Tài liệu Introduction to Audiovisual Archives pptx

Introduction to Audiovisual Archives

Introduction to
Audiovisual Archives
Edited by
Peter Stockinger
First published 2012 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced,
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© ISTE Ltd 2012
The rights of Peter Stockinger to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in
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____________________________________________________________________________________
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Introduction to audiovisual archives / edited by Peter Stockinger.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84821-337-1
1. Audio-visual archives. 2. Audio-visual materials Classification. 3. Research Methodology. I.
Stockinger, Peter.

CD973.2.I68 2011
025.3'47 dc23
2011042380
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-84821-337-1
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd., Croydon, Surrey CR0 4YY
Table of Contents
Introduction xi
Peter STOCKINGER
Chapter 1. Context and Issues 1
Peter STOCKINGER, Elisabeth DE PABLO and Francis LEMAITRE
1.1. The ARA program – a brief historical overview 1
1.2.ThescientificandculturalheritageoftheARAprogram 4
1.3.Theworkingprocess 8
1.4.KnowledgeengineeringintheserviceoftheARAprogram 14
1.4.1.Somequestions 14
1.4.2.Recoursetothesemioticsoftheaudiovisualtext 15
1.4.3.Metalanguageofdescription,modelsandscenarios 16
1.4.4. Models and scenarios of collection/prodution
of audiovisual corpora 18
1.4.5.Modelsandscenariosforpublishing/republishing 19
1.5.Thedigitalenvironmentandtheworkingprocess 21
1.6.AnalyzinganaudiovisualcorpususingASWStudio 26
PART 1: THE SEGMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION WORKSHOPS
FOR AUDIOVISUAL CORPORA 31
Chapter 2. The Segmentation Workshop for Audiovisual Resources 33
Elisabeth DE PABLO
2.1. Introduction 33
2.2.Segmentationofaudiovisualcorpora–ageneralpresentation 34

2.2.1.Exampleofsegmentationofascientificinterview 36
2.2.2.Exampleofthesegmentationofaconference 38
2.2.3.Exemplicationofthesegmentationofanamateurvideo 39
vi Introduction to Audiovisual Archives
2.2.4. Example of the segmentation of an
audiovisual report 40
2.2.5.Otherpossiblesegmentations 41
2.3.Appropriationofthesegmentationworkshop 42
2.4.Someadditionalthoughtsaboutsegmentation 46
2.5.Perspectivesrelatingtothesegmentationworkshop 46
Chapter 3. Description Workshop for Audiovisual Corpora 49
Muriel CHEMOUNY
3.1. A general overview 49
3.2. The “metadescription” part of an audiovisual
analysis in ASW Studio: the mark of the editor’s choice 51
3.2.1.Generaloverview 53
3.2.2. Focus on the “general” sub-section
of metadescription 58
3.3. The “identifying information of an audiovisual resource”
part in the ASW description workshop 62
Chapter 4. Analysis of Audiovisual Expression 67
Elisabeth DE PABLO and Jirasri DESLIS
4.1. Introduction 67
4.2.Analysisofthevisualshot 68
4.2.1.Generaloverview 68
4.2.2. General description of the visual shot
and analysis procedures 69
4.2.3. Examples of describing the visual shot
of an audiovisual text 72
4.2.4.Somespecificusesoftheanalyzedvisualshots 77

