Virtual Learning Environments– What's all the Fuss About? - CILIP

M ultimediA
Information & Technology
Vol 33 no 1 February 2007 issn 1499-90X http://mmit.willco.com
Audio on the SS Great Britain
Product Reviews
Digital Archiving
Book Reviews
Film Releases
Technology
News
2006
Index
Inside

Multimedia Information & Technology volume 33 no 1 February 2007
CONTENTS
NEWS 3
PRESERVING PRESERVING
OUR DIGITAL DIGITAL
HERITAGE HERITAGE
5
AQUABROWSER ONLINE 9
VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS 11 1
REVIEWS 12
2006 INDEX 15
PRODUCT REVIEW 17
BEST OF THE BLOG 20
TECHNOLOGY ROUNDUP 22
DVD & VIDEO NEWS 25
AUDIO TOURS TOURS
ON THE
SS GREAT GREAT
BRITAIN BRITAIN
30
Credits for Multimedia Information &
Technology vol 33 no 1 February 2007
Images supplied by: cover – Antenna Audio; contents page – Traffic returning to London on the M40, August Bank Holiday
2005, and pp3-4 Transport Research Laboratory; p6 – The Colossi of Memnon Wh Chow; p7 – University of Wales, Newport;
p10 – Concept of Expensive Plug Feng Yu; Saving Planet Earth Andrea Danti; p11 – E-learning and Little GIrl on a Green
Meadow With Laptop Dreamstime.com; p12 – Girl With Books Diego Cerva; p18 – Girl Lying Down Edyta Pawlowska, Audio
Tape Andrea Leone, Digital Media Johnny Lye; p20 – World in the Net Jenny Horne; p22 Hard Drive – Mehdi Pasha oskooie;
p23 – On the Web Robert Mizerek; Sunglasses Mike Evans; p 24 – Question Mark Anette Linnea Rasmussen; p26-29 BFI; p29
Buena Vista International (UK) and Miramax Films; p30-32 – Antenna Audio; Agency: Dreamstime.com.

News
UK Transport Research Lab
Makes Resources Available
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, TRL (the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory) is releasing its
image bank of photographs which have captured over 70 years of transport innovation
from behind the scenes. TRL has developed an on-line image bank with over 1000
outstanding images from its 50,000+ collection, and will continue to build on this resource.
All images in the collection have been taken by TRL’s team of professional
photographers, who are members of the British Institute of Professional Photography.
Images include photographs from the 1940s to the present day. They cover the entire
transport spectrum from automated car trials and
vintage crash tests to modern day road
networks and the environment.
Robert Flenley, Head of
Marketing said:
Testing the
Dambuster Bomb
After winning the
2005 IHT photo
competition, we
decided to launch
our own image
bank as we believe
so passionately in
the quality of our
photography. From
climbing motorway
gantries to installing micro
cameras in crash tests, TRL has
access to capture these unique
images. The UK should be proud of its
transport achievements and I am delighted that others can now have access to TRL’s
images.
All images in the collection are high resolution, royalty free, suitable for print,
3
presentation, or on-line media, and are
available at the normal commercial rates
following an introductory half-price offer.
TRL undertakes applied research and
consultancy into all aspects of
infrastructure, including the design,
maintenance and assessment of pavements
MmIT is published by the Multimedia Information &
Technology Group of Cilip, and appears quarterly
in print and electronic formats in February, May,
August and November each year. Copy deadlines
are the first of the month preceding the issue. All
enquiries should be addressed to the managing
editor, Lyndon Pugh, at
45 Gwenllian Morgan Court,
Heol Gouesnou, Brecon, Powys LD3 7EE
email lyndon.pugh@virgin.net
or tel/fax 44 (0)1874 610412.
The editorial board is :
Anthony Hugh Thompson (Chair)
aht@btinternet.com
Lyndon Pugh (Managing Editor)
Alun Jenkins (Finance Manager)
JenkinsAL@cardiff.ac.uk
Kevin Curran (Technology) kjcurran@ulster.ac.uk
Olwen Terris olwen@bufvc.ac.uk
Leo Appleton l.appleton@west-cheshire.ac.uk

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
and structures, isues such as whole-life
costing, environmental impacts and
management for road and airfield
pavements. It leads the field in the
development of sustainable solutions and
the management of assets and resources.
In purpose-built test facilities, it assesses
the condition of infrastructure, and
recreates the behaviour of materials as well
as full-scale structures for fatigue, impact
loads, dynamic and static testing, nondestructive
testing and the understanding of
long-life deterioration.
Its investigations also embrace the testing
of new and re-cycled materials, and the
TRL is at the forefront of developments in
innovative surfaces and sustainable
infrastructure. It advises on issues such as
winter maintenance techniques, and works
closely with utility organisations and
infrastructure managers on street-works
and maintenance planning. The TRL
regularly advises on policy and assists
governments with standards both in the UK
and overseas.The laboratory is also heavily
involved in environmental issues.
A quarterly newsletter – TRL News – is
archived on the website and can be
downloaded as a pdf. There is also an email
enquiry service.
If this appears to be too technical, the
image bank itself is a fascinating resource.
It covers transport development from the
’40s and includes many iconic images.
Among these are some World War II
4
images, including the Dambusters
Raid. The monochrome picture on
the previous page shows a disused
dam being used to test the
Dambuster weapon in 1943. Sydney
Harbour Bridge has been
photographed from the bridge itself,
and the headline image on the
previous page is of part of Sydney
waterfront. This won the Institute of
Highways and Transportation
photographic competition in 2005.
Victoria Street in London has also
been photographed extensively by
TRL photographers on a number of
occasions throughout the years, so
that changes in traffic patterns and in
the street itself are documented. The
images on this page show the same
road junction almost 60 years apart.
Digital technology was adopted a
number of years ago, and the
collection of black and white images
is another impressive feature of the
resource.
The aim of the archive is to make
available material which reflects the
diversity of transport-related issues,
including environmental aspects,
while covering images which are not
necessarily well-represented in other
well-known image libraries.
The major topics covered by the
collection are Traffic and Transport,
the environment, Civil Engineering,
Rail and Air, Vehicle Safety and the
history of transport.
The TRL image collection can be
viewed online, and images from the
collection can also be purchased, by
visiting http://www..trl.co.uk/images.

Memnon Preserves Our
Digital Heritage
‘At sunrise,
the statue of Memnon
began sending
out sounds in the
Kingdom of Egypt…’
Michel Merten of Memnon Audio
Archiving Services
unveils a digital archiving system
which offers small-to-medium
archives the opportunity to enjoy the
advantages offered by the digital
mass storage systems used by
major archival collections
MEMNON, ONE OF EUROPE’S leaders in
providing digitisation services for
cultural archives, now offers a
system which is suitable for smaller
archives which have not, until now, been
able to take advantage of the large scale
systems used by major archives. The
software is based on the shared use of
Digital Mass Storage Systems already
adopted by large archives as part of their
long-term storage strategy. Due to high cost
and the need for specialist IT skills, the use
of these systems has not been feasible for
smaller archive collections.
Memnon’s new service offers access to
mass storage facilities on a shared basis.
This means that small and medium archives
can take advantage of all the benefits
without imposing a substantial IT burden
on the archive. The system is affordable,
easily accessible and effective, and can be
tailored to archivists’ individual needs.
What is now available is a professional,
high-quality and cost-effective service
which can support digitisation, restoration,
preservation and efficient access to classic
and current sound and video recordings in
any format.
This is an approach which is suitable for
a wide range of archive owners, from
cultural institutions, libraries and universities
5
News
to record labels, archive websites and
private collectors.
Most recently, Memnon collaborated
with the British Library and the Joint
Information Systems Committee to digitise
over 3,900 hours of historic sound
recordings, which are now available online
to students, researchers and academics.
As well as this Archival Sound
Recordings project, Memnon now has
ongoing projects with the Institut National
de l’Audiovisuel (INA), the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, the European
Parliament, the Reader’s Digest and the
Queen Elisabeth Music Competition.
While there are over 200 million hours of
AV archives in Europe, there are, in fact,
few very large archives, and these are
mainly broadcastersand national libraries,
with more than 1,000,000 hrs of material.
On the other hand, there are thousands of
archives with a low- to-medium volume of
AV material. This gives them a requirement
of less than 10 TB data storage for their
potential needs.
There are also preservation problems.
CD-Rs and DVD-Rs have to be abandoned
unless preservation can be carried out under
optimal climate conditions, requiring
temperature and moisture control, and there
is a requirement for regular high level
testing capabilities and regular transfers.
Advantages of Mass
Storage Systems
Lower costs
Automated quality control
Automated data migration
Sustainable technology
Well-known tape life-cycle
Cost efficient

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
MOST LARGE AV ARCHIVES use mass
storage systems with possible
redundancy built in. These offer a
number of adavantages:
● Lower cost
● Automation of quality control
● Automation of data migration
● Proven technology / sustainability
● Well-known tape life-cycle
● Cost efficient and proven systems
Behind this approach, practice in major
archives reflects the generally-agreed view
that Digital Mass Storage Systems provide
the best way forward.
However, when it comes to small or
medium archives, this strategy has serious
limitations:
● If applied to small volumes it is very
expensive.
● It requires IT expertise, including the
capacity to sustain the system over time,
and to ensure that the archive has access
to state-of-the art developments.
● Long-term preservation still depends on
environmental controls and the
maintenance of a “clean-room”
operation.
● There is very little uniformity between
archives. Different archives have many
different needs, and a variety of
approaches to the archiving process must
be catered for.
Problems for Smaller
Archives
Expensive
Need for IT expertise
Developmental issues
Clean environment needed
No uniformity of
requirements
These considerations, taken together,
tend to rule out the use of Digital Mass
Storage Systems for many archives, and
one way forward is the development of
shared secure storage services. Memnon’s
system – based on a mod ular approa c h –
The Solution
Shared digitisation
On request services
Metadata management
Shared storage
Secure back ups
Secure management of
content
Easy access to portals
and
websites
offers a number of advantages:
● Digitisation of archives in small or large
volumes
● On request restoration, segmentation,
documentation
● Metadata management and structuring
for audiovisual databases
● Shared mass storage services accessible
at distance
● Secure back-up of local audio visual
digital archives
● Publication, and secure online
management, of AV content for use in
intranet, extranet, or internet, for B 2 B or
B 2 C use
● Easy links to access portals/website
The service embraces a full range of
options to meet individual needs, including,
for example, access to proxies and links
with archive databases. Digital masters also
remain in the archive, there are regular
automated data checks, and all files are
transferred to mass storage digital tape
libraries. Second master copies are stored
on high security systems offering similar
security levels to those used by large
archives. All this is achieved without
recourse to specialist in-house IT skills, and
access to developing high-end technology
is assured.
THE PROCESS BEGINS with the transfer
of material. Memnon assists in the
preparation of the material for
digitisation. This includes the provision of
advice on deliverable and reporting
descriptions, planning, and arrangements
for collection and organisation of the
physical carriers at Memnon’s studios.
6
Who Was Memnon?
The Colossi of Memnon can be found
on the bank of the Luxor River in
Egypt. Now in ruins, they once marked
the entrance to the temple of King
Amenhotep III.
The story has it that after an earthquake
in 27 BC, during which one of the two
colossi fell, the damaged statue began
to emit music at the dawn of each day.
In Greek mythology, Memnon, the son
of Eos and Titan, sang to his mother
every morning. Some Greek and
Roman tourists of the day were alleged
to have heard the music and attached
the epithet “Memnon” to the statue.
The likely explanation for this
phenomenon is much more prosaic. It is
now believed that the sounds heard
were actually caused by the expansion
and contraction of the rocks as a result
of the warmth of the rays of the rising
sun on the stone. Other authorities have
it that the sound owes its origin to the
activities of a priest who secreted
himself somewhere inside the statue,
and struck the rock with a hammer,
making the sound, as the sun rose.
After a restoration attempted in 3BC,
the sounds ceased and have never been
heard again.
There are also many verses on the
statue, in the main telling the story set
out in outline above. Some of them
have found their way into modern
literature, including the works of Edgar
Allan Poe.
The Colossi of Memnon

