Written by Janko Roettgers
Posted Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 5:00 AM PT

 

Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid!

When talking about Joost, people tend to focus on its P2P infrastructure, its media center-like interface and its content deals. Now those are all valid points, but the real key to Joost’s success may be something else: A metadata framework that might just revolutionize the way we watch television.

Joost itself has been fairly secretive about upcoming features of its internet TV client. The company doesn’t schedule any interviews for the time being, and official news releases simply repeat the mantra of combining “the best of full-screen television entertainment with online interactive and community benefits.” Yawn.

But don’t let such empty PR speak fool you. Joost has been hiring some of the brightest minds in the field of creative metadata wrangling, and there are indicators that they are working on some mighty magic.

“What’s metadata?,” you might ask. Think of it as a layer of data describing content. In Joost’s example this could be anything from a simple timeline to tags to a full-grown programing guide.

The notion of using this type of data for some creative mashups first came up on the Ironic Sans blog, where a Joost fan by the name of David Friedman brainstormed about a feature that he would like to see in the client: The ability to share comments on the programming based on each show’s timeline. Says Friedman:

“Imagine watching a show like Heroes once, and then watching it again with comments turned on to see what other people caught that you missed.”

The concept of annotated television is definitely intriguing – especially if you package it into an easy-to-use application. But it wasn’t just the idea itself that made Friedman’s post interesting. Notable was also the first comment, made by someone who identified himself as Matt Hall:

“We’re already working on it. :) So far we have a rough passive version — a few bits of content have “trivia” that pops up at specified timestamps — but we plan eventually to allow timestamped tagging, commenting, annotation, etc.”

To be fair, we can’t know for sure if this is the same Matt Hall who works as a software engineer at Joost’s offices in Leiden. We do however know that Joost also hired Dan Brickley, who is one of the inventors of FOAF – a RDF-based metadata framework that makes it possible to transform simple web pages into machine-readable social networking nodes.

We also know that Joost makes extensive use of such metadata frameworks to build the programming and community features of its service. To quote Joost developer Leo Simons: “Not a day goes by without some of our developers swearing about ‘RDF’ or ‘metadata.’”

So what can these metadata frameworks be used for? Timestamped comments and tags are certainly one interesting possibility. Combine this with FOAF-like social networking structures, and you got yourself a whole new way to explore TV programming.

Imagine a personalized TV channel that only serves you shows your friends are literally talking about. Or think about the way this could transform programming itself. What if the Lost folks didn’t do their next Alternative Reality Game on the web, but in Joost itself, allowing you to collaborate with your friends and collect clues while watching the show?

Now that’s what I would call combining the best of TV and the net. And to be honest: The couch potato in me couldn’t care less if Joost’s content is distributed with or without P2P. What really matters is the creative use of metadata.

Sphere
Topic: Software
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. Many people from the Apache foundation and Asematics also work for Joost and theres this page that describes all the open source projects they are involved with and that are used in Joost .

    http://www.asemantics.com/staff.html
    http://www.apache.org/foundation/members.html
    http://opensource.joost.com/

    Joost is big on the sematic web stuff and I expect you will see more once the Joost API is relased .

    Robin Berjon is developing the Joost API http://wiki.svg.org/Robin_Berjon

    Matt_ on April 14th, 2007 at 5:53 am - Permalink

  2. This goes to one of the most significant challenges facing online video: content discovery. The web has completely revolutionized content discovery for text, of course, but entertainment video and home video defies robust indexing. Key-word tagging helps, but not by much, and the vulnerabilities of this technique to spoofing are too well known to warrant rehearsal. Most online video portals lack robust taxonomies, and typically partition their content into no more than a few dozen channels. Curiously, no one seems to have noticed that news, the single most popular form of online video, is also the one for which the content discovery challenge is most readily resolved. A text transcript of the news segment, associated with the video of the segment, provides a robustly searchable content discovery mechanism.

    John Pike on April 14th, 2007 at 10:41 am - Permalink

  3. Having a tagging system for Joost or any multi-media site would be promising for helping define “my channels.” Dealing with lots of user-defined tags at work and searching through many of the social networks to find content, I believe there is going to be a rising need for a standard list of tags for different genres/strata. Maybe with the brainpower coming online at Joost they could establish a global tagging standard???
    BTW, does anyone have a beta invite for Joost, I have read quite a bit about it, but no invite yet…

    Brian Gillet on April 14th, 2007 at 1:53 pm - Permalink

  4. i am not so sure comments work well in video — after all, when someone comments outloud in a movie theather, they are usually told to shut up

    alessandro on April 14th, 2007 at 3:11 pm - Permalink

  5. Alessandro, maybe that’s because you can’t selectively listen to certain comments in your local theater. :)

    Brian: I believe this is actually one of the strenghts of tagging. People that use different tags for the same content often do view that content differently. So yes, you might have some loss, but you are also gaining lots of very valuable information about subsets of your audience.

