Multimedia Production with a Content HUB Environment. Media Engineering for Mobile Computing Courseware

A primary problem in multimedia content production is the plethora of formats and the resulting multiple point-to- point transformation processes in different content formatting specifications. However, these content transformation processes can be conceptually broken down into only few abstract principles. This makes it possible to develop a unified approach that theoretically enables the transformation of any given input channel into any desired output. Based on this principle, the present article introduces the concept of Generic Content Transformation and the related project MOCCA, which develops the corresponding software implementation of generic content transformation for a variety of input and output channels. To balance technical similarities with specific properties of different media channels, we suggest a combination of an XML-based structure (MXML) and a high level authoring environment. Generic Content Transformation further allows for novel means of accessing assets via compound search algorithms. In the second part we summarize and discuss current results and experience in three scenarios of media production, including mobile learning.