[alt-media-res] potential extra research module for alt-media-res proect

[zoe]

greetings all - here's a tentative exploratory potentially eventual request:

as you know i've reported briefly on some of the exciting ideas coming out
of our 'transmission' meeting a few weeks back in rome - particularly the
idea of developing keyword based feeds of video material. I've also
mentioned the planned 'retransmission' meeting in london mid october,
initially envisaged as another clearer channel uk online video get together
but now aiming higher, with not just a 'hacklab' type set up but also a
panel with BFI involvement, etc...

well, there is now a 'london transmission' e-list (let me know if any of you
would like to be included on this, this mail is cc:ed to it) and yesterday
some of us got together to swap video and think about what we really wanted
to achieve in October. and the obvious thing was to have the opportunity to
really move ahead with developing key technical tools to facilitate online
video exchange in our emerging network. which would require some applied
research and development of our agreements in rome in preparation.

now I am not techie enough to fully understand what all the work involves,
but we tentatively agreed that there is one more or less dicrete key
research/decelopment task which needs doing soon, and which would benefit
from the right person being paid a bit to do it. and I have no idea how much
it would cost, or if this is the sort of thing the alt-media-res project can
think about supporting, but if it is, and we get the right person, my
understanding is that it would be an incredibly valuable investment for
independent online video networks, and also generate 'action research'
findings like no other.

in short, the situation as I understand it is that people in berlin have
developed v2v tools to exchange video online using bittorrent, another crew
have a project called soma (which I understand less but which I think
relates to keywords etc in online video metadata), and people in london are
working on what they call the 'semantic web' - working out ways to navigate
online materials using meaningful words and phrases.. there are also radical
librarian networks out there, people in oneworld tv and similar projects who
have been working in this field for some time, within their particular
fields and networks.

so, as far as I can understand anyway! the project would be to survey the
work of each of these communities and create an overview of their
achievements and potential sufficiently to then ask techies to take the best
of these existing projects' tools and experience and generate easily
accessed tools to enable user-friendly searches and feeds of issue/region
based online video.

ok I'll stop there. i'm in way over my head already ;-)

anna or simon, can you help me clarify our ambitions here, and also suggest
anything about what kind of outlay, timescale, person etc such research
might involve?

thanks!!!!!

love

z


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Films about International Financial Institutions: http://www.ifiwatch.tv
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zoe at esemplastic.net, eyes at ifiwatchnet.org, zoeontheroad at hotmail.com

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