    Just think of different geographic origins. Not everyone speaks English, and not every joke / cultural reference translates well to different languages and cultures. Such nuances would be completely lost with a standardized taxonomy.

    Janko Roettgers on April 14th, 2007 at 3:24 pm - Permalink

  6. I think the metadata is just one part of the puzzle. Without the content or the technology, the metadata on it’s own just wouldn’t make it compelling.

    You could see this evolving into a new type of media. Imagine following a murder mystery and maybe even have use input (aggregated over a defined group maybe) affect the ending or progress of the story.

    Owen on April 14th, 2007 at 3:40 pm - Permalink

  7. Great innovation ! Sure this will reinvent television completely.

    Is there any chance the automated video search technology from Blinkx might add value in this respect?

    Yuri van Geest on April 14th, 2007 at 3:57 pm - Permalink

  8. [...] NewTeeVee » Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! Imagine a personalized TV channel that only serves you shows your friends are literally talking about. Or think about the way this could transform programming itself. (tags: media collaboration metadata joneses WRTJ) [...]

    links for 2007-04-15 « Zero influence on April 14th, 2007 at 5:28 pm - Permalink

  9. content streams need not be only video ;-)

    http://neurokinetikz.com

    Michael Lacy on April 14th, 2007 at 6:39 pm - Permalink

  10. This will work well for complex mystery shows with multiple storylines ( Lost, Heroes, etc) .I’m not sure I woould like this on a sports match, or a news cast.

    OT: Anyone know if Joost works outside the United States ? I have yet to try it ( no invite) but I would like to know if they do any kind of IP filtering….

    alejo on April 14th, 2007 at 8:47 pm - Permalink

  11. Joost “rocks” because of a possible feature that allows you to tag content that may be introduced at some unspecified point into the client based on a few blog comments…..?

    Come on… this is just tagging. The same thing that every other service in the world offers.

    heddy on April 14th, 2007 at 10:53 pm - Permalink

  12. I think that’s exactly what bubbleply.com are trying to do - you take a video from youtube, for instance, add your own comments on top of it in the form of text, images, links and so on. Then, when another viewer enters the same video, he can see the other comment’s users had on it and he can choose to turn it off.

    the idea already exists and even works flawlessly, but it’s still isn’t used in the way you’ve described.

    Lani Sifhel on April 15th, 2007 at 5:26 am - Permalink

  13. we call this vommenting on the N which is a cable channel at MTVNetworks

    hey we have been doing this for months on the-n.com, which is one of our labs for new social media offerings within Viacom. If you want to see it in action with real audience (not just social media industry folks) hit this link

    http://www.the-n.com/theclick/theclick2.php?video=742750397&ctitle=All%20Vomments

    it is a great feature and people love to use it especially when we run a contest to get the comments back up on air. check it out…….

    kenny miller on April 15th, 2007 at 6:55 am - Permalink

  14. Wonderful for sports programming, as we can comment amongst our own team fan base during the game about the plays and penalties, our choice to do so or just watch the game. It we can also facilitate legal sports betting, and online purchasing. It’s Joost interactive duplex television, not just passive viewing, at viewers’ choice. I love this!

    Matsomo Hiricio on April 15th, 2007 at 7:34 am - Permalink

  15. [...] Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! Now those are all valid points, but the real key to Joost’s success may be something else: A metadata framework that might just revolutionize the way we watch television. [...]

    Todays Tech News covering Apple, Google, Joost, Outlook, LeapTag and Chris Pirillo on April 15th, 2007 at 10:17 am - Permalink

  16. [...] NewTeeVee: Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! Using FOAF-style metadataa for collaborative filtering and social network could make Joost the dominant online TV platform. (del.icio.us tags: TVontheWeb Web2.0 metadata) [...]

    infobong.com » linkdump for 2007.04.15 on April 15th, 2007 at 12:17 pm - Permalink

  17. I’m not much of a fan of “internet tv”…I don’t have the time or patience to try out new programming usually and I’ve got some high quality standards. But if you set up a system where people could annotate a show to point things out, I would be in all the way. There was a show I used to watch and then run to read the episode guide so I could see all the subtle things (or not so subtle things) that I missed. That helped me a lot and gave me a lot of appreciation for the show. If you could set up a system that would accomplish this while ensuring some kind of quality…I would be on joost everyday.

    Joel on April 15th, 2007 at 8:54 pm - Permalink

  18. [...] Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! - Interesting entry about metadata in internet TV [via Techmeme] [...]

