The Leaf project : a first application

Abstract: Today large publishers are developing platforms via which their content, such as magazines, books, and newspapers, are distributed based upon the well established pattern of 'pay-per-content', via a multitude of mobile applications. Despite of the recent flourishing market of subscription possibilities, users currently have to buy single items of content at an average expenditure that is approximately equal to the cost of the printed media, because publishers are still investing in printing hardcover versions of their publications. Furthermore currently digital documents are mainly "scanned" versions of the printed ones, an unattractive format which does not exploit the potential of digital publishing. This format is rendered by the device in a way that does not permit the user to take real advantages of a digital environment, making the e-reading experience something that has no real added values, compared to regular printed publications. In order to provide to people an improved experience in terms of both accessing and enjoying their favorite material, the Leaf project aims to create a platform in which both publishers and readers can take advantage of an innovative business model and advanced technological solutions. As part of the Leaf project, the main objective in this subproject is the realization of a client that can access a set of online contents and offer these to the reader, by streaming content rather than requiring that the complete object should be downloaded in order to be rendered by the device. The access to the material should follow modern security standards, including data encryption, in order to prevent unauthorized use of the content. Furthermore, the client should present the content in an innovative way and allow the development of a mobile platform that could be supported based upon advertising, with an approach based on using information about the user (i.e. favorite places or profile details)as well as content-based advertising. In addition to the client application, the development of this subproject includes the development of a series of server-side utilities for the uploading and elaboration of publications on the server infrastructure. The document first reviews e-reading systems, focusing on the ePub file definition and e-reading solutions currently in use. The report then describes the Android OS development environment. The document then explains the implementation for both client and server side applications, giving a detailed overview of the chosen strategies and of the applications' structure. Finally the report concludes with a list of the achieved goals, a discussion on the project's limitations and then an exploration on what is the future for this client application.