4.3.Analysisofthesoundshot 77
4.3.1. General description of the sound shot
and analysis procedures 77
4.3.2. Example of analysis of a video described
using the sound shot 81
4.3.3.Someusesforsoundclips 83
Chapter 5. Analysis of the Audiovisual Content 87
Peter STOCKINGER
5.1. Thematic analysis 87
5.2.Aconcreteexampleofthedescriptionofatopic 90
5.3.Themodelofthematicdescription 98
5.4.Theobjectsofthematicanalysis 102
5.5.Proceduresofanalysis 107
Table of Contents vii
5.6. The different components of a model
of thematic description 116
5.7.Librariesofmodelsforthedescriptionofsubjects 121
Chapter 6. Uses of an Audiovisual Resource 127
Muriel CHEMOUNY and Primsuda SAKUNTHABAI
6.1. The “Uses” part of the ASW description workshop 127
6.1.1.The“genres”ofusesofanaudiovisualtext 128
6.1.2.Thetargetaudienceofanaudiovisualtext 134
6.2.Producingalinguisticadaptationofanaudiovisualresource 135
Chapter 7. Model of an Audiovisual Publication
in the form of a Web Portal 143
Jirasri DESLIS
7.1. Introduction 143
7.2.TheArkWorkhomepage 144
7.3. Thematic access to audiovisual resources 146
7.4.Directaccessestotheaudiovisualresources 151

7.5. Access to the audiovisual resources by thesaurus 156
7.6.Contextualizationofthevideo 158
PART 2: TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT, DEVELOPMENT
AND NEW PERSPECTIVES 169
Chapter 8. The ASW Digital Environment 171
Francis LEMAITRE
8.1. Introduction 171
8.2.Generalpresentation 175
8.2.1.Managementofrolesandrights 175
8.2.2.Thetechnologies 177
8.2.3.TheworkingprocessintheASWenvironment 179
8.3.SemioscapeLibrary 181
8.3.1.Theabstractionlayers 181
8.3.2.Theobjectslayer 182
8.3.3. The data access layer 191
8.3.4.Thedataprocessinglayer 192
8.4.Semioscape 194
8.4.1.Thedatabase 194
8.4.2.TheWebservices 200
8.5.Conclusion 201
viii Introduction to Audiovisual Archives
Chapter 9. The ASW Studio 203
Francis LEMAITRE
9.1. Introduction 203
9.2.Thecommonlibraries 204
9.2.1.SemioscapeResources 204
9.2.2.SemioscapeUserControls 204
9.3.SemioscapeData 207
9.3.1.Ontology of work configuration 207
9.3.2.Staticontology 207

9.3.3.Metalexiconofconceptualterms 208
9.3.4.Domainontologies 208
9.3.5.Listingsoftheontologies 209
9.4.ESCoMUpdate 209
9.5.ESCoMffCoder 210
9.6.ESCoMOntoEditor 211
9.7.ESCoM-INAInterview 212
9.8.ESCoMSemioscapeAdmin 214
9.9.TheESCoMsuite2011installer 214
9.10.Semiosphere 216
9.10.1.SemiosphereLibrary 218
9.10.2.Customization 218
9.10.3. Multilingualism 219
9.10.4.Sitemaps 219
9.11.Conclusion 220
Chapter 10. The Technical Development of the “Web Portal”
Publishing Model 225
Richard GUÉRINET
10.1. The notion of “publishing module” 225
10.2.RIAs 228
10.3. The “Menu” publishing module 233
10.4. The “Video player” publishing module 235
10.5.The“contextualizationofavideo”publishingmodule 236
10.6. The “temporal location” publishing module 238
10.7. The “geographical location” publishing module 239
10.7.1.Thegeographicallocation 240
10.8.Conclusion 242
Table of Contents ix
Glossary of Specialized Terms 243
Peter STOCKINGER

Glossary of Acronyms and Names 263
Peter STOCKINGER
Bibliography 281
List of Authors 285
Index 287

