MIS - For People & Search Engines?
MIS, or the McGrath Information Solution, is a specification aimed at providing information about a media file, be it an image, video, or audio, by imbedding that information directly into it. The idea that I’ve been sponsored to review, then, is that users will have easy access to information regarding a media file they may not have, or may have to go searching for, right at their fingertips.
The application of the MIS specification can be wide-spread. When watching a video you can access information regarding cast, crew, or interesting bits of “did you knows”. There was some cable channel that would have pop-ups during their films of odd facts about a specific scene, except MIS wouldn’t be annoying enough to randomly pop-up on you. Audio files can have info we’re used to with MP3s, and images can tell us who we’re looking at, where they are and when it was taken. More interesting in image cases, in my opinion, would be specific details on how the photographer took the picture. Amateurs would benefit from knowing the aperture and f-stop used to gain a certain affect, impression or detail.
The broader benefit though, and probably the one set to benefit our online world the most, would be the ability for search engines to read the information in order to properly index the file. Imagine better search results for videos, songs and images.
Well, that’s the basics of the MIS specification. I definitly see the positive implications, and as someone who works with search engines for a living, its something to consider as search technology broadens.
D2
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