Frequently Asked Questions

The TIB AV-Portal is an open access platform for scientific videos with a focus on technology as well as architecture, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and physics. Over time, the scope of the portal has expanded to include a wider range of scientific disciplines, including the humanities and social sciences, economics, law and medicine (see subjects). Users of the portal have access to a variety of video content, including lecture and conference recordings, simulations, animations, experiments, interviews and video abstracts as well as open educational resources.

The portal was developed from July 2011 to April 2014 by the Lab Non-Textual Materials of the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) in cooperation with the Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering. The portal went online in April 2014 and was operated by yovisto GmbH until 2019 and further developed on behalf of the TIB. In September 2018, the "Scrum Team AV-Portal" was founded at the TIB, which was entrusted with the task of migrating all software projects of the portal to the TIB infrastructure. Since 2020, responsibility for the operation and continuous development of the portal has been in the hands of the TIB Scrum Team.

The TIB AV-Portal simplifies the search, citation and publication of scientific videos and also offers the option of downloading videos, licensing them or ordering them as DVDs. Due to the use of Creative Commons licenses, most of the content is freely reusable.

The services of the TIB AV-Portal include:

• Hosting and long-term archiving of videos and accompanying materials
• DOI registration for permanent citation
• Rights clearance and license advice
• Speech, text and image recognition
• Continuous further development of the portal
• Editorial support
• Open, ad-free and GDPR-compliant

Get to know the TIB AV-Portal in just 120 seconds!

Scene detection – shot boundary detection segments the video based on cuts. A visual table of contents generated from this provides a quick overview of the entire video content and facilitates targeted access to specific sections. Each scene can be cited to the second via Media Fragment Identifier. The technology used is PySceneDetect.

Text recognition – video optical character recognition captures, indexes and makes written language, such as text on presentation slides, searchable. Tesseract is used for this purpose.

Speech recognition – automatic speech recognition transcribes the spoken language in the video. The result is a transcript with time stamps that enables a precise search. The AI-based speech recognition "Whisper" transcribes 100 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish and Ukrainian, and translates these languages into English. Accordingly, the video subtitles and transcripts are offered in both the original language and in English translation.

Image recognition – visual concept detection indexes the moving image with visual concepts such as "computer animation" or "experiment". The Scrum Team AV-Portal is currently working together with the Visual Analytics Research Group on the further development of image recognition. In future, an open-clip model will probably be used to label the visual concepts.

Keywording – named-entity linking links the individual video segments with subject headings from the Integrated Authority File (GND). The terms are disambiguated and have relationships to other terms, which enables a more effective search.

In principle, videos are only analysed automatically if this is legally permissible. The language of the video is converted into a machine-readable transcript that can be displayed as subtitles and searched. Non-English videos are translated into English; these translations are available both as subtitles and as searchable transcripts.

Annotations of language, text and images are generated exclusively for videos belonging to the six core subjects of the TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library: Engineering, Architecture, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics. The reason for this is that a vocabulary for automatic annotation is currently only available for these subjects.

The TIB AV-Portal offers both a German and an English user interface, which can be selected via the language selection in the user settings (top right).

Many metadata are available in German and English, so that both German and English search terms can be entered in the search field. If a German search term is entered, the English translations are also automatically searched; the same applies vice versa for English search terms.

The automatic speech recognition Whisper, which we use to create subtitles and searchable transcripts, can transcribe around 100 languages. These include German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Japanese, Turkish and Chinese.

The TIB AV-Portal offers a comprehensive service to make your audiovisual media accessible worldwide, precisely searchable, citable to the second and usable in the long term. Thanks to the targeted search in the spoken text of your video, findability is considerably improved.

The videos you provide benefit from the following advantages:

• You receive a digital object identifier (DOI), which ensures clear referencing and citation.
• Your videos are archived long-term and therefore stored permanently.
• Publication is legally compliant, ad-free and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Your videos will be transcribed and translated into English.
• Additional research information or accompanying materials can be linked.
• To increase visibility, your media will also be listed in national and international portals such as the German Digital Library and Europeana.

The TIB AV-Portal mainly collects (German and English) AV media from science and teaching in the core subjects of the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB):

• technology/engineering
• architecture
• chemistry
• computer science
• mathematics
• physics

In these fields, the TIB AV-Portal focuses on the following materials:

• recordings of conference presentations, conferences, colloquia, panel discussions, and other scientific lectures, talks, and discussions
• recordings of experiments from the area of research and development, presentation of technologies and practices of outstanding scientific importance
• microscopic images, images taken using special cameras (e.g. thermal cameras) and other imaging techniques
• documentation and presentation of research work and results
• modelling, simulations and presentations of special software for certain scientific purposes
• presentations of 3D models (e.g. architectural models) on film
• video abstracts

Materials collected in selection:

• recordings of university seminars and lectures
• e-learning materials such as online tutorials, massive open online courses (MOOCs), teaching experiments and experiments for private study
• scientific video items/video blogs on websites
• presentations of scientific organisations, self-portrayals (film clips and slide shows) of research institutions and companies, mainly with a scientific content
• documentaries, reports and portraits on film (for example, of architects and their buildings)

Advertising films, image films or popular science films are not included in the TIB AV-Portal.

