Abstract: A system for facilitating access to audiovisual content in which a content obtaining unit is configured to obtain a content source (e.g., a computer-readable file containing audiovisual content of a conference, lecture, or entertainment program); a descriptor obtaining unit is configured to obtain one or more descriptors (e.g., topic and speaker taxonomies and attributes associated with the content); a conversion unit configured to convert content of the content source from a format less efficient for categorization (e.g., video with audio) to a format more efficient for categorization (e.g., a textual transcription of the audio and/or a textual description of the video); a categorization unit configured to categorize the converted content into at least two categories based on the one or more descriptors (e.g., into one or more topics, and/or one or more speakers); and a presentation unit configured to present a category selection interface (e.g.

Abstract: A video publishing and viewing system that allows the user to select a video on the user's network or on the Internet and produce a hierarchical menu describing the video content. The editing user can perform the entire process of selecting the video, creating the hierarchical menu along with descriptive text, and uploading the file from the same system, which is run entirely in a Web browser. The produced index is independent of the file formats as well as different play rates (low and high bandwidth). The same index appears for all viewings (or listenings) of the file. The system includes an auto-export feature that allows external search engines to look inside the video menu and make the video itself clickable and searchable as if it were a book (through the menu). The system also allows the user to build on already annotated videos by creating a new program from program fragments (hierarchical menu items) such that destructive video editing is not required.