CAVAA Human Communication Audio-Visual Archive

(Video removed)

Co-funded by UCL and the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) April 2009 – August 2010

Matt Mahon, Language and Communication, UCLMartin Moyle, UCL Library ServicesMerle Mahon, Developmental Science, UCLSuzanne Beeke, Language and Communication, UCL

Background

• Much research in human communication is based on experimental data, but a different understanding comes from examining natural audio-visual data

• Despite advances in online resources there is no centralised AV archive in the UK to support such work and to share data

– UKDA (ESDS Qualidata): no video– TalkBank: prescribed formats for accompanying data

• CAVA focuses on videotaped interactions - conversations, interviews, assessments - between a person who has atypical communication (due to a condition such as stroke, deafness etc) and their spouse, teacher, or another communicator.

CAVA project aims

• establish a digital video repository for human communication sciences, initially populated with an existing (and growing) body of rights-cleared digital content owned by UCL researchers

• house this within the UCL Library Services Digital Collections service which uses the Ex Libris DigiTool repository platform

• catalogue each video to a discipline-specific descriptive standard, IMDI

• deposit transcripts and other supporting material wherever available

• develop procedures and processes for managing access (restricted to bona fide researchers)

• look at options for long-term digital preservation of the master files, with help of UKDA

Depositor Project name Hours of data

Merle Mahon, UCL HMM-DOH deaf children 72

Suzanne Beeke, UCL/ ESRC aphasia 37.5

Suzanne Beeke/Firle Conversation therapy project 137.5

 Cooper, UCL   18

Kathleen McCarthy, UCL HLE interviews 9

Adam Schembri, UCL BSL Deaf Corpus 480

    30

Sarah Collins, UCL Diabetes consultations  

  Dementia conversations  

Sarah Worsford, Soton Deaf children 11-13 25

Juliette Corrin, UCLJRC-DHCS single-word multiword translation

18

18

Workflow 1

Convert file formats if necessary

The project is given a browse structure online and made

available to appropriate users.

Assign rights and upload files to

DigiTool

Archive preservation files

separately (if required)

Get consent forms, data and metadata from

depositor

(Project officer is available to help

with completion of the metadata)

START

Associate versions of each recording in the metadata record

Example of data

• [Video removed]

Workflow 2

CAVA team receives

metadata form, licences and the

data itself

Prospective user completes

licence forms

The data is made available through the

repository, and appropriate users are

given access

CAVA team arranges user access to the

repository

Project officer prepares data for

upload to the repository

Data is uploaded in batches

Depositor completes

metadata form and licences

(Project officer is available to help

with completion of the metadata)

START

START

Using the archive for teaching and learning

• Remote access to data• Security• CAVA for research students

Further information

• CAVA website– http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ls/cava

• UCL Digital Collections– http://digital-collections.lib.ucl.ac.uk

• DigiTool– http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/DigiToolOverview

• Project Team– lib-cava@ucl.ac.uk