Big Deal! Internet Archive’s TV News Archive Launches Experimental Alert Service Using Facial Recognition
From The Internet Archive Blog:
Working with Matroid, a California-based start up specializing in identifying people and objects in images and video, the Internet Archive’s TV News Archive today releases Face-O-Matic, an experimental public service that alerts users via a Slack app whenever the faces of President Donald Trump and congressional leaders appear on major TV news cable channels: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the BBC. The alerts include hyperlinks to the actual TV news footage on the TV News Archive website, where the viewer can see the appearances in context of the entire broadcast, what comes before and what after.
Learn More, Download Slack App
Quick Note From infoDOCKET Founder/Editor, Gary Price:
I can’t speak to the actual quality of the facial recognition tech and alerts at this point because I haven’t used the service (yet) and it’s also the first day of a service that is clearly labeled as experimental.
However, in terms of the type of service and making it available to the public I will put today’s launch from the IA/TVNA in the “big deal” category as it provides an early, useful, and understandable demonstration of something (facial recognition in a consumer alert tool) that will very likely become mainstream in the years to come. Kudos to Brewster, Nancy, and the entire IA and TV News Archive teams.
Of course, with any new technology today’s launch also provides all of us the opportunity to “see for ourselves” but also to think about and discuss the implications (good and bad) of this type of technology.
See Also: A New Microsoft iOS App (Free) Designed For Low Vision Community Uses AI and Camera to “Narrate the World Around You” (July 12, 2017)
This new app includes image and facial recognition.
Filed under: News, Patrons and Users

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.