A crowdsourcing framework for the production and use of film and television data

This paper outlines a framework that would enable the detailed indexing of film and television media through crowdsourcing. By making it easier to generate detailed data about these media on a large scale, fans and scholars can more efficiently produce a wide range of artifacts that reflect their interests in this content. Our development of a test collection included detailed indexing of 12 feature films and 8 television programs. We describe the conditions that make crowdsourcing an ideal approach for accomplishing this work on a larger scale; present a three-level development framework; and discuss how automated indexing, crowdsourcing quality, and copyright concerns might influence continued development of the project. Our framework highlights the potential of both multimedia indexing and crowdsourcing and can serve as a model for others embarking on projects that involve indexing, annotating, or labeling large multimedia collections.