Introduction
This collective work deals with the analysis of audiovisual numerical texts or
corpora, which may e.g. form part of an audiovisual library or archive.
The development of methods, tools and conceptual frameworks (or models) for
the concrete analysis of audiovisual texts or corpora is one of the most important
issues for multimedia (audiovisual) digital libraries, archives, collections, etc. and
also for any project or program to compile and disseminate knowledge heritage
(e.g. cultural, scientific etc.).
Analyzing audiovisual recordings, shoots, sound recordings, film or complex
multimodal documents etc. obviously constitutes an essential step for any
classification of the (digital) collection of an archive or library.
Above all, however, it is the most important activity by which an actor (an
individual, group of individuals, institution, etc.) obtains and exploits numerical
audiovisual data to transform them – depending on their own skills, expectations and
requirements, but also within the limitations imposed by the tools, methods and
models available – into genuine cognitive resources which they regard as “useful”,
“pleasant”, “interesting” or simply relevant, i.e. which have a value for them.
Ten years ago now, along with a small nucleus of permanent collaborators from
the ESCoM (Semiotics Cognitive and New Media Team), the research center at the
Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH – House of the Human
Sciences Foundation) in Paris, we set up the ARA (Audiovisual Research Archives)
program. One of the objectives of this program, which will be described in more
detail in the Chapter 1 of this book, is to compile and distribute scientific and
Introduction written by Peter STOCKINGER.

xii Introduction to Audiovisual Archives
cultural heritage, notably through scientific events and field-work carried out in
human and social sciences. Another objective of this program is to set up research
and development projects aimed at:
a) collecting and producing audiovisual documentation (of field-work, for example);
b) compiling analysis corpora and effectively analyzing these corpora;
c) creating publishable corpora and publishing them;
d) defining and setting up (metalinguistic) models and essential procedures to
successfully carry out the aforementioned three “tasks”.
In this book, and another collective work complementing this one (see [STO 12a]),
we will present and discuss the results of our research and development relating to the
analysis, description and indexing of audiovisual corpora. The question of analysis has
been addressed from the start with regard to the following three issues:
1) a good understanding of the activity of analysis must take account of the
internal structural organization of the audiovisual text and must have recourse to
the semiotics of the audiovisual text or discourse;
2) a true analysis (going beyond, e.g. simply producing unstructured lists
of keywords) of audiovisual corpora cannot be carried out without a metalanguage
(an “ontology”), i.e. models of description representing the area of expertise covered
by a corpus to be analyzed;
3) of course, no analysis can take place without an appropriate working environment.
Thanks to a series of French and European R&D projects
1
and to the support of
the FMSH, between 2001 and 2009, we were able to make tangible progress towards
addressing the three issues mentioned. However, in particular it was the ASW-HSS
2
project, financed by the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la
Recherche – ANR), that gave us the time and means needed to develop:
– a metalanguage for analyzing audiovisual corpora documenting a wide variety

of areas of knowledge/expertise. This metalanguage is a generic ontology (called
“ASW
3
ontology”) which has helped us to define, use and validate a whole series of
1 For more information, see Chapter 1 of this book; see also the glossary of acronyms and
project names at the end of this book.
2 See official Website of the ASW-HSS (Audiovisual Semiotic Workshop – Human and
Social Sciences) project: />3 The acronym ASW means “Audiovisual Semiotic Workshop” and refers, of course, to the
ASW-HSS project financed by the French National Research Agency (ANR).
Introduction xiii
domain ontologies
4
and models of description adapted to thematically limited areas
of knowledge/expertise. This book will present it through a wide variety of concrete
examples. [STO 12b] gives a more theoretical and more detailed account of this
metalanguage;
5
– a working environment for segmenting and describing audiovisual corpora entirely
based upon the ASW metalanguage of description. The name of this environment is
ASW Studio; it is made up of several specialized workshops: the Segmentation
Workshop, for (virtually) segmenting an audiovisual object; the Description Workshop,
for describing an audiovisual object; the Publication Workshop, for publishing an
audiovisual object; the Modeling Workshop, to model the metalinguistic resources
needed to undertake an analysis/description of an audiovisual object. In this book we will
present the two following workshops in particular: the Segmentation Workshop and the
Description Workshop; the presentation of the Modeling Workshop will be the subject of
[STO 12b]; as the Publication Workshop is still partially under development, it will be
the object of a new publication in late 2012;
– an as-yet relatively simple metalanguage for defining models for
publishing/republishing audiovisual corpora in the form, e.g. of themed folders,