The digitisation phase includes the
preparation of digitisation work, handling
of tapes and conversion into .wav format 24
bits/48 KB (or whatever format is decided).
Signal analysis and quality control is
based on a dual set of controls which
assures the transfer is of the best quality:
● Inputs from the sound engineer
● An automated verification system which
checks the quality of the signal being
transferred
In order to give the archive the option of
editing the tapes, Memnon makes available
an early rough cut of the digitised file. It
also provides easy-to-use software tools, so
that the archive can review and segment
tapes, for instance by topic.
Local storage is on DVD-Rs, while
Memnon recommends that a secure mass
storage system is used for long-term
preservation of the files created.
For user access, Memnon provides the
GIRLS FROM LOCAL SCHOOLS showed their
mettle when they designed and built the
best mini-robots at an event held at the
University of Wales, Newport. Their
micromouse machines proved to be better
than the boys’ at both racing and
manoeuvring using built-in light sensors.
archive with MP3 or Windows Media
Player files on CD-Rs or DVD-Rs for
electronic transfer, and (additionally if
required) with CD audios for local
consultation. In due course, access via
Extranet, Intranet or Internet will be
available for controlled access.
For archives which do not have access to
their own digital mass storage system, the
shared mass storage systems supported by
Memnon offer highly-secure back-up
systems for files created by the Project.
The Memnon SoundStore web also
offers a platform for archives wishing to
make their resources available to third
parties on a paying basis.
For further information on the Memnon
system, contact Stephen Weil at:
33 Glasshouse Street
London W1B 5DG
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8299 4141
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8693 3373
info@memnon.eu or www.memnon.eu
Sophie Jones and
Chelsie Smallman
from Llantarnam
High School were
delighted to see their
robot Mighty Mouse
win after making
some critical final
adjustments to the
project. “I really
didn’t think of
engineering as
something I could
do for a career but
after today’s event I
definitely am,” said
12-year-old Sophie. “I enjoy design
technology and like the idea of creating and
making things.”
Another winning girls’ team from
Newbridge Comprehensive is now also
giving some
thought to the real
possibility of
engineering as an
exciting career.
“We’ve really
enjoyed it today,”
said 13-year-old
Jessica Broom. “I
think the most
challenging part
was assembling the
micromouse and
then at last soldering
everything together.
Just before the race,
7
News
Ulead Product Review
Following the product review of the
VideoStudio 10 Plus and DVD
Moviefactory 5 in the November
2006 issue of Multimedia Information
& Technology, Ulead have contacted
us via their public relations company,
KL Associates.
They would like to stress that there is
help available through a UK-based
technical support team. They can be
contacted by email at
technical@uleadsupport.co.uk
or tel 0905 619 0619. These calls
cost 65p per minute.
Readers of MmIT can also claim a
trial CD, free of charge, and giving a
full 30-day trial of some of the
popular Ulead titles.
Girls in Wales Beat Boys at Technology
I had to tweak the variable resistors so that
our robot gave a really good performance.”
Commenting on the success of the event,
organiser John Sansom, who is a senior
lecturer at the University’s department of
engineering, said: “All the schools entered
the competition with great enthusiasm and
created some excellent robots which were
put through their paces on the race circuit
and in the combat arena.
We hope this event will help promote
engineering technology and inspire
youngsters to consider engineering as a
possible career path”.
Phil Diamond of Careers Wales said: “We
have established a very strong partnership
with the University and the competition is
going from strength to strength with more
students taking part. It’s proving very
successful at engaging more young people
with engineering.”

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
E-Content Take-up in Public
Libraries Finally Came
of Age in 2006
RESEARCH COMPLETED in the summer
of 2006 has indicated that e-content
take-up in public libraries has
finally come of age. The major causal
factor identified is that matters pertaining to
subscriptions for e-content are now being
successfully addressed. An almost
explosive rise in take-up has been observed
across a diverse range of e-content –
including serials and reference sources.
Benefits identified include widening access
to collections in branch libraries and 24/7
remote access – for leisure, learning and other
community purposes. These circumstances
underline how the internet and new
communication skills are increasingly
becoming an integral part of people’s lives.
SINCE 2002, the LASER Foundation
has been funding a number of interrelated
initiatives concerning einnovations
for public libraries. This
activity reflected the continuing power of
technology to transform, with increasing
rapidity, the ways in which people access
library services and content. The research
reported here, which was led by James
Dearnley of Loughborough University,
explored the provision of e-serial
subscription services in UK public libraries
(1). It considered developments since the
1998 British Library Research and
Innovation Centre Report (Brunskill et al
1998) (2). These developments were
viewed in the context of the establishment
of the People’s Network by the Library and
Information Commission in 1997 (3) and
the Digital Citizenship initiative of
Framework for the Future by the DCMS
(Department of Culture, Media and Sport)
in 2003 (4).
THE E-SERIALS REPORT described two
full website surveys of UK public
library authorities, undertaken in
April 2005 and July 2006. These revealed
that 74% of authorities now subscribe to
online e-serial services. Investigations also
established that several regional groups,
including whole-country consortia, have
made approaches to publishers to purchase
e-content.
Public libraries were assisted by the
MLA (The Museums, Libraries and
Archives Council) through a model
licensing strategy designed to aid their
negotiations and contractual agreements.
The apparent success of Oxford University
Press’s Premium Collection in English
public libraries during 2005-2006 also
pointed to a bright future for online
reference collections.
The report evaluates information
gathered through interviews and visits to
library authorities. It also found that
although library authorities are securing
funding for e-content, marketing the
services was essential for stimulating use.
The findings confirm those contained in a
number of earlier reports commissioned by
the Foundation, and which informed debate
concerning e-content issues in public
libraries. These include:
A comprehensive overview of the
possibilities offered by e-innovations by
Linda Berube, the Co-East Regional
Manager (5).
The provision of electronic books in public
libraries, led by James Dearnley,
Department of Information Science,
Loughborough University (6).
The major report Public Libraries –
Destination Unknown? (7) commissioned
by the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport and funded by the MLA and the Laser
Foundation. This looked in detail at groups
in the 14-35 age range, and investigated
their views, perceptions and attitudes to
public libraries. This included e-services
and content.
Bibliography
1. E-serials in UK Public Libraries: a
Survey of Issues and Practice. (2006). Led
by James Dearnley, Department of
Information Science, Loughborough
University.
http://www.bl.uk/about/cooperation/pdf/es
erials.pdf
2. Brunskill, K., Kinnell, M., McKnight, C.
& Morris, A. (1998). Electronic Serials in
Public Libraries. British Library Research
and Innovation Report 118. London:
British Library.
3. Library and Information Commission
(1997). New Library: the People’s
Network. London: Library and Information
Commission.
4 Department for Culture, Media and Sport
(2003). Framework for the Future:
8
A LASER Report on developments in the use of e-content
in public library services in the UK identifies
some significant growth
Libraries, Learning and Information in the
Next Decade. London: DCMS.
5. Berube, L. On the Road Again? The Next
e-Innovations for Public Libraries.
http://www.bl.uk/about/cooperation/pdf/ei
nnovations.pdf/
6. Electronic Books in Public Libraries: a
Feasibility Study for Developing Usage
Models for Web-based and Hardwarebased
Electronic Books (2004). Led by
James Dearnley, Department of
Information Science, Loughborough
University.
http://www.bl.uk/about/cooperation/pdf/las
erfinal3.pdf/
7. A Research Study of 14-35 Year Olds for
the Future Development of Public Libraries
(2006) by Define Research and Insight
Limited (Commissioned by the DCMS and
funded by the MLA and the Laser
Foundation)
http://www.bl.uk/about/cooperation/pdf/pu
bliclibraries.pdf/
Notes:
1. The Laser Foundation is a grant making
trust, whose mission is to improve library
facilities available to the public.
Other recent recipients of grants have
included Reading Borough Libraries (to
build a new sensory children's library and
train staff), Senate House Library (to make
archives more accessible to public library
users), the Clore Duffield Foundation (to
sponsor a dynamic and promising public
librarian to undertake the one-year Clore
Leadership Programme) and Bolton Public
Libraries (for an innovative public
consultation exercise for a new library).
For further details contact Frances Hendrix
on 01257 274833 (log in to unmask) . For a
full list go to
http://www.bl.uk/about/cooperation/laser.html
2. The Department of Information Science
(DIS) at Loughborough University has a
track record of research and teaching in the
library and information sectors. In addition,
the Department also houses the Library and
Information Statistics Unit (LISU). DIS
research into e-books and e-serials dates
from the mid-1990s, with the 2006 research
on e-serials updating similar work
undertaken in 1998. Go to
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dis/

AquaBrowser Online ––
for the Nosy, Enthusiastic,
The platform partnership between Talis
and Medialab Solutions is allowing
libraries to make their holdings
available via AquaBrowser Online,
a search facility which adds a new
dimension to OPAC searching.
During the last year, over 200
libraries in the UK and Ireland
have added their data to the Talis
Platform and increased the
visibility of their resources and
made library services more widely
available.
AQUABROWSER ONLINE is Talis’s
unique and totally customisable
catalogue search facility. Webbased,
it represents a new approach to
library search technology.
Each library which joins AquaBrowser
Online benefits from an AquaBrowser
website providing public access to
catalogues of up to 150000 titles.
From the library point of view, the
process is completely painless, with
AquaBrowser Online creating the website
and, as it is a web-based service, making it
available without the need for downloading
software, or installing and configuring the
system. There are also no additional system
requirements other than an Internet
browser. At present, the service is being
offered with a free 30-day trial, followed by
a monthly subscription with no other costs.
AquaBrowser Online allows users to
We are thrilled that Clare County
has chosen AquaBrowser as its
search solution.
Clare County is the perfect
example of a progressive library
trying something new and different
to improve the service and usability
for its users.
Broad Minded, Inquisitive
and Lazy
search for information using a standard
query box, as they are used to using on the
Internet, with results displayed in a typical
browser search list.
One of the latest installations is at Clare
County Library in Ireland. With a strong
record of innovative online services, and
the first virtual branch library in Ireland, the
service is using AquaBrowser to take the
library to the users in a dynamic way.
Anthony Edwards, Executive Librarian at
Clare County, commented: “As well as
allowing you to find what you want,
AquaBrowser Online enables that
wonderful serendipity which happens when
you walk down a library bookstack and find
something exciting that you weren’t even
looking for. It’s for the nosy, the
enthusiastic, the broad minded, the
inquisitive, the lazy and the layman.
Islington Library and Cultural Services,
which also went live towards the end of last
year, are also enthusiastic. Within hours, the
service was able to showcase the entire
library holdings they had shared with the
Talis Platform, within the rich interface of
AquaBrowser Online. John Usher, ICT
Development Manager, said: “Having
earlier challenged Talis as to why they
could not integrate AquaBrowser (or
similar products) with their products, given
their espousal of the Web 2.0, Library 2.0,
Platform Approach, the biter has been bit.
Because we are a contributor to the Talis
Platform, and with almost no effort on our
part, this impressive and different way for
users of Islington libraries to discover and
view items in our catalogue appeared
almost overnight. Initial response from staff
sampling the service has been almost
universally positive, with requests for
further integration. We are pleased to be an
early demonstrator of what is possible for
all libraries which contribute their data to
the Talis Platform.”
The platform partnership allowed
Medialab Solutions to take advantage of
platform APIs to enable any library which
contributes its holdings to the Talis
Platform to see their catalogue via the
AquaBrowser Online. The essence of the
9
Key Features
News
Talis Platform encourages a global
community of users and developers to
liberate their data, build and deliver new
and innovative library services alongside
their existing library management systems.
Dave Errington, Talis CEO said:
It is encouraging to see many of our
customers productively benefiting from this
initiative. Clare County Library has been a
Talis customer for over a decade using both
Talis Alto and Talis Prism. This is an
exciting time for Talis as our existing
customers are beginning to reap the
rewards of the Talis Platform.
Bastiaan Zwaan, CEO of Medialab
Solutions stated:
We are thrilled that Clare County has
chosen AquaBrowser as its search solution.
Clare County is the perfect example of a
progressive library trying something new
and different to improve the service and
usability for its users.
More information is available at
http://AquaBrowserOnline, and Islington’s
installation can be seen at
http://islington.aquabrowser.com/.
Clare County can also be viewed at
http://clarecounty.aquabrowser.com/.
Public access to up to 150000 titles
Completely customisable
No need to download software,
install, or configure system
Supports a global user community
Full integration with other
Talis products

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
Canon
Saves
the Globe
‘“ON THE TENTH DAY of Christmas’ . . . UK
offices waste enough energy to roast 4.4m
turkeys” was the opening line of a press
release from Canon, recieved just before
the holiday.
The research they reported on indicated
that equipment left on standby over the
ten-day Christmas period wasted 43.6m
KwH of electricity.
This, they calculate, was enough to roast
4.4m turkeys, microwave 268m mince pies
or power 350,000 Christmas tree lights for
the full 240 hour period. The net result was
a staggering £8.66m wasted in unnecessary
electricity bills because equipment was put
on standby rather than turned off.
With many offices closing (or with
skeleton staff) for up to ten days over last
Christmas, Canon research showed that the
amount of energy used by office equipment
– PCs, printers, photocopiers and fax
machines – would have been enough to
cover the festive use of electricity for about
11% of the population.
The results were broken down by device,
and highlighted the percentage of time each
type of equipment is likely to be left on in
standby mode, and the resulting
environmental (energy wastage) and
business (electricity bill) costs. They found
that 90% of multifunctional printers were
likely to be left on, at an energy cost of £2.8
million. PCs were the most expensive in
standby mode, costing offices £3.4 million,
while laser/desktop printers weighed in
with £1.75 million, fax machines at a
comparatively economic £712,800 with
100% of them left on, and the total waste of
electricity amounted to 43,642,000 kWh.
(Source: office equipment figures from
National Energy Foundation & Infosource).
Canon research showed the percentage of
equipment left on, and energy cost figures
were calculated using The Carbon Trust’s
Calculating Energy Use of Office
Equipment report).
In addition, the investigation showed that
10
almost 19,000 tonnes of C02 emissions
would be produced by these machines. This
is calculated to be enough to fill the same
number of standard sized (25m) swimming
pools. Information services and their parent
institutions could therefore show some
substantial savings by switching off, not
only over Christmas but at other times as
well. David Smith, Marketing Director,
Canon Business Solutions, Canon UK
commented: “It’s clear that some equipment
needs to be left on for security reasons, but
these amazing figures show that businesses
which don’t turn off their PCs and printers
are literally throwing money away as well
as damaging the environment over the
festive period. We have only looked at
office equipment which is left in standby
mode, so imagine how much higher these
figures could be if devices are left
completely on.”
Canon believes that energy consumption
is a key area where businesses can help
promote a greener office environment.
Coincidentally, it also provides customers
with new on-demand fusing technology in
its latest multifunctional printers, providing
a fast warm up time and only three watts of
energy use in standby mode.
This equates to more than 99% reduction
in energy usage compared to many other
printers on the market and saving the
equivalent energy required to power 137
energy-efficient light bulbs. So what is its
advice?
● Switch off PCs completely
● Power down office peripherals
● Turn off the lights
● Replace old energy wasting equipment in
the New Year

