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presenter moves on to the next topic. Furthermore, RealAudio players are available for a number of hardware<br />

platforms, and can be embedded <strong>in</strong>to HTML pages as a Netscape plug-<strong>in</strong>..<br />

Description of Current System:<br />

Each presentation consists of a directory <strong>in</strong> the HTTP server path. The directory conta<strong>in</strong>s a presentation<br />

<strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion file, a set of HTML files, and RealAudio <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion. The HTML files will conta<strong>in</strong> the<br />

presentation. They are normally located <strong>in</strong> the same directory as the presentation <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion file , but this is<br />

not a requirement and they maybe located elsewhere on the some other server. The presentation <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion<br />

file allows the author to specify the order <strong>in</strong> which the slides are presented (specified as URLs) and <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion<br />

that appears on the presentation home page, such as presentation title, author, date, abstract, and l<strong>in</strong>ks to other<br />

relevant <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion on the Web. An on-l<strong>in</strong>e editor allows the author to modify this <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion.<br />

When the system builds a presentation, the glue files necessary to b<strong>in</strong>d the audio-visual components together<br />

are created automatically. The glue files consist of HTML files that specify the frames and control l<strong>in</strong>ks, the<br />

RealAudio metafiles (.ram and .rpm) for describ<strong>in</strong>g audio segments, and a RealAudio synchronization file<br />

(.rae) for perform<strong>in</strong>g automatic page turn<strong>in</strong>g. A pr<strong>in</strong>table version of the entire set of slides is also created. The<br />

Prelim<strong>in</strong>ary Build of a presentation creates the necessary glue files for two author<strong>in</strong>g modes.<br />

Live Capture Mode is used when a presentation is given for the first time. The presenter uses the HTML pages<br />

prepared <strong>in</strong> advance as the slides for the presentation. The slides are displayed to the audience via large-screen<br />

TV set or an LCD projector. This equipment is becom<strong>in</strong>g more commonly used <strong>in</strong> the conferences and is also<br />

becom<strong>in</strong>g more affordable to educators. Naturally, the computer used for display<strong>in</strong>g the HTML pages must<br />

either be connected to the network or be a standalone HTTP server. It is assumed that the audio is captured by<br />

an auxiliary program and converted <strong>in</strong>to RealAudio <strong>format</strong> either on the fly, or after the fact. The presenter<br />

starts the auxiliary record<strong>in</strong>g program, and then beg<strong>in</strong>s the presentation. The presenter uses the “Start”,<br />

“Next”, “Previous”, and “Done” buttons to navigate through the presentation. As this navigation occurs, a CGI<br />

program on the HTTP server records the times at which each slide is viewed.<br />

If the constra<strong>in</strong>ts of the Live Capture Mode cannot be met, or if the presentation has already been given, the<br />

semi-automated Post-process<strong>in</strong>g Mode can be used. For this mode, the content of the slides must be converted<br />

<strong>in</strong>to HTML <strong>format</strong>. Many programs exist for convert<strong>in</strong>g other presentation <strong>format</strong>s <strong>in</strong>to HTML, such as<br />

Microsoft PowerPo<strong>in</strong>t and Word Internet Assistantsand<br />

Latex2html. The audio files, which can be digitized<br />

either from audio or video tapes of the orig<strong>in</strong>al presentation , must be converted <strong>in</strong>to RealAudio <strong>format</strong>. With<br />

the HTML and RealAudio files <strong>in</strong> place, the Post-process<strong>in</strong>g Mode allows a user, to navigate through the slides<br />

while the system plays the audio for the presentation. Each time a navigation button is pressed , the system will<br />

record the time <strong>in</strong> a data file for the presentation.<br />

Once the tim<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion is collected and any corrections are made to the slides, F<strong>in</strong>al a Build uses the<br />

tim<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion to create the necessary glue files for view<strong>in</strong>g the presentation.<br />

Current Users:<br />

The system is currently be<strong>in</strong>g used at the “Region Tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g Center for Parallel Processes” Web site<br />

(http://renoir.csc.ncsu.edu/RTCPP/) for deliver<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>structional material and conference presentations. It will<br />

also be used for teach<strong>in</strong>g regular university classes by the Computer Science Department at the North Carol<strong>in</strong>a<br />

State University start<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Fall Semester of 1996. A demonstration of the system is at:<br />

http://renoir.csc.ncsu.edu/RTCPP/HTML/Concepts/new/demo/<strong>in</strong>dex.html<br />

Acknowledgments:<br />

This project is supported, <strong>in</strong> part, by the NSF awards ACS-9418960, ACS-9418606, and ACS-9696131, and by the IBM<br />

Corp. SUR program. RealAudio is a trademark of Progressive Networks. PowerPo<strong>in</strong>t and Word Internet Assistant are<br />

products of Microsoft, Inc. Netscape Navigator is a trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation.

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