14 DAY TRIAL // MyMedia, a system built through an EU-funded collaborative research project, with the European Microsoft Innovation Centre (EMIC) at the helm, is now available for download. June 30 marks the public availability of what the Redmond company referred to as an example of recommender system software for multimedia content. Essentially, MyMedia is designed as an intelligent recommender system technology capable of bridging users' individual tastes, preferences and interest with suitable multimedia content, be it served via TV or radio.
"Given the breadth and experience of the partners involved, the potential benefits to consumers across Europe, in a short space of time, [are] clear." explained Alexander Voss, program manager, Microsoft EMIC and project coordinator of MyMedia. "We are excited about the prospect of driving even greater insight into recommender system technology."
In addition to EMIC, MyMedia has been built with contributions from BBC, BT, Microgenésis, Novay, Eindhoven Technical University and the University of Hildesheim. Microsoft indicated that MyMedia was set up to do to multimedia content served through IPTV, video on demand and the Internet what Bing has done to search, namely filter the information overload. MyMedia will be able to factor in characteristics as the personality or the mood of end users when adapting recommendations to them.
"From the perspective of an SME like Microgénesis, MyMedia happens to be an excellent opportunity to enhance our e-commerce application features. In the increasingly competitive world of digital content distribution, a powerful recommender system, able to provide appealing recommendations as in MyMedia, is a true advantage over our competitors," added Laura de la Rua, R+D operation manager, Microgénesis.
Microsoft and its partners have been developing MyMedia since January 2008, with funding from the European Union's 7th Framework Programme. Making use of recommender algorithms and metadata enhancements, the MyMedia extensible software framework for multimedia recommendation is now available for download. In addition to offering the MyMedia Toolkit, Microsoft will also incorporate the technology into MSN ClipClub, a web-based TV and radio service run by BBC and Microgenésis' eCommerce Yogui.
MyMedia Dynamic Personalization and Recommendation Software Framework Toolkit is available for download here.