DUE TO THE SUCCESS of two previous
conferences focusing on the
development and demand for library
and information support for Virtual Learning
Environments (VLEs), MMIT North West
held their VLE III conference in December
2006.
The rationale behind this one day event
was to illustrate how far VLEs have
developed over the last few years, and to
address some of the issues
surrounding the future of virtual
and personal learning environments.
VLE support from library and
information service departments has
developed in step with the innovative
application of VLEs to such an extent
that in many cases there is now little
to distinguish between support
for, and provision of, VLEs
within academic settings.
Therefore, rather than
demonstrate current practice
in support techniques for
VLEs, the conference
concentrated on illustrating
the current climate of virtual
learning and facilitating
discussion of the need for virtual
learning environments in the 21st
century.
THE FIRST SPEAKER WAS Jonathan Day,
from the JISC North West Regional
Support Centre. His presentation,
entitled VLEs: Where are we Now and
Why Should They Matter? set the scene for
the day, provided a brief history of the
VLE, and presented the conference with the
national picture together with JISC’s vision
for the Managed and Personal Learning
Environment. This was an ideal way in
which to open the conference, as Jonathan
neatly provided us with an informative
overview.
JOHN DAVEY, SOLSTICE Manager at
Edge Hill University, enlightened the
audience with his account of
developments in blended learning at Edge
Hill. He spoke about the need for academic
teams to have specific roles in the
development of learning, and emphasised
that blends of teaching and learning rely on
people rather than just the available
technology. The New Academic Teams in
place at Edge Hill involve academic and
support staff and students developing
virtual learning in a collaborative
manner. It was refreshing to hear
how this particular example of good
practice incorporates a healthy
blend of learning and teaching
styles and techniques, and that
developments are well
informed by stakeholder
feedback.
THE MIDDLE of the day
saw a Further Education
case study from Rob
Newcombe and Anthony Beal
from West Cheshire
College. These two
speakers provided a
synopsis of how elearning
has developed
in their institution, and
how they have had an
impact on teaching and
learning through effective use of their VLE.
This practitioner-led presentation was well
received by the delegates, as not only was it
delivered through West Cheshire’s VLE
(Fronter), but the speakers were also able to
provide a live demonstration of some of the
11
e-tools which they are using.
News
Virtual Learning
Environments–
What’s all the
Fuss About?
Leo Appleton reports on an MMIT
North West Conference on VLEs
held at Liverpool John Moores
University on December 11th 2006
NEXT WAS THE TURN OF Susan Eales
from the Open University. She
provided a fascinating overview of
virtual learning at the OU, and shared with
us her view of the OU’s forthcoming
launch of Moodle as their VLE of choice.
She also talked about some of their
specific Moodle Enhancement projects.
These include integration of federated
searching, further use of mobile
technologies and e-portfolio developments.
Susan also referred briefly to two specific
projects – OpenLearn and Labspace –
which are initiatives designed to develop
and share e-learning resources.
THE FINAL SPEAKER was Staffordshire
University’s Professor Mark Stiles,
and his questioning and thoughtprovoking
presentation, called The Death
of the VLE, stimulated much discussion
amongst conference delegates. He questioned
how and why VLES are being used, and
invited the conference to really think about
all the added features within their VLEs:
should everything be placed in a VLE? Is
incorporation necessary? What are the
essential features of a VLE? Should not
VLE development be about the systems
that the students are using?
THIS SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE was
well- received by the attendees (some
56 in total). They found a variety and
balance – which offered an effective
overview – of case studies and current VLE
practice within the UK academic
communities. The presentations are on the
MMIT North West Web site:
http://www.bolton.ac.uk/learning/mmitnw/pre
v.htm.

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
Portals: People,
Processes and
Technology
Taken in its entirety,
[this book] is very
useful as an
overview of the
current portal climate
and stimulates
discussion on the
issue of how those
concerned with the
delivery of electronic
information can
become more
involved and better
prepared for portal
developments.
★★★★★
Cox, Andrew (ed.) Portals: People,
Processes and Technology. London:
Facet Publishing, 2006.
ISBN 13 978-1-85604-546-9.
THE FIRST THING TO MENTION about this
book is its highly practical layout. Some
titles on the subject of portals are not
always the most invigorating to read, and
are quite often written or compiled for a
technical audience. However, in this
instance, the editor has compiled a selection
of comprehensive and user-friendly
chapters, drawing together several authors,
each of whom provide different, yet
complementary perspectives, approaching
portals technology from a person-centred
perspective. The book is also structured in
such a way that it is both easy to follow, and
easy to dip into for reference purposes.
The first section of the book covers the
core themes of portals. This begins with an
overview of definitions of portals by the
editor, which in itself makes interesting
reading and sets the precedent for the main
chapters. Throughout the text, the integration
of people and portals is a recurring motif.
The core themes include: the role of portals
as filters of quality Internet information;
portal architecture; personalisation of portal
interfaces, and the general management of
portal culture.
Section two covers portals in libraries,
and provides the reader with perspectives
of what the portal means to the librarian.
The contributions include an excellent
chapter presenting a breakdown of portals –
those which are general purpose, subjectoriented
and available free on the Web. This
is particularly relevant to the information
professional, in that it discusses how, for
libraries, portals are now essential tools for
providing users with information and
reliable answers to their enquiries.
The third section offers an insight into
how portals have been developed for
Brown, A. Archiving Websites: a
Practical Guide for Information
Management Professionals. London.
Facet Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 1-85604-
553-6.
IN WHAT IS AN ESSENTIAL BOOK, the author
creates a real opportunity for non-technical
readers, with basic IT and web technology
knowledge, to understand the implications
of web archiving.
The work, although written for everyone
involved in the information management
sector, is specially addressed to three
audiences: policy makers, who may need to
make decisions about establishing or
developing an institutional web archive
programme; information management
professionals, who may have to implement
12
individual organisations within the
corporate sector. The average public sector
portals enthusiast has had very little
opportunity to find out what happens
within private industry as far as portals are
concerned. This makes these two chapters
very interesting reading. One example is
provided by way of an overview of B2E,
who specialise in developing portals for
multinational companies in order to
provide the workforce with access to
streamlined, aggregated information based
on the user’s role.
The final section covers portals in the
public sector, which puts across the
government perspective, as well as the
implications for local authority and
individual public sector institutions such as
schools and universities. The refreshing
aspect of this section, and indeed of the
entire volume, is that all the examples used
present the reader with real situations. Most
of the chapters include a real-life case
study, written by the practitioners
themselves. This approach helps to engage
the reader, as well as providing a broad
overview, and it clearly focuses on the
person-centred aspect of portals.
The editor provides a very well-informed
forward to each section. This neatly
summarises the particular theme, and
places it within a broader context. For the
reader this is a very useful and practical
synopsis of each theme.
Overall, this volume is very well ordered
and is rich in its content. Taken in its
entirety, it is very useful as an overview of
the current portal climate. It also stimulates
discussion on the issue of how those
concerned with the delivery of electronic
information can become more involved and
better prepared for portal developments.
Leo Appleton
Learning Resources Manager
West Cheshire College
a web archiving programme; and website
owners or webmasters, who may be
required to facilitate archiving of their own
websites.
In the first chapter, the author begins by
setting the goals the text aims to achieve,
granting the book the importance it
deserves, not only by providing the reader
with an overview of best practice regarding
the complex subject of archiving websites,
but also by being the first book to offer
practical guidance on how to establish a
web archiving programme.
There is a most valuable introduction to
the subject of web archiving, and to its
development since the first published
website in 1991. This section provides the
background needed to appreciate how
different initiatives and web archiving

programmes have been established over the
years, in order to cope with the fast
expansion of the world wide web, and the
increasing number of websites buried in the
so-called deep web.
The importance of creating appropriate
policies for the selection, collection, quality
assurance, cataloguing, preservation and
final delivery of archived material to users
is worked through in the chapters which
follow. The web archiving process, which
Brown understands as a workflow,
becomes essential in order to establish the
appropriate framework for any web
archiving programme.
The author provides a discussion on
selection methods and criteria, highlighting
the major challenges raised by the web’s
interconnectedness and continuous change.
The use of different collection methods,
along with their strengths and limitations, is
also discussed by the author, who argues
that the success of the programme is
dependent on a good understanding of all
the collection methods available, as a
combination of techniques must be applied
to deal with the full range of website
technologies.
The book emphasises the importance of
quality assurance and cataloguing in the
whole archiving process, highlighting the
fact that reaching a balance between
quantity and quality is never easy. Quality
assurance must guarantee that the selection
policy is being implemented correctly, and
that the content collected is described in a
way which is adequate for its subsequent
use.
Collecting web content is a complex
process, and therefore guarantees of
providing perfect results cannot be given.
Brown, however, argues that the quality and
fitness-for-purpose of archived material can
be enhanced by prior- and post-testing of
the collection methods, and by the
Success at the
Enquiry Desk
. . . when it comes to
serious reading, print
is more comfortable
to use
★★★★
cataloguing process. The author adds to this
his view that the level of quality assurance
and cataloguing should be appropriate:
depending on the nature of the content and
the requirements and available resources of
the organisation implementing the
programme.
Long-term preservation, with its
principles and practicalities, is also
discussed. The challenges of digital
preservation are complex at a technical and
organisational level. The writer believes
that collaboration alongside a sustained and
cohesive global effort are the only solutions
to overcoming such challenges.
The next stage of the process is creating
a delivery system which allows users to
discover content and to gain access to it in
a suitable form. Carefully planned and
structured searching and browsing are
therefore the two methods used.
This book also examines the important
legal implications of archiving web
material. The chapter devoted to this
provides the reader with an overview of the
most critical legal aspects which will affect
the implementation of any web archiving
programme. The right to privacy, protection
of intellectual property, content liability and
human rights are complex issues which
have to be examined carefully and
reviewed continuously.
The process of establishing and
managing a web archiving programme,
including aspects like resourcing and
maintenance, is also examined. The author
presents all the operational models
available, and considers both the positive
and the negative implications of their
implementation and management. A case
study of the UK Government Web Archive
(The National Archives), presented at the
end of the section, provides a useful
example of how the programme was
implemented.
Owen, Tim Buckley. Success at the
Enquiry Desk. 5th ed. London: Facet
Publishing, 2006. ISBN 13: 987-1-85604-
600-8. ISBN-10: 1-85604-600-1.
“EVERYONE’S AN EXPERT SEARCHER these
days – or so they think – and there is acute
pressure on us as information professionals
to perform ever more effectively”. This
assertion from the introduction to Buckley
Owen’s book forms its raison d'être.
Tim Buckley Owen is an independent
writer and trainer with substantial
experience of enquiry work – at Westminster
Central Reference Library, the City
Business Library and as Principal
Information Officer at the London
Research Centre. In this book he contends
that librarians, when faced with many more
13
Reviews
Finally, the last chapter examines the
emerging trends in the area, and their
potential impact. These forecasts, as the
author points out, are not exact science due
to the changeable and unpredictable nature
of the web. However, they provide some
indication of how web archiving may
develop in the near future.
In conclusion, the book is a comprehensive
guide for anyone seeking to acquire an
introduction to the subject of web archiving
and to understand all the aspects and
implications of implementing and
managing a web archiving programme.
The structure of the work, and the
language used by the author, both provide a
very practical and readable book which
underlines the importance of archiving web
content.
Sonia Martinez-Roura, British Medical
Association Library
A comprehensive
guide for anyone
seeking an
introduction to the
subject of web
archiving
★★★★
people performing their own searches with
varying levels of knowledge and efficiency,
have a duty to help their users express,
enact and structure their searches. Help will
come in the form of the professional asking
the right questions, managing the amount of
information provided, presenting the
answers to an agreed timescale, deciding
what to do when the answer cannot be
found, and, crucially, “going that extra
mile” to provide a professional and personal
service.
Owen defines enquiry work succinctly:
in essence, successful enquiry answering is
about applied common sense, shared
experience and exercise of the imagination.
Whether you are in a book-lined room,

