS AND APPLICATIONS, 2012, DOI: 10.1007/s11042-012-1100-6

Abstract  

Mobile multimedia services are in high demand, but their development comes at high costs. The emergent computing paradigm cloud computing has great potential to embrace these issues. In fact, we are at the early stage of the coalescence of cloud computing, mobile multimedia and the Web. Motivated by the tremendous success story of the Web based on its simplicity principles, we argue for a comprehensive review on current practices of web and mobile multimedia cloud computing techniques for avoiding frictions. We draw on experience from the development of advanced collaborative multimedia web applications utilizing multimedia metadata standards like MPEG-7 and real-time communication protocols like XMPP. We propose our i5CLoud, a hybrid cloud architecture, which serves as a substrate for scalable and fast time-to-market mobile multimedia services. This paper demonstrates the applicability of emerging cloud computing concepts for mobile multimedia.

More information about our work on cloud computing is available at the i5cloud Website at our chair at RWTH Aachen.

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Learning Analytics in a Mobile World - A Community Information Systems Perspective

This is the presentation I gave in the eMadrid Seminar Series. Thanks to Carlos Delgado Kloos and all the people at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid in Leganes. Because the presentation have been viewed so often now, I decided the make a quick walk through at least the first couple of slides which present our theoretical approach to learning analytics. If you have comments or questions please feel free to raise your voice.

Learning Analytics has become a hot topic in the technology enhanced learning community and a lot of research groups are contributing to the field in the moment. Our perspective on learning analytics is on learning communities. Essentially, we - the Advanced Community Information Systems group at RWTH Aachen (slide 5) - think that self-regulated learning processes are embedded in community-regulated learning processes (slide 6). We think, that learning media have a great influence on learning processes since knowledge is not media-independent. From this perspective, we try to develop social learning theories like communities of practice by Etienne Wenger (slide 7) into media-specific knowledge creation theories. To cross the gap between the observation of network of media artifacts and the evidence of social learning processes taking place we deploy a set of methods, among others social network analysis (slide 8). To guide our research we build concrete learning environments but also gather media artifacts in a repository enabling cross-community and cross-media analysis. This repository is called the MediaBase (slide 11). In our most recent research we connect our learning environments and the MediaBase by a new new community monitoring approach called MobSOS (slide 10). MobSOS is able to combine quantitative data and qualitative data for comprehensive insights into community activities. This is reached by conceptualizing the community learning process as a socio-technical learning process (slide  9). We are validating our approach in a lot of ongoing EU funded research projects in the area of technlogy enhanced learning.

Learning Analytics in a Mobile World - A Community Information Systems Perspective

View more presentations from Ralf Klamma

Abstract:

With the increasing availability of smart phones and tablets as well as growing mobile bandwidth, mobile learning offers by the means of apps and electronic books become a commodity. In this presentation I motivate by examples that professional communities need learning support beyond the commodity level. Learning analytics in such settings is more than simple assessment strategies but needs a deep understanding of interactions between learners and systems, learner and learning resources as well as learners among each others. Such a perspective is delivered by community information systems serving the needs of mobile communities. The meaningful combination of quantitative and qualitative assessment strategies supports the understanding of learner goals, learning processes and community reflection. Case studies from ongoing EU research projects like ROLE, GALA and TELMAP will support the argumentation.

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