Media Research Center

About: Media Research Center is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Collaborative learning & Educational technology. The organization has 491 authors who have published 950 publications receiving 28581 citations. The organization is also known as: MRC.

Mass Collaboration - An Emerging Field for CSCL Research.

Abstract: Mass collaboration is a present-day Internet practice with far-reaching implications for education and for a knowledge society in general. The goal of this symposium is to establish the concept of mass collaboration as a relevant topic in CSCL by presenting related research conducted with multifaceted perspectives from different labs. Several presentations will provide insight into the current approaches to the complex and large-scale phenomenon. They will address a range of theories and methodologies to identify and approach the major aspects of learning and knowledge development in the informal context of the present-day social web. The presenters will ground the analyses of mass collaboration processes and outcomes on a variety of examples of effective Web 2.0 settings and technological environments. The anticipated discussion will map out what unique insights can be gained from studying this form of collaboration compared to more formalized small-scale settings, as well as possible directions for future research in the area.

Texture and Motion Pattern Fusion for Background Subtraction

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a novel background subtraction algorithm, which takes both texture and motion information into account. Texture information is represented by local binary pattern (LBP), which is tolerant of illumination changes and is computational simplicity. Assuming that there is significant structure in the correlations between observations across time, we propose a novel operator to extract motion information. Then, each pixel is modeled as a group of texture pattern histograms and motion pattern histograms respectively. Finally, we combine the texture pattern-based and motion pattern-based background model. Experimental results on challenging videos demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Cultural politics of user-generated encyclopaedias: comparing Chinese Wikipedia and Baidu Baike

Abstract: The question of how the Internet affects existing geo-cultural or geo-linguistic communities in relation to nation-states has continued to receive attention among academics and policymakers alike. Language-based technologies and services that aggregate, index, and distribute materials online may reshape pre-existing boundaries of the relationship between users and content, for instance with different language versions of user-generated encyclopaedias or different local versions of search engines. By comparing two major Chinese online encyclopaedias, Baidu Baike and Chinese Wikipedia, this thesis investigates whether the Internet overcomes, shifts, or reinforces boundaries among Chinese language users. The Chinese language provides an excellent case for examining the boundary question. While the Internet can potentially connect the largest number of native speakers around the world, the majority (i.e. those from mainland China) face an Internet censorship and filtering regime that may limit this very potential. Modern Chinese history has also complicated the cultural-political boundaries among the regions of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. This thesis compares the conditions and outcomes of their respective editorial processes, content features, and users’ reception. Multiple findings emerge from a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including content analysis, webometrics, and search engine result visibility tests. These methods show that boundaries are drawn in the process of creating, linking, and searching content on the Chinese Internet. Their geolinguistic extent differs, a phenomenon that reflects the cultural-political division between mainland China and the rest of Chinese-speaking world. Both the findings and methods of the thesis have important implications for research and policy for understanding the globalizing regionalization and nationalization effects of the Internet.

Poster: Toward an Interactive Box-shaped 3D Display: Study of the Requirements for Wide Field of View

Abstract: We propose a graspable box-shaped 3D display as a communication tool that allows multiple users to share and naturally interact with 3D images in face-to-face collaborative tasks. We envision an auto-stereoscopic 3D display featuring glasses- free and multi-viewpoint operation. Users should be able to view multiple faces in the box-shaped display simultaneously and from any direction. We employ the integral photography (IP) method for this purpose. In this paper, we first analyze the requirements for an IP lens allowing simultaneous multi-face viewing of 3D images in such a display. Consequently, we find that a mininum 120-degree field of view is necessary. Then, we design and prototype an IP lens that provides such a wide field of view. Visual inspection of the generated 3D images confirm the possibility of simultaneous multiple- face viewing with the proposed display.