Clarke, R. J (2001) L909-04: 1 Office Automation & Intranets BUSS 909 Lecture 4 Media and Document Architectures

Clarke, R. J (2001) L909-04: 1

Office Automation & Intranets

BUSS 909

Lecture 4Media and Document

Architectures

Clarke, R. J (2001) L909-04: 2

Notices 1

a new Tutorial has been added called T3 3:30-4:30- see the list on my door for membership

three students have put their name into two classes (2169927, 2291447, 2077644) please correct this

students requesting changes should find a person to swap with and then both students should let me know- ASAP!

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Notices 2

An extension has been granted for Assignment 1- it was due 2/4/01 Week 5 but is now due 9/4/01 Week 6primarily because we have some late enrolling

students who are still finalising topicssome students have recently changed topics- I am

extremely reluctant to change topics due to lack of source materials

does not affect subsequent due date for assignments!

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Agenda 1

the application we will discuss this lecture is document management which fits with OA used to support office workflow

Document management is a good example of an application well-suited to client/server- many of the core processes can be applied to intranets in organisations

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Agenda 2

for OA and Intranets- it is necessary to be able to analyse the types of documents that are used in an office

over the next few lectures will discuss the media, elements, markup, documents, document types, stylesheets and database publishing that can constitute modern OA and web-based intranets

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Agenda 3

Classification of different types of media can be found in Gibbs and Tsichritzis (1995) Reading #3 Media Types 15-77-

this is also a good reading for Lecture 11

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Media Convergence & Diversification

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Media Convergence

convergence is a term used to describe the coming together of all communication and computing devices- as described by Nicholas Negroponte (MIT Media Labs)

separate media (eg/ television) are being merged into digital form over time (the computer provides the means for this functionality)

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Media Convergence

recall that most OA development occurred in the mid-1970s to late 1980s

OA contributed to digital convergence by:using client/server architecturessetting the stage for developments in CSCW

and Groupware (described in Lecture 3)promoting the use of Compound Document

Architectures (CDAs), SGML etc

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Media Convergencec. 1994

Media:television & film

music, print

Telecomms:information structure

switching, routing

Consumer Electronics and Computing

Video ServersInteractive AdvertisementsHome shopping

MultimediaEnhanced Music CDsElectronic BooksInteractive Movies

Multimedia DrivesPlaystationsHDTV teleputerPDAs & DynabooksInternet

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Media Convergencec. 2005

Interactive AdvertisementsInteractive MultimediaVideogamesEnhanced MusicInteractive MoviesEnhanced BooksElectronic PublishingHDTVRemote ShoppingVideophonesGroupwareTeleconferencingSurrogate (Virtual) TravelConsumer InfotainmentEdutainmentVirtual Reality

Hypermedia

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Media Convergencewrt Implementation

Negroponte predicts that the computer will become an information appliance

systems which represent early attempts to implement an information appliance include:Apple Computer- iMac

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Media Convergencewrt Implementation

there is no agreement on what an information appliance will look like: Replace your television with a computer or

vice versa? Buy a new set-top box sitting to sit beside

your Home Entertainment Unit?Will information be carried over cable,

telephone lines, or airwaves?Will you buy computation like electricity?

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Media Diversification 1at the same time as media convergence is

occurring- everything is becoming digital ... … new forms of digital information are being

created and added to existing services all the time- media diversification

eg/. WWW has an extensible approach to adding the ability to use new media types

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Media Diversification 2

determining the type of elements that could be in HTML files is complex

new browser plug ins are made available fo new media (the BUSS909 Intranet pages) will soon have links at a large number of plug-ins- some of which will be unfamiliar to you

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servers add a header to each document that tells the browser the type of file it is sending

the browser determines how to handle the file based on that information- whether to display the contents in the window or to launch an appropriate plugin or helper application

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the system for communicating media types (Niederst 1999, 61) resembles Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension or MIME which was developed for sending attachments in email

the server needs to be configured to recognize each MIME type in order to successfully communicate the media type to the browser

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Media Diversification 6Changing nature of the ‘document’

having documents in digital form is one thing, but this is useless if the information is locked inside them and inaccessible- need to transform documents into information

this has led to fundamental changes in what constitutes a document, and its organisation to facilitate information retrieval

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Media Diversification 7Hypertext

Major advances have been made in media types and modes of access used in documents- distinctions classify between Hypertext, Multimedia & Hypermedia

