What is Expo Shanghai Online exactly? Is it the online version of the physical Expo? Is it the integration of web sites of different natures? Are there any innovations? What are the highlights? We invited relevant experts who will participate in the development of Expo Shanghai Online to give brief answers to these questions.

Guests:

ZHU, Nong Fei, Vice President, Capgemini LIU, Sheng Yi, Executive Vice President, Tencent Holdings Limited

JI, Fei Chong, Vice President, Crystal Digital Technology Company Limited WANG, Li Ping, (Expo Shanghai Online) Project Director, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination Manuel Salchli, Deputy Commissioner General of Switzerland, the first country confirming the participation in Expo Shanghai Online

(Capgemini–consultant of Expo Shanghai Online; Tencent–system integration and operation & maintenance contractor of Expo Shanghai Online; Crystal–digital resource construction contractor of Expo Shanghai Online)

Keyword: Innovation

Zhu: This is the first time to move the physical exhibitions to internet for a complete online presentation.

Liu: Expo Shanghai Online is an innovation in World Expo history. It differs from the Expo official website, which is mainly a platform for information release and service. Expo Online, is the internet version of physical Expo, with provision of introduction, promotion, tour guide and other services. It will interact with the physical Expo in a systematic way. The most striking feature is to build a network platform that enables alternative experience and real time interaction. With this platform, web surfers may enjoy the splendor of Expo 2010, and communicate with visitors from different corporations, countries and regions. Therefore, it will be an unprecedented innovation with regard to public participation in both depth and coverage.

Wang: Expo Shanghai Online is the integration of exhibitions, activities and interactions. Being different from general websites representing pictures, texts, audios and videos, Expo Online mainly focuses on three-dimensional exhibitions and multimedia presentations, and enables rambling within the Expo Site and pavilions. For example, "google earth", a three-dimensional program, only enables traveling on streets, while Expo Online can enable visitors to "walk into" buildings and even "touch" the exhibits.

Ji: Expo Shanghai Online enables transmission of a large amount of HD images and cross platform release of information, and integrates such multimedia technologies as static web pages, videos, pictures, and web3d. Combining the most advanced multimedia technologies and achieving the largest of such application ever, Expo Online is an innovation to the concept of internet experience.

Salchli: Expo Shanghai Online is an innovation to present the physical Expo beyond the limitation of time and space.

Keyword: Experience

Liu: At present, we are building the platform and planning the contents, to offer users the one-stop services and experiences, and satisfy their demands for understanding of and participating in the Expo. We will make a full-range and all-around report on the Expo with videos, audios, pictures, texts, as well as unique services (including news push) based on tencent products. Along with the Expo, we will organize online communication activities focused on different themes in different phases, to make more people get knowledge of and participate in the Expo. These activities include qq.com special topics, QQLive, QQShow (visual image presentation), online auctions, individualized QQ spaces and such.

Zhu: Today, the most popular web space is community. Expo Shanghai Online just builds up such a community for those who are interested in and concerned for the Expo. It gathers BIE, the Expo Organizer, participants, visitors and other interest-related parties.

Ji: This is a brand new three-dimensional tour experience, which enables the multi-angle viewing of the Expo Site, Zones, major blocks, interior and exterior of pavilions, as well as the shifting of daytime and nighttime patterns. For instance, visitors may choose different viewing angles for sightseeing on the Expo Site by simply clicking the mouse. Visitors may also walk into pavilions, "touch" exhibits, and listen to the introductions made by Haibao. In addition to mimicking the three-dimensional objects in real life, Expo Online enables multivariant rotation, amplification, and change of colors or components. It will significantly improve the rate and efficiency in exhibiting plans and products online, and render the experiences unavailable in real life.

Salchli: Expo Shanghai Online highlights visitors’experiences. We wish to provide more information to visitors through this platform. It is assumed that each visitor spends average 10 minutes in Swiss Pavilion, and gets limited information and has just a rough idea of Switzerland. Via Expo Online, visitors may get more background information, including the innovative philosophies developed and contributions made by Switzerland in achieving a sustainable development. If a visitor finds interest in some specific aspects of Switzerland, he/she may log onto Expo Online to search for more detail information accordingly. Expo Online is an effective supplement to the physical Expo as well as a good subsidiary product to visitors.

