State of Iowa Begins Information Sharing Project

Virage (www.virage.com) announced that the state of Iowa will be using its technology to create a searchable state digital video database on the Iowa state Web site for educational purposes.

The plan is called the 21st Century Learning Infrastructure Initiative, and will use Virage software to encode, index and catalog digital video and audio assets to allow for the distribution and sharing between K-12 schools, community colleges, universities and other citizens who are looking to utilize information contained within videos compiled and licensed by the state. The state's objective is to make it easier for its citizens to search and retrieve state video resources.

"The Virage platform will allow the state to standardize metadata creation and search ability of the content, so that citizens across Iowa are able to retrieve the content they need anywhere they need it," said Bill Haigh, public information officer of the Information Technology Department for the state of Iowa. The 21st Century Learning Infrastructure Initiative is an effort toenhance and increase current and future distance learning and digital library offerings. Haigh also believes that its implementation and success could pioneer new ways that educational videos and information in general can be shared between states and citizens nationwide in the future.