FIAT/IFTA World Conference 2025

AiDitor is ORF's in-house AI lighthouse project, spearheading innovation in the area of editorial workflows and multimedia content worfklows. This cutting edge initiative aims to revolutionize the way editorial teams operate by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and unlock new creative possibilities.

At its core, AiDitor is an intelligent content workflow assistant that aggregates and integrates multiple AI services, making them accessible through a user-friendly, one-click operation interface. This centralized AI hub, that is based on individualized workspaces empowers editorial teams to leverage state of the art technologies with ease, enabling them to transcribe audio and video content, generate concise summaries, Headlines or craft engaging social media posts, and even generate entire online stories.

AiDitor's capabilities extend far beyond text-based tasks. It offers advanced video intelligence tools, such as gender analysis, enabling editors to gain valuable insights. Additionally, it provides audio enhancement features, ensuring that audio quality meets the highest standards. One of the most exciting aspects of AiDitor is its integration with the latest large language models, which serve as a powerful AI playground for the entire company.

In 2023 the BBC Archive Curation Team was established with a new remit to ‘Maximise the value of the archive through the re-use, re-purposing and re-imagining of Our Collections’. This new approach has required us to consider how to use our existing skills while developing new ones.

In this presentation I will talk about how the BBC Archive has evolved over the last 20 years to a Digital First model, and the impact this has had on our mission, structure and job roles. I will share how we have defined and launched an Archive Curation Strategy, with an emphasis on the skills we are developing in our teams through our Curation Training Programme. I will explore the broad remit of the Curation Team at the BBC, and look at both the challenges and successes we have enjoyed in our first 2 years.

Finally, I will end with a look to the next steps for the Curation Team as the strategy and approach becomes established, and we being to investigate the opportunities offered by advances in tools and technologies.

This presentation will focus on the need for CBS/Paramount to develop an archival digitization strategy that would integrate with CBS News' global initiatives for utilizing archival content to enrich production, be accessible across business units, and create new revenue streams for the content.  

The increasing demand for engaging cost-effective content within the television industry has catalyzed a paradigm shift in how archival materials are utilized. This project explores the transformative potential of archive-based content production in the Focus thematic television channel, within the TV schedule of Mediaset— the leading commercial television in Italy. By leveraging previously unused and mostly unknown archive footage, particularly raw and semi-edited materials, the project demonstrates how these resources can be reimagined to create fresh, relevant television programming while conserving both financial and creative resources.

Central to this initiative is the collaboration between the Mediaset Archives and Media Management department (archivists/researchers and video-editors) and the Production and Editorial departments of Focus TV, who work together to unlock the hidden value of audiovisual archives.

The process begins with a creative ideation phase, where new concepts are developed in line with Focus TV's strategic objectives and audience expectations. Archival unseen footage is then carefully scouted and evaluated for reuse, with a legal framework in place to ensure the appropriate rights and permissions for each asset. The next steps involve the crafting of the narrative, writing of scripts, and the post-production stages, culminating in the final broadcast.

By reusing and reinventing archival materials, the project not only breathes new life into the audiovisual heritage of the network but also contributes to the preservation and strategic value of archival assets. This process demonstrates the evolving role of the archivist, not simply as a custodian of materials, but as a key player in the editorial and creative processes.

The potential of the project extends beyond the creation of new content. The use of AI-powered documentation tools such as speech-to-text and speech recognition enhances the searchability and accessibility of archived materials, making them easier to retrieve for future projects. Furthermore, the project opens up new opportunities for collaboration with other TV channels to promote the reuse of archival materials, fostering a broader exchange of audiovisual resources within the industry.

This case study highlights the value of audiovisual archives as a strategic, creative asset, and showcases how the cyclical reuse of archival content—within the context of circular media economies—can result in innovative, cost-efficient productions. Furthermore, this project is a testament to the critical role that also private commercial television archives, such as those of Mediaset, can play in shaping the future of content production, proving that even commercially-driven networks can innovate and enhance the value of their archival assets in the global media landscape.

Today, we have access to more data than ever before, and in the last few years, it has become widely possible to create and share artificial and potentially misleading information. Traditionally, professionals like librarians, documentalists, archivists, and information specialists helped the public access knowledge through methods like indexing and searching. Now that everyone can access, create and share data easily on their own, some might wonder if these roles are still important.

However, we argue that the sheer amount of data available to the public makes effective processing and retrieval of information more essential than ever. Similarly, the rise of artificial information calls for dedicated efforts to ensure that reliable and accurate sources of information are available to the public. In this context, documentalists can play a key role by learning new skills and adapting their existing expertise to new challenges.

This poster examines the changing skill sets that documentalists need to address these challenges, highlighting the importance of data literacy, ensuring transparency, and tracking the sources of information. We share case studies from our organization that illustrate various projects aimed at enhancing users’ access to information in this complex landscape. We discuss how improving data literacy can lead to more efficient internal processes and how teams work to enhance metadata to make information more readily usable for the public. Finally, we highlight the continued importance of traditional skills in the work of documentalists to ensure that the public have access to trustworthy sources of information in the future.