bilingual folders, theme-limited video-glossaries, themed Websites, etc. These
models are indeed used for publishing/republishing audiovisual corpora but the
metalanguage enabling us to define them has not yet been made explicit. Clarifying
the organization of this metalanguage and incorporating it into the ASW generic
ontology will, conditions beyond the authors’ control permitting, constitute the main
object of the ESCoM’s research activities during the next few years.
This book is divided into two main parts. In part 1, following an introductory
chapter contextualizing our R&D activities since 2001, the different approaches to
analyzing of an audiovisual corpus using ASW Studio will be presented:
– strictly textual analysis, consisting of the identifying passages which are relevant
to an analysis and to the (virtual) segmentation of an audiovisual object (Chapter 2);
– metadescription, which clarifies the content and objectives of the analysis itself
as well as the authors of the analysis, the rights associated with using the results, etc.
(Chapter 3);
4 As part of the ASW-HSS projects, several experimental workshops dealing with the
formation, analysis and publication of audiovisual corpora within limited areas of
knowledge/expertise: literary heritage, archeology, cultural diversity, etc. have been defined.
5 The research diary or blog is entirely dedicated to issues
relating to the ASW metalanguage of description, its evolution, its reuse and its
instrumentation within the ASW Studio framework.
xiv Introduction to Audiovisual Archives
– paratextual description, the aim of which is to formally identify the
audiovisual object being analyzed (title, author, genre, summary of content, etc.) and
the relative rights associated with its use (Chapter 3);
– audiovisual description, which relates to analyzing visual, acoustic and
audiovisual shots (Chapter 4);
– thematic description, which deals with the content, the subjects dealt with and
developed by the audiovisual text being analyzed (Chapter 5);
– pragmatic description which clarifies the potential interest of the audiovisual
text in question for a given audience/use and also looks at its possible translation-

adaptation (Chapter 6);
– publication of an audiovisual corpus in the form of a Web portal which is the
usual form of publishing the audiovisual corpora analyzed and indexed during
the ASW-HSS project (Chapter 7).
Part 2 of this book is given over to a technical presentation and a detailed
discussion:
– of the ASW digital environment (Chapter 8);
– of the ASW Studio dedicated to work on audiovisual corpora (Chapter 9);
– of the computerized development of the publishing model called “portal with
specialized access to audiovisual corpora” – the standard model of publication of
the experiments conducted during the ASW-HSS project (Chapter 10).
Let us reiterate that this collective work is accompanied by a second collective
work [STO 12a] which deals with
new practices in analyzing audiovisual corpora.
That book contains in-depth presentations of highly specialized analyses which
could not be conceived of without genuine scenarios of analysis, projects aimed at
implementing “shared” audiovisual archives using the ASW approach (i.e. the ASW
metalanguage and the ASW Studio) and finally, the exploitation of the results of
analysis of audiovisual corpora in the context of social media, Web 2.0 and mobile
communication. In [STO 12b], the reader will find a more detailed and systematic
presentation of the ASW metalanguage and of all the elements which make it up.
To conclude this introduction, let us highlight once more that this book really is
the product of a collective and interdisciplinary effort combining “fundamental”
research with applied research, and computing with human sciences (particularly
semiotics and linguistics). As mentioned above, the work has been carried out over
10 years by a small team of researchers and engineers who are also the authors of
this book and of [STO 12a]. The author of this introduction expresses his gratitude
and high esteem to each of them.
Introduction xv
Throughout the last 10 years of research and development, the team has benefited

from the support and the backing of many colleagues and friends in France and
abroad. Thanks go in particular to the following individuals: Patrick Courounet,
Steffen Lalande, Abdelkrim Beloued, Bruno Bachimont (INA Research Dept.);
Jocelyne and Marc Nanard (CNRS-Lirmm); Marie-Laure Mugnier, Michel Chein,
Alain Gutierrez (CNRS-Lirmm); David Genest (University of Angers-Leria); Danail
Dochev, Radoslav Pavlov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences); Stavros Christodoulakis,
Nektarios Moumoutzis (Technical University of Crete, Chania).
In addition, special thanks go to Muriel Chemouny (FMSH-ESCoM) for having
proofread each of the contributions which make up this book, and to Elisabeth de
Pablo (FMSH-ESCoM) for formatting this manuscript.
Our special thanks also go to ISTE/WILEY for giving us the opportunity to
present our research and development over the past decade to a non-french speaking
audience. Finally, we are especially grateful to Benjamin Engel for having realized
such an excellent translation in such a short time.

