Toward a scalable multimedia metadata infrastructure using distributed computing and semantic web technologies

This paper describes a research activity carried on in the frame of a collaboration among ISTI-CNR, leader of the 'Representation and Communication of Data and Metadata' Workpackage in the European Project MUSCLE-NoE('Multimedia Understanding through Semantics, Computation and Learning - Network of Excellence') and the Dept. of Electronics, A.I. & Telecommunications of the Polytechnic University of Marche. In particular, an original approach towards multimedia metadata handling and a solution for massive metadata processing, based on distributed computing, are presented. Besides, a tool kit that glues low level metadata with higherlevel representation capabilities of RDF is also approached.