SCIENTIFIC PAPER UDC 004.55:378.147]:02(497.11)

MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE AT FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY IN

Aleksandra Trtovac* University Library “Svetozar Markovic”, Belgrade

Abstract: Multimedia document is a new course for the students of fourth year of un- dergraduate studies at Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, the Department of Library and Information Science. The course is designed as a project during which students find, se- lect and digitise materials on a particular subject, using previously acquired knowledge. Work on the project results in creation of multimedia document. Through a description of the student’s project and work analysis on the first of the multimedia documents, we will show the stages in the development of this document and the qualitative indicators considering the needs and motivation of students to apply practically the knowledge they learned in theory. We will present one of possible models of cooperation among students of different faculties. The first multimedia document which students of the De- partment of Library and Information Science made is dedicated to Aleksandar Popović, a playwright.

Keywords: multimedia document, Aleksandar Popović, digitalization, multimedia, li- brary and information science, cooperation.

*[email protected]

INFOtheca, № 2, vol XI, December 2010 45 Aleksandra Trtovac ‒ MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT...

1. Multimedia portance of multimedia documents is especially Multimedia is presenting text, audio, graph- evident in distance learning where students can, ics, animation or video in an integrated form by online or offline multimedia content, get all using computer technology. It refers to the com- the necessary information and lectures, no mat- bination of these techniques by which, through ter that they are not physically located at the modern technology, it could manufacture prod- university. ucts for various needs. Late last century, restric- Learning with multimedia is more inter- tions which were imposed by under-developed esting for many students, and the information computer technology, have been outbalanced, transmitted in this way are easier to learn. Most so we could say that today we are living in a students have found the new technology is more time of multimedia contents. These facilities are challenging, and that the visual content helps being met in every aspect of social life. It has them to overcome their curriculum on easier way, while multimedia content motivates them primarily emerged in the entertainment and lei- to learn, and make concepts clear enough to un- sure and the analysis shows that the Internet is derstand. It turns out that new technologies are still the most common area where multimedia is giving very good results in comparison with tra- the most represented. ditional processes of learning. It is crucial that The field of communication is yet another im- the material presented to students is also avail- portant point of contact with multimedia. Com- able on the Internet. municating by computer with remote user, by cameras and microphones, replaces the classi- 3. Multimedia in Librarianship cal model of communication by telephone. The sound is complemented by a picture, which is Since the middle 90’s multimedia documents are an integral part of library funds worldwide. also multimedia content. In the beginning of the 21st century, more and One of the significant features of multimedia more of such documents are also present in Ser- is interactivity. User of multimedia content can bian libraries. Multimedia documents typically influence on the performance mode. He choos- occur in the form of accompanying materials and es the parts of multimedia documents that will supplements to the monographic publications be reviewed as well as the order of the content about important institutions and individuals from presented. the Serbian science, art and history, although Since computer technology is now well devel- they appear as separate editions as well. Being oped and information on the Internet is available the part of library funds, multimedia documents in a short time, and that there are more programs and work with them should be an integral part of for creating multimedia content, the contents pre- the education of future librarians. sented in this way are entering more and more in IFLA guidelines from 2003 relate to the au- the process of education, from preschool to uni- diovisual and multimedia materials for all types versity level. of libraries and other related institutions because this type of material has become a significant part 2. Multimedia in Education of the library funds. As it is stated in the guide- Whether we are talking about the multimedia lines “audiovisual media are part of our cultural documents that are linear or nonlinear (interac- heritage, carrying a huge amount of information tive), multimedia has a significant place in the that needs to be preserved for future use. The rich contemporary systems of education. Great im- variety of media expressions in society should be

