Digital Innovation
1 min read

Archant awarded €676,000 grant from Google to build advanced voice infrastructure

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Archant, the UK’s leading privately owned regional media group has received a grant worth €676,000 from Google’s Digital News Initiative. The grant is to fund a new project, Local Recall, which will see Archant digitise its archive content dating back to 1870 using manual enhancement via community text editors. Then, working in conjunction with artificial intelligence focused start up Ubisend, to create a fully voice activated service.

 

This innovative approach directly addresses the major challenge to the regional media of having its core currency of content, especially its archive material, largely inaccessible in its current format. Local Recall will take content digitisation further by making the original and unique content from its regional press archive available, not just in plain text, but also voice. After the process Archant’s content will be available in all the various formats modern consumers require: on demand via chatbot, voice bot, home assistant and the more ‘traditional’ dynamic, mobile-first, website.

 

Due to the age and nature of some of the archive material and the need for high accuracy, the Local Recall initiative will also use the power of Archant’s community of readers by building a crowdsourced content correction platform allowing correction to the content via multiple channels. This makes the Local Recall project a true community engagement tool, helping readers form stronger links to the heritage of their local communities in an increasingly diffuse world. Local Recall is scheduled to be live in 2018.