Chapter 1
Context and Issues
1.1. The ARA program – a brief historical overview
This book presents the results of a 10-year collective research effort on the
issue of analysis of audiovisual corpora forming part, e.g. of a digital library.
The advantages and issues involved in analyzing an audiovisual corpus are
many and often very different from each other. In any case, they far exceed the
“standard” framework of library and/or documentary sciences and techniques. On
the other hand, they are reminiscent of the issue of monitoring expertise and
concrete exploitation of information or knowledge in the different economic sectors.
For all contributions in this book, the reference context for addressing the
question – as complex as it is exciting – of analyzing audiovisual texts or corpora is
the ARA (Audiovisual Research Archives – in French: Archives Audiovisuelles de
la Recherche
1

or AAR) program. The ARA program is a research and development
project of the Cognitive Semiotics and New Media Team (Equipe Sémiotique
Cognitive et Nouveaux Médias – ESCoM) of the Fondation Maison des Sciences de
l’Homme (FMSH – House of Human Sciences Foundation) put in place in 2001
following several years of research on the conceptual analysis of digital data and the
issues surrounding digital libraries for research, education and culture (see [DFS 97;
VHF 97a; VHF 97b; AKV 99]). The ARA program is especially dedicated to the
issue of compiling, processing and analyzing audiovisual corpora, as well as
publishing (and republishing) them online.
Chapter written by Peter STOCKINGER, Elisabeth DE PABLO and Francis LEMAITRE.
1 See />2 Introduction to Audiovisual Archives
In 2000, by means of a French research project entitled OPALES (“Outils pour
des Portails Audiovisuels Educatifs et Scientifiques” – literally, Tools for
Educational and Scientific Audiovisual Portals)
2
and following an initial assessment
of the needs of the scientific community regarding the exploitation of audiovisual
contents via the Internet [DPL 01], a prototype was specified and developed for an
“online video library”-type generic tool aimed at promoting scientific and
educational events.
3
The classification of the audiovisual collection of this very first
video library, the predecessor of the ARA, was made based on an early and
rudimentary metalanguage for describing audiovisual content (i.e. based on a
domain ontology).
The “Opales” video library prototype, as well as the very first metalanguage
for audiovisual content description, then formed the basis for the definition and
implementation of a far more ambitious program of digitization and dissemination
of scientific and cultural documented heritage in the form of corpora of all sorts
of audiovisual texts, i.e. from almost raw recordings with no notable postproduction

to documentaries, reports and other “real world” and “direct” shoots, although
not (hitherto) including fictional productions. After some hesitation, this
ambitious project was called – in French – Programme Archives Audiovisuelles de
la Recherche (AAR), translatable as Audiovisual Research Archives Program (ARA).
The implementation and general running of the ARA program and its different
activities was preceded by a considerable amount of previous work, aimed at
defining as explicit a strategic framework as possible, and a guiding scheme for
specifying the identity, the particular place of the aforementioned program in the
context of the research on digital libraries and their concrete exploitation. Thus,
when defining the general objectives of the ARA program, we focused on the fact
that they should definitely not be reduced to a “simple” program of recording events
2 The OPALES Project (2000–2002) financed as part of the French PRIAMM program
with the National Audiovisual Institute (in French: Institut National Audiovisuel) as a
co-ordinating partner, as well as France 2, La Cinquième (which are French television
channels), La Cité des Sciences, the CNDP (Educational National Information Center), the
LIRMM (Laboratory of Informatics, Robotics and Microelectronics of Montpellier) of the
CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) and the University of Montpellier and
RENATER (French National Technology, Research and Education Network). Complete
description available (in French only) at: />che/00_02_opales/opales.htm.
3 We recall, with a certain degree of nostalgia, that the very first scientific event recorded and
published as part of this video library was the International Conference on Geometry in the
20th Century, which was organized by Dominique Flament and his team in history of
mathematics and, more particularly, geometry at the FMSH in Paris. The lectures given
during this conference are still available at: />Context and Issues 3
and “online publication” as is the case for the vast majority of video library, photo
library and other multimedia library projects which, indeed, often content
themselves with a very modest policy regarding the exploitation, valorization and
reuse of their documentary collections.
On the other hand, the ARA program was created from the word “Go!” to fulfill
the following two joint objectives:

