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Traditional computer training or related training that can be presented through video has been done by physically having a “teacher” and a set of “students” gather together. By storing training video, sound, and text as a media object, you allow students to go through the material at a time that is most convenient without the need for the physical presence of a teacher. With media-based training, students can learn at their own pace, not bound by the artificial pace of a classroom setting and schedule.
Media is simply more natural for us than written text. With media as data, if a user needed to learn how to write a macro for his or her word processor, he or she could simply access online media that visually presents the steps required to accomplish the task. This method would be far easier for the user than learning through help files or listening to a voice on the telephone. Since the world is full of sights and sounds, it is a more intuitive way for us to learn.
Kiosks now take the form of video units consumers can use at a store to get special discounts and to receive online coupons. With media, these things become easier to use and online commercials and messages can be sold to the suppliers of retail stores to showcase their products.
This is an area that could easily earn a huge chunk of traditional media revenues. If a service can offer VOD, allowing the user to choose from thousands of video products, it will have a distinct advantage over traditional broadcast media. The broadcast competitor can only offer one choice in a given time-slot that will have to be superior to or cheaper than all of the products a VOD provider can offer.
The Internet has already given the ability to do some shopping using traditional screens with fixed text. In the future, people will be more willing to shop when they can browse a store in 3D and view selections as they would if they were actually shopping there. A media presentation of shopping is more intuitive than a series of traditional text-based screens.
The Internet has popularized electronic banking, yet this medium is also characterized by simple graphics and screens. With media data, users will have a more intuitive view of their portfolios and new ways of easily navigating to other financial instruments that can be bought and sold.
Today many companies that supply pagers are now downloading simple text information on news events a customer wants to see. For instance, if a user wants sports scores, that information will be downloaded. If another individual wants only local news, bullets of news will be downloaded.
With the use of media, you can download more complex objects for people who want customized news. The sports fan can download video images of all the important events, and the person who wants local news can, instead, receive this news in visual form.
Traditionally, video games existed in an arcade where consumers would purchase time to play. After the revolution of the home PC, users would purchase games for use on their personal computer. Sophisticated gaming computers also existed for use on TV sets. But the user still had to purchase a physical game cartridge to use the game.
Today, with the World Wide Web, there has emerged the concept of virtual arcades, which are online gaming centers where users can browse and play entertaining or educational games for a price. In this market you have the scenario of many users pulling up many different media objects. Because the number of users is quite large and media objects are very large in terms of storage space, media-databases will be needed to store the vast amount of media data that comprises online games.
HTML, the foundation of the World Wide Web, was designed for research to be done on documents without needing to know where those documents were located. By simply extending this definition, to allow for media objects and simple documents, computing can provide the ability to research subjects that not only contain text but more complex graphics. Users can bring up this visual information in the same way they would bring up a document. There would be no need to know the actual physical location of where the media was stored. This will speed up research efforts and make it more enjoyable for the young.
Since we have demonstrated natural and profitable ways in which media information can be treated as data to be accessed by different users with different needs, it is clear that a database that can handle media objects is a valuable tool for this upcoming media revolution.
Oracle has clearly seen the value of a media database and the future revenues that different media ventures could earn. Oracle has created a series of different tools to facilitate media within the framework of relational databases.
Oracle offers a number of products that allow database users to store and display this new and valuable form of data. These major offerings are: Oracle Media Server, Oracle Media Net, and Oracle Media Objects. You will see how they fit together to create a multimedia database solution.
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