Hypertext- generally consist of one or more text oriented

media at the nodesuni- or bi-directional links between nodesasynchronous accessing of nodes

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Media Diversification 8Hypertext

Components of various media types Anchor

Link

Source: Hardman, Bulterman & van Rossum (1994)

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Media Diversification 9Multimedia

generally consist of many types of media at the nodes (video, sound, text and images)

uni- or bi-directional links between nodes

synchronous accessing of individual nodes but asynchronous accessing between nodes

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Media Diversification 10Multimedia

Time


Link


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Media Diversification 11Hypermedia

combination of hypertext and multimedianodes consist of many types of media (video,

sound, text and images)uni- or bi-directional links between nodesasynchronous or synchronous accessing of

individual nodes depending on media type but asynchronous accessing between nodes

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Media Diversification 12Hypermedia


Link


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Documents & Elementshttp://www.capv.com/dss/resources/glossary/list.htm

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Documents & ElementsDefinitions

Document is an organized collection of information (which may contain one or more elements) for human consumption, regardless of media.

Element is a basic, tagged component of a document (term developed in SGML and commonly used elsewhere)

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Document Decomposition In order to be able to create an OA

system, you need to know the structure and function of documents and how they relate to business processes

Document Decomposition involves breaking down or disassembling a document into its constituent elements before putting it into a repository system.

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Granularity

How small a bite of a document a system can manage?

Can your document management system manage anything smaller than an entire file?

Does it know about and manage the elements of documents found within files, such as paragraphs and sections?

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Granularity

these are questions about granularitythe term itself implies that there is a

continuum in how fine an element a system can manage

In fact, systems either can or cannot look inside a document file. If it can, then it's extremely likely that it can handle any size element.

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Content

Content is what is inside a document, abstracted from its format or appearance

the content of this document involves principles and definition used in actual OA systems

regardless of whether these have been highlighted

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MarkupDefinition

Codes inserted into a document to indicate its formatting or structure

Mark up systems may require authors to:insert markup codes by handlet the author press a function key and the

system automatically inserted it, or they may hide the codes from the viewer but

instead showed their effect- WYSIWYG.

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MarkupProcedural

two types of markup- Procedural and Declarative

Procedural markup inserts codes that have immediate effect. eg./ "<B>" might turn on bolding until a

"</B>" is encountered.

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MarkupDeclarative

paragraphs and other elements are tagged with an identifier (e.g. a name) and applies formats defined for elements with that identifier

eg./ the start of a paragraph might have a "para" and format it according to the rules established by the author (via a style sheet perhaps) for elements named "para."

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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//SoftQuad//DTD HoTMetaL PRO 4.0::19971010::extensions to HTML 4.0//EN"

"hmpro4.dtd">

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE>BUSS909: Main Screen</TITLE> Information which is not

<META HTTP-EQUIV="expires" CONTENT="0"> displayed in the browser

</HEAD>

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000080" TEXT="#FFFFFF" LINK="#FF0080" VLINK="#8000FF"

ALINK="#FF0000">



<TABLE BGCOLOR="#000000" WIDTH="0" BORDER="BORDER">

<TR>

<TD WIDTH="69" BGCOLOR="#000000"><IMG SRC="uow.gif" ALT="UOW Crest" WIDTH="60" HEIGHT="73"></TD>

<TD WIDTH="377" BGCOLOR="#000000"><FONT FACE="Impact" COLOR="#FFFFFF" SIZE="+4">

<FONT COLOR="#FFFF00">BUSS909 Intranet</FONT></FONT> </TD>

</TR>

</TABLE> Procedural Markup



<H2><FONT FACE="Arial" COLOR="#FFFFFF">Notices</FONT> </H2>

<UL> Anchor definition (Relative URL)

<LI><FONT FACE="Arial">Make sure you have picked up a

<A HREF="subj99.doc">BUSS909 Subject Outline</A>, and attached Student

Guide to some of the University's Regulations and Codes of Conduct,

Faculty and Department Policies. </FONT></LI>

:

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Desktop Publishing/WP:Application of Markup

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Desktop Publishing (1)

a term coined by Paul Brainerd, founder of Aldus (PageMaker) around 1985. refers to the use of inexpensive desktop

technology to accomplish what previously required very expensive, proprietary publishing systems to accomplish

previous commercial publishing systems replaced light tables and hot wax used to arrange parts of documents into pages

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Desktop Publishing (2)

the first DTP systems were so rigidly page-based that if an article couldn't fit entirely onto one page, the user would have to cut and paste the overflow manually

DTP is the opposite of WP since the latter so completely automated page layout that authors had little control over the look of the document

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Desktop Publishing (3)From WP and DTP to DMS

today, word processors and DTP overlapmany authors find their WPs more than

adequate for achieving good-looking pages, and

DTP continues to be used primarily on highly-designed documents that are ready for their final layout

there is now a new movement...

