The European Project MEMORIES: goals and first results

  • Jean-François Cosandier, Radio Suisse Romande, Switzerland
  • Mrs Jacqueline Von Arb, Norsk Lydinstitutt (Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound), Norway
  • MEMORIES is a three-year research project within the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Union (FP6-IST-035300), started on June 1st 2006. The partners are R&D organizations as well as users (archives, media).
    MEMORIES aims at developing an audio semantic indexing system allowing information retrieval for access to archive content. Many approaches have been developed for improving the acquisition, management and retrieval processes. The present project intends to contribute to the definition of solutions, namely with three specific objectives:
    1.- Improving the acquisition process of audio material (from analogue-to-digital conversion to full structured, documented and controlled representations) using a flexible architecture, in defining local “profiles” and advanced tools like “Single Sensor Source Separation” or “speech to text” software.
    2.- Proposing an “Open specification” [based exclusively on standards and norms] for representing the SIP, the P-DIP and the AIP of the “OAIS model” (ISO standard 14721 “Open Archival Information Systems”)
    3.- Obtaining an efficient access and retrieval despite the fact that the documentation of the audio assets has been tailored and could come from various cultural organisations. The project uses an advanced retrieval system designed primarily for genetic information.
    The architectural part of the project is now available. It will demonstrate the three main innovations on a prototype system. The project will release two “General Software Libraries” (‘Single Sensor Source Separation’ and ‘Advanced Searches’) and a “Tool-kit” for the open interchange format, which will be made freely available under an “Open License” through the UNESCO Web site.