Threading Information Pathways Through NSDL Video

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The services being developed in this project will enable patrons of the future National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL) to efficiently locate video resources and meld them into compositions that effectively support particular objectives. Video is a rich medium for communicating visual, time-dependent phenomena and for providing real-world footage capable of illustrating and motivating science and mathematics concepts. Vast collections of video have captured field studies and experiments, documented discoveries in space and throughout our planet, and recorded events in our world and in micro-environments not accessible to the human eye. However, despite their potential for use in educational settings, video resources are often discounted or overlooked by science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) educators and students. Barriers include: -- Loss of investment made by authors of video compositions who blaze pathways through the video information space. These pathways remain unmapped, and hence undiscovered by other information foragers with similar requirements. -- Lack of support to tailor video resources to specific needs. -- Frustration in searching and browsing video, as much time is invested in viewing numerous video clips to gauge their relevance. -- Inability to locate pertinent video material, due to insufficient indexing of its contents. This project is exploring ways to overcome these barriers by capturing and managing the threads of video information access, use, and reuse within the NSDL. Specifically, the project is working on the following services: -- Creation and organization of annotations for video compositions and information pathways, enabling a dynamic information repository where one's diligent work in producing a stellar video lesson plan can be recognized, rewarded, archived, and reused in future overlays of video information. -- Support for composition of video lesson plans and multimedia essays from component clips meeting the time, message, and pedagogical requirements of the NSDL patron. -- Explicit video annotation mechanisms, whereby NSDL patrons can access reviews and other commentary aligned and synchronized with video resources. -- Implicit annotation mechanisms for video, allowing information retrieval schemes with relevance judgments based on access frequency and incorporation of video resources into derivative works. -- Enhanced content-based video search functionality derived from the integration of speech recognition, language processing, and image processing automated techniques. The project's focus on video complements the research of others focusing directly on the text or image domains. The project team is well-positioned to pursue this work, given their past accomplishments with the "Informedia" project (NSF Award Nos. 9411299 and 9817496).