46 INFOtheca, № 2, vol XI, December 2010 Aleksandra Trtovac ‒ MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT... reflected in the services offered to users by the 5. The Criteria for Selection of Subject libraries. Librarians, as information providers, As noted earlier, the Internet offers a multi- should be concerned with the provision of infor- tude of multimedia content and a wealth of in- mation in the formats most suited to the differ- formation on various topics. In order to provide ing needs of various types of user, each of which the best demonstration of skills and knowledge must be clearly differentiated. A library exists to of students in finding materials to create multi- serve its community and consequently the needs media documents, it was necessary to establish of all members of that community must be ac- the criteria for the selection of subject for a mul- commodated – the old and the young, the able timedia document: and the disabled, the gifted and the backward - subject should be a person, institution or so- members of the society.”(IFLA 2004) cial phenomenon which is a part of cultural heri- Based on the above shown, the multimedia tage of ; documents are relevant information carriers in - Internet does not provide enough informa- contemporary librarianship. In order to make tion about this subject or Internet can serve only these materials available to the end user the li- as a starting point for further research about this braries have to provide computers with fast flow, subject; install the necessary computer programs, and ed- - students can find materials about this sub- ucate librarians and users, and to present them all ject on the various carriers of information (text, sound, images, video) the possibilities of multimedia documents. The goal was that students recognize in which institutions they can find the relevant materials, 4. Why the course Multimedia Documents? that they digitize those materials and to incor- Taking all this into consideration, in the De- porate those materials in the multimedia docu- partment of Library and Information Science at ment. Considering the issue of subject, it was the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, during the concluded that this should be a playwright Alek- school year 2009/2010, the course Multimedia sandar Popović. Aleksandar Popović is not just documents has been included in the curriculum a person with very interesting biography and a on the fourth year of undergraduate studies1. very extensive work, but he is also insufficiently During the study at this Department, students represented on the Internet and thus, in addition, learn about the ways of collecting, publishing an appropriate subject for this multimedia docu- and storage of materials in libraries, museums ment. As his work has contributed significantly and archives, the ways of processing, cataloging in the theater, on the radio, television, and film, and classification of materials, its preservation it was thought that students would be able to find and access to use. They also learn about com- and collect enough text, but also audio, video, puter technologies, Internet, structure of infor- photographic and film materials from which the mations, programming, databases. Bearing in multimedia document could be created. mind that they are the undergraduate students of final year, degree program and exams which 6. Aleksandar Popović’s Short Biography they passed, the subject teacher, Prof. Cvetana Aleksandar Popović was born on 20 Novem- Krstev, believed that students would be able to ber 1929 in Ub as the second child in a prominent show most appropriately what they have learned family. His mother and aunts have influenced the during their studies through practical production formation of his personality from his early child- of a multimedia document. hood, and this is perhaps the reason why Aleksan-

