Fuente : Comisión Europea
http://europa.eu.int

Digital content for high speed Internet: fuelling the EU's information needs

/noticias.info/ As part of its commitment to eEurope, the European Commission has today proposed a new €163 million programme, eContentplus (2005-2008). The programme will support the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, on-line services across the EU. Such content should help to drive demand for broadband access and bring wider benefits for businesses, citizens and the economy. The new programme is more focused than its predecessor, seeking to support the combination of information from different systems - irrespective of format, language or location. This also means making sure content works on different platforms and that it can be better tailored to the specific needs of the user. It identifies three areas: geographical data, educational material and cultural content. In this way it should help to overcome specific problems in Europe which mean that content markets are too fragmented.

"The digital content market is complex and diverse. The world market is presently valued at 515 B€. However, the European market, reflecting our rich cultural heritage, is fragmented, and much more so than the USA." commented Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen. "This programme is designed to support projects which can cross borders and overcome current barriers which stop people investing. It pays particular attention to content which exploits our languages and cultural context. We can help to create the conditions for innovative content producers who can meet the expanding needs of a larger, information hungry and multicultural Europe."

One benefit of the internet has been that it transcends barriers, such as content formats and national boundaries, which other distribution media do not. Delivering quality content and incorporating it into new services will be a major factor in driving demand for both broadband and mobile communications. In Europe however, formidable barriers still confront potential providers and consumers of content. These barriers include legal requirements that differ among EU Member States, technical, cultural and administrative practices, and multiple languages.

Recent EU legislation(1) has resolved some of the legal uncertainty surrounding the reuse of public sector information in new digital information products and services. The problem of 'fragmentation' however still remains. Fragmentation arises because different Member States collect and store data in different ways, in particular geographic data, which is embedded in up to 80% of public sector information (such as geographical coordinates, post codes, as well as maps, planning and land registration details).

This in turn complicates the creation of Community-wide information services derived from such data, and holds back development of services in areas such as transportation, navigation, agriculture, emergency response and environmental management. It may also curtail the development of related mobile data services.

The availability of educational content, the results of scientific and academic research and cultural content also depends on how easily content providers can overcome barriers associated with multiple languages and digital rights regimes. The accession of new EU Member States makes it even more urgently necessary to tackle these issues.

The new programme will help to tackle some of these challenges. Its focus is enabling information from different systems to be combined - irrespective of format, language or location and tailored to the needs of the user. It supports the use of the latest technology by private and public stakeholders in a drive to leverage Europe's information assets and make them available to all.


For further information please see:

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/telearn/events.htm

(1) Directive 2003/98/EC of 17.Nov.2003
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