3 Catalogus
Multimedia information technology
and the annotation of video
The state of the art in multimedia information technology has not progressed
to the point where a single solution is available to meet all reasonable needs of
documentalists and users of video archives. In general, we do not have an
optimistic view of the usability of new technology in this domain, but
digitization and digital power can be expected to cause a small revolution in the
area of video archiving. The volume of data leads to two views of the future:
on the pessimistic side, overload of data will cause lack of annotation capacity,
and on the optimistic side, there will be enough data from which to learn
selected concepts that can be deployed to support automatic annotation. At the
threshold of this interesting era, we make an attempt to describe the state of the
art in technology. We sample the progress in text, sound, and image processing,
as well as in machine learning.
Multimedia
There are at least three different interpretations of the term multimedia. It is
interesting to review the interpretations here from the standpoint of meta-data.
The word multimedia was first interpreted as everything in the domain of digital
information that wasn't text, and then became a synonym for the computerized
version of information and knowledge. In a bookstore, the multimedia
department will display encyclopedias and interactive courses, and possibly
computer games. Traditionally distinct forms of information carrier, such as
paper, audio, and tutoring, have converged into a single form: digital
productions delivered interactively through a computer window. And, it is
obvious that neither this convergence, nor the flexible way in which information
is employed, have reached their limit.
For one thing, the form of delivery of digital productions is still very close to the
original forms. The web pages of CNN started out having the layout of a
newspaper; now they are genuine multimedia pages with various modes of access
to multimedia content. Digital encyclopedias have almost the same structure as
their paper precursors. Only computer games are distinctly different.
This picture supports the view that new technology is always first accepted in the
old idiom.
The convergence of hitherto different media demands universal solutions for file
formats and intellectual property rights, but this will take time.
And, convergence and interactivity of media rely heavily on meta-data.
Verslag van de Provinciale Staten verkiezingen van 1954 door de NTS. Het verkiezingsbord wordt
handmatig bijgewerkt. Op de voorgrond zitten dr. E. van Raalte en I. A. Diepenhorst, 21-4-1954
[collectie: Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid]
ARNOLD W.M SMEULDERS, FRANCIS KA DE JONG AND
MARCEL WORRING
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