    Readings: 2007-04-16 « Kempton’s blog on April 16th, 2007 at 1:14 am - Permalink

  19. [...] talking about the importance of metadata in Joost, Janko Roettgers quotes a comment explaining how meta data will reshape the way we watch television “Imagine [...]

    Importance of meta data in the future television on April 16th, 2007 at 12:40 pm - Permalink

  20. Janko, you’re perfectly right. Metadata is the game (as content as a diifferetiator between platforms won’t work). I’m not that convinced that Joost hat the right/only valid approach (but it definitely looks promising)

    hubert on April 16th, 2007 at 10:59 pm - Permalink

  21. Metadata (not only tags but rating / ranking / commenting / taxonomizing) most crucially raises the CPM value of UGV.

    If communities of users can go through and, in the aggregate, filter out problematic “naked people & American Nazis” content from UGV at large, large advertisers may have enough confidence to place their ads in front of UGV as well as large-media-produced content.

    But it’s not a new idea: Magnify Media is getting significant traction doing exactly that — and has been for a couple of years — see http://www.magnify.net ….

    John Voelcker on April 17th, 2007 at 4:07 am - Permalink

  22. [...] Dopo mesi di waiting list sono stato finalmente ammesso tra i fortunati beta tester di Joost. Sorvolo sull’impossibilità di accedere con il mio mac perchè ormai desueto e vado con le prime impressioni a caldo. L’installazione e il primo accesso sono veramente semplici. L’interfaccia è essenziale, scarna oserei dire mentre la qualità del video è notevole. Molto interessanti alcuni widget (altri, come l’orologio, trascurabili) soprattutto il client di chat che, su alcuni show, può diventare la vera killer application e il rating istantaneo. Ma la cosa che rende Joost il tanto atteso “futuro della tv” (anche se qualche cosa in tal senso già la fa mtv) è la possibilità di taggare i contenuti come emerge da questo interessante post. [...]

    I Love Clients » Joost on April 17th, 2007 at 7:27 am - Permalink

  23. [...] are getting to the gory details of Joost’s semantic web backend technology. For instance, Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! and Idea: Joost’s missing feature (well, that was in March - the scaffolding for this idea is [...]

    Squio.blog » Joost Updates on April 17th, 2007 at 8:20 am - Permalink

  24. [...] plans a shot tagging feature coupled with a related syndication format, newtv has the story. Translated into natural language, Joost users can comment on particular scenes of a video and [...]

    LULOP.org [opensource] » Joost, shot tagging and syndication on April 17th, 2007 at 10:08 am - Permalink

  25. [...] Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! When talking about Joost, people tend to focus on its P2P infrastructure, its media center-like interface and its content deals. Now those are all valid points, but the real key to Joost’s success may be something else: A metadata framework that might just revolutionize the way we watch television. [...]

    Media Cool Hunting » Blog Archive » Links from last week on April 17th, 2007 at 1:36 pm - Permalink

  26. How do i get an invite to Joost, its very confusing???

    Allen on April 18th, 2007 at 3:08 pm - Permalink

  27. Oh, my email is edwarall5@aol.com if anyone wants to invite me.

    Allen on April 18th, 2007 at 3:09 pm - Permalink

  28. [...] But what about the sneaky title of this little post, you ask? The other side of Joost is it’s social aspect, which is very initial right now, but possibilities are endless. [...]

    All PVR » Blog Archive » Joost Metadata is spying on you! Rejoice! on April 19th, 2007 at 1:31 pm - Permalink

  29. [...] dem Bildschirm anzeigen zu lassen, war bisher nicht möglich. Joost ändert dies. In Anbetracht der guten Kritik, die diese Funktion bereits jetzt bekommt, ist nicht auszuschließen, dass Joost hier in Zukunft [...]

    zweinull.cc » Blog Archiv » 10 Gründe, warum man Joost mögen muss on April 20th, 2007 at 3:20 am - Permalink

  30. [...] dem Bildschirm anzeigen zu lassen, war bisher nicht möglich. Joost ändert dies. In Anbetracht der guten Kritik, die diese Funktion bereits jetzt bekommt, ist nicht auszuschließen, dass Joost hier in Zukunft [...]

    Joost™ -TV for Free- Blog » Blog Archive » 10 + 2 Gründe, die für Joost™ sprechen !!! on April 21st, 2007 at 3:02 am - Permalink

  31. As a 70 tear old I’d love an invite from someone. Thanks
    (bobnhiroe@myfastmail.com)

    Bob on April 22nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm - Permalink

  32. Excellent thought provoking post.
    If anyone needs a Joost invite pop by my blog and leave a comment on the latest post with your full name and email (not published) and Ill be happy to provide.
    Regards
    Fraser
    The Jooster

    Fraser Cairns on May 5th, 2007 at 4:17 am - Permalink

  33. hey, guys! 6 brand new Joost invitations! share and invite others so we can spread the news. download here as a free rapidshare user, the password is rar:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/30521514/rp2007acc.rar

    thanks!

    producer on May 11th, 2007 at 12:11 pm - Permalink

  34. Still waiting for the interesting TV channels to come up.

    Joost on May 14th, 2007 at 9:10 am - Permalink

  35. [...] you look at content owner website for metadata. I read you re working hard on metadata, but then why not once again publish what you re going to do and start lending your visibility to [...]

