The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) today revealed its climate change portal (climate.aib.org.uk) as part of its social media campaign to attract voters to the Peoples Choice category at the 2010 AIBs (international media excellence awards).
The Peoples Choice is a new category at the annual broadcasting awards and allows online viewers to choose their favourite entry and vote for it. This year the award will be given for Best Coverage of Climate Change.
In September the shortlisted entries will be made available to view online and viewers from around the world will start voting for their favourites and spreading the word to their friends. Latest news on the voting process can be found at theaibs.tv/peoples-choice/view-and-vote/
The climate change portal, powered by technology from UltraKnowledge (www.ultraknowledge.com), automatically pulls in and links the latest news and opinions on climate change from news sources and blogs across the Internet. It allows visitors to check out trending topics and move easily between articles which contain the same keywords. It includes a newswall which gives a visual snapshot of stories by date and a different way of browsing for interesting content.
The portal will include special features and information that draw visitors to the Peoples Choice viewing and voting – so it will not only provide a valuable source of information for those interested in following the discussions and latest research on climate change but will also attract a large audience to vote for select the Best Programme on Climate Change for the 2010 AIBs.
The portal is currently in its initial version with additional content and enhancements being developed. As a not-for-profit organisation, the AIB is looking for support to build this innovative information tool. It will provide an excellent platform for a sponsor to show their commitment to the climate change debate.
It uses technology which can automatically index and aggregate content on any given topic. This technology has already been used on the websites of a number of magazines and newspapers and can easily be adapted to work with audio or video content.
The AIB climate change portal demonstrates how content can automatically and rapidly be cross-indexed and tagged, allowing visitors to follow interesting threads, explains Simon Spanswick, AIB CEO. It has tremendous potential for broadcasters who have vast archives of material which they struggle to utilise in the most profitable way. So alongside using the portal for building the audience of the Peoples Choice award, we are also encouraging our members to investigate the potential of this approach for their own content.
Andrew Lyons, co-founder of UltraKnowledge, comments: We are delighted to be involved in developing AIB’s climate change portal. Our technology helps people follow trending stories more easily, allowing them to access different viewpoints and more details as they emerge. This is particularly important for a subject like climate change which raises such fundamental issues, engages people passionately but invokes such differing views.
The Peoples Choice is one of 16 categories at the 2010 AIBs, the international media awards. Full details of the award categories, judging and information on the awards ceremony can be found on www.theaibs.tv. The 2010 AIBs are sponsored by: 1GOAL (Education for All), ADB (Advanced Digital Broadcast), Bloomberg Television and Eurosport. The 2010 AIBs will be presented at a gala evening in London on 9 November.
After recently watching a lot of TV programmes on climate change (for the shortlist for the People’s Choice which will be revealed next week, with AIB members and those registered to vote the first to hear) and reading lots of articles about it, I have been wondering how people will make the changes to their habits that seem to be becoming more and more inevitable.
Will governments (multi-party democraties or others) impose top down changes to industry and consumption that are necessary for sustainable development? Or will concerned individuals persuade others and change behaviour from the bottom up.
Also if, as expected, the Democrats in the US are soundly beaten in the elections later this year, then the US government is even less likely to take strong measures that support environmental concerns. So any moves from the US in the future look likely to result from the actions of individuals and concerned groups.
Maybe, in the end, it will be simple economics rather than bottom up or top down that will bring about changes. With increasing pressures on resources increased by changes in the climate, costs of food, transportation and most resources will increase so we will be forced by our wallets to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. But that would be business as usual… would that work?
Vizrt has announced a new partnership with Zurich-based LiberoVision, www.liberovision.com, a leading global developer of 3D virtual sports enhancements. LiberoVision is integrating its dedicated Libero rendering engine software with Vizrts range of content production software. LiberoVision is well known within the sports broadcast community for its Emmy-nominated 3D technology for sports analysis and virtual replays. Customers include ESPN, NBC, BBC, ZDF, Sky Italia and Televisa.
According to LiberoVision CEO, Stephan Würmlin Stadler, many of LiberoVisions customers are also Vizrt customers, and they were looking for more integration between the two systems. Our clients are very happy with their Vizrt systems and the features they provide, explained Würmlin Stadler. They like the configurability of the Viz Engine renderer and the graphic look and feel of the different software modules. We thought it would be a win/win to bring our state-of-the-art sports enhancement technology together with the customization and interaction that Vizrt products provide. Clients wish to put their own computer-generated graphics and annotations over the imagery created with our rendering system to have their own look and feel. With this partnership, were combining the technology our clients want and enabling them to use their experience with Vizrt and LiberoVision to the fullest. We foresee a variety of different exploitations of how our products could work together. Were very excited about the expanded creativity this will generate for our combined clientele.
