NPR (National Public Radio)
& PRSS ContentDepot (Public Radio Satellite Service)

Context
PBCore Integration
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Summarized from the PRSS website...

The Public Radio Satellite System® (PRSS) is the distribution network through which thousands of hours of news, music, and specialized audience programming are delivered every year to public radio stations throughout the United States. The PRSS is designed for those seeking to distribute or receive public radio content via a reliable, high-quality delivery system.

Managed by NPR Distribution, the PRSS is a cooperative enterprise. Each Participating Station is a stakeholder in the collective assets of, and services provided by, the satellite system. Interconnected stations own their own downlink and uplink equipment. The satellite transponder capacity, as well as the national operating system equipment located in Washington, are owned by the Public Radio Satellite Interconnection System Charitable Trust. Today, the PRSS includes more than 400 downlinks, and over 250 program producers and distributors. Many additional stations also receive programming sent over the satellite through local connections with downlink stations. Located at NPR headquarters in Washington, DC, the Network Operations Center (NOC) is the control and routing center for audio and data transmissions as well as the master uplink for PRSS programming.

The PRSS ContentDepot takes advantage of technological innovations to streamline how stations and producers select, send, acquire, and automate programming. The ContentDepot moves the PRSS distribution system from exclusively real-time to a subscription-based system for both live and pre-produced broadcasts. The ContentDepot continues to incorporate satellite distribution, still a cost-effective and reliable means of delivering high-quality, real-time audio programming to a national network of radio stations. The ContentDepot also provides alternative distribution methods that give stations flexibility in receiving and storing programs and other information from the PRSS.

Both stations and producers have identified the need for a distributed content storage and management system to enable them to operate efficiently in today's changing media environment. The ContentDepot responds to this need by providing centralized storage and program retrieval. It captures and manages not only audio content, but also associated data and metadata.

An online QuickTime video is available which summarizes the PRSS ContentDepot service...

http://www.prss.org/video/contentdepot.mov

Continuing to summarize from the PRSS website...

"Metadata" is the information, or data, that accompanies a piece of digitized content, such as a video or audio clip, graphic, or script. Examples of metadata include description, subject heading, file format, author/producer, rights holder, etc. When these fields of information use standardized vocabularies and have defined relationships, this constitutes a metadata model or dictionary, and the content can be more easily indexed, catalogued, searched, and retrieved.

Within public broadcasting, the application of a shared metadata dictionary facilitates the exchange and delivery of content and data (including both program elements and completed programs) throughout multiplatform production teams, the system of interconnected licensees and out to public broadcast and Internet constituents.

NPR Distribution and ContentDepot are participating in the CPB-funded Public Broadcasting Metadata Model Project, known commonly as PBCore. The guidelines established by PBCore create the interoperability standards required for the ContentDepot's integrated asset management network (http://www.prss.org/contentdepot/metadata_faq.cfm).

PBCore is seen as an associated data layer, complementing PRSS ContentDepot data exchanges. This data can be imported into any number of PBCore-friendly information, tracking, archiving, and production systems within a station. The goal is to repurpose already vetted and well-formed metadata wherever and however possible, with the intent to reduce data errors typically introduced through rekeying or copy/paste behavior.

Mapping PBCore to ContentDepot is currently established as a "PBCore Compliance Project" within PRSS. A preliminary mapping of early ContentDepot metadata with v1.0 of the PBCore metadata dictionary was completed. In the coming year, this mapping will be revisited and evaluated against PBCore v1.1. Once reviewed and approved by NPR, the mapping of PBCore to the PRSS ContentDepot metadata scheme will be published and made available through the PBCore website's section on metadata mappings and crosswalks (see Mapping PBCore to other Metadata Standards).

Additionally, a review of data structures between ContentDepot and PBCore will be undertaken in order to develop a specification for data interchange between the two schemas. NPR had great success while working with public radio stations and third party automation vendors in designing and implementing data interchanges. That experience will positively impact the development and implementation of PBCore data exchanges, either automated or as selected import and export functionalities.

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