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STCSN E-Letter Vol.2 No.2

Integrating Social Media with Video Communication

Welcome to the STCSN E-Letter Vol.2 No.2! Please find the full PDF for download at the bottom of the page.


TABLE OF CONTENT:
  • Smart Video Communication for Social Groups - The Vconect Project
    (by Marian F. Ursu, Peter Stollenmayer, Doug Williams, Pedro Torres, Pablo Cesar, Niko Farber and Erik Geelhoed)
    Abstract: This article introduces the Vconect project. Vconect (Video Communications for Networked Communities) is a collaborative European research and development project dealing with high-quality enriched video as a medium for mass communication within social communities. The technical capabilities where Vconect innovates concern: high quality a/v capture, dynamic a/v composition, network resources optimization and communication orchestration. The project is driven by two main use cases.  The first focuses on the integration of live video communication with social networking services. The second focuses on distributed performances, their automatic representation to remote spectators and the support for social interaction around such performances.
  • Taxonomies of Relationships in Multidimensional Social Networks Relevant for Supporting Real-Time Video Communication Systems
    (by Matthias Traub, Rene Kaiser and Wolfgang Weiss)
    Abstract: As information technology has advanced, the usage of online social networks rapidly increased at the same time, and social interaction shifted onto these platforms. Online social networks have gained significant popularity and are now among the most popular sites on the Web. Likewise, sophisticated video communication systems, which in the past mainly concentrated on the business videoconferencing market, are shifting into the private domain. In the realm of these developments, we are aiming for integration of online social networks with intelligent video communication systems. Relevant information extracted from massive amounts of online social network data could inform intelligent behaviour within video communication systems, and therefore needs to be extracted. This article presents a selection of taxonomies of relationships as basis for multidimensional social networks that we consider relevant for such purposes. As users might not necessarily be very active, this selection also considers how well it could work with sparse network layers. Based on a literature study, we conclude that the combination of layers with sparse information onto a multidimensional network usually increases the usefulness of the data for its analysis.
  • Multi-Party Videoconferencing for the Web
    (by Nikolaus Färber, Yaroslav Kryvyi and Vilmos Zsombori)
    Abstract: There is increasing interest in videoconferencing for social networks, but web developers are facing two basic challenges: Easy integration and scalability. The latter can be solved by a scalable architecture based on central media routers, which makes pragmatic use of the available resources while allowing low complexity server components. Easy integration, on the other hand, requires a simple API with inherent support for multipoint and intelligent audio and video composition. In this paper we describe how the EU-funded research project Vconect has addressed these two challenges and compare the results with Google+Hangout and WebRTC. As a prove of concept, the Vconect platform has been integrated with SAPO Campus, a social network operated by Portugal Telecom Group, with positive results from initial trials.
  • The Service Aware Network: Balancing cost and quality for Social Multimedia Communication
    (by Ian Kegel, Doug Williams, Tim Stevens, Simon Gunkel, Pablo Cesar and Jack Jansen)
    Abstract: This article explores the notion that a ‘service-aware’ network will help in the cost-effective delivery of social communication between communities, when it is enriched by high quality video and audio. While the concept of dynamically managing network components to balance cost and quality of service is not at all new, the paper explains how future plausible use cases for social multimedia communication prompt four key requirements for a new type of service-aware network. A brief summary is then provided of current research into some of the new capabilities needed to deliver these requirements: Quality of Experience Modelling, Dynamic Network Configuration, and Composition in the Network. Finally, an overview is given of a programme of experiments and trials which are being carried out to demonstrate the applicability and scalability of the service-aware network to real services based on the aforementioned use cases.
  • Supporting Student-to-Student Interaction in Video-supported Distance Learning
    (by Frank Versteegh, Jan Bouwen, Dennis Dams, David Lou, Wolfgang Van Raemdonck)
    Abstract: We report on a project aimed at assessing how video communication can be used more beneficially in a distance learning setting and designing possible solutions. Literature and user studies reveal that the social aspect of a classroom is considered to be very important and that student-to-student interaction is currently lacking in distance education programs. Student-to-student interaction is one of the big challenges to overcome in distance learning. To increase this type of interaction the concept of a shared 2D communication space is proposed in which users can move their own webcam image around and communicate with other people present in the virtual space by ‘standing’ next to them. Verbal communication only occurs between ‘grouped’ users thus allowing for multiple conversations to be held within the same communication space.


How to cite this E-Letter edition?
Rene Kaiser (ed.), "Integrating Social Media with Video Communication", IEEE Computer Society Special Technical Community on Social Networking E-Letter, vol. 2, no. 2, June 2014.