An Object-oriented Multimedia Distributed Meta-database

We describe a multimedia distributed databases system (mmdd) which manages associations of arbitrary renderable objects (such as text, 3D-graphics, sound, video, certain executables) using a hybrid object-oriented, relational database abstraction. Strengths include author-modi able schema, author-recon gurable front ends, and relatively straightforward extensibility to arbitrary media types and search methods. The mmdd enables authoring and navigation in rich user interface models. It does not address low-level issues such as synchronization of time-based media, or algebras of virtual media devices. Key features of the architecture include (1) atoms that are not traditional wordprocessor-like documents but abstract entities, which endow the mmdd with unusual exibility, and (2) object-oriented core mediating classes which provide coherent but extensible meta-dataand content-based services. The mmdd was designed around the projected needs of faculty and their assistant authors, based on extensive experience with authoring multimedia simulations. The mmdd supports Stanford University's Multimedia Distributed Library experiment. 1 ASD, Stanford University, [email protected] draft 0.26; submitted to ACM Multimedia 94