Next Generation Content

Facilitated by: Mark Power

This session will be looking at current, popular technologies for data capture and creation, the formatting and packaging of this and distribution methods across platforms. We'll be looking at what the emerging HTML5 & related web standards are bringing us with regards to new ways of designing and delivering content and how content can more easily be delivered to the ever growing world of mobile devices.

We will also use the opportunity to look at up and coming, cutting edge technologies, such as augmented reality and how image recognition and the marriage of marker-based AR and mobile capability are taking this area into a second wave of immersive content and activities.

How we finally got to activate the world: what “mobile” really means
Mike Ellis, Eduserv We’ll take a whistle-stop tour through the history of ubiquitous computing, the internet of things and mobile. We’ll think about why now is (finally) the right time for these technologies, and ask – what does it all mean for content provision and user experience?

For a taste of what Mike will be talking about, see his mindmap sketch at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmje/5159177886/lightbox/ Mike works in the Research and Innovation Group at a not-for-profit IT company called Eduserv. He writes, talks and gives workshops on mobile, social media, ubicomp and innovation. Before that, he was Head of Web for the Science Museum. Mike thinks computers are ok, but in general he prefers what people do with them. He lives in Bath with his wife and two small boys. Some of his digital life is linked from http://flavors.me/dmje. His non-digital life is too unwieldy to download.

Making your sites mobile-friendly
Patrick Lauke, Opera Software

Given that every day we hear how mobile use is growing exponentially and that, within x amount of years, more people will access the web through their mobile devices than the traditional desktop browser...what can institutions do to make their content play nicely on handheld devices?

In this session Patrick will give an overview of web browsing beyond the traditional desktop machines, shine a light on some good and bad practices, and propose three approaches to make your sites work.

HTML5 (and friends)
'''Patrick Lauke, Opera Software

If there's one thing I like more than a talk from Patrick...it's TWO talks from Patrick!

In this talk Patrick will take us on a whirlwind tour of HTML5 (and other associated technologies often lumped together under this term), addressing the most common concerns that developers may have about it, and offer a glimpse of the new possibilities offered by this exciting new web standard.

There is currently a lot of buzz around HTML5, the next evolutionary step of the very foundation on which we build our websites. New markup constructs, new JavaScript APIs, and the prospect of powerful functionalities built right into modern browsers to make our lives as developers that much easier.

But with new technologies also come new challenges: when will all these features be available in all browsers? And what about older browsers? Is it safe to start using HTML5 now, or should we wait until the specification is final? Do we have to re-learn everything we know about HTML?

Patrick works as Web Evangelist in the Developer Relations team at Opera Software ASA and has been engaged in the discourse on standards and accessibility since early 2001 – regularly speaking at conferences and contributing to a variety of web development and accessibility related mailing lists and initiatives such as the Web Standards Project [2] and the Webkrauts.

An outspoken accessibility and standards advocate, Patrick favours a pragmatic hands-on approach over purely theoretical, high-level discussions.

"I’m an idealist by nature, but a pragmatist by trade. I’d never class myself as an expert and I certainly don’t have all the answers...I’m just an opinionated guy eager to find real world solutions 'where the rubber meets the road'."

His personal corner of the web can be found at http://www.splintered.co.uk

Unlocking the Hidden Curriculum: Augmented Reality reveals Biodiversity at the University of Exeter
Stephen Rose, University of Exeter

The 2010 Horizon Report observed that...

"AR has the potential to provide ‘powerful contextual, in-situ learning experiences and serendipitous exploration and discovery of the connected nature of information in the real world…applications that convey information about a place open the door to discovery-based learning". (see http://www.educause.edu/ELI/2010HorizonReport/195400)

Unlocking the Hidden Curriculum is a JISC project, funded under the Learning & Teaching Innovation Grant. The project will use the biodiversity resources of its main campus as the context for developing an interactive learning platform using augmented reality.

Steve works as a Learning and Teaching Adviser at the University of Exeter with a specialism in Technology Enhanced Learning. Prior to Exeter he worked for nearly 30 years delivering, amongst other things, Higher Education (Heritage Tourism and Environmental Interpretation) within the Further Education sector. Throughout his career he has had a passion for using technology in the hope of enhancing teaching and learning and developed a fondness for mobile/handheld learning devices. His wife (foolishly) bought him an iPhone last year and he strayed into the path of Augmented Reality.

Everyone should be aware that Steve is definitely not a 'techy' but thinks he knows a good gadget when he sees one (even if he rarely understands how it works!)

Steve's talk on the project can be viewed online at http://echo360.exeter.ac.uk:8080/ess/echo/presentation/e053b9fe-8906-44b0-9be8-22b2656a6309

Back to JISC CETIS Conference 2010 Programme