When you’re ready to make an attempt at a viral video, think young.  Take a trip around YouTube to get some ideas.

The following video is an example of a viral video that was released by the BBC for the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.  Ukulele’s and the classic song Shaft, you just can’t go wrong with that combination.

• Streaming Video
• Broadcasting Technology
• Podcast
• W3C technologies
• Developer Resources

MAM Metadata Dictionary
This Association project will evaluate, assemble, and propose “generic” sets of nomenclature for digital media, the Web, digital video. This includes developing specific terminology for a select vertical industries, such as advertising, TV, etc. Process will require participation in regular telephonic and / or web-based meetings, with pre-scheduled meetings. Version 1.0 scheduled for April 2000.

MAM RFP Project
MAM Open RFP Project reflects focused charter to provide a suite of templates, documents and business model protocols for the development MAM project bids, vendor agreements, and technology providers contracts. Version 1.0 scheduled for May 2000.

MAM Metadata Protocol Framework
This deliverable will be focused on a metadata protocols that will allow for the ability to share catalog, directory and other related metadata between and among various content creation, catalog, application and database systems. The Association board of advisors will evaluate and organize the current and proposed industry standards affecting key digital media applications. This includes analyzing specific new standards and protocols for a select vertical industries, such as broadcast TV, video post, advertising, publishing, etc. Process will require participation in regular telephonic and / or web-based meetings, with pre-scheduled meetings. There will be a call for papers at the NAB Conference, April 9-14, 2000. The final candidate papers will be determined by IBC Amsterdam and Seybold, San Francisco, in September, with the final version approved and released at the April, 2001 NAB, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

MAM Seminars and Symposium
The Association will support the organization of a series of Seminars to be presented in conjunction with member activities at select industry trade show and conferences. Other industry events in development include ShowBiz Expo, Post LA, SIGGRAPH, Broadcast Design Association, Billboard, and NATPE.

MAM Industry Market Education
Starting in April 2000, the Association will co-sponsor iStudioWorld.com an online magazine and e-business-to-business service with membership and guest editorial, including updates on the Association’s User Group and Technology Forum activities.

iSTUDIO Press Meetings at the NAB will provide presentations of key technology provider products and services to iStudioWorld professionals. The iSTUDIO track reviews the impact of digital media and the Internet in the development, production and delivery of content for broadcast, film, corporate, new media and the Internet. The iStudioWorld is the new intelligent networked production environment that supports Internet-driven content creation, media asset management, and the e-studio world of branding and the e-business of web and new media broadband syndication.

The Technology Forum supports the business-to-business industry metadata protocols and content exchange standards framework initiative activities of Association. The following outlines the Forum functions and structure and the Technology Forum committees that are currently being organized and are strategic to the development of the Association.

Technology Forum Committees
The Tech Forum Committees leverage the members collective knowledge of MAM application software and select emerging technology sets, by synthesizing the “highest common denominator” solution out of the collaborative Technical Specification expertise of the members of the Committees.

Technology focus for 2000 include:

• MAM Industry RFP Document
• MAM Industry Metadata Dictionary
• Metadata Exchange Protocol Industry Standard Frameworks
• Open API Technical Documentation and Reference Specification, with the associated MAM Technology committees

Technical Documentation and Reference Specification, with the associated MAM User committees. There will be three Technology Forum / Standards Committee meetings in 2000. All three meetings require the attendance of the designated company representative or alternative representative.

ISLIP Media Sponsors, and IBM and the Media Asset Management Association Co-sponsor Multi-vendor Solutions Area

Solutions available on the market today will be able to do so in one place later this month: a special showcase, to be unveiled at the upcoming National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas from April 19th-22nd.

For the first time, attendees can evaluate a spectrum of mature, interoperable solutions from leading Media Asset Management vendors providing capabilities to manage video, audio, image, and text in one place (Booth # 2059 in the Sands Expo Center).

The showcase is sponsored by ISLIP Media, Inc. (the leading developer and supplier of software, systems and services to create searchable, Web-based video and audio Media Sites), and co-sponsored by IBM (offering IBM DB2 Digital Library-based solutions for managing media assets for broadcasting, publishing, advertising, sports and entertainment industries) and the Media Asset Management Association (MAMA)(an industry consortium promoting interoperable solutions). Participating industry-leading organizations include AdWare, AlterMedia, Avid, Cinebase, Content Magazine, Excalibur, IBM, Informix, ISLIP, Oracle, RealNetworks, Silicon Graphics, and TEAMS.

One of the key initiatives of MAM is to promote interoperable solutions, so that users of these products can integrate multi-vendor products to best suit their unique needs. This showcase allows us to bring vendors together to highlight the many advantages of Media Asset Management systems to the global broadcast production and digital media management communities.

Users will see real, integrated, multi-vendor, currently available hardware, software, and systems for Media Asset Management. MAM has moved from a collection of separate vendors, to an industry offering complete, integrated solutions.

