Technologies develop rapidly and reach hurricane levels of velocity but quality E-Content and innovative applications lag behind. This book addresses the question how content industries change within a digital environment and what role information and communication technologies play in transforming the competitive landscape. The authors argue that post-industrial societies tend to pay substantial amounts for equipment and gadgets but invest far too little in the quality of the content. As a result, much effort is and has to be spent on the enhancement of E-Content. The contributions give an elaborate overview of: - the specifics, challenges and prospects of content in the network economy; - market developments of digital media services; - paid content business models; - impacts on scientific publishing; - developments in the field of E-Learning; - the interplay between technology and content with the example of interactive digital TV; - the mobile games market; - emerging new cross media markets; - the need to enhance the usability of websites and mobile applications; - how digital applications might be used to capture and store our personal experiences. A final chapter shows the prospects of the European E-Content market and gives an overview of valuable initiatives and resources dealing with the topic of E-Content.

The authors reflect the preoccupation of academia with the latest trends in e-content and communication technologies, such as going mobile or discovering new, innovative interfaces. In addition, they introduce new learning methods with interactive media.

Technologies develop rapidly and reach hurricane levels of velocity but quality E-Content and innovative applications lag behind. This book addresses the question how content industries change within a digital environment and what role information and communication technologies play in transforming the competitive landscape. The authors argue that post-industrial societies tend to pay substantial amounts for equipment and gadgets but invest far too little in the quality of the content. As a result, much effort is and has to be spent on the enhancement of E-Content. The contributions give an elaborate overview of: - the specifics, challenges and prospects of content in the network economy; - market developments of digital media services; - paid content business models; - impacts on scientific publishing; - developments in the field of E-Learning; - the interplay between technology and content with the example of interactive digital TV; - the mobile games market; - emerging new cross media markets; - the need to enhance the usability of websites and mobile applications; - how digital applications might be used to capture and store our personal experiences. A final chapter shows the prospects of the European E-Content market and gives an overview of valuable initiatives and resources dealing with the topic of E-Content.

The increasing growth in the use of e-learning environments, in which education is delivered and supported through information and communication technologies, has brought new challenges to academic institutions. From all the current definitions of e-learning, it can be seen that learning contents are one of the key issues for a successful e-learning experience. Therefore, there is a real need for academic staff, managers and librarians to re-think the whole process of delivering courses, information resources and information services. The book focuses on defining content management and its relationship with knowledge management, providing perspectives on how the semantic web could complement content management, how to deal with copyright restrictions, and how to describe information competencies and skills required and acquired by teachers and students in virtual environments. Offered is a design project for managing digital content for classical and distance education institutions, covering all the aspects related to the content lifecycle, integrating it into the learning process. Practical aspects such as standards for content e-learning management, a review of existing experiences of learning repositories, and a survey of available platforms for delivering courses and providing access to information resources is also covered. Lastly, the book addresses the three main factors which make it crucial in the current context: first, the web 2.0 paradigm, which breaks the content producer-consumer barrier; second, the open content movement for educational purposes, which changes the knowledge management transference model; and third, the new European Higher Education Area, where the concept of content needs to be rethought.

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