Query parameters for harvesting digital video and associated contextual information

Video is increasingly important to digital libraries and archives as both primary content and as context for the primary objects in collections. Services like YouTube not only offer large numbers of videos but also usage data such as comments and ratings that may help curators today make selections and aid future generations to interpret those selections. A query-based harvesting strategy is presented and results from daily harvests for six topics defined by 145 queries over a 20-month period are discussed with respect to, query specification parameters, topic, and contribution patterns. The limitations of the strategy and these data are considered and suggestions are offered for curators who wish to use query-based harvesting.