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
the librarian’s role as an
information provider is being
devalued – sometimes
eliminated – as users are
expected to conduct their own
research: “Everybody’s an expert
searcher”. At such a time, when
the traditional skills of the
experienced information
professional in one-to-one
enquiry work are being
undervalued, I warmly welcome
a text which unapologetically
acknowledges and champions
the fact that the librarian is in a
unique position to unite
knowledge with the person who
seeks it.
working in a call centre, or peripatetic with
a laptop and a mobile telephone, this holds
true.
In the opening chapter, the reader is
helped to make sure that he/she really
understands the enquiry put to him/her.
Misunderstandings arising from accents,
mispronunciation, homonyms, cultural and
prejudiced assumptions can too frequently
send research off in the wrong direction.
Having understood the question, the
process moves to assessing how much
information the enquirer needs (as opposed
to what he/she thinks is needed), and the
best delivery medium for the job. The
author does not underestimate the power of
the web to search vast quantities of text
quickly, but reminds us of the value of ink
on paper:
by all means browse online for information
and ideas but when it comes to serious
reading, print is a more comfortable
medium to use.
Tips are given for efficient strategies,
including a helpful paragraph on speedreading
(necessary when a document does
not include an index or delivers an
inadequate one). The author’s advice
appeals to me and I am keen to test it:
And – a first rate technique for getting
through longer documents really quickly . .
. Read the first sentence of each paragraph
and ignore all the rest.
The book addresses issues of time and
money. For example, when working to
deadlines the author explains how to
prioritise work and distinguish between
vital and urgent tasks. On occasions it
might be more cost effective to use a
charged-for database; we are reminded that
searching archive databases can save
enormous amounts of time, and not least
because they can fail as quickly as they can
succeed.
Finally, the librarian signs off the
enquiry, b ut not before a thorough analysis.
If the success was only partial, why did it
fail in some respects? If the enquiry took a
long time to answer, was it because the
information resources to hand were
inadequate or was it unavoidably timeconsuming?
Was the enquiry referred
elsewhere, and if it was, who was the
contact? How helpful were they, and can
that organisation be made use of again?
Were new information sources discovered
during the research, and were they logged
and incorporated into existing ones?
Success in answering an enquiry, says
Owen, is providing an answer which met
the enquirer’s need in every respect, and an
answer which was arrived at by using the
right resources efficiently, so the cost to the
organisation can be measured.
Success at the Enquiry Desk, first
published in 1997, is now in its fifth
edition. This surely indicates that users find
the philosophy and guidance it imparts
offers good value for money. An added
chapter in this latest edition addresses using
experience in answering enquiries to create
and promote a new information service.
The book is written in a clear, energetic
style with an enthusiasm which is
refreshing. In many organisations the
librarian’s role as an information provider
is being devalued – sometimes eliminated –
as users are expected to conduct their own
research: “Everybody’s an expert searcher”.
At such a time, when the traditional skills of
the experienced information professional in
one-to-one enquiry work are being
undervalued, I warmly welcome a text
which unapologetically acknowledges and
champions the fact that the librarian is in a
unique position to unite knowledge with
the person who seeks it.
Olwen Terris
Senior Researcher
Shakespeare Project
British Universities Film & Video Council
14
Bookmuncher
is Here
WILTSHIRE-BASED BookMuncher has
launched a software system which will
enable users to read electronic
documents at astonishing speeds of up to
1,200 words a minute. The technology
will improve the process of absorbing
information, and will benefit many hardpressed
businessmen, book-lovers,
schoolchildren and students.
The BookMuncher system displays
documents on a PC in a way which
supports reading at speeds of between
50-1200 words per minute, without the
need for special training. Users simply
drag and drop electronic documents
from their desktop on to the
BookMuncher viewer, and can then
immediately begin reading at about
twice their normal speed. Fans of foreign
language novels will be happy as
BookMuncher works in any European
language without the need for
conversion.
The 2007 trial edition of
BookMuncher can be downloaded free
of charge from
http://www.bookmuncher.co.uk.
The full PC version of BookMuncher,
costing £19.99, is available online and
from selected retailers. Mac and
children’s versions are due for release in
the Spring.
BookMuncher Ltd is a privatelyfunded
start-up company based in
Wiltshire. The launch of BookMuncher
follows a two-year product development
process completed and funded by
Wiltshire-based Data Vision Europe Ltd
(http://www.dve.net).
Go to http://www.bookmuncher.co.uk

Index to Multimedia Information &
The index covers articles,
conference reports, book,
product and multimedia reviews.
The shorter items in News and
Technology and bibliographical
references following the articles
are not indexed.
3-D sound, Holophony 16-18
A
Access to technology 86-9
Adobe InDesign page design software 26
Appleton, Leo (book review) 59
Architecture, Sprunt’s design for
Westminster Kingsway College, media
laboratory 36-7
B
Banish blue rinse blues on the web: how
to make surfing easier. Part 2. (Curran &
Robinson) 10-12
Berube, Linda The digital divide, or who
gets to be part of the information
society? 86-9 [corrections printed Vol.
32 Nov. 2006 p 102]
BIALL handbook of legal information
management (book review) 58
Big Bad World, children’s literacy
computer game 123-8
Blind people, National Library for the
Blind DAISY pilot project 4-5
C
Technology Volume 32 2006
Compiled by Olwen Terris, Senior Researcher
Shakespeare Project BUFVC
A Case study in e-learning practice
(Hiller-Forster) 75-8
Cataloguing (book review) 27
Cheetham, Ken (product reviews)
Coolfan notebook stand with cooling fan
111-3
Dragon Naturally Speaking Version 8 62-4
DVD MovieFactory 5 111-3
Grabster AV 150 95-6
Olympus DS-3300 digital voice recorder
30-2
VideoStudio 10 Plus 111-3
CILIP Special Interest Groups, comment
on Group Review Working Party 6-7,
42-3
Cinema see DVD & Video News
Coelho, Lina (book review) 58
Computer games 5-6, 123-8
Conferences, Genysys audio and web
conferencing 50-1
Content-Based Image Retrieval 3
Coolfan (product review) 111-3
Copyright, digital (book review) 93
Crawford, Gillian TOCRoSS (Table of
Contents by Really Simple
Syndication) 79-81
Curran, Kevin & Murray, Michelle
Library 2.0 – bringing the library to
the user 103-5
Curran, Kevin & Robinson, David Banish
blue rinse blues on the web: how
to make surfing easier. Part 2 10-12
Cyberlaw (book review) 94-5
D
DAISY (Digital Accessible Information
System) 4-5
Deaf people, subtitling videos 7
Death sentences: how clichés, weasel
words, and managementspeak are
strangling public language (book
review) 24-5
Digital Copyright (book review) 93
The digital divide, or who gets to be part
of the information Society? 86-9
(Berube) [corrections printed Vol. 32
Nov. 2006 p 102]
Distance learning, internet reference
support (book review) 94
Dixon, Jennifer Innovative multimedia
tells seven stories 38-9
Dragon Naturally Speaking Version 8
(product review) 62-4
DTP – Adobe’s InDesign software
(review) 26
DVD & Video News (bfi, Moviemail)
Baadasssss! (Mario Van Peebles) 22
Battle in Heaven (Reydegas) 54
The Beat That My Heart Stopped
(Audiard) 52
Before the Nickelodeon - Edwin S.
15
Porter 120
British Transport Film Collection. Vol. 3
92
Celine and Julie go Boating (Rivette)
119
Chaplin - The Mutual Films. Vol. 2 23
Citizenship Video Pack [Team Video] 57
Cox, Alex [4 dvd film releases by bfi
Video] 23
Day of Wrath (Dreyer) 54
Dickens Before Sound 120-1
Dreams That Money Can Buy (Richter)
91
Free Cinema 55
Kurosawa [five films released by bfi
Video] 22
The Lost World of Friese-Greene 90
Man of Aran (Flaherty) 119
Master of the House (Dreyer) 56
Ordet (Dreyer) 55-6
Paris Belongs to Us (Rivette) 121
Pickwick Papers (Langley) 53
The Prisoner of Shark Island (Ford) 54
The Red and the White 53 (Janscó)
Rien ne va Plus (Chabrol) 54
Saraband (Bergman) 53
See Britain By Train 21
Silent Britain 91
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasss Song
(Melvin Van Peebles) 21
Visions of Light (Glassman) 56
Why Atheism? [Team Video teaching
resource] 24
Woman of the Dunes (Teshigahara) 90-1
Your MP [Team Video teaching
resource] 57
DVD MovieFactory 5 (product review)
111-3
E
e-learning, University of Wales , Newport
75-8
Encyclopedia Britannica 2007: ultimate
reference suite 110
Essential thesaurus construction (book
review) 122
F
Film & Video News see DVD & Video News

Flipcharts, the Polyvision Thunder virtual
flipchart system 49
Free Cinema Group (dvd release) 55
G
Genysys creates opportunities for virtual
learning (Walker) 50-1
Google Video Store 20
Grabster AV 150 (product review) 95-6
The Guardian International Film Guide
2006, 43rd ed. (book review) 61
H
Hiller-Forster, Michelle A case study in elearning
practice 75-8
Holophony: a new sound system (Howe)
16-18
Horslem, Janet (book review) 58-9
Howe, Alita Holophony: a new sound
system 16-18
I
InDesign essentials: the fast track to
mastering Adobe’s revolutionary page
layout application (book review) 26
iKiosks, Aberdeen 107
Image retrieval, content-based 3
Index to MmIT Vol. 31, 2005 18-19
Information and Communications
Technology (ICT), access to 86-9
Information management (book review)
60-1
Innovative multimedia tells seven stories
(Dixon) 38-9
Integrating digital resources in library
collections (book review) 58-9
Internet reference support for distance
learners (book review) 94
Introducing information management: an
information research reader
(book review) 60-1
Introduction to Library and Information
Work. 2nd ed (book review) 28-9
ITN Archive and Google Video Store 20
J
Jamieson, Ian Remodelling a listed library
building 36-7
Journal articles, TOCRoSS 79-81
L
MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
Lancaster University, e-campus underpass
project 69
Language, managerial (book review) 24-5
Law
cyberlaw (book review) 94-5
legal information (book review) 58
Leftley, Chris book review 94
The Polyvision Thunder virtual flipchart
system 49
Lewis, Andrew Use your brain to survive
in a big bad world 123-8
Library 2.0 – bringing the library to the
user(Curran & Murray) 103-5
Library and information services (book
reviews) 28-9
M
Managerial language (book review) 24-5
Managing change: a how-to-do-it manual
for librarians (book review) 122
Mashing up the Library competition 2006
100-1
MERL – a Record of Rural Life 44-6
Metadata: a cataloguer’s primer (book
review) 27
Multimedia Britannica 2007 (dvd review)
110
Museum of English Rural Life 44-6
N
National Library for the Blind DAISY
pilot project 4-5
News and Newsblog 3-9, 35-41, 67-74,
99-110
Newsfilm, ITN Archive and Google Video
Store 20
Olympus DS-3300 digital voice recorder
(product review) 30-2
P
Pedley, Paul (book review) 94-5
The Polyvision Thunder virtual flipchart
system (Leftley) 49
Portals and libraries (book review) 59
Pugh, Lyndon
book reviews 24-6, 122
Slow death for CILIP Special Interest
Groups? 42-3
Pugh, Lyndon & Rowlands, Jane see
News
R
Remodelling a listed library
building(Jamieson) 36-7
Robinson, David & Curran, Kevin Banish
blue rinse blues on the web: how
to make surfing easier. Part 2 10-12
Rowlands, Jane, editor see Technology
114-7
Rowlands, Jane & Pugh, Lyndon see
News
S
Setting up a library and information
service from scratch (book review) 28
16
Seven Stories, Centre for Children's Books
38-9
Shakespeare – An International Database
of Shakespeare on Film, Television and
Radio 70-1
Shakespeare: clowns, courtesans and kings
(Terris) 70-1
Simon, Anoush (book review) 60-1
Slow death for CILIP Special Interest
Groups? (Pugh) 42-3
Sound, Holophony 16-18
Sprunt [architectural practice], design of
Westminster Kingsway College
media laboratory 36-7
Subtitling video for deaf library users
(Tomlinson) 7
T
TALIS – Mashing up the Library
competition 2006 100-1
Talking books, National Library for the
Blind’s DAISY project 4-5
Technology 13-15, 47-9, 82-5, 114-7
TechXtra, electronic access to technology
information 72
Terris, Olwen
book reviews 27, 61-2, 122
Index to MmIT vol. 31 2005 18-19
Shakespeare: clowns, courtesans and
kings 70-1
Thesaurus construction (book review)
123
Thomas, Lyndia (book reviews) 28-9, 93
Tiger AV, interactive art display 69
TOCRoSS (Table of Contents by Really
Simple Syndication (Crawford)
79-81
Tomlinson, Paul N. Subtitling video for
deaf library users 7
Use your brain to survive in Big Bad
World (Lewis) 123-8
V
Verbatim, mini DVD-R DL media 118
VideoStudio 10 Plus (product review) 111-3
Virtual learning, Genysys Conferencing
50-1
Voice recognition software (product
reviews) 30-2, 62-4
W
Walker, Mark Genysys creates
opportunities for virtual learning 50-1
Web access, older people 10-12
Westminster Kingsway College, media
laboratory, design 36-7