“[…].
1) compilation and distribution of public research heritage in the form of
audiovisual, visual, sound and text files (with digital support), of scientific events
such as interviews with researchers, seminars, scientific exhibitions, reports, video
montages, documentaries, etc.;
2) design and development of technologies and tools suitable for the production
and management of audiovisual and text archives, the processing of audiovisual
records and their use in the contexts of research, education and scientific journalism.
[…]” [AAR 04, p.3].
The wording of these two objectives unequivocally shows that, in the context
of the ARA program, we absolutely preclude the idea of reducing the work
of compilation and distribution/exploitation of knowledge heritage to a simple
technical process of capture/digitization of audiovisual data, their computerization
and online distribution.
On entirely the other hand, this work depends intrinsically upon more
complicated procedures, as regards transforming any digital data (a photo, an
audiovisual or sound recording, etc.) into a genuine cognitive resource for a specific
audience and specific uses. Yet, this transformation may not be done without
suitable approaches, methodologies, conceptual resources (such as scenarios and
models for compiling, describing, publishing/republishing and preserving
audiovisual corpora in the long-term), appropriate computer tools and, of course,
skills and therefore specialized human resources. Hence, naturally, the specificity of
the ARA program, as compared to other similar initiatives and projects, relies upon
the intrinsic links between:
1. the concrete work of constituting, processing, analyzing and publishing
audiovisual corpora to document an area of knowledge;
2. The theoretical and methodological knowledge and know-how, the expertise
necessary for constituting, processing, analyzing and publishing audiovisual
corpora;
4 Introduction to Audiovisual Archives

3. the concrete achievements - not only in the form of analyzed and published
audiovisual corpora but also in the form of so-called metalinguistic (see section: 1.1)
and computer resources – for analyzing and publishing audiovisual corpora.
In this book, we will demonstrate through a multitude of examples, how these
three aspects, which are essential to a project of constitution/diffusion of a body of
knowledge heritage, stand in for and reinforce one another.
1.2. The scientific and cultural heritage of the ARA program
One of the most important aspects in terms of activities carried out as part of the
ARA program is, of course, the concrete work of collecting and diffusing knowledge
generated in human and social sciences (HSS) by way of particular “events” such as
lectures, conferences, workshops, working meetings, research seminars, higher
education classes or by structured and in-depth interviews with researchers and
lecturer/researchers working in HSS.
In comparison with initiatives close to the ARA program,
4
one of the main
points of the ARA program has been to accompany and valorize, as far as possible
given its budgetary and logistical limitations, the particular position of the FMSH in
Paris
5
in the French institutional field; a particular position that the historian
Maurice Aymard, former administrator of the Foundation, had defined as that of
betting not only on the internationalization of research but also, far more “radically”,
on the “de-Europeanization and inter-culturalization of the fundamental concepts
and issues of [human and] social sciences”.
6
Relying, on the one hand, on the
FMSH’s geographical and themed programs
7
and international networks, and on the