Keyword: Interaction

Salchli: Expo Shanghai Online offers a larger and better platform for us to promote the Swiss Pavilion with the theme‘Interaction between the city and nature", where worldwide online visitors may communicate with each other. Online Swiss Pavilion provides a strong interactivity, somewhat like an interactive journey, which enables the real scene experience, the same routes and viewing angles as on-site visitors are offered. Walking into the pavilion, an infinite world of cycles, visitors may enjoy the exhibitions and presentations by switching between different internal spaces, urban and natural spaces, and taking cycling cable car. Upon entering, visitors will see the introduction to cities in Switzerland, and up along the corridor, to enjoy the city scenes presented in a large screen, then out of the center exhibition area to take the cable car, reaching the top, rendering into the natural world, to complete the free rambling and sightseeing in Switzerland under the skyline of Shanghai. In addition, Expo Online will provide online games, blogs, pictures, videos, internet photographs and many more such elements.

Zhu: Through Expo Online, visitors will not only enjoy virtual exhibitions, but also get relevant information to support their trips and communicate with more people in the same camp. Additionally, some interest-related parties may gain benefits from Expo Online, such as sponsors, hotels, air lines, and travel agencies, who would like to exchange information with others through such a platform.

Ji: Expo Shanghai Online is an interactive platform, even with the nature of animation and game, where peoples, communities, organizations and many other parties as long as concerned with the Expo may find their windows and places to satisfy different demands raised by them and others. We may realize the desired interactive effects by means of online lives and mega eyes, along with specifically designed online activities, gathering the Organizer, participants and visitors.

Keyword: Combination

Zhu: Modern internet technologies include virtual world, interaction, and remote exhibition. By means of scanning and imaging, the virtual world may present exhibits in more detail as well as from multi-angle viewing. The interactive function may build a close tie between participants and visitors for a better communication. Remote exhibition enables a vivid presentation of the Expo to web visitors no matter where they are. Expo Online is a perfect integration of the physical Expo and internet.

Liu: Expo Online will be provided in a combination way, through internet, cell phone, IPTV and many other user terminals.

Ji: Expo Shanghai Online, its exhibitions, tour guide programs, and activities can be released via three different platforms–internet, IPTV and cell phone, which will tremendously increase the number of visitors and improve the convenience in accessing. So far as we know, the cross-platform three-dimensional exhibition is a highlight as well as a difficulty in building Expo Online, which shall not only ensure the effect of three-dimensional experience, but also take into account the technical feasibility in many other front edge platforms, such as IPTV and 3G. Therefore, the development of relevant technical criteria in building Expo Online shall give considerations to both the ability of implanting systems in other platforms and the stability. With the breakthrough of many critical technologies in this field, some functions can be achieved with IPTV and cell phone. It is believed that the cross-platform Expo Online will be a great success in 2010.

Keyword: Challenge

Wang: Currently, we are facing challenges mainly in three aspects. Firstly, Expo Online is an innovation in World Expo history, without any precedented criteria to follow. Moreover, it will be constrained by the physical Expo to some extent. For example, we cannot obtain the interior and exterior renderings until the completion of pavilion building construction, which is expected to be underway in 2009. We will have to be challenged by a tremendously heavy workload in the very late stage.

Secondly, the technical feasibility is a problem. On one hand, we try to lower the requirements for user end configuration, enabling the use of integrated graphics card, and on the other hand, the user end will have to deal with a large amount of spatial data related to the Expo Site and about 300 pavilions, which will be a bottleneck while building Expo Shanghai Online. So far, there is no proper solution to this problem. Furthermore, we hope that web surfers worldwide could visit Expo Shanghai Online smoothly through our servers home and abroad.

The last challenge is project management. We have around 300 pavilions, including 16 corporate pavilions and China National Pavilion, built by participants from more than 200 countries and international organizations, 31 domestic provinces and municipalities, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. It is a great challenge to manage and coordinate the efforts made by all these participants.

Zhu: Expo Shanghai Online featuring long duration and numerous participants, and without previous experiences for reference, is much more complex than any other IT project Capgemini has completed.

Liu: From technical point of view, Expo Shanghai Online will have to overcome a series of difficulties, to build a large online interactive community, which combines the most popular contemporary 2D and 3D technologies. Users may conduct a free browse over more than 200 pavilions of different styles, including around 10 Experiencing Pavilions (Type B Pavilion) with various modern 3D technologies. Tencent, as the general contractor for system integration, will have to, for the first time, combine these diversified 2D and 3D technologies into a single website in an innovative way, and ensure a high quality operation and maintenance. Despite the challenges to be met, we will make great efforts to bring a splendid Expo Online to web users based on Tencent’s rich experiences in super user system development, operation and maintenance, as well as its first-class project teams.

Ji: To offer a perfect Expo Online, we will have to find out solutions to some critical issues, such as how to communicate with participants, and set the IPTV and cell phone platforms.