Earthview Digital Library

Abstract

abstract“Developing a Video Digital Library System for Public Environment Education in China Based on Grid Technology” was a project granted by IDRC (Grant No. ISA/015.40.9.3) and carried out by Beijing Earthview Environment Education and Research Centre (Earthview) in cooperation with the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICT) from December 2002 to June 2004. The outcome of the project was the successful launch of Earthview Digital Library on 5 June 2004, the World Environment Day. This library provides online service with audio-visual materials free of charge to the public and has the information storage of more than 600 video films, 2,000 images and 1,000 text files in the Chinese language on issues of environment protection and sustainable development. After one year of operation from June 2004 to May 2005, the usage analysis shows that online downloading of video films from this library reached more than four thousand and the service covered 29 provinces across China. University teachers and students composed of 40 per cent of the user population. Data analysis shows that at least 77 universities and colleges located in 38 cities in China have become regular users of this digital library. With this operational practice, we can conclude that the objectives of the project—to enlarge the audience scope, to decrease the cost of information dissemination, and to speed up the material distribution service—designed to facilitate access of the Chinese people to multimedia material, especially video, on environment education, have been fully achieved.