4 In 2001/2002 in France, these were, in particular, Canal U, the higher education video
library (, only available in French) and the program La Diffusion des
Savoirs (The Diffusion of Knowledge) of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris.
5 See />6 On this subject, see the interview conducted by Peter Stockinger with Maurice Aymard for
the ARA program in September 2002 dealing with the specificity of the (FMSH) and its
missions: />7 Let us cite, among its many geographical and themed programs, those with which the ARA
program has maintained close relations over the years: the F2DS program in History of
Mathematics (Dominique Flament, also head of the Espace Charles Morazé:
the ALIBI “China” and “workshop”
programs dedicated to exchanges between Chinese- and French-language literature (Annie
Curien), the Civilisation du pain [Civilization of bread] program (Mouette Barboff), the
Programme International d’Etudes Avancées (PIEA) [International Program of Advanced
Studies] headed by Jean-Luc Racine, the Entre Sciences [Inter-Science] program (Angela
Context and Issues 5
other on the fact that the FMSH received (and still receives) hundreds of researchers
from all over the world each year, the ARA program was thus able to compile
(particularly between 2002 and 2005/2006) a truly exceptional and unique scientific
heritage, made up of contributions from researchers in institutions not only in France
but in some 85 countries the world over.
This was not only about “hastily” collecting the additions to scientific
knowledge by researchers from a many countries in the world. The stated goal of the
ARA program was to methodically collect information from colleagues working in
France or abroad. These methodical collections relied on explicit models and field
scenarios (see section: 1.4) and were quite deliberately implemented when
compiling audiovisual analysis corpora on certain chosen themes. Therefore, from
2005/2006 onwards, a number of particularly important aspects for contemporary
research were advantaged, among them the following three:
1. the often conflicting relationships between globalization, cultural diversity,
multiculturalism and/or communitarianism and intercultural dialog;
2. the huge (social, political, economic, etc.) need for models and scenarios to

understand and evaluate the changes of the modern world;
3. the central questions concerning the construction, the very organization of
human sciences, the epistemic and theoretical status of its concepts and models, the
“paradigmatic” change from disciplinary research towards inter- or rather trans-
disciplinary research on specifically identified issues as well as the relationships
between HSS, natural and formal sciences and engineering.
In addition, since 2005/2006, the ARA program has been exploring other field to
collect, digitize and distribute knowledge heritage. Hence, projects of collection,
analysis, publishing and online distribution of audiovisual corpora concerning
Procoli, succeeded by François Rochet), the Tic-Migrations program (Dana Diminescu), the
Programme Amérique latine [Latin-America Program] (Dominique Fournier), the Programme
de coopération Maghreb-France [Maghreb-France Cooperation Program] (Maurice Aymard),
the Programme Proche et Moyen-Orient [Near- and Middle-East Program] (H. Dawod), the
Programme Inde et Asie du Sud [India and South Asia Program] (France Bhattacharya
replaced by Max-Jean Zins), the Programme Japon [Japan Program] (Jane Cobbi), the
Programme Russie et CEI [the Russia and CIS Program] (Anne Le Huérou), the association
“France Union Inde” [France India Union] (Maurice Aymard), Editions MSH (MSH
Publishing) as well as the Programme directeurs d’études associés [Associated Research
Directors Program] and the different Programmes de bourses de recherche et postdoctorales
[Research and Postdoctoral Bursary Programs]; for more information, see the FMSH Website:
and the corresponding event on the ARA Web portal:
hivesaudiovisuelles. fr/.
6 Introduction to Audiovisual Archives
traditional knowledge and know-how,
8
collective memory,
9
geopolitical regions,
10
traditions and new forms of artistic expression,

