A Digital Audio Storage and Web Access System

Abstract : The goal of this project was to assemble an integrated system of digital audio archival and retrieval with which the Macaulay Library at Cornell University could preserve the large body of marine animal sounds collected by researchers funded by the US Navy, NOAA, and other government funding agencies over the last three decades, and make this collection available to a wide spectrum of users over the Internet. This system has been successfully assembled and as of this report, a total of 307 hours (1870 specimens) of original recordings covering 31 species of cetaceans, 9 pinnipeds, and 202 species of fish have been digitized and prepared in formats suitable for Internet distribution. The Internet distribution hardware is also now in place and public availability awaits only the completion of the relevant search and delivery software. The latter is currently being written with concurrent funding from NOPP and NSF awards. Internet access to the digital marine sound collection is scheduled for Spring 2005.