MOBILE MEDIA nowadays is
very much more than a mere
catchphrase: must-haves and best
buys include mobile phones with digital
still/video cameras and email and internet
searching, portable CD, DVD and minidisc
recorders/players, mp3 players and pocket
DAB radios.
One might imagine that an LCD TV with
a tiny 9’’ screen and a foldaway handle was
designed to be portable, though this is not
the case – portable around the house
maybe, but it needs mains power. It has
integrated analogue and digital tuners,
rather poor sound quality and a ridiculous
price tag of £300. This item is described as
“the ideal second-room TV”. With a screen
that small, it might just make it to the
worktop in my kitchen, as a suitable
viewing distance would be less than one
metre. While more suitable models in 15’’
and 17’’ formats are available for the same
price, these will not be portable either.
This creates a problem for anyone who
needs truly portable television. In the age of
the ubiquitous laptop, one solution is to use
that, with a suitable TV card. The difficulty
with this idea is that many users would feel
that it was too complex an operation.
What is really needed, to provide the best
solution, is of course a plug-in TV card. It
should be no surprise that these have been
around for some time. TerraTec have now
come up with the simplest solution that I
have found to date, which is the the Cinergy
T USB XE: Mini Digital TV Tuner. What is
new about this device is not just its minimal
form factor in the shape of a USB key,
which we have seen before, but its no
nonsense approach to providing digital TV
reception on a PC or laptop, without any
frills. This device will permit the viewer to
watch TV on a laptop or PC in just about
any location, provided there is an adequate
signal.
The equipment comes with a tiny,
portable aerial with an RF connector. It
also earns its no frills tag – there is no
remote control, remote control receiver or
ports for S-video or composite video inputs
or stereo audio input. These, however, were
all present in the Cinergy XS which was
priced at £150. The new version retails at
The Cinergy T USB XE: Mini Digital
TV Tuner Ken Cheetham (UWIC Student Support
Services) looks at truly portable television
less than £40 and is well
worth that sum.
The entire set
up is shown
left, and the
figure below
shows the USB
connection exposed. The
cable at the rear end is from the
aerial into the typical RF socket connector.
Reception consists entirely of digital
programmes transmitted by DTT (Digital
Terrestrial Television) – in other words,
Freeview channels, but this tiny card does
more than that. The TerraTec Home
Cinema software enables it to be used as a
digital video recorder for recording DTT
programmes with full MPEG 2 support,
and it is EPG compatible. The electronic
programme guide enables accurate
navigation through the large number of
channels available, giving programme
details and permitting activation of timer
recording. Even time-shift recording is
available, so that parts of programmes not
seen live for any reason can be saved to the
hard drive.
The device is powered from the USB port
and is USB 1.1 and 2.0 compatible. There
are some minimum system requirements
that prospective searchers should be made
aware of:
● AMD/Intel Pentium/Centrino certified
CPU, minimum 1.4 GHz
● Available USB interface
● Audio hardware with DirectX support
● Graphics board with DirectDraw drivers
and video overlay support
● CD-R/DVD-R-drive (for software
installation)
● 512 MB RAM
17
● Microsoft Windows® XP with Service
Pack 2
● Terrestrial digital TV reception (DVB-T,
Freeview, TNT)
In order to be certain about Digital
Terrestrial Television (DTT) coverage,
check the website at
http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html.
I found that the mini-aerial supplied gave
me more than adequate reception to the PC
in my office, for most of the channels that it
recognised. Only ITV channels were
missing, though these were received when I
switched to a standard, set-top aerial. A
high-gain loft-aerial or external antenna
should deliver all available. I would
suggest that it is probably unwise to
imagine that adequate reception is going to
be the rule for rail travel with a laptop or in
any other form of transport, but the caveat
“in just about any location of your choice,
provided there is an adequate signal
locally” should cover everything. It is
worth noting that radio broadcasts are also
available.
Setting up the card is very simple, with
the user required only to follow a few short
instructions in the Quick Start Guide and
the on-screen instructions. The whole
process should not take more than five
minutes.
This is an excellent card, representing a
good solution to providing laptop or PCbased
TV. This is especially so if there is a
need to watch television programmes
while working, surfing or studying. Listed
price is £39.99 including VAT and if you
can't find one or would like more
information, please contact Kathryn Lamb
at KLAssociates, Tel: +44 (0)1327 844880;
Email: kathryn@klassociates.com.

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
while working, surfing or studying. The
list price is £39.99 including VAT and if one
cannot be found, or if more information is
needed, please contact Kathryn Lamb at
KL Associates, Tel: +44 (0)1327 844880;
Email: kathryn@klassociates.com.
Key Features
Simplicity
Flexibility
Digital Video Recording Facility
EPG Compatible
Time-shift Recording
Good User Guide
Easy Set Up
DID YOU KNOW that 1.2 metres (or
four feet) of shelf space probably
holds at least 300 vinyl albums, but
only 120 CDs? I have almost 500 of each,
and possibly another 500 of audio cassettes.
The advantage of going digital is obvious.
When copying a digital sound source such
as a CD track, it is copied as a file, whereas
a sound track from vinyl or tape has to be
played through in real time and captured in
real time. A 15 minute track takes 15
minutes to convert to a digital copy, while
the same track as a digital source can be
copied in seconds. Think then how long it
might take to copy my analogue sources to
digital, and what might induce me to do it.
Nothing at all is the correct answer; but I
might have good reason to copy a single
track or album in order to convert it to a
portable format for playing in different
locations at home or while travelling.
Now is a good time to look at this topic,
as vinyl-to-digital converters have started to
appear as special offers in the press. These
are generally a basic turntable, pick-up arm,
Converting Magnetic Tape
and Vinyl-based Music
to Digital Format
cartridge and stylus, together with capture
software and USB connectivity to a PC or
Mac. There is no provision for capture from
audio cassette, and the units sell for about
£50. An alternative at a somewhat lower
price is a ripper box, providing connectivity
only, for a cassette deck, turntable or other
sound device to feed into a computer. Both
solutions include software which permits
conversion to MP3 or burning directly to
CD/DVD. My feelings on all of this are
mixed. Certainly, if this has to be done,
either solution is workable. The publicity
relating to one such ripper states
Simply hook up an old turntable or cassette
deck to the box and plug it in into an
available USB port on your PC.
and this will work. However, to get the best
out of music sources, hi-fi equipment is
essential, and that is high fidelity as
opposed to the ubiquitous stereo, which has
come to mean any twin channel sound
source regardless of its quality. I could hook
18
Ken Cheetham
looks at a good option
up my old Linn Sondek turntable or old
Marantz cassette deck, both hi-fi, but it
would make more sense to ignore the ripper
and link through the box that I already
have: my hi-fi Nytech pre-amp/power amp
combination will deliver a much better
result. The software is still a necessity, but
there is a large range to choose from.
Setting aside these preliminary thoughts,
copying from an audio cassette player to a
PC can be done by connecting directly to a
sound card. This will need a cable link with
twin phono connectors at one end to a
Figure 1: Stereo Mini-jack Plugs

single, stereo, mini-jack plug at the other.
Figure 1 facing shows this and two types of
mini-jack: you will only need one of the
latter.
The phono plugs connect to the tape out
or line out sockets of the amplifier or tape
deck. The mini-jack connects to the line in
socket on the sound card.
The cassette player produces a line-level
signal which can provide adequate
amplitude for the PC’s sound card.
However, a record turntable produces a
very weak signal which must be amplified
before reaching the PC. My Nytech
amplifier, for example, has a phono amp
built in, so the amplifier delivers a linelevel
signal. This could also be produced by
the vinyl-to-digital converters and
ripperboxes already discussed. Without an
amplifier, a stand-alone phono amp or a
sound card with a built in phono amp stage
is required.
It is worth remembering always that the
excellence of the components will
determine the quality of your recording,
starting from point of contact. This applies
to the stylus, cartridge, tone arm, turntable,
motor, cable, amplifier and so on. The same
is true for tape: tape head, tape drive, motor,
electronics and cable must be of the best
quality. I have almost ignored the quality
of the disc or tape sources because they preexist,
so to speak, but vinyl can be cleaned.
The least invasive process possible should
be used, to avoid damaging the vinyl
surface and grooves as far as this can be
done. An earthed, carbon-fibre brush will
remove static and light dust, but dirty discs
may need vacuum cleaning or even a wet
cleaning method.
THE DIGITAL RECORDING end of the
hardware will be a PC or Mac and the
system requirements are:
● Minimum CPU – Intel Pentium 3: – 500
MHz or faster
● 256 MB of RAM minimum, but 1GB
would make life easier
● 1.5GB hard drive space per album
● CD/DVD-ROM – for software installation
● CD/DVD burner – for making audio
CDs/DVDs
● Sound card and speakers
● Sound recording and editing software
and disc burning software, though this
usually comes with the burner
THERE ARE MANY audio software
programmes available, and those
worth considering include Audition
(CoolEdit Pro or CoolEdit 2000),
PolderbitS Sound Recorder and Editor 5.0,
Pristine Sounds 2000 or Sound Forge with
Sonic Foundry Noise Reduction plug-ins. I
have been using CoolEdit 2000 for two
years and I am satisfied with that. Sound
Forge is probably better for anyone with a
thorough knowledge of sound and possibly
sound engineering.
The software chosen may offer more than
the simple facility of producing a digital
recording from an analogue source. It can
also help to get rid of many of the
extraneous noises generated by the original
material or the hardware. The recording
system in use may very well create its own
background noise, and this could become a
real distraction while listening. The sound
card may also generate a hum, but this can
readily be removed in an automated
process. Old LPs may produce crackles and
pops, and cassette tape often generates hiss:
much of this may also be cleaned up by
automated methods. Let us look first
though at the basic process of making our
first digital recording from vinyl.
THE CONVERSION PROCESS begins with
connecting the turntable and
amplifier to the sound card of the PC
and opening the PCs sound control
programme. Set balance to ensure left and
right channels are equal, and do the same
with the amplifier. Maximise the line input
and line playback controls and set all others
to mute, except for the master volume
control. The latter could be set at about
half-way down, or the volume control on
the speakers could be used to set playback
level. Open the audio recording software
and select File, New. Select a Sample Rate,
Channels and Resolution. Choose 44100Hz,
Stereo and 16-bit. These are for CD quality
audio files. Select Record in the software
and play the record. The software should
show recording levels. This should be
altered so that the peak just misses 0db.
Levels above this (analogue employs +3db
and +5db for normal and metal tape types
respectively) will result in clipping in the
audio files, which is a highly undesirable
form of distortion. It is unlikely that the
equipment will not have line out sockets as
described, but should that be the case it is
possible to use a headphone socket with the
appropriately sized jack to a stereo minijack
plug connecting to the sound card as
before. All equalisation and loudness or
other filters must be switched off, and equal
balance between left and right channels
must be set.
The recording level is now set by
adjusting the volume control on the
amplifier, starting at a low level as it is
possible to overload and damage the sound
card. Once the levels are satisfactory,
record Side 1 of the album, stop recording
and save the file.
Recordings are made as waveform files
and they may be saved in many formats,
depending on purpose. It is important to
maintain the 44100, Stereo and 16-bit
options chosen for the recording process, as
these will affect recording quality. Saving
19
Product Reviews
as *.mp3 will give the option of downloading
directly to an mp3 player or it is possible to
choose a *.wma format (Windows Media
Audio) or one or other form of *.wav files
such as the Microsoft ACM (Audio
Compression Manager) .wav format,
generally playable by most audio software
players.
Now the first recording has been
completed. It is Side 1 of the chosen album
and the process can be repeated to create a
digital recording of Side 2. Both of these
can then be burnt in sequence, directly to a
CD or DVD, and kept on the hard drive as
well. Depending on the software in use,
each file could be split into components
equivalent to each track of the LP. Name
each individually, so that any track on the
CD player, be it in the PC or as a module of
a hi-fi system, could be selected.
It is possible that the software will offer
other facilities, such as some noise
reduction as suggested earlier. Be warned
that the 30 minutes of vinyl has probably
cost at least 45 minutes already. Going
further into the process could demand a
much greater outlay, so I will conclude with
a brief look at what the potential may be.
IT IS WORTH MAKING COPIES of digital
recordings, saving the files with a
different name. This preserves the
original file and keeps it safe in case of
accidents during the additional processing.
Every processing step generates a degree
of blur. Just as in Photoshop, running the
dust and scratches filter can only have an
effect if its settings are greater than zero,
and if that effect is applied to the whole
selection. Similarly, with audio editing
software any frequency deleted is removed
from the selection and a little sound blur is
the result. The difficulty is in making
selections where the effect needs to be
applied, and this is where time
consumption takes its toll. It may even be
necessary to remove individual clicks and
pops rather than running a filter over a
broader selection.
Continuous noise is a different problem
as a profile may be made of a silent area –
say between tracks, the silence being
filtered out from the whole recording. This
would remove sound produced by turntable
rumble. Similarly, noise generated by the
soundboard’s electronics may be reduced
by recording a few seconds of silence
before the turntable runs. That silence could
be removed for a range of about 10db of
dynamic range.
Noise reduction works best when the
sound wave is centred on its axis. DC
current introduced into the signal by the
sound card displaces the centre of the wave
from the centre line of the display, so centre
the wave before applying noise reduction,
or audible clicks may be heard after
processing. Centring will only remove

