Chaplin Interactive NEtwork of Multimedia Applications (CINEMA) is an integrated audio&video digital system with telecommunication links for the distribution of electronic cinema and multimedia materials in an international network of Multimedia Resource Centres. It includes applications and services to train and educate populations living in critical zones of urban and rural areas in Information and Communication Technologies.
Multimedia Resource Centres (MRCs) were created at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1997, a national association called AIM (Association pour l'Intégration par les Multimédia) was created. The objectives of this association are to promote and to support development of MRCs in critical zones in the suburbs of cities. The CINEMA project Chaplin Interactive Network of Multimedia Applications) was started by the Eugene Chaplin Group as part of the ESPRIT programme in order to create an international network of Edutainment Centres (Education- Entertainment) for developing technology, tools and services allowing
- growth and promotion of the European cinematographic industry,
- development of cinemas with opportunities for creating local activities and employment,
- the fixing of conditions of access to education and culture, based on Information Technologies in order to allow everybody to discover the treasure and wealth of a multicultural environment. The CINEMA project is the opportunity for AIM to motivate MRCs by their participation in an evaluation of their needs related to the development of digital cinema. The participation of the Eugene Chaplin Group in AIM means the development of two categories of sites and systems can be considered: - - the first one corresponds to the development of cultural actions of general interest, structuring social actions and their economical viability: Edutainment Centres (EC)
- the second is the implementation of equipment labelled by the Eugene Chaplin Group under franchising and commercial exploitation conditions: Multimedia Resource Centres (MRC) Results of the preliminary study are:
- identification of sites and partners potentially interested in the creation of Edutainment Centres (ECs) or Multimedia Resource Centres (MRCs)
- definition of services, material and financial tools for the exploitation of ECs and MRCs
- provision of a first estimation of complementary needs and financial support to realise ECs and MRCs.