All users registered in the TIB AV-Portal can provide materials that are of scientific relevance and fall within the TIB collection profile.

Register for the TIB AV-Portal free of charge.

Step 1: Make your videos available to us

• via data carrier to:

  Lab Nicht-Textuelle Materialien
  Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
  Welfengarten 1 B
  30167 Hannover, Germany

• in the case of large data transmissions, via an FTP server (to obtain the FTP access data, please contact KNM@tib.eu
• single films via the upload form of the TIB AV-Portal
• via list of links:
  • Your videos are already available for download on a web server on the internet? In that case, you can send us a list of links in a text file (1 download link per line). We will download the videos directly from your server. Please note that we only process direct download links; one click hosters or streaming links will not be accepted.
  • As an alternative to a simple list of links, we also accept a shell script with wget commands for each download link.

Accompanying materials such as lecture notes or scientific papers can also be uploaded. Please make sure that the file names are clearly assigned to the respective video.

Step 2: Send us metadata

The more metadata (title, author, publisher, etc.) you provide for each video, the better the video can be found in the portal. We have prepared an XML file for the metadata, which you can complete and send to us.

Please make sure that the XML files are clearly assigned to the respective videos. Further information can be found in the metadata documentation.

Step 3: Conclude a license agreement with us

By concluding a license agreement, you specify the terms of use and grant us permission to offer your AV media via the portal.

If you do not own the necessary rights: please first contact the authors or other rights holders of the films before making the AV media available to the TIB.

If you are the creator of the AV media or have obtained the rights by transfer: you can choose between an open access licence and a declaration of consent, enabling you to decide how you want to make the material available to the TIB.

Open access licence

With an open access licence, you grant users as many rights as possible to the extent provided by law, and permit the diverse use of your film, fostering scientific exchange in the digital environment. We recommend the licence “CC-Namensnennung – Deutschland 3.0”. This licence ensures that the originator is acknowledged and permits the comprehensive use of AV media in research and teaching.

Please use the open access licence form and return it to us by post once you have completed and signed it.

Declaration of consent

TIB is granted a simple right of use of the AV media and may make them available via its portals. Users may view the film online or download it. However – in contrast to all CC licences – users may not forward it to third parties or make it available online themselves.

Please use the license agreement form and return it to us by post, completed and signed.

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
Abteilung Bestandsentwicklung und Metadaten
Lars Gottschalk or Tolga Karaarslan
Welfengarten 1B
30167 Hannover, Germany

If the specified types of licensing do not suffice, we will try to find an individual licensing solution for you. In this case, please contact us.

Assistance with the publication of your materials

We will be happy to assist you in publishing your materials. Please call us or send us an email:

Lars Gottschalk
Tel.: +49 511 762-14224

Tolga Karaarslan
Tel.: +49 511 762-14227

KNM@tib.eu

We accept almost all video formats. We recommend the following basic settings:

• File format: MP4 or MOV
• Codec: H.264
• Aspect ratio: native image format without letterboxing (4:3, 16:9)
• Resolution: SD (576) or HD (720, 1080)
• Frames per second (FPS): 25

Note: For use in the TIB AV-Portal, we can only consider the first video track as well as the first audio track. Should the video file contain further video or audio tracks, these will be ignored.

When a search is entered in the search field, not only the metadata of a video such as title, author or abstract is searched, but also the spoken text, text overlays and image motifs.

Search in German and English

You can carry out your search in both German and English.

Semantic search

Synonyms, related terms and English or German translations of your search queries are automatically included. This increases the number of relevant results. For example, a search for PKW also returns results for "Auto" and "Car".

Search operators

You can also use search operators when searching.

Place a plus sign (+) in front of a search term to ensure that this term is included in the results. By placing a minus sign (-) in front of a search term, you can exclude certain terms from the results. For example, if you enter +linux -Hanover, you will only receive results that contain "linux" but not "Hanover".

To find videos that contain either "linux" or "Hanover", use the OR operator between the search terms, as in linux OR Hanover.

To search for an exact phrase, enclose the search terms in quotation marks. Example: "information retrieval".

Note for TIB-Portal customers

If you are already registered to the TIB-Portal, you can log in to the TIB AV-Portal using your TIB customer number and password. In this case, you do not need to register additionally to the TIB AV-Portal.

How to register to the TIB AV-Portal

1. Call up the registration form.
2. Fill in the fields.
3. Click on “Register”.

After you have submitted the registration request, the portal will display the message that you have successfully registered. In addition, we will send you a confirmation email to your address.

If you have any problems registering, please contact the TIB customer service:

TIB customer service
+49 511 762-8989

The contents of the TIB AV-Portal are generally freely accessible without registration. Due to licensing regulations, however, some films may be subject to restrictions. Whether a film may be viewed online in the portal, downloaded or redistributed depends on the license conditions under which the TIB has received the film from the licensor.

For the acquisition of television licences or licences for public screenings, a separate licensing agreement is required.

