Each year, 31 million hours of video is delivered over cable television networks in the United States. This represents just a fraction of the quantity of video produced and disseminated globally. Video is also used extensively in research, security, and other fields. Amidst this dense sea of information, how can people find the particular segment of video they are looking for? Despite a great deal of research in this area, video remains difficult to search using only machine-based algorithms.

Over the past two decades, a $2 billion industry has emerged to convert text-based information into machine-readable documents, so that that text can be readily searched and accessed. The market for preparing video for search is potentially even larger. Firms such as Google and Yahoo are actively developing machine-based solutions to this problem, but this type of search is not likely to be effective in locating specific segments within a video document.

I see a potential opportunity for social enterprise in this. I am looking to combine state-of-the-art machine-search techniques with low-cost manual indexing to tag video according to context-dependent taxonomies. The social enterprise will train and employ skilled workers in developing countries to provide a high-quality indexing services to effectively harness the human skills required in this process. By developing operational systems that optimize the value of human indexing together with machine search techniques, this new enterprise will deliver a high valued-added service to its clients.

Potential clients might include production firms such as Disney, Dreamworks SKG, Lucasfilm and Time Warner, plus television and cable broadcasters including ABC, CBS, CNN. In the security markets, clients could include the CIA, FBI, NSA, Department of Homeland Security, local police departments and private security firms. In addition, video archives such as the Getty, UCLA and the Museum of Broadcasting would be a prospective market for these services. There is also potentially a consumer market.