Overview
C4All is a Cross-media multidevice content platform for leisure and entertainment. The system integrates a P2P community with an organized published content. Allowing to obtain and share individualized travel information customized to user needs and accessible from various devices: on the fly with your mobile phone or wireless pda or notebook, at your home whether with your desktop pc o interactive tv set-top box.
The general objective of CONTENT4ALL is to develop a Cross-media framework taking advantage of the peer-to-peer phenomenon and emerging related opportunities.
The content and applications of the project follow the way our target users consume and value information: tailored information versus generic one; publishers' recommendations enhanced with selected and elaborated recommendations by expert users. Furthermore, concerned end-user experience, digital convergence will enrich traditional media goals with new options for content consuming and exchange that enhances the user experience.
The combination and integration of a well-known publisher content (the industry) with end users generated content (the peers) integrate two worlds and bring out a fresh and innovative concept of content creation, as far as take a step ahead towards media convergence and cross-media content distribution and publishing by being accessible anytime through any digital device.
Main Innovations
- Combination and integration of trusted publisher content (the industry) with end users generated content (the peers)
- Coherent access to content / metadata from devices (PC, TV, PDA, mobile) and different sources (image, audio, video, messages, notes, group information and user preferences with their associated metadata)
- Access to the P2P network from mobile and TV.
Major Results and Achievements of the Project
- Anytime access through any digital device
- Combination and integration of trusted publisher content (the industry) with end users generated content (the peers)
- Coherent access to content / metadata from different sources (image, audio, video, messages, notes, group information and user preferences with their associated metadata)
- Content referencing approach (CRID)
- extended usage of the TVAnytime/IETF CRID content referencing for different content types (images, videos, texts, annotations, etc.)
- extended usage from broadcasting to additional network types (P2P and standard client/server)
- Inclusion of a self-regulating moderation system based upon the analysis of users participation in the community
- Mechanisms for monitoring nature of contents based on community requirements and nature (illegal, inappropriate community content)
- mechanisms to issue warnings
- mechanisms to ban the content items
- A part of the P2P functionality (file search, download) is available also on mobile devices and STBs via gateways on the central server
C4A has achieved an important goal: the technical feasability of a P2P and cross-media system which might be applied for any further developement of any kind of virtual community.
The Content4All project has different views depending on the target groups to whom the project is addressed:
- Potential consumers
- Developers
- Industry leaders
- Scientific community
Potential Consumers: C4all prototype provides a peer-to-peer travel infotainment service that allows for the provision of information available anywhere individually tailored to the needs and interest of the end-user. With its multi-channel platform, C4All allows the end user to obtain and share individualized travel information customized to specific needs and accessible from various devices: on the fly with the mobile phone, wireless pds or notebook, at home whether with the desktop pc or interactive tv set-top-box.
Developers . It is our view that the resulting technologies must serve to found the development of a new generation of cross media P2P products and services that overpass seamlessly the barriers imposed by different devices, especially the less traditional like iTV. Allowing to share a rich multimedia content among a community of users. Not only will privately owned companies benefit from the exploitation of the Content4All project but also research, academic, and public institutions could deploy a information services under non-commercial schemes to provide valuable services for their communities.
Industry Leaders . Based on the resulting technology, new services tailored to specific audiences will be created for a wide range of customers on an on-demand, ASP-based type of service where consulting fees will be applied and the technology implementation will be designed specifically to the needs of the customer. Nonetheless this model could also be applied from research institutions for non-commercial purposes.
Notice also that the development of new audiences constitutes the great potential of C4A, as the technological framework can be applied to any kind of audiences and segmented target with the necessary critical mass.
Scientific Community . This exploitation level targets the resulting technology framework and its implementation described in the deliverables. The actions at this level will encompass the organisation of presentations and seminars introducing the cross-media multi-device P2P based C4A framework. The targeted costumers shall include private and public TV broadcasters, mobile operators, MVNOs11, content providers, and internet communities, also consultancies in the field of communications and government institutions. Knowledge could be exploited in the form of courses to prepare for the usage and implementation of the technologies. The courses are generally intended to produce revenues through fees, however a pro bono formula will be made available to potential customers considering to acquire products and services from the C4A partners and to research and educational institutions.