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Re: from metadata to archiving (was Some prescient words from Murray

Subject: Re: from metadata to archiving (was Some prescient words from Murray
From: "Steve Duncan" swduncan
Date: Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:43 am ((PDT))
It makes sense to me. While I'm not primarily a nature recordist but a  
daughters recordist, I've still got the problem of organizing and  
documenting recordings.

However it seems to me that as soon as you bring in photos, other meta  
data and tags, it's no longer an audio-centric system. But if it's  
designed right it shouldn't need to be.

Really an event database, with the ability to store the documentation  
associated with that event, whether it's dawn chorus, a concert, or my  
daughters playing in the sandbox on the first day of spring.

The event database would have connectivity to media specific apps for  
managing sound, video, images, geo info, etc.

Steve Duncan | www.swduncan.com

On Apr 21, 2010, at 10:36 AM, Rob Danielson <> wrote:

> At 5:21 PM +1000 4/21/10, Paul Jacobson wrote:
>>
>> On 21/04/2010, at 10:34 AM, Dan Dugan wrote:
>>
>>> Cameras are leading the way with metadata. A photo file from my
>>> Canon Digital Rebel comes with at least 18 items of metadata
>>> embedded--not only date and time, but lens type, exposure values,
>>> etc. My iPhone photos come with GPS coordinates. Unfortunately,
>>> there is less demand (no mass market?) for audio recorders
>>> including metadata.
>>
>> Hi Dan,
>>
>> iXML looks promising in this regard. see:
>> <http://www.ixml.info/>http://www.ixml.info/
>>
>> The "Notes" keyword allows free form text to be entered and is
>> probably the most useful section for entering information about
>> location, rig, etc. Sound Devices have support for this in v2.0+
>> firmware.
>>
>> Support is becoming increasingly widespread and is slightly more
>> extensive than the compatibility list would indicate. For example
>> Soundminer and Wave Editor include iXML metadata editing
>> capabilities and I noticed that the tascam HD-P82, and Sonosax
>> recorders ( SX-R4 and MiniR82 ) include iXML metadata support. The
>> hardware supporting iXML tends to confirm your observation that
>> audio metadata is aimed squarely at the pro end of the market,
>> rather than mass market.
>>
>> The GPS_COORDINATES custom keyword has been registered but
>> unfortunately there is no indication of which developer intends to
>> implement this.
>>
>> cheers
>> Paul
>>
>
> Hi Paul, Dan, Charles et al--
>
> I'm very interested in these issues.
>
> Prompted by the insights of Ian Rawes, who works at the British
> Library Sound Archive, I'm imagining a software approach that would
> effectively make a recordist into an "archivist" every time he/she
> logs a recording (in recognition that there are many boxes of tapes,
> discs and hard drives at museums and historical societies waiting for
> archivists to dive into,..)
>
> Heres one, possible way to see the software as "auto-archiving:"
>
> Lets say we have a recorder that grabs GPS and time and sets aside
> chunks for additional data. (Not essential, but the system would
> accommodate this).
>
> Lets say there's a free or cheap, cross-platform sound editing/mixing
> app** (not just logging or library app) that accepts
> recorder-produced data and allows one to add notes, photos, sync'd
> weather info, species and other key data AS ONE LOGS and creates
> short audio excerpts. (One can use the same app to create rich
> records from field recordings with out metadata initially).
>
> Lets say the same editor will export all of this app-consolidated
> data in format "X."  (Possibly, xml with links to the media and all
> other indexed data).
>
> Next, one needs a free or very cheap cross-platform database
> application to import data "X" and create RECORDS or pages that
> display this info in an organized format with links to the media and
> robust relational searching. It also enables one to update and
> correct records and add more categories both temporarily and
> permanently.
>
> It seems to me that if we work backwards from the Database, one can
> make a powerful, personal library that one has the option to place
> on-line and be linked with others of similar ilk.  The same system
> could retain/link commercial interests and/or non profit interests.
>
> **Reaper (cross-platform $50) will import metadata and allow one to
> add notes and export excel compatible log sheets. One of the
> Extension developers for Reaper lives here in Wisconsin, but he needs
> to know what database the info is going into,..
>
> Obviously, I'm favoring a system that a beginning recordist can use
> with little expense and with community support so the numbers of
> users can grow and abilities maintained over time.  Make sense to
> anyone?  Rob D.
>
> -- 
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie  
> Krause
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>






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