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What is "VOLUMEONE"?

The "VOLUMEONE" was introduced by a team led by Prof. Junko IWABUCHI of Research Institute for Digital Media and Content, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan in May 2006 as a prototype multi-channel video presentation platform on the Web. It is designed to host museums of various disciplines to distribute their in-house produced educational video programs for the audience of K to 12 Schools, Universities, adults and children in hospitals with long term illness who require educational and intellectual entertainment programs without going outside.

The "VOLUMEONE" is, basically, a flash based video content distribution platform not much different from the “YouTube” if you are familiar with their service. But it is not open to the mass audience to upload their own materials. It provides more controlled and clean looking environment without any advertisements and operated like a club of not-for-profit organizations who are approved by DMC Institute/Keio University as research partners for collaboration.

The Process and Evolution

In order to explain why and how the "VOLUMEONE" became what it is today, let us start with describing what the "VOLUMEZERO," the original version in multi-channel does.

By using "VOLUMEZERO," any program administrator (shown as "Panelist" here in the Figure.1) of a museum with assigned ID and a Password issued by DMC Institute (the administrator of the whole platform itself) could upload their movie files on the Web wherever they are and make these files video-castable by flash video Web streaming almost instantly. "VOLUMEZERO" was released on May 10, 2006, as the first version "VOLUMEONE" and changed its name in mid-September to "VOLUMEZERO" when the new version "VOLUMEONE" was introduced.

Figure.1 *Click to a larger image

Now let's take a look at the "VOLUNEONE," the current version. The team at DMC institute started testing of the new "VOLUMEONE" (shown in the Figure. 2 below) in late August 2006 as the team was getting ready for the sneak preview at the time of CIDOC (The International Committee for Documentation of the International Council of Museums) conference in Mid-September, but the official date of release was not until October 23, 2007.

Fig. 2 *Click to a larger image

The most dramatic change with this version is the start of video pod-casting via i-Tunes and addition of a section to distribute news that are independent of descriptions of video content. Now the users can search for a content of their interest by categories such as "museums", "history", "short movies", etc. and by keywords or search tags.

With the completion of this current version "VOLUMEONE," DMC Institute at Keio University has launched a year round collaboration with Kawasaki City Museum in August 2006 and after the official release of the new "VOLUMEONE", the team helped Tokyo FILMeX, the international film festival of independent movies with focus on Asia, for distributing their promotional trailers and pod-casting these video clips. Interviews with directors and actors on the spot were added to their Web site everyday and widely appreciated by the followers of this film festival.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

For the development of "VOLUMEZERO" and "VOLUMEONE," many people have contributed their talent and valuable time. I would like to express my special thanks to my colleagues: Kim Junghoon, Hideki Ogino, Kentaro Hirano, Sasaki Nagi, Keiko Kinuta, Masaru Ando, Miho Ishii, Andreas Bovens, Junko Sawada, Yutaka Ohga, Maki Yamamura and artists who willingly provided their materials for experimentation.

I also would like to extend my sincere appreciation to a dear friend, Ms. Ritsuko Segawa, who has inspired me to launch this project. She is definitely one of the best producers of audio tour guide for museums in Japan. Ms.Segawa has been a long time representative of Antenna Audio, London, for Japanese market until June 2005 and now has a close working relationship with Ophyris systems of France.

Development of the "VOLUMEZERO" (introduced as "VOLUMEONE" at the time of its release on May 10, 2006) was made possible by the Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology. The Research Institute for Digital Media and Content, Keio University has been established as a part of Encouraging Development of Strategic Research Centers Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

Up-loading files

Once you log on to the VOLUMEONE, this is the first page you will see. It provides a quick over view on the whole process of uploading his/her video file. MP4 file format is most recommended for web-casting and pod-casting, however the VOLUMEONE takes Quick Time , other types of FLV and our more recent findings show that this platform seems to accept most video files recorded on SD cards as well.

*Click to a larger image

Once you log on to the VOLUMEONE, this is the first page you will see. It provides a quick over view on the whole process of uploading his/her video file. MP4 file format is most recommended for web-casting and pod-casting, however the VOLUMEONE takes Quick Time , other types of FLV and our more recent findings show that this platform seems to accept most video files recorded on SD cards as well.

*Click to a larger image