Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
12.3.2 Data Storage
In our system, everything we capture is stored in a database on a personal
computer hard disk that we call the memory. The database can store con-
tent and metadata for a variety of item types, including contacts, documents,
email, events, photos, music, and video. There is an option for users either
to edit their raw data to make it more interesting and compress them into an
appropriate format or to immediately store photos or video directly to the
database. A user must add annotations of a specific name, feeling, or expres-
sion to their media data. This is important for future use of that media data,
as without annotation the data will be difficult to search by retrieving or
querying from the database. For example, suppose I captured a serendipitous
moment at my sister's wedding several years ago. I may have difficulty in
remembering when that photo was captured if there are no clues to the event.
We can therefore annotate that image with a date (e.g., “November 1990” this
may be applied automatically) and a feeling or expression (e.g., “Happy”). As
we store memories in our brain, we also attach them to other related memo-
ries, such as “unforgettable moment in life,” and thus concepts with older
memories. In the permanent database, we tag annotated data with a GPS
location and where the event happened (e.g., “ABC Club”), the event name
(e.g., “Noraini's Wedding 1999”) and its relationships with other data. We
can then retrieve the concept at a later date by following some of the pointers
that trace the various meaning codes and decoding the stored information to
regain meaning. Media data with proper annotation can be short-listed into
a group when the user retrieves data by date, event, expression, and so on.
Returning to our example, if I want to retrieve my serendipitous moment,
I can put “happy” or “joyful moment” in the retrieval text box of the pho-
tograph, then the system will list all the photos with that annotation and
also other related media connected with other pointers so that one hint may
allow me to recover the whole meaning. The user can then utilize instance
links to relate all of the digital data (photo, video, audio, GPS location, and
images) when retrieving all information related to the memory of interest.
12.3.3 Data Sharing
In our system, we share our media content through peer-to-peer networking
without using a central server.
We will now consider a scenario to demonstrate how our system works
in sharing serendipitous moments. In July 2007 I took photographs at my
friend's wedding. On that occasion, I bumped into my other friends Jundi and
Ida. Though the serendipity lies not in seeing them at the wedding party, but
rather how we met in the first place. Ten years ago, I was also the cameraman
for Jundi and Ida and now they already have two children. At this point in
time, Ida had a desire to share her memories of her wedding ceremony with
her friends. She started to retrieve all of her wedding photos and videos.
