12003-03-20

OOoCon 2003

Automated Format Transformationfor Courseware

byLutz Finsterle and Martin Rotard

Finsterle@ikr.uni-stuttgart.deRotard@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

22003-03-20

Agenda

About the Speakers

Requirements in the E-Learning Project ITO

Structure of Learning-Materials

Transforming OpenOffice documents into the ITO intermediate courseware format

Converting Slide Presentations to SVG

Links and Questions

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About the speakerLutz Finsterle

Researcher and staff-member of theInstitute of Communication Networks andComputer Engineering (IKR)University of StuttgartEngaged in the multimedia teachingprojects CANDLE (EU) and ITO (BMBF)

Martin RotardResearcher and staff-member of theVisualization and Interactive SystemsGroup (VIS), University of StuttgartEngaged in the multimedia teachingproject ITO (BMBF)

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The E-Learning project ITO

"Information Technology Online"Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research" (BMBF)Goal: Exchange materials for lecturesAssociated universities:Uni Stuttgart, TU München, TU Hamburg-Harburg, TU Dresden, PH Ludwigsburg

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Requirements in the ITO-ProjectKeep the well-known authoring tools (OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Word, Adobe FrameMaker, LaTeX, etc.)But exchange and reuse of newly generated and existing contentSolution: Definition of an intermediate coursewareformat in XMLDeveloped Tools:

Transforming OpenOffice.org documents into theITO intermediate courseware format

Converting slide presentations to SVG Distributed web-portal for courseware

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Structuring the Material

MS Word*.doc

MSPowerPoint

OpenOffice*.sx[d,i],*.rtf

Frame-Maker

TeachML

TeX/LaTeX

Content

Metadata

Objects

Structure

Documents

Layout

GenericXML

OOfficeML

OpenOffice

Transformer

ITOML

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ITOML

Delivery of Content

Metadata

Structure

ps

pdf

svg

x3d

xml

WE

B/P

rese

ntat

ion

Content

Objects

Documents

Layout

Navigation/TOC

Contentpresentation

Prin

t

html

Content editing

docsxw

pptsxi

Edi

t

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Prerequisites to TransformationWide variety of authoring tools supportedWide variety of formats supportedXML based format to start fromMeans to Identify certain passages During authoringWhen transforming

Separation of content, layout, ...Definition of output formatTwo-way transformation (should) be possible

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Transforming OOo documents into the ITO intermediate courseware format

Definition of style templatesParagraph stylesintroduction, motivation, definition,rights, example, conclusion etc.

Character styleskeyword, index, reference, citation,significant, strong significant etc.

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Structure of Style-Types

Structure ObjectsParagraphs

Document

Characters

Chapter 2Reference Table

Simulation

Chapter 1

Picture

Introduction

Formula

AnimationChapter 4Chapter 3

Graphics

Significant

Citation

Keyword

Index

Strong Sig..

Exercise

Motivation

Definition

Knowledge

Solution

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Overview on ITOML

Layout.dtd

Structur.dtd

Document.dtd

Slides.dtd

Meta.dtd

Content.dtd

Character.dtd

Object.dtd

Reference.dtd

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Hierarchical Course Structure

Modul

Course

MultimediaElement

GlueElement

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Steps in Transformation

Starting from source formatConverting to OpenOffice.org format(External Java application at the moment)

Open content.xmlIdentify used stylesTranslate auto-stylesWalking through document and build the new oneStore in whole or as sub-parts

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Conclusions

Using style-formats is well-knownStill, instruction of authors is neededTo help the authors, a FAQ has been build upVerifier is at the moment being implemented, that helps the author to find structural errorsTransformation-Engine in rewrite to more complex structure First test have shows very promising results

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Converting slide presentations to SVG

Slide presentations are most commonly used media to present lecture material todayHuge amount of time has been invested to generatePreserve this when assembling online coursewareSeamless transformation to the web-enabled format SVGSVG: upcoming W3C standard for two-dimensional graphics on the web.OpenOffice.org allows the export of slides into SVG, unfortunately only one slide at a time

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Converting slide presentations to SVG

SVGimport export

Add navigation,SVG-optimization,

etc.

controls(UNO interface)

controls

optional

ImpressPowerPoint...

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Converting slide presentations to SVG (2)

FeaturesExport of the complete presentation Adding navigation and index mechanismsCorrection of glyph spacing issuesOn-the-fly embedding of non-standard fonts

Planned/Partially Implemented FeaturesSupport for animationsSupport for annotations

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On the availability of FontsStarting PointFont declarations in exported SVG such as font-family,font-style, ...Build SVG-Fonts from true-type fontsEmbed fonts into the exported SVG

ProblemsCopyright issuesFull description of SVG-Fonts produced form ttf must beadded by handEmbedded SVG-fonts do not work on all viewers

SolutionsPut only the needed glyph declarations into the final documentIf not importing a non standard font, automatic reduction of <tspan>-coordinates information

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Adapting AnimationsStarting PointAnimation information in OpenOffice.org native format Animated objects can be identified in native formatAnimations must be modelled in SVG

ProblemsAnimation information do not make their way to the exported SVGEven 1:1 object identification not easily possibleModelling animation in SVG is tedious cause of missingfeatures in SVG-viewers

SolutionsAnimations are realized in Java-ScriptMapping is done by hand right nowExtend SVG export engine to transport information to exported SVG

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Technical and Other Problems

Embedding of FontsCopyright problems with FontsFont selection in SVG ViewersSVG-embedded-font abilities of different SVG-Viewers

AnimationsCorrelation of animations to SVG objectScripting abilities of viewerSVG-SMIL implementations not fully working

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ConclusionsExport of Presentations to SVG is possibleSome features in the OpenOffice.org export are missing:structural information present in the in original file not exported to SVG thus adapting animations is tedioustransparency not transported to SVG

Problems with copyrights of fonts not solvedWishes concerning OpenOffice.orgImplementation of an full-featured SVG-Export would be much appreciated

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Links & questionsIKR

http://www.ikr.uni-stuttgart.deVIS

http://wwwvis.informatik.uni-stuttgart.deITO Project

http://www.ias.uni-stuttgart.de/ito/CANDLE

http://www.candle.eu.orgOpenOffice.org

http://www.openoffice.org

Questions?