“Our goal for Media Asset Management is to provide for a rich set of common services and sharing of media across products integrated to a Digital Library repository. The MAM Showcase is a great vehicle to exhibit to our customers the exciting new solutions available to them to manage all of their information assets,” said Jim Kelly, vice president, IBM Data Management Marketing. “We look forward to working with key solution providers in the MAM marketplace to deliver compelling e-business solutions that derive business value for our mutual customers.”

John Noon, publisher of Content Magazine, the first MAM industry publication commented, “Digital asset management is one of the most pressing issues media companies are facing today. We are pleased to participate in this event with other MAM exhibitors to help educate attendees and MAM users of the wide-array of products available to them.”

For more information about the Media Asset Management Vendor Showcase at NAB ‘99, or to participate in the showcase, please contact ISLIP Media.

Media Asset Management

Media Asset Management includes the tools and technologies that enable organizations across a range of industries to manage video, audio, image, and text-based assets. Media Asset Management also includes the rights and usage management of these media. MAM enables organizations to search, find, reuse and manage their media effectively.

About ISLIP Media

ISLIP (Integrated Speech, Language, and Image Processed) Media, Inc. is the leading developer of software, systems and services to create searchable video and audio Media Sites. ISLIP operates a Web site, which offers searchable video with e-commerce purchasing. ISLIP also offers the MediaSite System, a core set of software, systems and services required to develop a superior Media Site. With ISLIP’s MediaSite System, video becomes as searchable as text.

The unique feature of MediaSite technical approach is the integrated application of speech recognition, language understanding and image understanding technologies based on software components of Carnegie Mellon University’s Informedia Digital Video Library Project, an $8 million public-private sponsored research project. ISLIP Media is located in Pittsburgh, PA. and was founded in 1996.

Media Asset Management

An industry executive education association, MAM serves as an industry organizing group developing voluntary business-to-business conventions and digital media and Internet file exchange protocols to meet the needs of content asset management customers. The group makes the related technical specifications and business information easily accessible to developers and end-users at industry trade shows and online.

MAM Open RFP Project reflects focused charter to provide a suite of templates, documents and business model protocols for the development MAM project bids, vendor agreements, and technology providers contracts.

MAM operates as an advanced user group and independent industry consortium, created by and for media producers, content publishers, information managers, technology providers and their value-chain partners serving the global digital media creation and content asset management communities. The Association’s current mission centers on producing voluntary best practice-based protocols and business-to-business communications conventions and practices. The design, specification and auditing aspects of preparing a “Request For Proposal” represents one of the most critical and problematic areas of interaction between MAM system users, vendors and integration / resellers.

The MAM Association has also initiated an internal, fast-track process to define an interoperable set of agile and extensible RFP component MAM protocols to flexibly address the needs of a wide range of Internet, broadcast, brand management, e-commerce entertainment, and distance learning applications. This process has the backing and support of key industry members and is expected to promote a basecase protocol with industry-specific modules to encourage the adoption and deployment of open meta-data protocols for digital media content managers, vendors and systems integrators. Initial efforts focus on unified bid protocols for Advertising / Branding, Broadcasting / Cable, Film / Entertainment, Media, Publishing, and Higher Education.

MAM will leverage the experience and expertise of its members in the development for open protocols for a select array of MAM technologies. The Association’s Board of Advisors will evaluate the MAM RFP protocols proposals generated both inside and outside the Association for effectiveness and suitability for intranet, extranet and Internet administration and management.

MAM is empowered to consider industry-wide technology proposals for enabling web-based content management, creating the forum and the opportunity for those technologies to be open, interoperable and standardized. We look forward to industry innovation synergizing the Association’s ambitious metadata standardization activities to enable and encourage ubiquitous Web-based MAM.

By creating a suite of open standards for the Internet, the MAM Association will help enable a stable environment for end-users, vendors and re-sellers. In contrast to closed solutions–products based on MAM Association standards proposals will be available from a wide range of vendors on multiple platforms. This ensures that users, re-sellers and systems integrators can invest with confidence in system solutions, with due diligence and informed risk analysis of their long-term viability.

MAM invites new members and participation from companies who wish to tender standard proposals for immediate attention, and to be involved in the definition of protocols to drive the MAM RFP Protocol Project.

MAM Association Information

The Media Asset Management Association (MAMA), serves as a non-profit educational organization with a mandate to support the development of open standards to enable MAM. WWW, broadcast and new media applications.

Program development includes:

• open MAM lexicons
• open meta-database architectures for digital creation
• media asset management
• intelligent networking of print, audio, film, video, online
• Internet, and new media content systems.

The Association was founded by leading organizations including ABC Broadcasting, Apple, Bulldog, Leo Burnett / Cap Studios, Cinebase, Digital Roadmaps, Discovery Communications,The Disney Company, Excalibur Systems, IBM, Informix, Islip Media, The Landor Company,Lexichron, Magnifi, Oracle, Sun / Java, Silicon Graphics, Spin Studio, Sony, Sybase, Virage, WAM!NET, and WebWare.