IASA 2019 Annual Conference

Access to audiovisual content continues to lag behind that of textual and still image content. Its time-based nature means it is tremendously underserved. Typically access is only offered as a static description of the entire audiovisual object, forcing users to spend large amounts of time scrolling through content in order to find what they need. However, current technology makes it possible to create automated transcriptions from audio, which can be used to implement granular search tools with high degrees of accuracy. This, together with building visualization tools that give the user to power to navigate audiovisual content easily, constitutes a unique opportunity to enhance access to audiovisual collections. With this need in mind, AVP and the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University worked together to develop a solution to support improved access to audiovisual archives. Aviary, a subscription-based, multi-tenant access platform, brings enhanced search and navigation to audiovisual content, providing access to audiovisual assets through time-stamped transcripts, indexes, and annotations. Closed captioning, audio description of video content, and granular access permissions are all core features that Aviary supports, increasing discoverability, and capabilities for access by all types of users. Researchers are able to search for content across all member institutions’ collections at once, making Aviary a great resource for scholarly pursuits. This paper explains the challenges of providing effective audiovisual access, and demonstrates the strategies that tools, such as Aviary, are using to overcome these obstacles to improve searchability and usability of audiovisual collections.