The cross-search functionality in the VSM Portal Demonstrator is now available in JISC MediaHub, as well as a range of film, sound and still image collections.
NOTE: This project website will no longer be maintained and may contain broken links.
The Visual and Sound Materials (VSM) portal demonstrator project.
"Words, numbers, pictures & sounds, all will be digital and accessed from afar."
The Joint Information Systems Committee, JISC, funded a partnership led by EDINA to scope and build a portal demonstrator for time-based media and still images - including those licensed for the JISC community, those available free on the internet, and those generated within the academic and publicly-funded community.
EDINA worked with the Spoken Word Project at Glasgow Caledonian University and with the e-Services Integration Group at the University of Hull and St Helen's College, Merseyside to scope, build and test a portal demonstrator.
It is envisaged that this media-specific portal will form part of the presentation layer in the standards-based technical architecture for the JISC Information Environment.
The VSM portal demonstrator will continue to be available for a further two years after the project.
The project phases were:
- Phase 1 was a scoping study which began on 1 September 2005. The main deliverable was a report to the JISC in March 2006 (PDF file) (together with a supplementary report [PDF file]) outlining the scope, scale and nature of work to be undertaken during the Demonstrator phase of the project.
- Review - Throughout 2006, a JISC-appointed review panel considered the report and liaised with EDINA over its recommendations.
- Phase 2 - Development of the demonstrator began in January 2007. Following a process of iterative development and evaluation throughout 2007, an external evaluation (PDF file) was commissioned to assess the viability of a full VSM portal service, and a final report (PDF file) and appendices (PDF file) produced (January 2008).
- Phase 3 - Began in December 2008 and extended the functionality and service quality of the portal. Additional collections were identified and added, and sustainability options considered.