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Growth House > Technology > Content Interchange Format
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Content Interchange Format (CIF)

Content Interchange Format, or CIF, is one of the content syndication tools developed by Growth House, Inc. to normalize the presentation of educational materials developed in many other formats by our partner organizations.

CIF is based on collaborative principles that enable multiple institutions to share educational content across multiple web sites. CIF is designed for full-text and multimedia distance education systems requiring web delivery, ease of development, ease of maintenance, and interoperability with other information systems. CIF-compliant modules can stand on their own, or can be interlinked to form complex educational systems.

CIF-compliant content from multiple sources can be located using the IICN MegaSearch service from any participating web site. Many members of the IICN have obtained a wider audience for their existing education materials by authorizing Growth House to repurpose them as CIF modules. CIF is also successful as a way to put the full text of books online in a format that is easy to use, easy to search, and easily linked to book-fulfillment systems such as Amazon.com.

CIF does not require the use of XML, but web sites that have XML capability can arrange to import modules via that method. Web sites that use frames can install a CIF Viewport to offer high-quality educational content to their own visitors using standard templates provided by Growth House, Inc. Installing a CIF Viewport enables a web site to "play back" CIF tutorials via remote access arrangements with CIF content providers. The educational content appears directly on your own web site. CIF Viewports complement our remote search engine which is used by over one hundred health care organizations internationally to add high-quality interactive content to their own web sites.