Audiovisual Search: Regulatory Challenges for Audiovisual Abundance April 11, 2008

In an environment with unlimited amounts of information available on open platforms such as the internet, the availability or accessibility of audiovisual content is becoming less of an issue than in the past . The real question is how to find the information about audiovisual content and the content itself. Electronic programming guides are one way to find information. But in an internet environment, search engines are becoming the most important gateway used to find content.
The workshop will discuss both programming guides and search engines. What are their limitations, what kind of new developments can be expected. In particular, the regulatory environment will be assessed: at present, both electronic programming guides and search engines fall largely outside the scope of (tele-)communications and media regulation. In the open online environment of the Internet everyone can easily publish audiovisual content. The developing technology of audiovisual search will increasingly define how we will navigate the emerging audiovisual landscape. The proposed multi-stranded approach of this expert workshop offers a unique opportunity to gain further insights into relevant questions and to provide additional input for law- and policy-makers, as well as industry players and civil society interest groups.