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
frequencies below about 16Hz, so there are
no adverse, audible effects from this
particular process. All this shows just how
convoluted and, therefore, time-consuming
audio editing can be. It is worth noting also
that CD quality audio files, as determined
by the original settings, will occupy about
10MB for each audio minute. Recording in
mono will require about the same amount
of editing time, but will need half as much
disc space. In this way, it is easy to see how
an hour of recording time could easily
become three hours and more in total: the
process is both time and space hungry. On
the other hand, it may be worth it for
valuable and especially collectors’ items on
vinyl which need to be preserved and
protected from the hazards of playing it as
a source.
Best of the Blog
For the MmIT NewsBlog, go to
http://mmit.willco.com
and have your say
20
System Requirements
Minimum CPU – Intel Pentium 3: – 500 MHz or faster
256 MB of RAM minimum, but 1GB would make life easier
1.5GB hard drive space per album
CD/DVD-ROM – for software installation
CD/DVD burner – for making audio CDs/DVDs
Sound card and speakers
Sound recording and editing software and disc burning software,
though this usually comes with the burner
This column contains a small selection
of items posted on the MmIT Blog, which
is at http://mmit.willco.com. It is available
for use by MMIT group members,
subscribers, professional colleagues
and other professionals interested in the
broad area of multimedia information.
It is not necessary to be a member of the
group or a subscriber to Multimedia
Information & Technology to make use of
the blog. No registration is required, and
no password is needed for access.
Any contributions relevant to the interests
of the group, including reports of service
developments and professional
activities, will be welcomed.
Post them to the blog at
http://mmit.willco.com
Filling the Digital Black Hole
A CONSORTIUM OF NATIONAL libraries and other digital preservation experts has warned that European organisations face the loss of
electronic documents holding information potentially worth billions of Euros.
As successive file formats are superseded and become obsolete, there is a danger that information held in such older formats may
become difficult or impossible to retrieve – resulting in the loss of vast amounts of unique and valuable information.
To address this threat of a digital black hole, the EU is co-funding the consortium of national libraries, archives, research institutes and
technology specialists. The PLANETS Project (Preservation and Long-term Access through NETworked Services) will deliver a
sustainable framework to enable long-term preservation of digital content, increasing Europe’s ability to ensure access in perpetuity to
its digital information.
Funded through the Information Society Technologies (IST) R&D Programme, the project will enable organisations to improve
decision-making about long term preservation, ensure long-term access to their valued digital content and control the costs of preservation
actions through increased automation and scaleable infrastructure.
The PLANETS consortium estimates that EU member countries produce around 5 billion documents per year; of this total, around 2%
(100 million documents per year) comprise information that is worth archiving. Around 2 million documents out of this sub-total are held
in formats that constitute a long-term preservation risk. Taking into account the production costs of these documents – along with the
estimated worth of the information to others – many millions of Euros-worth of information currently languishes in endangered formats.

The project will bring together the unique
experience required to research, develop,
deliver and implement practical digital
preservation procedures. The consortium
incorporates national libraries, national
archives, research universities and
technology companies.
A key objective of PLANETS is to create
an environment within which commercial
services designed to support different
aspects of the preservation lifecycle can
flourish. Providing a way to integrate
stand-alone tools, products and services
within a viable preservation infrastructure
is difficult. The PLANETS Interoperability
Framework, through the publication of
open, common interfaces, will provide the
foundations for a competitive market place
to which third party vendors can bring
preservation tool and service products.
The PLANETS Project will run for 4
years and officially began on the 1st June
2006. The EU will contribute 8.6M of the
total project spend of 14M Euro. Further
information on PLANETS can be found at:
http://www.planets-project.eu

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
Technology
Roundup
Kevin Curran
Cheap Online Storage Sites
ONE OF THE BIG SUCCESSES OF 2006 WAS THE ARRIVAL of cheap online storage sites which
handle synchronisation of data between home, work and mobile devices. For instance, by
using these sites, a document edited on a home PC on a Monday evening can be copied
online and updated to a work PC. Some of the market leaders at present include BT Digital
Vault, Sharpcast and Streamload.
It is quite possible that we are looking at the start of a trend, where all our information
is stored on remote servers rather than local storage. The pervasiveness of broadband
adoption, and the decrease in the price of storage has ushered in this “brave new world”.
Some would indeed say brave, as one is reliant on the presence of a continuous internet
connection.
BT Digital Vault provides a secure online location to store any personal files including
photos, emails, music, video files and contact information. The files can be accessed from
any device on a broadband connection. The data is securely transferred and stored in the
BT Digital Vault, protecting the data against PC crashes, theft or accidental deletion. At
present, there is a choice of storage levels – 2GB or 20GB. The 2GB service is free and
the 20GB is £4.99 per month.
The BT Digital Vault Backup Manager makes it easy to select which folders to backup.
Once set up, it will then run regular automatic backups every time the user is online. It is
not neccessary to transmit whole files again, as BT Digital Vault will examine modified
files for any changes, and only upload the updated sections.
Sharpcast offer a similar service. Where the Sharpcast software is installed on a PC or
mobile phone, any change made to any document on the device is automatically replicated
on all the other devices. Sharpcast intend, in the near future, to enable the synchronisation of
calendar appointments and contacts.
One of the services that I have enjoyed using is SmugMug. This is a free online photosharing
service, although it is possible that this will become a chargeable service in the
future. SmugMug’s current business model is built around the sale of supporting services,
such as print ordering, which makes the free photsharing possible. This would have been
uneconomic to offer a few years ago due to the storage costs involved.
There are some, however, who are quite ready to point out the limitations in these
systems. Firstly, there are still a significant number of internet users who do not
haveaccess to broadband. Secondly, there are insufficient wireless hotspots to enable users
to remain connected all day. This means it is not possible to utilise fully the online storage
mechanism or synchronisation features. Finally, there remains the issue of trust in relation
to the security of the data stored online. Go to
http://www.btdigitalvault.bt.com/
http://www.sharpcast.com/
http://www.streamload.com/
http://www.smugmug.com/
22
Online Interactive
Video Mixing
THERE HAS BEEN A NOTABLE rise, of late, in
the number of sites which allow the mixing
of video clips online. One of the market
leaders is jumpcut, which has recently been
acquired by Yahoo. Jumpcut enables realtime
video editing through a Web browser.
Users can preview changes while editing
what is akin to a desktop application, and a
side benefit is that mixes can be performed
on other users’ content. Clips and
photographs can be uploaded over the web
and, after registration, movies can be made
immediately.
Individual files are limited to 100
Megabytes. The jumpcut uploader will
automatically create a movie from the files
uploaded. Next, the web-based editor can
be used to rearrange what has been
uploaded, add titles, effects and lots more.
Images can also be directly imported
from flickr or facebook in one click.
Registered users also receive a personal
upload email address to which attachments
can be sent, and the files are automatically
added to the library.
The site’s success is built on Flash
animation software, where each uploaded
file is copied and converted to a flash
format on the jumpcut server. This is what
is actually edited in the browser.
A set of Flash programming commands
is then layered on top of the original
uploaded file. The result of this is faster
editing and interactive control than would
be possible if working solely on the original
movie file.
Completed movies can be kept private,
viewed by selected individuals, or viewed
by anyone.
Movies can also be deemed remixable.
This will allow other users to grab sections
and insert them into their own projects.
Making movies generally available
opens up other possibilities. The facility
could be useful for collaborative projects in
schools, for example, or for social
gatherings where compilations of videos
and photographs taken by other guests
could be made available.
The performance of the site is
comparable to desktop editing, but there
are a number of limitations. These become
apparent if more advanced editing is
needed. Upgrades to enable more
sophisticated video processing and sharing
are planned. The combination of simple
tools available is nevertheless already
attractive to a large audience, and this may
be just the start of the merging of online
social networking and DIY media.
Go to
http://www.jumpcut.com.

Warning ––
Googling TV
in Progress
MOST GOOGLE USERS are probably aware
that Google places specific advertisements,
on each results page, relevant to the terms
web searchers use when searching. Not so
well known is that Google are hoping to
generate advertisements, actually tailored
for searchers, with content relevant, for
example, to what is being broadcast at the
same time on the TV in the room. Does this
sound far fetched?
Well, according to Google researchers
Michele Covell and Shumeet Baluja on the
Google research blog , they are working on
a system which “could keep up with users
while they channel surf, presenting them
with a real-time forum about a live political
debate one minute and an ad-hoc chat room
for a sporting event in the next…. All of
this would be done without users ever
having to type or to even know the name of
the program being viewed”.
It is done by using a standard PC
microphone to listen to the room sounds.
Snippets of sound are filtered to pick out
audio from a TV with the snippet then
reduced to a digital fingerprint. An online
searcher then attempts to identify a
matching fingerprint from a pre-recorded
show. If it succeeds, it will display
advertisments or other relevant information
on the user’s computer.
There is some sensitivity to privacy
concerns, so the fingerprinting technology
used in the Google prototype can only be
matched with existing server prerecordings.
This means that private
conversations are safeguarded. There is a
great deal of interest in this development,
because it bridges television and web
content, and many commercial networks
are struggling to address the drastic fall in
advertising revenue in the last 12 months –
due to advertisers switching to the web.
It is claimed that the system is accurate
enough to make the supplementary content
streamed by Google useful to web
searchers.
One scenario could involve a user
watching a rerun of Top Gun with Tom
Cruise wearing Ray Ban sun shades, which
triggers the display of an advertisement for
http://www.tvwear.com/, which carries
those particular sunglasses.
This technique will also allow advertisers
to reserve slots for specific products – such
as cars for James Bond films, or beach wear
(Bay Watch). In this instance, particular
segments of an episode or film will result in
the relevant advertisment being sent to the
viewer. Apart from the technology, Google
will have to find a balance between
effective information and annoying surfers.
23
Technology Roundup
Riya – a Recognition
System for Photographs
IF YOU ARE ANYTHING like me, then the last
thing in the world you feel like doing is
clicking on every one of your digital images
and classifying them. It may be something
you think is desirable, but how do you find
the time? Most people would take the easy
way out and simply upload them into
folders sorted by date uploaded, and at the
very least give them general titles such as
Christmas Holiday 2006. Now, however,
,there is an alternative in the form of a new
automated classification system.
Riya is a new visual search engine, which
looks inside the image and not only at the
text around it. Riya’s software can find
similar faces and objects on many images
across the web, and refine the results using
attributes such as colour, shape and texture.
Riya also has a personal search service
involving face and text recognition on
photographs. The face and text recognition
technology can be used to train the system
to recognise the main characters in the
photographs. Riya believes the time has
come to make photographs truly
searchable, and allow users to retrieve more
images with the same characteristics as
some of those already in their folders.
The software is in its early stages, and a
spokesman for Riya said:
Image search on the web hasn’t changed
significantly in many years. We are a geeky
(and proud of it) group of engineers and
researchers who are slowly innovating in
this area.
As the project grows, and more
photographs are available, the more easily
the system will be able to match faces with
names, and as uploads increase they will
automatically be tagged with the names of
the people in them.
There are some who are worried about
the privacy issues involved in allowing face
recognition to be used in this way. Riya
does impose rules which restrict access to
photographs. In this way collections can be
kept private, and the software will only tag
people who have been previously
classified.
The software works by first scanning for
a face. Once a face is found, a box is drawn
around it and matched with existing faces in
the database (if any). Next, for additional
accuracy, the system will seek to isolate
faces which appear in multiple shots.
Characteristics such as clothes, texture and
shape are also noted.
The recommended number of photos to
upload is 500 plus, and the system claims to
identify people correctly 80% of the time.