INFOtheca, № 2, vol XI, December 2010 47 Aleksandra Trtovac ‒ MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT... dar Popović held that women are more important good reviews of domestic experts, and interna- than men and that women were the protagonists tional recognition at the Festival Prix Italia. In of his works. Sterija Theatre Festival (1966) two of his plays Popović family moved to Belgrade where were performed – The National Theatre in Bel- Aleksandar gave high school degree in The Third grade performed the “Sabre of Damascus”, and Grammar School. He married for the first time Atelier 212 played “Pig’s Trot.” On that occasion, when he was only 17 years old. He and his wife he won a special prize for the dramatic text. Danica had four daughters – Milica, Sofia, Tat- His next drama, “Jelena Ćetković” performed jana and Persida. During this period he devoted by theatres in Subotica, Niš, Kragujevac, was himself to writing poetry and became a candidate also popular play in , Warsaw and Ber- for the Association of Writers of Serbia. lin. Finally, he became a recognized writer and In the late forties he was arrested on charges he got the place he deserved. In the Atelier 212, of being a member of Information Bureau, and on 12th February 1967, his play “The Develop- the years he spent on Goli Otok left a deep sign ment of the Bora Šnajder’s Way” had premiere. on his life. He came back to Belgrade in age of At that time, in the 24 years as a complete wreck and grey. His fa- his play “Deadly Motorcycle Ride” was on the ther broke off all contact with him which was stage. The same play had tremendous success in the hardest thing for him. He had to work odd Frankfurt at the festival of avant-garde theaters jobs to survive. He was in the 50’s bricklayer, in . On television it TV Primer was being house painter, glazier, asphalt paver... Although, shown, which was part of the action of promo- in its own words, he lived “like a dog”, this is the tion of literacy. That TV series and the heroine period of his meeting with the Serbian people, Kika Babić, a character played by , especially in markets where, in talks with the were so popular that they were watched both by villagers, he studied their habits and language. the literate and illiterate. In these places, he encountered heroes of his fu- Early 70’s Aleksandar Popović and his fam- ture works. ily went to the U.S. because he got a one-year In early 50’s he met Duško Radović and ac- Ford’s scholarship. They lived in New York, in cepted his invitation to write radio plays for chil- Greenwich Village, in that time the center of hip- dren for Radio Belgrade. Next six years he has pie culture. cooperated extensively with editorial office of After returning from America, Aleksandar children’s drama of most of our radio stations. Popović wrote tirelessly and had many premieres. He published the first literary texts in 1959, Although he had great success, he had disagree- and in1961 he became a member of the Associa- ments with the milieu. In mid-70s at Barutana, tion of Writers of Serbia. He began his literary under Kalemegdan, he formed an informal the- life on 30th December 1964 with the premiere of ater group. theatre play “Ljubinko and Desanka” in Atelier In early 80’s he broke up with his wife and 212. The following year it was performed his she accepted this with difficulties. Her death in play “A Hundred Loops Stocking “. Both theat- 1984 strongly influenced Aleksandar Popović. rical performances had bad reviews, but Alek- He found consolation in writing. His health de- sandar Popović did not give up. He continued to teriorated, but he turned to theater as a sense write, and his career went the way upward. of his life. On early 90’s premiere in Pirot, his Television Belgrade filmed “Furnished play “White Coffee” was performed, and later in Room,” according to his text. The play had very Sterija Theatre Festival in , where he

48 INFOtheca, № 2, vol XI, December 2010 Aleksandra Trtovac ‒ MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT... received an award for comedy. The play of Kult duction of the multimedia document. The solu- Theatre “The Night is Dark” was performed in tion appeared in the fact that students of masters Switzerland, but also on Broadway. The premiere degree at the Faculty of Mathematics in Belgrade performance of “Still Point” followed, as well as had the course of the same name. By combining new performance of play “The Development of of knowledge of students of both faculties, there Bora Šnajder’s Way”. has been cooperation between the Faculty of Phi- Early 1996. his health was in very poor condi- lology and the Faculty of Mathematics and team tion. He was suffering, but he was still writing. work in creating of multimedia document about At that time he wrote his new play “Draw Well” Aleksandar Popović. that he wanted to direct by himself. On Wednes- Thanks to joint efforts of the initiator of the day on the 9th October 1996. Aleksandar Popović project, professor PhD Cvetana Krstev, Head died. It is interesting that night before was the of the Department of Library and Information new performance of his drama “Ljubinko and Science, then coordinator and teaching associ- Desanka” in Atelier 212. With the same drama, ate in course Multimedia Document at the same 32 years earlier, he began his career of theater Department, and professors of the Faculty of writer on the scene of the same theater. He was Mathematics, PhD Gordana Pavlović-Lažetić buried in the Alley of deserving citizens in the and MSc Jelena Hadži Purić, students accessed New Cemetery in Belgrade. to project activities. It is impossible to determine exactly how The teachers made the working meetings with many plays Aleksandar Popović wrote. Forty students of Faculty of Philology in which it was plays, fifty radio plays, twelve television dramas, agreed to divide students into groups, to let stu- five hundred TV shows and a dozen children’s dents become more familiar with the biography novels are preserved. and bibliography of Aleksandar Popović and He won many literary and theatrical awards. that they inform their professor and coordinator In 1996 he was chosen for the person of the year. which institutions they would visit in order to He left behind a lot of interviews in the week and find the necessary materials. daily newspapers, in radio and television shows. At the next meeting, students had already The movie “The Night is Dark” was recorded ac- formed groups of 2-7 members depending on cording to his text. the scope of planned activities and amounts of This extensive biography and bibliography relevant material at individual institutions. Stu- were definitely the reason that the personality dents have chosen to visit The Theatre Museum and opus of Aleksandar Popović was subject of of Serbia, the Yugoslav Film Archive, Radio the first in a series of multimedia documents in Belgrade, Radio Television Serbia, and theaters which students of the Department of Library and and libraries in Belgrade and Novi Sad, as well Information Science will work on. as theaters, cultural centers and libraries in their hometowns and try to find appropriate materials 7. Work on the Project in these institutions. Students of the Department of Library and In- Two students received the task to write a bi- formation Science, thanks to the knowledge that ography and a selective bibliography of Aleksan- they adopted during their studies, had the neces- dar Popović based on printed sources. sary competence to collect material for multime- Students are advised that the texts of Alek- dia document and digitize this, but they were not sandar Popović, as well as photos or videos of able to perform independently the technical pro- his performances, radio and television broad-