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Desktop Publishing (4)From WP and DTP to DMS

the new (compound) document management systems (DMS) try to avoid investing in labor that cannot be reused authors create content which are

automatically composed into the required outputs

adjusting for format, medium and content appropriately, and

are then reused by readers

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Desktop Publishing (5)Difficulties with DTP...

the new document management systems focus on the information in the document and apply formatting information based on that informationDTP does not fit comfortably in this model

because it is focused not on information but on presentation,

once a document is laid out using DTP software, it cannot easily be reused

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Desktop Publishing (5)…Difficulties with DTP...

if you can recover the text and graphics from a DTP document, all the work of the designer is lost

while DTP definitely has a role in such systems, it would be a mistake to base such a system around DTP software

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Compound Document Architectures

http://www.capv.com/dss/resources/glossary/list.htm

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Compound Document Architectures

Compound Document Architectures describe and permit the manipulation of document components of different data types by software applications

Some compound document architectures limit data types. (See OLE, OpenDoc, DOM)

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Compound Document Architectures Compound Document Management

documents can contain many different types of data, text, drawings, photos, multimedia, etc. which are ‘live’ in that they still carry with them the information required to edit or reuse them

compound document management systems manage both revisable and non-revisable information

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Compound Document Architectures Configuration Management Systems (1)

documents can be considered as having parts that can be reused in certain circumstances

these parts need to be carefully analysed in an organisation

configuration management tracks the relationships between the parts. Systems that know which pieces are used where, even-or especially-if some parts are used in more than one place.

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Compound Document Architectures Configuration Management Systems (2)

if an element changes, the system knows all the documents incorporating the element are out of date- revision or version control

it then takes some action such as alerting authors or readers or updating each affected file automatically

enable documents to be built from bills of materials- a list of elements and data required to reproduce the document

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Database Publishinghttp://www.capv.com/dss/resources/glossary/list.htm

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Database Publishing

organisation has information stored in corporate databases

a set of targeted documents are to be produced that vary only in data drawn from that databasethe process is automated so that data is drawn

from the database information is inserted into the correct locations

in the publications

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Database Publishing

this can range from for example:very simple: Form Letters in which only

the return address and name vary, tovery complex: four-color retail catalogs

created on-demand, varying according to recipient's interests, area of the country, buying habits, and credit history

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Database Publishing

this might sound like simple form letters or receipts with which you will already be familiar

but the major difference with database publishing is that the data extracted from the database determines other conditional aspects of the document

these include...

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Database Publishing

information: “If it’s in Queensland, add a warning about the need for sun block”

document design “If the customer is older than 65, increase the font size so they can read it”

packaging “If it’s going to someone under 15, include a free game”

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Database PublishingDocument Management Systems

manage collections of documents aid in the creation storage,

manipulation retrieval, assembly, or delivery of documents

minimum requirement for a document management system is a check-in/check-out library service

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Database PublishingDocument Management Systems

typically packaged with a set of text oriented tools to manipulate documents, including text retrieval, workflow, formatting, and editing

also designed to manage the capture, storage, retrieval, and routing of non-revisable images typically scanned document pages

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Database PublishingAssets or Component Management

Asset oriented: manage document assets or page description language files for either print or electronic output (on-demand printing)

Component oriented: manages document objects or components as well as document structures as separate entities and are not restricted by file system boundaries

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Database PublishingDocument Conversion Systems

systems that convert document information from one format to another, including OCR, markup language, formatting language, or page description language conversion

necessary in order to prepare existing legacy documents for Document Management Systems

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Database PublishingDocument Interoperability Standards

standards that facilitate the sharing of document content, structure, and processing information between document management applications and other applications between multiple document repositories, and among network and distributed object architectures. DMA, ODMA, CORBA, SGML

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Next Week

this week, we have seen that OA & Intranets use many types of media and are expected to cope with the creation of new forms of media

next week, we describe SGML which is the technological link between OA Systems and intranet technologies (including HTML, XHTML, XML and the Web)