11
day-to-day culture,
12
European
emigration to Latin America,
13
etc. have been carried out. The ARA program has
thus developed, over the course of its existence, an original and methodologically
solid
14
approach to the compilation and online publishing of audiovisual corpora.
Among the tangible results of this “policy” of producing scientific and cultural
heritage using digital audiovisual technology, the ARA includes, among others:
– a collection of almost 6,000 hours of online videos, made up of a series of
thematically-delimited corpora such as, for example, the “Social History” corpus
(around 600 hours of online videos), the – “Cultural and Linguistic Diversity”
corpus (around 450 hours of videos), the “Globalization and Sustainable
Development” corpus (around 250 hours of videos), the “History of Mathematics
and Geometry” corpus (around 160 hours of videos), the “Religious History and
Study” corpus (around 200 hours of videos), etc.;
– an audiovisual collection whose authors form a 2,500-strong community
working in over 900 institutions and 85 countries worldwide;
– an audiovisual collection bringing together videos in 15 different languages;
8 See e.g. the online documentation on artisan bread-making in Portugal, produced in 2008 in
cooperation with the ethnologist Mouette Barboff: />1895/.
9 See e.g. the audiovisual documentation entitled “Ils arrivent demain … Ongles, village
d’accueil des familles d’anciens harkis” (created in 2009): hivesaudio
visuelles.fr/1894/.
10 See e.g. the themed portal “AmSud. Mediateca latinoamericana” put in place in 2007 and
dedicated entirely to the history, geography, civilization, society and countries of Latin

America: />11 See e.g. the audiovisual documentation entitled “Du griot au slameur. Oralités anciennes,
oralités urbaines” produced in 2009 in cooperation with the Département Musiques orales et
improvisées de la Fondation Royaumont: />12 See e.g. the documentation on daily life in Hong Kong produced in 2007 as part of the
“China” program of the FMSH in Paris and led by Annie Curien from the CNRS
/>13 See e.g. the audiovisual documentation dedicated to French emigration in the
19th Century to the State of Veracruz in Mexico (produced 2005–2007 in cooperation with
Javier Perez Siller from the BUAP - the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla:
/>14 For more information see the online documentation on the ARA Web portal:
/>Context and Issues 7
– an audiovisual collection distributed on the ARA Web portal and/or – a series
of other thematically- or geographically-delimited Web portals
15
forming part of the
ARA;
– an audiovisual collection entirely published in the form of “mini-Websites”
with each “mini-site” corresponding to a scientific event – a field of research,
a cultural exhibition, etc. (hence, up to the end of 2010 the ARA portal contained
and distributed about 650 audiovisual mini-sites including nearly 350 structured and
in-depth interviews, 70 research seminars, 150 discussions, 50 reports and
documentaries and 15 audiovisual “field” documentations);
– a collection of which some parts are re-published in the form of themed folders
(in late 2010, around 85 themed folders), bilingual folders (in total, around
80 bilingual folders including French/English; French/Arabic; French/Russian;
French/Chinese etc.) and themed video-lexicon (devoted e.g. to world languages,
intangible cultural heritage, etc.).
Therefore, in 2009, the ARA program was qualified by the very official Agence
d’Evaluation de la Recherche et de l’Enseignement Supérieur (AERES) [Agency for
the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education] thus.
“[…] The ARA are a good example of the promotion of the FMSH’s cultural
heritage by the systematic use of new digital technologies based on the activity of the

Cognitive Semiotic and New Media Lab (ESCoM). […] The ARA are thus the
product of this team’s activity. Their objective is the formation, distribution and
exploitation of public heritage of knowledge produced by HSS in the form of video
recordings, classes, seminars, interviews, etc. to the benefit of research, education, and
learning. Over the years since their commissioning [4 years, 2006–2009, P.S.], the
ARA have become a major player in this field in France […]” [AER 09, p. 20
].
16
15 Here let us cite the following portals: AmSud – mediateca latinoamericana, a portal in
Spanish dedicated to the history, culture, society and peoples of Latin America:
( Azéri Buta, dedicated to Azerbaijani
culture: ( Averroès – the France-Maghreb
media library: ( Diversité Linguistique et Culturelle
(Linguistic and Cultural Diversity): ( />Mondialisation et Développement Durable (Globalization and Sustainable Development):
( Peuple et Cultures du Monde (People and Cultures of
the World): ( and Semiotica, Cultura e Comunicazione
(Italian for “Semiotics, Culture and Communication”, jointly developed with the Faculty of
Communication at the University of Rome – Sapienza: ( />16 See FMSH evaluative report, online on the AERES Website: es-
evaluation.fr/ content/download/13289/186002/file/AERES-S1-Fondation_MSH.pdf.