A multimedia archive (o Digital Library) may be defined as a collection of Information, stored in digital format and accessible over a network, supported by appropriate management and research.
For users of a multimedia archive is crucial to have features similar to those of a search engine, with which trace information of interest within images, audio and video (as well as text documents). These types of files, however, do not contain “written words” and therefore one of the key features of a multimedia archive is to build automatically the “index “, which can be used for user searches.
For example, referring to a Digital Library built with audio-video on current affairs, you can:
- find, in a press release media, the exact quotes and comments of public figures;
- check the steps, on the radio or television, a communications campaign;
- monitor the presence of ‘key words’ in relation to schedules, topics, thematic channels.