LiberoVision will showcase its Libero Highlight within the Vizrt booth at IBC 2010. Libero Highlight provides realistic 3D replays that are indistinguishable from the images produced by the on-site television cameras. It enables the broadcaster to move the viewers perspective to areas not covered by the in-stadium cameras, such as over-the-shoulder of the quarterback or the birdseye view showing the entire field. The software combines 3D replays with dynamic telestration for live game analysis. It does not require any additional infrastructure in the stadium, making it suitable for both remote productions and for fully-featured studio applications. http://www.liberovision.com/?t=pro_highlight
At IBC, LiberoVision will introduce its new Libero Offside for instant offsides 3D analysis during soccer games. Its a dedicated application aimed at resolving offsides disputes during soccer games. The key feature is that its an instant replay tool, said Würmlin Stadler. Within a couple of seconds, Libero Offside creates a new perspective. Viewers can see the linesmans view at the exact moment the player makes the kick.
http://www.liberovision.com/?t=pro_offside
The key difference between LiberoVisions virtual instant replay systems and others is its realism, said Würmlin Stadler. Other systems look like virtual animation. When you transform a great player into a virtual player, he comes out looking like an avatar. With our technology, you know that player is Lionel Messi. You feel like youre standing on the field with the player or behind the goal post.
That realism is attributable to LiberoVisions patented image processing technology that transforms the camera feeds into 3D representation. Sports involves highly complex, moving imagery. The LiberoVision system enables the broadcaster to take those images in 3D form and move them anywhere within the scene as if a 3D camera were capturing it. Initially, the computer doesnt know where the camera is, where the players are or where the stand is. Our software answers those questions and fuses the data together into a 3D model instantly. Most great technology can do this in a way thats pixel perfect, but it takes two days. No ones interested in two days. We can do it instantly.
Martin Burkhalter, CEO of Vizrt, commented: This is a very promising partnership, and were excited to showcase the latest LiberoVision products at our IBC booth. The partnership between the two companies represents a great opportunity for Vizrts extensive customer base to further enhance their sports coverage.
Video examples of LiberoVision technology in action can be viewed by clicking on the following links:
Chinas State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) announced that it would consolidate radio and television networks under a single national cable television network company, Peoples Daily Online reports.
It said the new company would come up by the end of the year and would further expand into new businesses like mobile TV and online videos.
Tao Shiming, Director of the SARFT Society Administration Bureau said: “The nation’s radio and television networks need to be consolidated under one roof as currently they are individually run and have not developed into large-scale entities.”
Presently there are 1,000 radio and television networks in China. The absence of a nationwide and unified network comes in the way of their plan to compete with others for the opportunities that arise from the convergence of technologies, said industry experts.
Mr Tao said the consolidation exercise was likely to start at the provincial level by the end of this year and culminate in nationwide consolidation later.
Zeng HuiMing, Deputy Secretary-General of the cable TV committee of the China Radio and Television Association, said: “All networks in the nation are likely to be integrated in three years.”
China last month launched a pilot project in 12 cities to test the convergence of the three networks. The trials are expected to last until 2012 and will focus on connecting the broadcasting and telecom networks. (Source: ABU)
Workshop organised by the OECD, EBU and the European Audiovisual Observatory in the framework of the Internet Governance Forum (Vilnius, 15 September 2010).
The workshop will take place in room 5 of the Lithuanian Exhibition Centre LITEXPO in Vilnius between 4.30 and 6.30 PM and will be webcast live on the website of the IGF: http://www.intgovforum.org
The objective of the workshop is to raise the awareness of the problems in measuring the impact of the Internet on the audiovisual industry. The development of broadband has made possible the rapid development of web TV, VoD, catch-up TV, video sharing and non authorized file sharing, but it is still difficult to provide coherent statistics on the level of equipment, new consumer practices, the importance of new services in media companies investments and revenues. The workshop will focus on two introductory reports (by experts from the OECD and the European Audiovisual Observatory) as well as a survey from the EBU. A discussion panel involving experts and representatives from of the civil society will also take place.
