JISC

Start date: 1 August 2000

End date: 31 July 2003

Funding programme: Learning and Teaching (5/99) programme

Project website: http://www.trilt.ac.uk

The TRILT database is available through the BUFVC website TRILT is available via Shibboleth/OpenAthens to BUFVC members and staff and students in BUFVC member institutions. For further information about the database email asktrilt@bufvc.ac.uk or telephone 020 7393 1501.

This project is part of the moving image and sound project cluster in this particular programme. The main focus for projects in this cluster is on the creation and use of moving images and collections for the DNER and learning and teaching.

Background

UK terrestrial broadcast radio and television provides much material of value to further and higher education learning and teaching. Since May 1990, all UK HEIs have been recording programmes legitimately under Section 35 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 and some academic libraries hold thousands of such recordings. There are, however, a significant number of gaps that when combined make tracing and accessing copies of broadcasts more difficult than it should be: radio has generally been ignored; relevant television programmes may have been overlooked; general programme output has not been catalogued and indexed from a learning and teaching perspective; different institutions catalogue according to different rules; and access to catalogues and recorded materials may be restricted.

Aims and Objectives

TRILT will address these gaps by providing in-depth data on television and radio broadcasts with the opportunity for relating this to other subject information through the DNER. TRILT will also assist in the integration of moving images and sound in learning and teaching, including providing the foundation for the online delivery of encoded sound and moving images. The specific objectives are to:

• Install within the DNER a fully searchable index and guide to all major English language radio and television channels receivable in the UK, including regional variations. It will also carry additional content including reviews, bibliographic information, still images and other information. It will be provided five days in advance of transmission and archived with the added data being improved both pre- and post-transmission
• Offer the opportunity to integrate moving image metadata sources and delivery services available to FE and HE
• Provide a framework which will create opportunities for direct connection to moving image sources to be streamed online or for delivery via physical media where connectivity/traffic issues impede online supply
• Provide links to sources of film and/or video copies of programmes post-transmission, including non-theatrical distributors of video and sound recordings and the BUFVC’s Off-Air Recording Back-Up Service
• Provide links to commercial publishing partners
• Indicate related moving image material available in analogue or encoded digital form

Project design

Since 1987, the BUFVC has indexed selected UK television programmes on its Television Index, with the records being searchable by keyword and title. The online index began on 1st July 1995. TRILT will continue this work which has proved one of the BUFVC’s most popular services along with the Off-Air Recording Back-Up Service. This popularity is evidence of TRILT’s potential to add both quality and quantity to information provision for the whole gamut of FE and HE learners and teachers. Evaluation of TRILT will be qualitative, quantitative, formative and continuous throughout the life of the project. Quantitative data will be obtained from statistics derived from Web access. Qualitative information will be obtained via feedback from discussion lists and electronic and paper questionnaires.

Outcomes

TRILT will improve the ability of the FE and HE communities to identify and locate television and radio broadcasts to use as teaching and learning support material. By the end of the initial three years of the project, TRILT will comprise an archive of complete television and radio listings dating back to 1997 plus records of many programmes from before that. Records particularly applicable to FE and HE will be enhanced with additional data. Exit strategies will enable TRILT to continue to grow at the same rate. Although the material will be in the form of moving image and radio broadcasts, TRILT will reach beyond media studies as the subject matter will cover the whole range of disciplines taught in FE and HE and will thus be of benefit to the entire community.