To search the entire collection, type your query into the search box at the top of the window (Figure 1) and click Search. The results that appear will each match all of the words that you entered into the query box (Figure 2). Click on the titles of a search result to see its full entry (Figure 3).

Figure 1: Entering the search query

Figure 2: Viewing search results

Figure 3: Viewing item

To perform more advanced queries, you may use the AND, OR and NOT operators to restrict your search. For example, (Gulf OR Iraq) AND War, will match entries that contain either Gulf and War, or Iraq and War.

The NOT operator allows you to exclude terms from your search. For example, Polo NOT Aero-Polo will return any entry that contains the word Polo, but will exclude any that contain the word Aero-Polo.

To match phrases, enclose the phrase in double quotes. For example, "Gulf Crisis" will only match entries that the phrase appears exactly as typed. This will match story titles such as "Gulf Crisis: Day 2" but not "The Crisis in the Gulf Continues".

Advanced search enables you to search within specific columns for items, for instance for items with "Silverstone" in their summary, and "Inside Car" in the shot list. As with basic searches, you may use search operators and phrase searches to further refine your query. Click on the Advanced Search link (Figure 4), and fill in the advanced search pane with your query (Figure 5). Once completed, click Search All to search for items that match every query (e.g. both Silverstone and Inside Car must be matched), or Search Some to find items that match either query (e.g. items with matches for either Silverstone or Inside Car).

Figure 4: Select advanced search

Figure 5: Advanced search pane

Columns may be directly filtered to match a particular phrase. By default the filter will match any part of a word (e.g. Car matches Cartoon, Motorcars and Healthcare), but this may be changed to only the start of a word or only the end of a word.

To filter a column, hover the mouse over the column header, and select the filter icon (Figure 6). As you type your filter term into the column, the list will update on the fly (Figure 7). To change between matching first letters, last letters and any letters of a word, click on the ABC icon (Figure 8).

N.B. At the time of writing, changing the search behavior between first/last/any part of a word requires the user to modify the search term before the listing is updated to reflect the change.

N.B. At the time of writing, selecting items from a filtered column may not function correctly.

Figure 6: Open filter for column

Figure 7: Enter filter

Figure 8: Changing filter behaviour

Selecting items from the mSpace columns filters the elements in the columns to the right, allowing you to restrict the number of items that are displayed. In Figure 9, 1913 has been selected from the year column, and then Politics has been selected from the Theme column. The Subject and Story Title columns update themselves to only show entries that are present for the Political stories from 1913.

It is also possible to select more than one item at once within a column by holding the shift key as you click each item. Selecting 1913 and 1914 for example will restrict the columns to showing entries from either 1913 or 1914.

Figure 9: Selecting items from the slice

Entries that you select are highlighted in yellow, and categories that the current set of items belong to in other columns are highlighted in green.

In Figure 10, the story "Aero-Polo Practice" has been selected, and the appropriate Decade, Year, Theme and Subject for that story have been automatically highlighted in green.

Figure 10: Columns back-highlighted in green

It is possible to rearrange the columns by either clicking on the move left / move right buttons in the column title (Figure 11), or by dragging the column title into a new position (Figure 12).

Figure 11: Moving a column to the left

Figure 12: Draggign a column to a new position

To add additional columns into view, click the Add Columns button in the top right (Figure 13). A list of available columns will appear beneath the main column listing. To add a column, simply drag its label onto the slice (Figure 14).

Figure 13: Add columns

Figure 14: Adding a new column

To remove a column from the slice, simply move the mouse over the column and click the red cross button to close it (Figure 15).

Figure 15: Closing a column

Tags allow you to associate keywords with particular entries, either for your own private use or to be made available publically. You may use private tags to group together particular clips you are interested in for a later date, or add public tags to clips to make them easier for others to find. To tag items you must be logged in via your Athens account.

To add a tag to a single clip, navigate to the clip in the explorer and click on the Add a Tag link on the item page (Figure 16). Enter as many tags as you like, separated by spaces into the entry box, and click Add Tags (Figure 17).

Figure 16: Add a tag

Figure 17: Entering tags

Figure 18: Tags on display

The tags will appear on the item's page, and may be clicked to find any other records sharing the same tag (Figure 18). You can delete tags that you've created by clicking on the [x] underneath "My Tags".

The scratch pad allows you to quickly add private tags to multiple items to group them for future reference.

There are two ways of adding items into your scratch pad, either you can click on the in search or category results next to story titles (Figure 19), or double click items in the explorer's column listings. The scratch pad will appear with all your current items (Figure 20). Simply check the checkboxes next to each item you want to tag, type the tag in the entry box and click Tag. To remove items from the list, click the trash can icon in the lower left corner.

Figure 19: Adding 'Round Britain by Air' to scratch pad

Figure 20: Tagging 6 items with 'CurrentAssignment'

You can retrieve your group by either clicking on the tag that has been added to a particular item (Figure 21), or by going to My Account and then Tags (Figure 22). The group of items with this tag will then be displayed (Figure 23).

Figure 21: Selecting 'CurrentAssignment'

Figure 22: My Tags

Figure 23: CurrentAssignment Tag Group

To access your personal account, click the My Account link at the top of the page (Figure 24). This is required to unlock the ability to view and download clips, tagging, commenting and group features.

Figure 24: My Account

Thumbnail images are available for all video clips, sampled from the clip at an interval of every second. You can click a thumbnail to view the full size image.

By default, the browser will show you up to 24 thumbnails at a time from with a 5 second interval. You may modify this by selecting a new interval and number to show from the drop down list, and clicking Go (Figure 25).

Figure 25: Modifying thumbnail settings

Additional information about the clip is displayed beneath the thumbnails listing. Clicking any of the links will find all other clips that share the same attribute (Figure 26).

Figure 26: Additional information listing

If you are logged in to your Athens account, you may view clip footage in your browser. Simply click either the Quicktime or Windows Media Video icons to select your format (Figure 27), and the clip will begin playing.

Figure 27: Clip Preview

To download clips to your hard drive for later use, right click on the Download Windows Media or Download Quicktime link and select Save Target As or similar (Figure 28). You must be logged in to enable clip downloads.

Figure 28: Download options

If you are logged in, you may post a publically viewable comment on a clip. To do so, select Discuss this clip from the User Options menu when viewing a clip. Type your comment in the text box, and click Add (Figure 29).

Figure 29: Adding a comment

N.B. At the time of writing, group membership and group tagging are not functional.

Creating a group

To create a group, click on the "Create group" link from your account page (Figure 30), or from the Groups homepage.

Figure 30: Create group link

Figure 31: Create group