A Digital Rich Media Library of Animal Behavior

Cornell Univ - State: Awds Made Prior May 2010, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

This collections project brings the unique resources of the Macaulay Library online as a new part of the NSDL. The Macaulay Library, a division of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, is the world's largest open repository of recordings of animal behavior and natural history. Animal behavior is a topic that is intrinsically interesting to people worldwide and is easily recruited into initiatives that enrich, entertain, enlighten, and educate a broad and multifaceted audience. It is also a key focus of current research, conservation, and public awareness programs. Because sound and video recordings typically contain multiple events and objects of interest, users of traditional long-format archives must spend hours previewing recordings before finding the specific examples they want. In addition to the reasons listed above, the intellectual merit of this project involves the development of: a) the interfaces linking the Macaulay Library to the NSDL, b) online annotation tools that allow remote experts to log into our metadata each event and object within a recording, and c) query tools that allow users to search the annotated and authenticated database, move directly to those portions of a recording that fit their query, and then edit and assemble suitable segments of recordings for delivery. The annotation and query tool sets both include novel new visualization and interactive mapping features that greatly enhance the accessibility of the collection to even novice users. Broader Impact: This new NSDL collection promotes increased discovery (since searches that move directly to a given location inside a recording are much faster than previewing entire film clips), understanding (since specific and authenticated examples are immediately accessible for any behavioral topic), teaching (since educators can quickly produce customized media sets online), conservation (since wildlife management staff worldwide can obtain exemplars for training or biodiversity assessment), research (since scientists can rapidly and at low cost access sample sizes that have hitherto been impossible), the general public (since the media can obtain authenticated examples for stories quickly), and infrastructure (since the technology proposed here has very broad applications to other rich media collections). This unique project makes all of those goals easier, faster, and effective from any location in the world. It adds a whole new dimension to the NSDL, and it does so in a way that maximizes its utility and access by our diverse users. This project integrates the internationally respected animal behavior, natural history museum, education, bioacoustics, and computer science communities at Cornell University. It also builds on the long history of NSDL involvement by Cornell University staff and faculty, and follows a long tradition of collaboration between Cornell and industry, in this case through partnerships with the EMC 2 Corporation, Apple Computer, and VideoBank. These histories, plus the unique economic sustainability afforded by being part of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, make the Macaulay Library uniquely positioned to undertake this task.