INFOtheca, № 2, vol XI, December 2010 49 Aleksandra Trtovac ‒ MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT... casts may not be downloaded from the Internet, 9. Collection and Preparation of Materials and that, during the digitization of the collected for Multimedia Document material, the copyright regulations ought to be Students from the Faculty of Philology, in the respected. Material recording, photographing, period of about two months, visited the selected scanning could be done only in consultation with institutions, reviewed the funds and collected ma- competent persons in institutions in which stu- terials. Reports on the collected materials were dents explored research materials. sent by e-mail to their coordinator who made the lists of institutions, collected documents and 8. Cooperation with Institutions document types (text, images, audio, video). For the sake of better cooperation with insti- Students of library and information science tutions and a more precise definition of needs, to collected 293 photographs of theatrical perfor- all of institutions that the studens selected letters maces, portraits and posters, 91 articles from were send, which contained a brief description newspapers and magazines, from interviews and of the project and request to assist students in reviews to after death notices, 130 minutes of au- searching catalogs, viewing documents and digi- dio recordings from interviews and radio plays, tizing of found materials. The letter was signed 8 hours of video productions, trailers from the by the deans of the Faculty of Philology and the movies, TV shows and TV dramas. Faculty of Mathematics and the students deliv- After collection of items, during April and May 2010, students of the Faculty of Philology ered the letters to the administrations of the in- and the Faculty of Mathematics held several joint stitutions that they selected. In the letter it was meetings with their professors and coordinators. emphasized that this would be a student proj- Master degree students of mathematics indi- ect and that the result of this project would be a cated to their colleagues from the Faculty of non-commercial DVD, and that each institution, Philology in which formats they have to put the which would help the project with their materi- materials for multimedia document. Each of the als, would be listed as a sponsor of this project. documents had to be digitized. The texts had to Since the Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia be transferred to .doc format, photos scanned in is a place where materials on theatrical produc- .jpg format, VHS recordings to be transferred to tions, reviews and interviews related to the theater DVD format, and audio files in .avi format. are kept, and since the Museum has organized The students of the Faculty of Mathematics an exhibition in 1998 and published a catalog scanned a large part of the texts with reviews and on the opus of Aleksandar Popović, the subject interviews, and then converted by the OCR. Stu- teacher and the coordinator met with the director dents of the Faculty of Philology then repaired of The Theatre Museum of Serbia, MSc Ksenija processed texts – spelling errors, incorrect divi- Radulović, to inform her more closely about the sion of words by hyphen at the end of line, ir- project. This institution enabled the students to regularly transmitted characters. collect most of the materials that were later in- At the joint meeting the students had agreed corporated into the multimedia document. that the selected photos should be scanned, and The employees in all institutions in which the provided with the XML tags. The XML tags con- students went out to ask for help, indicated the tained the name of the play to which the photos materials that they had, gave the materials to dig- relate, the theater where the play was performed, itize, provide technical assistance and referred year, names of actors and characters from the the students to other relevant institutions. play. With the help of master degree students of

