Abstract
(Englisch)
|
The multimedia world can be classified into one-dimensional media like text and sound, and multi-dimensional media. Among the latter, those that are characterised by a visual appearance in a space of 2, 3, or more dimensions are called shapes. Examples of shapes are pictures, sketches, images, 3D models of solid objects, videos (disregarding the sound track), 4D animations, etc. As information is moving from textual to visual form, digital shapes are gaining more and more importance. They populate virtual environments in advanced scientific simulations as well as in emerging edutainment applications. The mission of AIM@SHAPE is to advance research in the direction of semantic-based shape representations and semantic-oriented tools to acquire, build, transmit, and process shapes with their associated knowledge. We foresee a generation of shapes in which knowledge is explicitly represented and, therefore, can be retrieved, processed, shared, and exploited to construct new knowledge. The attainment of a new vision of shape knowledge is achieved by: the formalisation of shape knowledge and the definition of shape ontologies in specific contexts; the definition of shape behaviours which formalise the interoperability between shapes; the delineation of methods for knowledge-based design of shapes and the definition of tools for semantics-dependent mapping of shapes. The consortium of 14 excellent research institutions will pursue integration at the institutional level by founding a European Virtual Institute on Shape Modelling, at the foundational level by initiating a new Theory of Digital Shapes, and at the component level by developing a Digital Shape Workbench as a common platform for shape models and software tools. Integrating activities include the design of common shape ontology and a program for human capital mobility and training. Spreading of excellence includes an international forum, an industrial users' group and regular conferences.
|
