Individual content creators as guardians of their media universe An interconnected constellation of media asset management ‘nodes’ supports co-creation and sharing of media, intellectual property rights protection and monetisation. Digital Economy Society © Greg Rakozy/unsplash.com As the new millennium dawned, the internet was rapidly transitioning to a platform encouraging users to create and share content rather than solely consume it. Fast forward a couple of decades later, and user-created content is ubiquitous – virtually anyone with minimal technical expertise can upload content and reach millions of viewers. In parallel, mainstream digital platforms have gained extreme gatekeeping power. They play an outsized role in deciding whether content is promoted or taken down and how content is monetised. The EU-funded MediaVerse set out to put control back in the hands of the content creators. The project delivered open-source tools enabling anyone to create and share media while maintaining control of their intellectual property (IP) rights and revenue streams. A pioneering tech stack for content creators MediaVerse is a freely available technology stack – a combination of tools, applications and services – designed to work together with existing media workflows and tools, including those of large media organisations. It integrates a plethora of cutting-edge ICT including AI-based media annotation and retrieval, decentralised sharing systems and blockchain-enabled tools for IP rights protection and payments. It also incorporates social media analytics, virtual reality and human-computer interfaces. Project coordinator Symeon Papadopoulos of the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas explains: “MediaVerse enables users to set up ‘nodes’ – decentralised media asset management systems – that can interact with each other. Users can license their media assets either through their node or through other MediaVerse network nodes and access advanced authoring and media asset management services and tools.” Additionally, ‘FADER’ enables those without programming experience to create high-quality interactive 360° experiences and ‘VROdos’ is a plug-in for automating the visualisation of 3D models in WordPress. Citizen journalism, media co-creation and art co-creation MediaVerse demonstrated its platform in three different use cases. One enabled citizens to contribute to the journalistic processes of broadcasters in a fair and transparent way, with AI-based tools for broadcasters supporting media asset rights management and verification. Another lowered the barrier to using immersive content authoring tools. It helped people at risk of exclusion –including migrants and those with disabilities – to easily co-create and share immersive media stories. The third explored MediaVerse’s potential as a channel for artists to express their creativity and monetise their artistic content. Prophetic focus on AI-based tools Given the ambition and breadth of the original proposal, delivering an end-to-end working solution was not an easy task. “Not only did we realise our initial vision, but we surpassed it in some ways, moving beyond the current state of the art. A prime example is deployment of several cutting-edge AI-based media annotation and retrieval capabilities in a single web-based application, that is straightforward to use for non-AI experts,” notes Papadopoulos. He continues: “Given the controversies arising related to licensing media content for training large AI models, our work at the intersection of AI-based media annotation and retrieval and AI-based media rights management and licensing has become extremely timely. It is positioned to deliver real value to many use cases.” Papadopoulos welcomes those interested in collaboration to contact him. MediaVerse has put content creators back in the driver’s seat, ensuring a safe ride with advanced tools to control their IP rights and media distribution. Keywords MediaVerse, media, AI, content creators, annotation and retrieval, media asset management, ICT, intellectual property, IP rights, immersive content, blockchain
