The idea is based on the technologies starting to build around the semantic web. Probably the most visible example of this vision is from a company called Metaweb who has a website called Freebase: http://www.freebase.com/. There are also various initiatives by academia and standards bodies to make the semantic web a reality (http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/). The Kaleidoscope Media Project is another instantiation of these ideas but in a package accessible to non-technical people. Furthermore, it will be an open-source (i.e. public domain) project. In contrast to Freebase, system access and data are free but the technology is proprietary.

Comparing the idea to existing news and information sites, the difference is what happens behind the scenes rather than in front. Imagine a journalist submitting an article with an accompanying table of numbers and some photos. For the traditional website, the programmer would query the database to pull up the article and the photos and tables...and that would be it. User interaction would be limited to hyperlinks and maybe a discussion forum. With the Kaleidoscope Media Project, these items run through multiple encoders (partially manual and partially automatic) that will then connect the content with not only local content but content connected to other Kaleidoscope peers. For the article, the encoders would include a grammar parser, web formater, annotated reviews, etc. For the photo, encoders could include image processing analysis and identifying annotations (e.g. who is that person on the left). For the table of numbers, the encoders could include linking the data to existing data based on column headers or whom or what the data represents and ways to graph and visualize the data. The possibilities are endless, but the important thing to remember is that each data item (big and small) connects to existing data and changes in data can trigger actions that affect other data. This data can be relevant, remixed, and reactive...this is the essence of journalism...presenting information that affects people lives.

It is true that these things exist in various pieces, but the Kaleidoscope Media Project brings it all together into one system.