50 INFOtheca, № 2, vol XI, December 2010 Aleksandra Trtovac ‒ MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT... the Faculty of Mathematics, the Faculty of Phi- - Autonomy in the research lology students have successfully completed the - Readiness for team work task. They consulted employees in the archives - The active application of previous know- of the theatres where the plays were performed, ledge and they found the information in the programs - Regularity in the performance of tasks and of theatrical performances. attendance At the next joint meeting, the students of the - Respect of deadlines for submission and fin- Faculty of Philology, presented the collected ishing materials. material classified by the institutions where they The first version of the multimedia document searched, in form of presentations in Power Point. master students of the Faculty of Mathemat- They decided to make sound track of Aleksandar ics – Ana Vukadinović, Bojana Mitrović, Miloš Popović’s biography. Đurić, Igor Valjević, Miloš Vojinović with their professors – PhD Gordana Pavlović-Lažetić and 10. Preparation and Presentation of MSc Jelena Hadži Purić presented on 20th May Multimedia Document 2010 at 5th SEEDI International Conference The students of Faculty of Philology collect- “Digitization of Cultural and Scientific Heri- ed, delivered selected and prepared materials to tage” in . the Faculty of Mathematics students who have Multimedia document Aleksandar Aca started the technical making of the multimedia Popović, as the product of the educational pro- document Aleksandar Aca Popović. cess at the Department of Library and Informa- They used SMIL computer program to create tion Science, in the form of paper,was presented a multimedia document because it was appro- by Jelena Andonovski, Biljana Đorđević and th priate way to display smultimedia content, and Marija Lukić on 25 September 2010 at the easy to use. At a joint meeting students of the International Conference “Book and Language Faculty of Mathematics presented this program in the Development of the Contemporary Soci- and its features. They also pointed out other ad- ety”, organized by the Faculty of Philology in vanced technologies that were suitable for the Belgrade. process of manipulating of multimedia content – Flash, XML, MySQL, PHP. This allowed 11. The Content of Multimedia Document students of library and information science to The final version of the multimedia document give suggestions for visual solution, data con- was finished at the end of October 2010. This tent and organization of data in the multimedia version is attached to this issue of “Infoteka” and document. The first version of the multimedia it will be sent to all institutions that participated document Aleksandar Popović made in middle in this project, in any way. of May 2010. The final version includes several groups of By creating multimedia documents, students documents: of library and information science fulfilled their 1. biography obligations according to the curriculum of this 2. theater course. All students who participated in the work 3. audio records of the project passed this exam. Exam grades 4. videos were formed by: 5. interviews - Involvement of students 6. critiques - Motivation for the collection of materials 7. multimedia database.

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Biography is presented as an interesting text ment through various records, during the semes- that contains numerous quotes of Aleksandar ter, but we also paid attention to other qualitative Popović and it is followed by audio record. indicators: The theater is illustrated with photos from the 1. Students approved of the fact that they had play performaces at the National Theatre in Bel- not the classic exam in this course. grade, Atelier 212, the 2. During the work on the multimedia docu- in Novi Sad, the National Theatre in Zrenjanin, ment Aleksandar Aca Popović students demon- , Drama Theatre in Banja Luka, strated high motivation and strong initiative to the Little Theatre in Belgrade and other. Each work. photo contains the most complete description 3. Students had the opportunity to apply their possible. previous knowledge, and it turned out that they Exept photos, content of multimedia docu- well recognized institutions in whose funds they ment consists of audio and video records of inter- could find the necessary materials. During the re- views, plays, television shows, children’s shows search, we noticed that students were familiar and radio plays and interviews in the textual form with searching of collections, working on from various newspapers and magazines such as materials, processing materials, methodologies Fight, Express Weekly Magazine, NIN, Politics, and techniques of information retrieval. Radio Journal, The World, Evening News (Za- 4. Students showed good skills in negotiating greb), News (Užice). with responsible persons in institutions, so the The content of multimedia document is ac- professor and the coordinator did not have to go companied by the following reviews of plays personally and seek for help from managers of published in various newspapers and magazines: institutions. Ljiljak Affair, White Coffee, A Hundred Loops 5. We observed the persistence of students to Stocking, Goodbye Joke, Cap Off, Communistic obtain materials that were not easily accessible Paradise, Pig’s Trot, Ljubinko and Desanka, Ant and for which it was supposed to wait for a long Crowd, Cinderella, The Development of Bora time. Šnajder’s Way, Saber of Damascus, Deadly Mo- 6. Students shown a willingness to become torcycle Ride, Holy Devil Rasputin and Ruddy more familiar with the operation procedure in Shelduck. some institutions. One student began volunteer- Since all the material collected could not be ing at the processing and digitization of the mate- placed on the multimedia document, the students rials in the Museum of Theatrical Arts of Serbia, of the Faculty of Mathematics made a multime- encouraged by the work on this project. dia database in which they included many photo- 7. Students were very successful in team graphs, posters, clippings, various critical texts, work, hence the concluding impression that this parts of the interviews, which is available on the model of work could be applied in teaching other Internet (http://multimedia.math.rs/index.html). courses in the Department of Library and Infor- mation Science. 12. Conclusions 8. The cooperation and collaboration of stu- Multimedia document, as a student’s proj- dents of the Faculty of Mathematics and the Fac- ect, is the innovation in the educational process ulty of Philology is especially significant. They at the Department of Library and Information mutually exchanged completely new knowledge Science. We monitored the student’s activity in and contributed to resolving the problem of mak- process of the development of multimedia docu- ing multimedia documents. The only problem