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
T H E
JVC’s new range of
ProHD camcorders
PROGRESSIVE 720p/50 recording engine
inside JVC’s new 200 series ProHD
camcorders represents a huge step forward
for all HD producers.
These affordably priced camcorders
capture 50 separate, 1280 x 720, high
definition pictures every second. The
playback delivers absolutely crisp, clear
and beautifully detailed images, with the
smoothest delivery of motion and the most
faithful of colour reproduction.
The 200 Series ProHD video cameras
record and deliver the same progressive
signal which HD display screens and HD
projectors feed off natively. Progressive
capture for progressive display means real
progress.
In jumping up from 720p/25 (ProHD 100
series) to 720p/50 (ProHD 200 series),
there is theoretically twice as much data to
record. Yet the R & D laboratories at JVC
have managed to keep the data rate at the
same 19.7 Mbps rate as the first ProHD 100
Series camcorders.
How did they achieve that? It is mainly
due to JVC’s very fast new super-encoder,
which is supported by the innovative
wideband front-end processor. Other new
technology includes JVC’s newly
developed 14-bit A/D converter.
HDV from recorded tape is output
digitally via FireWire, and can be switched
between 720p and 1080i. Furthermore, live
uncompressed 720p/50 or live
uncompressed 1080i/50
can also be output via
analogue component or,
in the case of GY-
HD251, via the HD SDI
port, complete with embedded audio and
time code.
The same cameras, by virtue
of being ProHD, have the
trademark qualities of
delivering high definition
with a high degree of
affordability. The complete
standard package for GY-
HD200 is £4,660, for GY-
HD201 £5,070, and for GY-
HD251 £6,520.
Go to http://www.jvcpro.co.uk
Want to Know
the Answer?
Then Ask TASI
IN ADDITION TO ITS POPULAR WORKSHOPS, the Technical Advisory Service for Images
(TASI) offers a free helpdesk service for anyone working within UK further or higher
education. To visit the hlpdesk, go to http://www.tasi.ac.uk/helpdesk.html.
TASI will answer questions on any issue relating to digital images, from finding or
making them, through to storing and using them. Some typical examples are:
● How can I best scan or photograph my fragile books?
● How can I improve the pictures I'm getting from my compact digital camera?
● I’'m not a techie – how can I easily publish my collection of images on the Web?
● How big do my pictures need to be if I’m putting them into Powerpoint?
● Where can I find a good source of free/cheap images?
● I bought an old postcard from a shop – can I put it on my Web site?
● I took a photo for my last employer – can I use it in teaching materials
for my new employer?
● At the highest resolution/bit-depth my archival TIFFs are 480MB – am I doing
something wrong?
TASI also welcomes atypical questions, to give them a more demanding test, and enquirers
can expect an acknowledgement within a day and a full answer within five days. Simple
questions will often be answered on the day received.
24

DVD & Video ideo News
THE COLLECTED FILMS of R. W. Paul were
released in November by the BFI. Robert
W. Paul is justly celebrated as the leading
pioneer of British film, and one of the
founders of world cinema.
Concentrating first on actuality films, he
soon branched out, pioneering almost every
kind of film from documentary to fiction
and fantasy. This unique DVD collection of
62 films, many preserved by the BFI
National Archive, represents an attempt to
bring together for the first time the
collected output of Paul and his studio.
Paul produced what is arguably the first
British narrative film A Soldier’s Courtship
(1896, now lost), and in 1898 became the
first man to edit two scenes together in
Come Along, Do! With the help of former
magician Walter Booth, he created
elaborate fantasies in the mould
of George Méliès, such as The
Motorist (1906), in which an
animated motorcar drives off
into space and round the rings of
Saturn.
In addition to popular
comedies, dramas, and
elaborate trick films, this
collection contains one
of only two surviving
films of the disaster
caused by the launch of
HMS Albion; some of
the first films shot in
Spain, Portugal, Egypt
and Sweden, including
frontline reporting from the Anglo-
Boer War; Paul's famous record of
the 1896 Derby and extensive
coverage of Queen Victoria’s
Diamond Jubilee procession.
These, and the numerous actuality
films that Paul made, show day-today
life in Victorian London. These
rare films are presented with a brand
new musical accompaniment by celebrated
pianist Stephen Horne. Extras include:
● Commentary by film historian and author
Professor Ian Christie (Birkbeck College,
London), whose forthcoming book – The
Time Traveller: Robert Paul and the
Early Moving Picture Business – will be
published by Chicago University Press at
the end of 2007
25
● An Illustrated booklet with an essay and
introduction to each of the films
The RRP is £19.99, the catalogue number
is BFIVD642 , and the production, in b &w,
147 minutes and silent, is certificate E .
L’ARMÉE DES OMBRES (Army of the
Shadows), a film by Jean-Pierre Melville,
was also released late last year.
On DVD in a newly restored print,
following its theatrical release by the BFI
earlier this year, Jean-Pierre Melville’s
gripping adaptation of Joseph Kessel’s
seminal wartime novel has been praised as
one of the greatest and the most authentic
film portrayals of the French Résistance.

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
A personal project for over 25 years, the
film drew on his own experience of fighting
for the Résistance, and shares the
existential themes of his gangster epics Le
Samouraï and Le Cercle Rouge and shows
Melville’s mastery of suspense.
Set between the Autumn of 1942 and
February 1943, the film follows the story of
a band of Résistance fighters living under
German-controlled France.
As the war continues, the grip of the
occupying force tightens and friendships,
trust and loyalty give way to secrecy,
suspicion and loss.
A tribute to the heroic activities of the
everyday members of the Résistance,
L’Armée des ombres is a tense,
atmospheric tour de force featuring
powerful performances from Simone
Signoret, Lino Ventura and Jean-Pierre
Cassel, and a striking cameo from Serge
Reggiani. The extras include:
●Commentary by Professor Ginette
Vincendeau, author of Jean-Pierre
Melville: An American in Paris (BFI)
● Le Journal de la Résistance (1945, 33
mins, b&w). This is a rare documentary
from the archive of the Imperial War
Museum, with English commentary by
Noel Coward
● A rarely seen short film about Jean-Pierre
Melville, from 1968, with footage of him
directing on set (4 mins, colour)
● An illustrated booklet, including an essay
by Jean-Michel Frodon and a review of
the film on its original release by Jean-
Louis Comolli. Both of these are from
Cahiers du Cinéma magazine
● A biography of the director, and much
more
The RRP is £19.99, the catalogue number
is BFIVD713 and the film is cert 12. It was
originally released in France and Italy in
1969, in colour.
The language is French with English
subtitles and the running time is 145
minutes.
THE INNOCENTS, a film by Jack Clayton, is
his celebrated screen adaptation of Henry
James’s The Turn of the Screw, released for
home viewing in the UK for the first time,
is a brilliant exercise in psychological
horror.
Impressionable and repressed governess
Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) agrees to
tutor two orphaned children, Miles and
Flora. On arrival at Bly House, she
The Innocent’s sinister atmosphere is carefully created –
not through shock tactics, but through
its cinematography, soundtrack, and decor:
Freddie Francis’s beautiful CinemaScope photography,
with its eerily indistinct long shots and mysterious
manifestations at the edges of the frame; an
evocative and spooky soundtrack; and the grand yet
decaying Bly House.
26
becomes convinced that the children are
possessed by the perverse spirits of former
governess Miss Jessel and her Heathcliffelike
lover Quint (Peter Wyngarde), who
both met with mysterious deaths.
The film’s sinister atmosphere is
carefully created – not through shock
tactics, but through its cinematography,
soundtrack, and decor: Freddie Francis’s
beautiful CinemaScope photography, with
its eerily indistinct long shots and
mysterious manifestations at the edges of
the frame; an evocative and spooky
soundtrack; and the grand yet decaying Bly
House.
Deborah Kerr gives the performance of
her career and makes The Innocents an
intensely unsettling experience. Are the
ghosts the products of Miss Giddens’
fevered imagination and emotional
immaturity, or a displacement of her shock
at the sexually precocious behaviour of tenyear-old
Miles? Is she the protector or the
corrupter?
Now widely considered to be one of the
greatest of all ghost stories on film, The
Innocents continues to inspire today’s
‘haunted house’ movies, most notably The
Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001) which

starred Nicole Kidman. Extras include
● A feature commentary by Professor
Christopher Frayling
● A filmed introduction with Professor
Christopher Frayling
● The Bespoke Overcoat (Jack Clayton,
UK, 1955, 33 mins). This was Jack
Clayton’s first film as director, and was
an Oscar® and BAFTA award-winning
short . It starrs Alfie Bass and David
Kossoff
● The original U.S trailer for The Innocents
● Stills gallery including original costume
designs, publicity posters, press books
and production pictures
● 20-page illustrated booklet including film
notes by The League of Gentlemen’s
Jeremy Dyson, feature from Sight &
Sound (1961), biographies and credits
Released shortly before Christmas, the film
is cert 12. The RRP is £19.99, and the
catalogue number is BFIVD675. An UK
production from 1961, it is in black and
white, running for 96 mins in
The Quay Brothers:
the Short Films
1979-2003
The Quay’s Cabinet
The Innocents
THE BFI HAS COLLABORATED WITH THE INIMITABLE QUAY BROTHERS to release a truly
comprehensive compilation of their short films on DVD; a world first. The Quays were
extensively involved with the preparation of the DVD, personally supervising the transfers,
recording commentaries on selected titles, and contributing an exclusive 20-minute
illustrated video interview.
This two-disc set, in deluxe packaging, collects 13 of the Quay Brothers’ short films,
spanning 24 years, in brand new, restored and re-mastered editions (six of them with new
Quay commentaries), plus a collection of footnotes including interviews, alternative
versions and unrealised pilot projects. An
accompanying illustrated colour booklet
features an encyclopaedic guide to the Quays’
universe, plus the original illustrated treatment
for their best-known film Street of Crocodiles.
Born in Philadelphia and based in London,
but with a creative sensibility derived from the
remoter corners of Eastern Europe, identical
twin animators the Quay Brothers have
produced a unique body of work, and have also
made a major contribution towards establishing
the puppet film as a serious adult art form.
Filtering a huge range of literary, musical,
cinematic and philosophical influences through
their own utterly distinctive sensibility, each
Quay film is a dialogue-free and usually nonnarrative
experience, seizing the attention
through hypnotic control of décor, music and
movement. With a grasp of the uncanny which
rivals Luis Buñuel and Lewis Carroll, their
films evoke half-remembered dreams and longsuppressed
childhood memories, fascinating
and deeply unsettling by turns.
The collection ranges from their very first puppet film Nocturna Artificialia (1979) to the
recent The Phantom Museum (2003). In between there are all the classics: The Cabinet of
Jan Svankmajer (1984), a tribute to their great Czech counterpart; This Unnameable Little
Broom (1985), a reduction of the Epic of Gilgamesh into a ten-minute frenzy; their
acknowledged masterpiece Street of Crocodiles (1986), a visualisation of the labyrinthine
world of Polish author Bruno Schulz; the tantalisingly suggestive Rehearsals for Extinct
Anatomies (1987) and The Comb (1990); the playful documentary Anamorphosis (1991),
uncovering hidden meanings in outwardly conventional paintings; the Stille Nacht quartet
(1988-94) of twisted music videos, and In Absentia (2000), their acclaimed collaboration
27
DVD & Video News

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
with composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. The
second disc, Footnotes, contains numerous
extras including a newly commissioned
filmed interview, distinctive idents for the
BFI and BBC2, the satirical short The
Summit (1995) and a rare acting
appearance (albeit in stills) in a clip from
Peter Greenaway’s The Falls.
The DVD has been produced by the
BFI’s Michael Brooke, Content Developer
for Screenonline, the BFI’s extensive online
resource dedicated to the history of British
film and television. To tie in with the
release, Screenonline will be providing
extensive background material for each
individual title, together with a biography
and filmography of the Quays. For this, go
to http://www.screenonline.org.uk.
The DVD was released late last year and
the RRP is £24.99, cat. no. BFIVD653. It is
cert 12 and is in colour and b&w.
A New Take on Jane Austen
BECOMING JANE presents a fresh and
surprising view of the young Jane Austen
(Anne Hathaway), and shows how a littleknown
love affair with the brilliant, roguish
young Irishman, Tom Lefroy (James
McAvoy), played an influential part in the
shaping of her work. The film shows Jane’s
determination to succeed in an era when
independent thought for women was not
encouraged and women’s choices were
severely limited.
This true story of a romantic encounter
during a fascinating period in Austen’s life
is portrayed in a moving and exciting way,
in the spirit of Jane Austen, one of the most
inspiring female novelists of all time.
Becoming Jane will be released in the
UK and Ireland by Buena Vista
International (UK) on behalf of Miramax
Films on 9th March, 2007 and is produced
by Ecosse Films, makers of the multi-
award-winning Mrs. Brown,
in association with Blueprint
Pictures.
Directed by Julian Jarrold
(Kinky Boots, White Teeth for
TV), the talented cast includes
Anne Hathaway (Brokeback
Mountain and The Devil
Wears Prada) as the young
writer and James McAvoy
(Narnia: The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe and The
Last King of Scotland) as the
great love of her life.
Becoming Jane also stars,
Dame Maggie Smith (the Harry Potter
films and Gosford Park), Julie Walters
(Harry Potter and Calendar Girls), James
28
Cromwell (The Queen), Anna Maxwell
Martin (Bleak House for TV), Lucy Cohu
(The Queen’s Sister for TV) and Lawrence
Fox (Whatever Love Means for TV and the
new ITV drama Lewis).
The script was written by Sarah Williams
and Kevin Hood. Jon Spence, Austen
biographer and author of Becoming Jane
Austen, acted as the historical consultant on
the film.
Graham Broadbent, Robert Bernstein
and Douglas Rae for Ecosse Films, in
association with Blueprint Pictures, are the
producers. The film is also produced by
Scion Films with backing from 2Entertain,
the UK Film Council’s Premiere Fund and
the Irish Film Board. Miramax Films are
the US distributors.

