MANKIND: A General Description

In this paper we present an outline of the MANKIND project: MANKIND is an acronym for Multimedia Applied to Networked Knowledge-transfer Introduces New Dimensions. It is an ambitious undertaking that combines know-how obtained through extensive research and efforts in network based training and education with work on digital libraries and the development of the advanced WWW server system Hyperwave (formerly called Hyper-G). CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction), CBT (Computer Based Training), ITS (Intelligent Tutoring Systems), WBT (Web Based Training) and similar efforts that have tried to support teaching and learning through (networked) computers have generally failed and will continue to do so, unless an integrated approach is taken, i.e. unless all necessary ingredients are taken care of. The MANKIND project is the first such integrated effort. Parts of it are operational and indeed in use (e.g. for distributed training for MOTOROLA employees world-wide, as teaching support at the Graz University of Technology or at Queens University [Skillicorn 1996], or as teaching and lecturing support system at the University of Freiburg [Bacher et al 1996]); other parts have been developed at RISC or are under development and yet others still in the planning stage. This paper is a summary of the main points that are being tackled by MANKIND.