Content Exchanges
Facilitated exchanges between neighborhoods of interest
Imagine having immediate, easy access to local news pieces, interviews, program ideas, actualities, or other program elements. With the Content Exchange service, you can.
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What are Content Exchanges?
A content exchange is an online forum where members of a broadcast community can place and retrieve content for on-air or other uses. A content exchange provides a vehicle for communities to exchange program ideas and program elements—both for creative interchange amongst members and as a delivery mechanism between stations and producers of individual content modules.
How do content exchanges work?
In a content exchange, a community is a self-identified group of stations, program producers, and/or affiliated individuals sharing a thematic or programmatic focus. Communities, or neighborhoods of interest, can be defined by any criteria, including by region, constituents, or specialized topics. Members within that community can publish files to a content exchange and let other people access them. Membership in an exchange may be open to all or limited to a defined set of users.
By definition, content exchanges deliver on-demand. Content distributed through exchanges typically includes program elements, news actualities, or localization modules, as opposed to completed programs.
How does the PRSS® ContentDepot® facilitate exchanges?
The ContentDepot consists of searchable sample programs and program audio created by a wide spectrum of public radio program creators—from large program distributors to small, independent producers. The ContentDepot enables the content from program creators, distributor organizations, and exchanges to co-exist—providing a powerful research tool for public radio assets. Links from the ContentDepot direct users to individual producer, program distributor, and exchange sites, where additional information or value-added services can be found. In addition, the ContentDepot provides tools for community members to add program information about their content, including text descriptions, graphics, low-resolution audio for sampling, and other items.
The PRSS infrastructure and support staff that make sure programs always get delivered on time via satellite also support online distribution through content exchanges. As the ContentDepot evolves, delivery mechanisms are being built to enable on-demand content in these exchanges to be sent via satellite as an alternative to Internet distribution. This will turn the satellite into a wide-area network that will enhance the reliability of delivery to stations and increase access in geographic regions where Internet connectivity and local telephone services are less than ideal for online content download.
Are there other content exchange initiatives?
Any public radio program distributor or entity can use the PRSS ContentDepot to set up a content exchange. And several current projects in the public radio community are employing this type of content sharing and distribution. In addition, some migrational approaches are being launched by organizations to take advantage of the power of 'neighborhoods of interest,' albeit mainly for completed programs. For example:
- The Public Radio Collaboration is collecting broadcast content, web modules, graphics, and other content for on-air and online use by stations for single-topic projects.
- Atlantic Public Media and the Station Resource Group have created the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), an online service for peer review and digital distribution.
The PRSS ContentDepot offers a unified access point for all content, including centralized search and content retrieval.
For more information about Content Exchanges, please contact a Public Radio Services Representative at 202.513.2600 or via email at prsstraffic@npr.org.