Participants at the MDN Workshop 2018
Metadata underpins and enables modern media experiences, but managing it is still one of the big challenges media organizations face when setting up new workflows. So there was plenty to discuss when more than four dozen developers from Europe, Japan and Australia met to exchange ideas and solutions around metadata at the sixth EBU Metadata Developer Network workshop in Geneva, 5-7 June.
(EBU Members and MDN participants can access the videos and presentations online.)
The main focus of this year's workshop was Artificial Intelligence, a field that promises to deliver viable solutions for some of the tougher metadata problems to crack. Day 1 of the three-day event was dedicated entirely to hands-on demonstrations, allowing participants to explore and discuss some of the new AI-driven tools.
The conference then re-convened on days 2 and 3 for presentations and discussions on sport metadata, more AI tools and technical reports on operational integration.
Bang for the buck
One of the outcomes of the conference was a clearer picture of how and where AI is likely to have the greatest impact in the media and metadata world. The insights flowing from the event will also be used to inform the work done within the EBU's Strategic Programmes in order to best address Members' needs.
Collaborating on tools and projects
MDN 2017 saw the launch of the EBU Class Conceptual Data Model (CCDM) school, a project driven by Finnish Member YLE. At MDN this year, some further goals were added to the list of collaborative efforts with the EBU's MCMA-AI (Media Cloud and Micro-service Architecture for Artificial Intelligence) project, such as sports metadata and the integration of hybrid AI tools into production workflows.
The event left its participants with a clearer path forward and a lot of valuable ideas to implement in the months to come – the clock for MDN 2019 is already ticking.