Digital Lectures - A Media Processing Framework and Interface Evaluation
Allister Cournane
Department of Computer Science
University of Canterbury
Abstract
Lectures are an environment where a number of different forms of communication exist such as speech, writing and projected images, much of which is currently lost or poorly recorded. Digital Lecture systems have been developed to capture these events, but there is little published research regarding the media processing systems, and previous work has established the need for research into the interfaces used by students.
This research proposes the initial design and implementation of a media processing framework aimed at supporting the low-cost capture of lectures with a flexible and generic architecture utilising stream indexers, media compressors and in interface generator. Seven guidelines for interface development are proposed, and a prototype interface has validated six of these. An interface evaluation was carried out and resulted in a participant suggestion that students be permitted to create their own index points in the interface. Implementation of this feature would change the way the system is used in courses, and the way the framework indexers were originally designed to behave. Further research is recommended to evaluate the learning implications of such a facility.