To download a video or audio, click on the three-dot menu directly below the video player. There you will find the “Download” option, which allows you to save the video or audio in different quality levels. Please note that this option is only available if there are no legal restrictions on the download.

In addition to the videos, accompanying materials such as research data or journal articles may be available. These can be accessed via the "Related Material" link located directly below the video player and can also be downloaded.

The IWF media shown online in the TIB AV-Portal can also be purchased on DVD. In addition, many other IWF films that are not available online – especially from the fields of ethnology and medicine – can also be purchased on DVD. Some medical films are subject to a use restriction for members of the medical profession only (sale only with confirmation of use).

You will find the “Purchase” option below the video player. The prices quoted in the price list for DVD orders apply.

Need help with a DVD order or IWF film search? Then give us a call or send us an email:

Paul Feindt
Tel.: +49 511 762-14221

KNM@tib.eu

For the IWF media shown online in the TIB AV-Portal, sublicenses for the use of excerpts in film and television or for the public screening of entire films can also be acquired.

You will find the “Licence” option below the video player. After receiving the licence request, TIB checks whether the requested medium can be licensed for the desired purpose. The prices quoted in the licensing price list apply.

Need help with IWF media sublicensing? Then please call one of our contact persons or send us an email.

Sublicensing excerpts for film and television:
Elke Brehm / Tel.: +49 511 762-8138

Sublicensing films for public screening:
Thomas Werner / Tel.: +49 511 762-14222

KNM@tib.eu

Some IWF films are not available online for technical or legal reasons. On request, most of these films can be viewed on site at the TIB. The analogue IWF film heritage is also accessible again: a four-plate editing table for 16 mm and 35 mm film copies is available to enable users to view films for research purposes.

Would you like to make a request? Then give us a call or send us an email:

Paul Feindt
Tel.: +49 511 762-14221

KNM@tib.eu

Viewing location for digitally available films
Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
Lab Nicht-Textuelle Materialien
Lange Laube 32
30159 Hannover, Germany

Viewing location for analogue films
Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
Haus 2 - Außenmagazin
Bremer Straße 2
30880 Laatzen/Rethen, Germany

The AV-Portal contains certain films, in particular historical films or film collections, which are not freely accessible for licensing or privacy reasons. These are subject to specific terms of use. These include:

Ethnological films for research from the IWF collection

With the acquisition of the IWF film heritage (formerly IWF Wissen und Medien gGmbH), TIB also took over the valuable ethnological film collection of IWF Göttingen.

As part of the DELFT project, these films were digitized to a high standard.

Most of the footage was not intended for the public, but specifically for ethnological research. In this spirit, these film documents will - as far as legally possible - be made continuously available on the TIB AV-Portal. Individual activation is required to use the collection.

For download: Flyer with further information incl. form "Declaration on the scientific use of ethnological films provided by the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB)".

Below the video player, you will find the "Cite" button. By clicking on it, you can copy or download the video's metadata, such as title, author, and publication year, in BibTeX, RIS, or text formats.

If you use a literature management program like Zotero or Citavi, the embedded metadata can be directly imported into the program via a compatible plugin. This works both on the details page for a single video and in the search results for multiple videos.

The TIB AV-Portal also offers the option to cite individual segments of a video. You can find the citation link for the desired video segment in the same "Cite" dialog.

On each video thumbnail, you will find a star icon in the top right corner. Click on the star to add the video to a playlist. For saved videos, the star will appear filled in red.

You can access your playlists by clicking on the icon "User settings and log-in options" in the top navigation and selecting "My Media." You can rearrange the order of videos in your playlist via drag-and-drop and publish the list to share it with others.

Please note that using the playlist feature requires registration on the TIB AV-Portal (registration form).

The German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) aims to promote the use and dissemination of its collections. In this context, TIB publishes metadata of videos of the TIB AV-Portal as Linked Open Data.

Please note that some of the data was generated automatically and may contain errors or be incomplete.

You will find the data sets on the download page of the TIB AV-Portal.

Metadata in the formats OAI Dublin Core, MARC XML, and RDF XML can be downloaded via TIB’s OAI interface - there may be daily updates.

The German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) offers a professional recording service for conferences and scientific events - whether they take place physically, virtually or even hybrid. The TIB Conference Recording Service (TIB Conrec) offers conference organisers from science and industry a comprehensive package - from recording to live streaming and publication on the TIB AV-Portal.

Further information can be found at TIB Conrec. Please feel free to contact us directly at conrec@tib.eu.

All videos recorded by TIB Conrec can be published free of charge on the TIB AV-Portal with all associated services. You and all actively involved persons decide whether and under which license conditions the videos will be published.

You and all actively involved persons determine where and under which license conditions the videos are published. Videos from our AV-Portal can be integrated into your website via embedded player.

For a one-day event in one room you can expect about 1000€ plus VAT and travel expenses. For each further room or day additional costs of approx. 400-600€ arise. These values are only approximate values and may vary depending on the scope of the offer (staff and equipment).

Get in touch with us! We will prepare an individual offer - according to your specifications and wishes.

Mail to: conrec@tib.eu