52 INFOtheca, № 2, vol XI, December 2010 Aleksandra Trtovac ‒ MULTIMEDIA DOCUMENT AS A STUDENT’S PROJECT... was that the exam terms between these two fac- It is necessary to emphasize that the project ulties were not synchronized, so the future librar- could not have been realized and that this mul- ians had no opportunity to significantly influence timedia document would not contain important the graphic design of the multimedia document. information and plenty of data without kindness 9. Information between teachers, coordinators and courtesy in providing technical assistance of and students were sent by email and it proved to employees in institutions where students did their be a fast and efficient tool. Materials for process- research. Special thanks to the Theatre Museum ing, repair and finishing were distributed mostly of Serbia, Library of the Yugoslav Film Archive, in the same way. Radio Belgrade, Radio Television Serbia, Zvez- In next projects the final version of the mul- dara Theatre, Bitef Theatre, Atelier 212, the Yu- timedia document should be completed in May, goslav Drama Theatre, National Theatre in Bel- before the June exam period begins. Also, the stu- grade, Library of the Serbian National Theatre in dents who have the talent and interest in graphic Novi Sad, Sterija Theatre Festival in Novi Sad, design, should be actively involved in creating of the Cultural Center and Library, “Jovan Tomić” multimedia document. in Nova Varoš, The Šabac Theatre.1

* Students of Department of Library and Information Science who participated in the making of the multimedia document Aleksandar Aca Popović during the school year 2009/2010: Jelena Andonovski, Jelena Bojić, Ana Glišić, Boris Đenadić, Kristina Đermanović, Biljana Đorđević, Marko Đurić, Ivana Đurka, Dragana Isaković, Tamara Janković, Marija Lukić. Marijana Milovanović, Miloš Orlović, Sandra Petrović, Slobodan Stamatov, Katarina Stanišić, Tamara Stančić, Jasmina Stojanović, Olja Stojanović, Zvezdana Stojkanović, Tijana Stojković, Bojana Trebinjac, Tanja Ćirić, Spomenka Čelebić.

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References Милићевић, Миодраг и Тодорић-Вукашин, Богичевић, Душан. 2009. Интерактивна настава Драгана. 2009. Примена мултимедијалних алата као иновативни модел универзитетског преда- у образовању. Педагошка стварност 55, (9-10): вања. Иновације у настави – часопис за савремену 955-961. наставу 22, (2): 42-52. Поповић, Радован. 2009. Последњи српски IFLA. 2004. ��������������������������������������Smernice za audiovizuelnu i multimedi- бољшевик. Београд: Службени гласник. jalnu građu u bibliotekama i drugim institucijama, Радовановић, Сања. 2005. Мултимедијална дела – http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s35/pubs/avm-guidelines појам и правна заштита. Зборник радова Правног 04-sr.pdf (accessed on 8th November 2010) факултета, Нови Сад 39, (3): 169-181.

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