Canadian <Metadata> Forum

Multimedia Expert Panel Discussion
Responses

Alexander Eykelhof The Bibliocentre, Centennial College

Available also in [PDF 44 KB]

Multimedia Panel Discussion Topic 1: "What is MPEG and its various forms?"

MPEG-1

• ISO Number IS-11172 (1993)
• An AV compression standard
• Removes spatially redundant data
  • Discrete -Cosine Transform or DCT and Huffman encoding
• Removes temporally redundant data
  • Motion Compensated Prediction or MCP
• Uses audio compression
  • Subband encoding
• Bandwidth = 1.5 Mbits/sec
• Intended for CD-ROM and VCD use

MPEG-2

• ISO Number IS-13818 (1998)
• An AV compression standard
• Extension of the MPEG-1 standard
• Uses same compression standards but…
• Also supports Interlaced frames for greater detail has better sound
• Higher bandwidth - 2 to 8 Mbits/sec
• Used for DVD's

MPEG-4

• ISO Number IS-14496 (1999)
• An AV compression standard using newer technology
• Object-based approach, multiple profiles
• Designed for a range of multimedia applications
• Especially streaming over the Web
• Lower bandwidth - 8kbit/sec to 1 Mbit/sec

MPEG-7

• ISO Number IS-15938 (2002)
• A multimedia content description interface
• XML-based metadata tool
• Describes -
  • Audio characteristics
  • Motion characteristics
  • Colour characteristics
  • Texture characteristics
  • Shape characteristics
  • Semantic characteristics

MPEG-21

• ISO Number IS-21000 (2003)
• A multimedia framework to enable portability of multmedia resources
• An XML-based metadata tool
• Supports
  • Content creation
  • Content usage
  • Content packaging
  • Intellectual property & protection
  • Financial management

Primarily oriented toward rights management

References

• ISO (www.iso.org)
• MPEG group (www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/index.htm)
• Cover Pages (http://xml.coverpages.org/)
• Hyperdictionary (www.hyperdictionary.com)

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Multimedia Panel Discussion Topic 2: "What value, if any, does metadata provide for multimedia?"

• Video content
• Metadata takes us past the "Black Box" we can see into the video as well all around it
• Books have indexes, table of contents and random access to the guts of the book
• Who would buy a book that could only be opened to the front page It's normal to think of books as having multiple access points
• This level of access is critical for multimedia objects as well
• It has begun with DVD's - many popular DVD's have chapter listings on the inside cover and scene access available online.
• But there's a potential for much more.
• Detailed access to any point in inside the video
• And more - access to multiple segments on the same topic

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Multimedia Panel Discussion Topic 3: "What methodology has each panel member followed in the implementation of metadata?"

• Our work with video metadata did not start out as a metadata project.
• It started with as a result of the experience of AV staff in libraries and media centres
• Video tapes kept behind counters, often no way to look them up in a catalogue
• TV's, VCR's on carts wheeled around from classroom to classroom
• Single copies of the tapes
• Some can't be taken out of the library and so must be watched in the library
• This was a practical problem in the real world. Use metadata to solve a practical problem
• It took visionary to realize there had to be a better way to deal with this
• Janice Hayes director of the Centennial college library at that time initiated a project to bring the library video collection into an on demand form
• This started the Video on Demand project
• But access meant metadata
• Half a dozen Educational videos
• Small 5 of colleges and a school board
• Markup with CanCore and MPEG-7
• MPEG-1 master
• Transcode to Quicktime

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Multimedia Panel Discussion Topic 4: "Metadata and multimedia: Where are we? Where are we going? Where do we need to be?"

• Where are we?
  • Pilot project has completed now and we are in the analysis phase
  • We have tried a number of different MAM's
  • Pilot was a success evaluation is most important to us now
• What's next?
  • Expanded Pilot
  • Refining the metadata
  • Rights management
  • More funding
• Where do we need to be?
  • 1000 videos digitized
  • Efficient markup system
  • Better use of standards such as MPEG-7
  • Collaboration with other institutions
  • Rights clearing house

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