The diver project: interactive digital video repurposing

Abstract

The digital interactive video exploration and reflection (Diver) system lets users create virtual pathways through existing video content using a virtual camera and an annotation window for commentary. Users can post their Dives to the WebDiver server system to generate active collaboration, further repurposing, and discussion. Although our current work focuses on video records in learning research and educational practices, Diver can aid collaborative analysis of a broad array of visual data records, including simulations, 2D and 3D animations, and static works of art, photography, and text. In addition to the social and behavioral sciences, substantive application areas include medical visualization, astronomic data or cosmological models, military satellite intelligence, and ethnology and animal behavior. Diver-style user-centered video repurposing might also prove compelling for popular media with commercial application involving sports events, movies, television shows, and video gaming. Future technical development includes possible enhancements to the interface to support simultaneous display of multiple Dives on the same source content, a more fluid two-way relation between desktop Diver and WebDiver, and solutions to the current limitations on displaying and authoring time/space cropped videos in a browser context. These developments support the tool's fundamentally collaborative, communication-oriented nature.