    LULOP.org [opensource] » Joost needs Internet newsgathering, or the other way round ? on May 22nd, 2007 at 1:32 am - Permalink

  36. [...] Via GigaOm, Mashable, Ironic Sans e NewTeeVee. [...]

    Joost, O Futuro da TV na Tela do seu PC ou Mac « Hachid - Pensamentos e howto’s de um Geek ! on May 24th, 2007 at 7:33 am - Permalink

  37. [...] NewTeeVee Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! « (tags: Joost, Metadata VIDEO tv web2.0) [...]

    links for 2007-06-17 - Copypaste Media on June 17th, 2007 at 4:27 pm - Permalink

  38. [...] NewTeeVee Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! « Sigh. See, this is what happens when you don’t write about stuff because you think your job means you’re not allowed to. Someone else writes about it, and not as well as you could’ve. (tags: joost arg metadata interactivetvdoneright interactive tv television tvshow heroes lost) [...]

    Extenuating Circumstances – links for 2007-06-18 on June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 am - Permalink

  39. [...] NewTeeVee Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! « (tags: joost metadata video) [...]

    links for 2007-06-18 « toonz on June 18th, 2007 at 4:22 pm - Permalink

  40. [...] There’s also a lot of potential in the Joostmarks widget. Right now it’s barely usable – you can’t read anything most of the time because someone apparently thought black fonts were a good choice for a TV experience. The widget does however make it possible to bookmark single scenes within a TV show or even a music video and jump right to that point the next time you use Joost . Make those bookmarks shareable, and you’re pretty close to the social tagging features that will eventually help platforms like Joost to truly revolutionize TV. [...]

    Joost Gets an API, Becomes Widget Platform « NewTeeVee on August 30th, 2007 at 3:44 pm - Permalink

  41. [...] Users can blog about shows, chat with each other and eventually interact in many different ways thanks to a pretty clever metadata framework. It would be great if Miro at least took some steps towards that [...]

    What Joost And Miro Could Learn From Each Other « NewTeeVee on November 4th, 2007 at 12:01 am - Permalink

  42. [...] la participation de leurs “lecteurs”. Mais TIOTI connecte les internautes selon une architecture de réseau social et des groupes d’intérêt auto-organisés. Cet accent sur l’interaction sociale le [...]

    LA REVUE TFO » Archive du blog » Connecter TV en ligne et réseau social on November 6th, 2007 at 11:57 am - Permalink

  43. Time on the n of the TV ( telewizja n)

    Television New Generation- n, then
    the Polish satellite television digital
    platform of the Group ITI. Users nbox HDTV, the decoders of the platform n have the access to new functions and the usług.Możliwości of equipment considerably they grew rich. We can now operate internet browser, internet nRadio. We will be also able to choose the programme or also the film
    emitted about the chosen time defining only his species. Connecting the TV sat to internetu will deliver us additional
    possibilities. While
    the inspection of the sport programme they will be displayed the compositions of teams, the achievement of teams. Our
    satellite television will be to deliver us music from a few hundred
    internet radio broadcasting stations then. As it would be this little, we can choose stations created through stars the musical scene in our nhdtv and to also execute the purchase of the wide library of films.
    Long winter evenings will be more pleasant in this way.

    telewizja n on November 10th, 2007 at 5:46 am - Permalink

  44. Excellent and though provoking post.

    Sam on May 29th, 2008 at 7:42 am - Permalink

  45. [...] it possible to transform simple web pages into machine-readable social networking nodes. …Read more…Tags: Appointment Scheduling [...]

    web based appointment scheduling software » Joost: It’s The Metadata, Stupid! - web based scheduling software on July 5th, 2008 at 6:04 pm - Permalink

  46. this is very intresting and helpful article. I think that you are right in your article!

    Cytaty on July 30th, 2008 at 4:25 am - Permalink

  47. Nicely written article.

    mika on August 7th, 2008 at 8:22 am - Permalink

  48. This is very interesting and helpful article. Thank you for your work.

    gry logiczne on September 21st, 2008 at 8:53 am - Permalink

  49. Great article. Thanks!

    Statusy GG, Opisy na GG on September 25th, 2008 at 3:24 am - Permalink

  50. Joost is very nice ;) great article!

    piosenki mp3 on January 2nd, 2009 at 8:07 pm - Permalink

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