IBM and 'U' collaborate on digital media system

By <BR>By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter  On  November 6th, 2003

Imagine clicking on the face of a speaker in a video to search
through the University’s collection for other videos in which
that person appears.

Thanks to a joint effort between the University and IBM
announced yesterday, University students will soon be able to
conduct keyword searches through thousands of video or audio files
for images and sound bytes.

IBM will work with the University to implement a Digital Asset
Management System in the Media Union’s Living Laboratory.
Eight schools, including the College of Literature, Science and the
Arts and the School of Dentistry, are also collaborating to bring
DAMS technology to their classrooms.

DAMS allows students to easily work with and search through rich
media files such as videos, audio clips and digital images, said
John Williams, assistant director of the Media Union. For example,
DAMS can convert speech to text so that students can search through
video to find when certain words are mentioned, he said.

“It makes working with video and audio more like working
with text,” Williams said. “If we want to be able to
teach our students new ways to analyze and interpret, we’re
going to have to use tools like this.”

Using DAMS, students will also be able to use cumbersome digital
files such as high-resolution DVD images with greater ease.

When working on a project like a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow,
student will be able to use digital images at lower resolutions,
thus avoiding long loading times and saving storage space, Williams
said. Once the PowerPoint is completed, students can add the higher
resolution file back into their presentation, he said.

The University will also be able to index and catalogue its
digital media collection using DAMS, Williams said. With the new
technology, students will be able to click on the face of a person
speaking in a video to search through the University’s
archive for other videos containing that person, he said.

The Business School has been using rich digital media for about
a year and a half, and DAMS technology will allow the school to
create a virtual library where students can conduct keyword
searches of the files, said Edward Adams, director of computing at
the Business School.

“We have a lot of digital assets created, and we needed a
system like DAMS to search, store and index the assets,”
Adams said. “Otherwise all you’ve got is 10,000 hours
of people talking, and you rally can’t make use of
them.”

Adams said the Business School currently organizes its files
using a system called Virage, which is “very limited
archiving and searching.” Adams said weighing Virage against
DAMS is like comparing a Pinto to a Cadillac. DAMS “is more
robust, it’s more secure,” he said.

Williams said the School of Dentistry currently possesses many
video recordings of oral operations conducted. Using DAMS,
professors will be able to search through the videos to bring up a
particular procedure, he said.

DAMS will also help history of art faculty work with images of
paintings which are currently kept on slides, he said. Professors
may even be able to call up digital images during their lectures,
he said.

For IBM, the joint project will provide the company with
valuable experience of testing DAMS technology on the
University’s large collection of digital images and files,
IBM spokeswoman Lesia Figueira said.

IBM has already worked with museums and schools like
Northwestern and Indiana University to implement DAMS, but the
University of Michigan is on the cutting edge of digital imagery,
Figueira said.

“The system the University is taking is one of the largest
ever on the academic level,” she said. “I really think
it will give us that edge in having one of the leading projects
under our belts.”

The deal will set IBM apart from its main competitors in the
academic arena, Blackboard and WebCT, who do not have experience
working with rich media, Figueria said.

“We already have probably the most experience working with
these large repositories,” she said.

Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Sat, 26 May 2012 21:49:04 -0400