Following its work on the Time-Addressable Media Store (TAMS), BBC R&D has turned its attention to a new project focusing on data.
The Time-Addressable Data Store (TADS) is an open, interoperable and cloud-native API specification for reading, writing and editing timeline data in a store.
According to a blog post by the BBC R&D team, TADS aims to support timeline data for all content, whether in archive systems, file-based MAMs or TAMS,
The specification enables users to create ‘Tracks’ and store data ‘Events’ on them, with each Track sharing a timeline with media in another system such as TAMS, said BBC R&D.
“Event payloads are formatted as JSON. Each Track is associated with a managed Payload Schema that uses JSON Schema. TADS validates each new Event against this Payload Schema. Many common data workflows require Events that overlap on the timeline (e.g. tracking visibility of actors in a video) and the editing of Events (e.g. progressive improvements to transcripts). TADS supports both,” added the blog post.
The project hopes to offer more agility in media supply, said BBC R&D, enabling users to use new capabilities to meet the demands of audiences, while retaining control of their data.
TADS is currently in the alpha phase, with BBC R&D retaining control. However, as it continues to develop, the team said they intend to revisit ownership of the specification.
The full blog post is available to read here.
