Temporal and geographic presentation and navigation of linked cultural, artistic, and historic content

Abstract

Collections of music and other items, related by time, location, genre, and artist, are registered in a data model to provide a foundation for their curatorship, discovery, and procurement. A series of choices, where a choice is a combination of time, place, genre, and artist, represents a map through the history and culture of music. Both expert and regular individual curators define the maps. Animated murals depicting a fundamental combination of time, place, genre, and artist provide a user interface for the navigation of music, its history, and culture. Integration with hand held GPS enabled devices provides users with knowledge of music events and history relative to their present location.

1 . A computer implemented method for temporal and geographic presentation and navigation of linked cultural, artistic, and historic content, comprising the steps of:
 providing a processor that registers collections of music and music-related information in a database and to make said collections of music and music-related information available to users, wherein said collections of music and music-related information are classified in said database in networks that establish each item's context, either directly or via its connections in the network, with respect to one or more canonical categories comprising any of time, location, genre, and artist; and   said processor providing a navigation facility for user selection of a combination of said canonical categories in connection with said collections of music and said music-related information, and for generating and presenting to said user in response to said user selection a corresponding map that includes images of music, its history, and culture with regard to said collections of music and music-related information;   in response to said user selection, said processor presenting said culture on said map that comprises results that include images of any of fashion, film, literature, music, and news.   
     
     
         2 . A computer implemented method for temporal and geographic presentation and navigation of linked cultural, artistic, and historic content, comprising the steps of:
 providing a processor that registers collections of music and music-related information in a database and to make said collections of music and music-related information available to users, wherein said collections of music and music-related information are classified in said database in networks that establish each item's context, either directly or via its connections in the network, with respect to one or more canonical categories comprising any of time, location, genre, and artist;   said processor providing a navigation facility for user selection of a combination of said canonical categories in connection with said collections of music, one or more songs within said collections or music, and said music-related information; and   said processor generating and presenting to said user at least one animated mural comprising said images and that depicts a fundamental combination of time, place, genre, artist, and culture in connection with said music-related information;   wherein said animated mural comprises a dynamically animated selection of said images derived from the user's current selection.   
     
     
         3 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , wherein said images further comprise any of regions, cities, artists, news items, fashion trends, movies, books, television shows, memorabilia, merchandise, culture archives, and genres of art. 
     
     
         4 . The method of any of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 said map incorporating links to external Web sites.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said map is defined by both expert and regular individual curators and is subject to sharing and group evaluation and ranking. 
     
     
         6 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , further comprising:
 said processor providing a facility for storing to, and retrieving from, said database community ranked curator and community commentary and recommendations, cultural events and elements, and media content in connection with said music-related information. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , further comprising:
 said processor providing a commerce facility for user procurement of materials related to said music-related information. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said mural further comprises a user interface for navigation of music, its history, and culture. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein said mural comprises any of film, fashion, art, literature, books, news, and comedy. 
     
     
         10 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , further comprising:
 said processor interacting with a GPS-enabled device. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of any of  claims 1  and  2 , further comprising:
 said processor providing a user of a GPS-enabled device with a facility to query said database in connection with music and current and historical events relative to said user's present location to enable discovery of music history points of interest in both a virtual world of media content displayed by a said device and in a physical world by guiding said user to actual places of interest. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 said processor transforming a vocabulary used by curators into a predicate namespace of semantic music ontology for indexing of external resources.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said predicate namespace describes content available to said user; and further comprising:
 said processor using said predicate namespace to filter a result set and customize an overall context on top of a core context of time, location, genre, and artist.   
     
     
         14 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , further comprising:
 said processor interacting with an electronics device. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 said processor providing a navigable relationship network view of users, curators, communities, and elements of a map database.   
     
     
         16 . The method of any of  claims 1  and  2 , further comprising:
 said processor presenting clusters of icon images to a user to depict said user's current selection. 
 
     
     
         17 . The method of any of  claims 1  and  2 , further comprising:
 said processor providing an iconic filter constructer for dynamically grouping related results into a plurality of categories. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 said processor presenting maps of the world in a musical context.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 said processor providing a location element for a fundamental relationship of music within a map interface;   said processor annotating said map with music related items of interest according to a selection category; and   said processor displaying items subject to a user's current filter settings.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 said processor publishing said map to a social networking facility.   
     
     
         21 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , further comprising:
 said processor indexing said database to cross reference all of producers, engineers, and musicians with regard to individual recordings within said collections and relative to music, its history, and culture. 
 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 said processor providing a game element for user interaction pursuant to a game play application, wherein game play relates to a user media culture map, and wherein said user gains any of points and rewards for successful game play.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein said rewards comprise any of attaining curator status and attaining community recognition. 
     
     
         24 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , further comprising:
 said processor taking as input any song presented by the user to define the time, place, genre, artist, and context; and 
 responsive thereto, said processor presenting to said user at least one animated mural comprising a dynamically animated selection of images. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , wherein a play list of songs presented by the user animates cultural context. 
     
     
         26 . The method of any of  claim 1  and  claim 2 , further comprising:
 said processor receiving an input that pivots an artist from said collections of music and music-related information to an other field; 
 wherein said other field comprises any of film, art, literature, news, photography, fashion, and comedy; and 
 wherein said artist comprises any of a director, painter, author, photographer, designer, and comedian. 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 said processor receiving an input that pivots an artist from said collections of music and music-related information to an other field;   wherein map context reflects said other field.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said mural comprises any of an album cover and other visual cultural images that associates an artist with said album or with one or more songs. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said mural comprises a 3D space that includes layered elements of time, place, genre, artist, and culture and that provides a user navigable composite 3D environment. 
     
     
         30 . An index for conceptual, navigational, and physical organization of music-related materials, comprising:
 a processor configured as a registry for maintaining relationships between a plurality of data objects comprising descriptions of music, its history, and culture, which establish each object's context with respect to a set of canonical categories, either directly or via its connections in a network;   said canonical categories comprising any of time, location, genre, and artist;   each data object comprising one or more parent objects through which an ancestry can be traced that leads to one or more instances of said canonical categories;   wherein a data object becomes a source of a search by tracing said ancestry to said canonical categories;   wherein results of said search are specified by a type of data object that is to be returned;   wherein results for said type are obtained by ascertaining which data objects so classified share ancestry with the data object that is the source of the search in said canonical categories; and   wherein ancestry of said index with respect to said canonical categories provides a plurality of core filters for data object search and retrieval; and   said processor configured to provide a navigation facility for user selection of a combination of all of said canonical categories in connection with collections of music and said music-related information, and for generating and presenting to said user in response to said user selection a corresponding map or animated mural that includes images of music, its history, and culture with regard to said collections of music and music-related information;   said culture presented on said map or mural in response to said user selection comprising results that include images of fashion, film, literature, music, and news.   
     
     
         31 . An extensible framework for classification, curatorship, and navigation of music and its supporting media, history, and culture, comprising:
 a processor configured to implement a data model namespace of supporting element names which define predicates in a semantic music ontology;   said processor configured to provide a map or animated mural which exposes said semantic music ontology with regard to collections of music and music-related information;   said processor configured to provide a user operable filter by which said user navigates said semantic music ontology; and   said processor configured to generate for display said map or mural in response to user navigation of said semantic music ontology with said user operable filter, said map or mural comprising any of images of music, its history, and culture with regard to said collections of music and music-related information;   wherein culture presented on said map or mural in response to said user selection comprises results that include images of any of fashion, film, literature, music, and news; and   said images further comprising any of regions, cities, artists, news items, fashion trends, movies, books, and genres of art.