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ADM Solutions Making
news:
Globe and
Mail (November 27, 2006)
In conjunction with a 9 part
article on Innovative Canadian Companies. The
attached article was profiled on Globe and Mail
technology web page.
Data Crunchers
Globe and Mail On-line 27/11/06 08:26 AM
In Dominion, N.S., a tiny village of 2,500 people in
Cape Breton, Allen McCormack and his staff of 12 at
six-month-old ADM Solutions Inc., have pulled
together a kit of old and new technology to achieve
what many experts see as the next great breakthrough
in data bank searches.
Along the way he has given police and security
forces an effective, time-saving tool in their war
against crime and terrorism.
"It is one of those things that have amazing
potential, especially for intelligence and security
applications," says Paul McCullough, business unit
executive for public safety and defense at IBM
Canada in Markham. "We see it as an amazing
breakthrough."
So amazing that IBM has named the first application
created with the new technology, the Detective's
Analytical Workbench, a First of a Kind project.
Every year the high-tech giant chooses 20 projects
around the globe from among tens of thousands and
focuses time and human resources on bringing them to
the commercial application stage, optimally within a
year.
"That shows you just how highly we regard this
technology," says Mr. McCullough. "It is especially
impressive when you consider this project originates
in a tiny Nova Scotia village."
The Detective's Workbench was developed under the
coordinating umbrella of Cape Breton University. IBM
is a partner with the university as is ADM.
"IBM and ADM have sort of a brother-in-law
relationship," says Mr. McCullough.
In essence what the Workbench does is collect every
shred of evidence or ancillary material relevant to
a specific crime, translates it into digital form,
automatically structures it and then allows
investigators to use a desktop PC to search the
resulting database by key words or phrases for
specific details of the crime.
The result is the ability for investigators to move
with a speed and accuracy that was impossible with
today's paper-based Major Case Management approach.
ADM's role was in creating the transcripts on which
those searches depend. While today's search engines
can not sift through audio or visual files to
identify specific details, they can quickly and
accurately search text.
"The potential goes far beyond security and
investigation," says Mr. McCormick. "About 80% of
all material on existing databanks globally is
unstructured material like video, audio, graphic and
digital images. Before this new approach, it was not
searchable. Today we can make that happen."
What ADM does is take files from a client in either
analog or digital form, sent through a modem, and
creates a Windows media file. If the original is in
analog form, a quick pass through a VCR can
transform it to digital.
The file is then sent to a desktop PC with at least
1 gigabyte of RAM and loaded into IBM's Viascribe,
which converts voice into text. While Viascribe can
quickly and automatically translate an audio file
into text, doing the same for a video file demands
another step.
One of ADM's transcribers must first create an
annotated version of the video, talking into
Viascribe and explaining in simple words what is
happening in the video at what point in time.
"The frequency of annotation depends on what the
client needs to make best use of the material," says
Mr. McCormack. "Annotation is key because the depth
of detail determines search capability."
The annotated file is then fed through Viascribe
with the annotation keyed to the time on the tape
and an XML file is created. As a final step, ADM
staff review the XML file and make any necessary
corrections.
"Even with today's advanced voice technology, the
software still has trouble with some words and
phrases and adjusting to some people's speech
patterns," he adds.
The end result is an accurate, easily searchable XML
file, which can b accessed through a web browser and
conventional search engines. The XML file is then
e-mailed back to the client.
Granted the process is still in its early stages and
is labour intensive, making it uneconomic for many
potential users. In the case of security and police
work, however, video tapes from surveillance and
audio tapes from wiretaps have to be annotated or
transcribed to text anyway for use as evidence and
to make review easier.
"There are other emerging technologies but none are
at the stage where they can be of immediate use,"
says Mr. McCullough. For example, investigators
wanting to search for a red car among thousands of
still pictures or video tapes that have become part
of an investigation could run the original digital
materials through a series of filters. The first
might be able to separate anything that is red; the
second may be able to determine pixel count and
identify anything that matches the pixel count for a
vehicle.
"Those are well into the future now, however, and
are unlikely to wind up 100% exact," Mr. McCullough
says.
The Detectives Work Bench application was created in
partnership with the Cape Breton Regional Police
Service. It tested the approach with a
three-year-old homicide and is now about to use it
on live cases.
ADM has applied to the Atlantic Innovation Fund for
a grant to create other new applications for the
technology. It has already partnered with IBM to
provide search capability for a series of company
web lectures delivered in Europe and is now
discussing doing the same with two other IBM
business units as well, says Mr. McCormick.
Mr. McCormick can see enormous potential for future
applications directed toward distance learning for
the visually or hearing impaired. ADM could create
searchable versions of on-line lectures for those
with disabilities.
"In the United States the US Disability Act has
opened up a whole new market. The federal government
has mandated that all material must be provided in
forms usable by people with visual or audio
disabilities.
"The trouble is the material is not of much use
unless you can search though it."
Journal Article for
SPECOM Conference -
http://www.specom.nw.ru/
Dimitri Kanevsky, Sara Basson, Stanley Chen,
Alexander Faisman, Alex Zlatsin (1), Sarah Conrod
(2), Allen McCormick (3)
(1) IBM, T. Watson Research Center, Yorktown
Heights, NY 10598 UNITED STATES
(2) Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia,
Canada
(3) ADM solutions, Dominion, Nova Scotia, Canada
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