THIS MONTH IS Moviemail’s 10th
anniversary, and their film of the month
reviewed in the February catalogue by Roy
Stafford is Almodovar’s Volver.
This is the story of the way two sisters are
haunted by the ghost of their mother,
following the death of their grandmother.
Behind the disturbed condition of one of
them, played by
Penelope Cruz, is
the story of her
daughter’s murder
of her husband.
Almodovar’s
finely-drawn
picture of the
relationships in
the film is
sensitively done,
and is reinforced
by what are some
extremely strong
performances.
The film owes a
great deal to
Almodovar’s own
early years in the
small town of La
Mancha, and the
resulting
production is
brought to life by several actresses who
were already well-established favourites of
the director – Carmen Maura, Chus
Lampreave and Cruz herself, with the
performance of the latter described as
outstanding.
In spite of some quite heavy themes
involving the murder and abuse already
referred to, insanity and death, the director
succeeds in creating a “life-giving and
uplifting” film combining melodrama and
comedy as well as the examination of the
themes described above. (From Roy
Stafford, Moviemail, February 2007). The
DVD is priced at £12.99 and volume 1 of
Almodovar is still available at £29.99.
ALSO OF NOTE IS the Luis Buñuel
Collection, with notes by Graeme Hobbs.
Adding to the already-available (on DVD)
The Exterminating Angel and Viridiana,
Moviemail are now offering The Young
One as one of the highlights of a set of eight
films representing most of the director’s
late achievements, commencing at the age
of sixty.
The Young One was shot in Mexico, while
both the writer and the producer were
Carmen Maura, Chus Lampreave
and Penelope Cruz in Volver
blacklisted:
In its strong mix of head-on racism and
underage sex, it was a bold film that
showed how practical good deeds (from a
white cabin trash racist) could come from
hypocrisy and guilt, while good thoughts
(from a well-meaning but ineffectual
pastor) lead to nothing much but the
preservation of the status quo. The film’s
symbolism is both straightforwardly sexual
and tantalisingly oblique. (Graeme Hobbs)
Six of the other films in the collection are
those which had their genesis in the
collaboration between Buñuel and Jean-
Claude Carrière. Chief of these perhaps is
The Milky Way, in spite of its apparently
unmalleable material drawn from the
record of Christian heresies through the
ages. With a quality cast including
Fernando Rey, Michel Piccoli, Jeanne
29
DVD & Video News
Moreau and Catherine Deneuve.
These are subtle, rewarding films with
far more to them than simply the
“skewering of religion and bourgeoisie”,
which is often as far as shorthand
criticism gets. Gaze in wonder at the
nature, customes and charades of those
strange, contrary,
hypocritical creatures
called human beings.
(Hobbs)
NEW RELEASES in
Moviemail’s World
Cinema series include
Ultimate Collection –
six horror stories for
£12.99; Jean-Jacques
Beinix’s Diva – a
thriller with a storyline
which covers drug
smuggling, murder
and a fugitive opera
star hiding from some
Parisian gangsters.
Due from early
February, Mikael
Hafström’s Evil is a
grim story about the
bullying, resistance and
punishment in a boarding school, while
Ballad of a Soldier is a Soviet war film
which was a winner at the Cannes Festival
in 1960. It is a story of the courage, altruism
and bravery to be found in war, and of the
impact of conflict on the individual. It is
also marked by some spectacular
photography.
BFI DVD releases are available at all
good DVD retailers, by mail order
from 0845 4589910 or online at
http://www.bfi.org.uk
Moviemail releases are available
online from
http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk.
Their website carries a far more
comprehensive listing, and there are
also further reductions in prices.

Antenna’s
Audio Tours
Bring History
Theresa Simon tells the story
of how the SS Great Britain has been
brought to life again by a
multimedia visitor presentation
Alive
Conditions in Steerage on the SS Great Britain
30
CREATING THE ULTIMATE “immersive”
visitor experience for the world's
first great ocean liner was a
challenge met by a range of Antenna Audio
audio guides. . .
In 2006 Brunel’s SS Great Britain won
not only The Gulbenkian Prize for Museum
of the Year, but also The AHI Interpret
Britain and Ireland Awards for the
“outstanding way it informs and involves
the public”.
The award recognises the highly
successful interpretation of a site which has
turned a provincial museum into a national
treasure, making the remarkable story of
this historic ship accessible to a hugely
varied audience.
Leaders in the field of audio
interpretation, Antenna Audio have been
creating audio and audiovisual guides for
cultural sites worldwide for over twenty
years. Their work for SS Great Britain is an
excellent example of how museum guides
can be practical, adaptable and inspiring.
BRUNEL’S SS GREAT BRITAIN was the
world’s first great ocean liner.
Launched in 1843 to provide luxury
travel to New York, the ship set new
standards in engineering, reliability and
speed. She was also the world’s first large
iron ship, and the first to be driven by a
screw propeller.
By the late 1870s, the SS Great Britain
was showing her age, and her owners were
unable to maintain their full registration as
a passenger vessel. Instead she was used
first to transport coal and then as storage for
coal and wool in Port Stanley, in the United
States.
By 1937, the SS Great Britain’s hull was
no longer watertight, holes were riven in
her sides, and she was abandoned to the
elements.
After rescue attempts by those who
recognised her historic value in the 30s and
60s, she was finally towed back across the
Atlantic to Bristol in 1970, in an epic
salvage effort. It took 35 years to complete
the painstaking conservation and
restoration work, which involved
construction of a glass sea at the ship’s
water line to prevent further corrosion of
the hull.
Heritage Lottery Funding supported the
conservation programme, as well as a
complete review of visitor facilities which
included the provision of interpretation for
visitors. The SS Great Britain was
relaunched in its present visitor attraction
form in July 2005.
LEADING AUDIO interpretation company
Antenna Audio was commissioned to
create guides for the ship, offering as
immersive an experience as possible for
visitors of all ages, able-bodied and
disabled. The aim was to summon up the

MmIT volume 33 no 1 February 2007
The Galley on the SS Great Britain
atmosphere and environment of the Ship in
her heyday – the Victorian era. Audio
players were considered a preferable option
to positioning wordy panels and modern
signage on board. The former would be
discreet and could be triggered by infra-red
signalling at key points around the ship,
whereas the latter would interrupt the
suspension of disbelief that allows today’s
visitors to experience the SS Great Britain
as a living ship.
The audio guides allow visitors to
wander at will, rather than follow a
prescribed route. This was felt to be key to
the authentic on-board encounter: the ship
is a maze of passages, many with low-level
lighting and low headroom. These should
be enjoyed as they are, rather than
demystified by signage and detailed
instruction. The idea was not to cocoon
visitors, but rather give them as realistic an
impression as possible of life on board.
The effect was heightened by the use of
vignettes and mannequins.
THE SS GREAT BRITAIN interpretation
team’s creative brief to Antenna
Audio was twofold: the audio guides
had to appeal to a wide range of audiences,
and bring back to life the experiences of the
different passengers who would have
travelled on board. Drawing on passenger
diaries held by the museum, Antenna
worked with the SS Great Britain’s team to
create a series of what were termed
‘companions’. These were audio guide
narrators who tell the story of the ship from
their own quite distinct viewpoints. These
include First Class and Steerage Passengers
and a Ship’s Expert for adults; and Sinbad
the Cat for children. There are also adult
and children’s audio companions in French
and German, and an award-winning tour
for the visually impaired.
The tours draw extensively on historic
sources, and in particular the diaries and
letters written by passengers who travelled
on board between 1852 and 1875. Visitors
who take the tours are therefore listening to
real people, and absorbing their experiences
through an accessible and highly
entertaining medium. The audio guides
become the voices of the ship’s early
31
passengers, animating the space in an
authentic and informative way.
A further requirement was a high
performance specification: the guides had
to be entirely self-managing. Hence there
are no stops, no buttons to press and no
need for interaction with the audio player.
Everything is triggered by infra-red
signalling, making this one of the most
advanced systems in the UK.
APARTICULAR CHALLENGE for Antenna
Audio was to create guides for the
visually impaired. The aim was to
offer an experience as close as possible to
that of sighted visitors, allowing them not
only to move about the ship, but also to take
part in the interactive opportunities – such
as turning the ship’s wheel and adapting it
for use under steam or sail.
Thanks to detail in the audio script, both
disabled and able-bodied visitors can
experience the difficulty of negotiating the
narrow corridors, low doorways, dark
spaces and uneven floors of the vessel, and
this is deliberate. The objective is to create
an understanding of what it would have
been like to be a passenger, with all of the
confusion and disorientation of that strange
world, such as sudden noises and changes
in light levels, and yet to feel safe and
confident at all times.
The audio tour for visually impaired
visitors is designed with their needs in
mind, and was created with the close
involvement of Mark Austen, a Visually
Impaired (VI) audio tour expert who
worked as a volunteer for the SS Great
Britain Trust. Directions are given in selfstanding
mini-commentaries rather than
being at the end of a stop where they might
Steerage Benches and Utensils

Surgeons at Work – Using Mannequins to Recreate the Scene
be missed or make the listener feel rushed.
Visitors are repeatedly reminded of their
position in relation to the bow, stern, port
and starboard of the vessel, and on which
level they are, and they can move at their
own pace. Visually impaired members of
the SS Great Britain Trust’s disability focus
group were clear that they wanted a linear
tour, with a clear route, to support their
exploration of the ship. In this respect the
VI tour differs from the other tours
available to visitors. However, VI visitors
also wanted flexibility within this format,
and this is delivered by using optional
layers of information which users can select
at will.
The SS Great Britain also involved a
volunteer VI consultant throughout the
tour’s development, ensuring the relevance
of the final product. The starting-point for
each audio stop is a feature – or features –
which has particular
relevance for this
visitor group. This
could be a strong
smell, a distinct sound,
a contrast of textures,
shapes, colours or of
light and shade. This
allows visitors to
engage immediately
with that space.
Every effort was
made to keep the
descriptive content
transparent – in other
words, short, clear and
simple – so that it
would be evocative
without getting in the
way of the listener’s
own personal
reactions. Diary extracts were selected for
their simple language and vividness, and
animated wherever possible with additional
sound effects.
Additionally, the visually impaired
visitor can share one audio unit with a
splitter and two pairs of headphones, so
they can move about with a companion or
guide, although the audio instructions give
them the ability to move independently.
Mark Austen commented: “The team at
the SS Great Britain Trust, Antenna Audio,
and the visual impairment focus group have
all worked very hard to set a new standard
in audio tours at museums and heritage
sites. The visual impairment audio tour on
the SS Great Britain is one of the most
interesting, informative and accessible
tours for all visually impaired people, and it
is certainly the one of the best I have
experienced over the past four years
working as an audio
guide auditor.”
Lessons Learned
Develop a clear creative brief
Use key documentary sources and
tailor the content
Allocate sufficient time for staff to
become familiar with the audio
equipment
Appeal to a wide range of
audiences – children, adults and
visually-impaired
Ensure a high technical specification
One of the key
players was Dr Kate
Rambridge,
Interpretation
Manager for the SS
Great Britain Trust.
She talked about
lessons which were
learnt along the way
in the creation of the
guides. Her first
piece of advice is to
ensure that there is a
clear creative brief as
the basis of
discussions with a
consultant, and then
to work closely with
that consultant in the
Antenna’s Audio Tours
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selection of writers and the tailoring of
copy. The passenger diaries were used as
key source material for the guides, and a
major part of the briefing process was
therefore to familiarise Antenna creative
staff with that material.
Kate’s second piece of advice was to
allocate sufficient time to ensure that the
museum staff are comfortable with the
operation of the audio guide equipment. It
is essential that they can inform the public
clearly and simply how to use the guides, to
gain maximum benefit from the tours.
For more information about Antenna
Audio’s latest projects, please visit
www.antennaaudio.com. Antenna Audio is
a Discovery Travel Media Company, part
of Discovery Communications Inc, the
leading global real-world media and
entertainment company. Antenna Audio
tours are created for mobile phones, MP3
players and for distribution via internet
downloads.
Explorer Random-access
MP3 Player Key Features
Headphone or telephone-style use
Unlimited languages facility
130 hour audio storage
Can be reprogrammed on site
Automatic triggering of guide
messages
Video synchronisation
Suitable for special needs visitors
Logs visitor data
Rechargeable