9523564 Rangan Description: This proposal will support the participation of six US experts at the US-Indo Seminar on Multimedia Science and Technology, planned for September 1995 in New Delhi. The host is the Secretary, N. Vittal, of the Department of Electronics, Government of India. At the seminar, six leading experts from the US will give talks and discuss the most appropriate areas for joint collaboration. Recent advances in computers/networking are revolutionizing the process of information acquisition, composition, publishing, delivery,learning, and usage. Large-capacity storage disks and high-speed fiber-optic networks are enabling the integration of diverse media, such as text, audio, and video, during storage and delivery. These advances are stimulating multimedia technologies that allow several forms of information--journals, lectures, historic documents, movies, and newspapers--to be made available to users via broadband networks. The multimedia sciences have sparked a number of innovations such as digital multimedia "libraries without walls" and distance learning. Scope: As part of this activity, the DOE will provide US participants with access to several DOE laboratories scattered throughout India where they will be able to investigate important multimedia S&T research challenges with their Indian colleagues. These include distance learning, computer supported multimedia collaborative work, and digital libraries. This activity is highly beneficial for the US as they will be interacting with top-notch researchers in an area of great importance and strength on the Indian side. ***
