The basic idea is to apply database technology to the creation andstructuring of media art works. Script A mediabase is a computer database whose purpose is to store a media work or information pertaining to the structure and creation of a media work. The mediabase will give access to the formal characteristics of a new media work and may blend production content, script, and, in some cases, production data. In an interactive work a viewer's interventions would be implemented as database retrieval operations, and the presented images and sounds would be data extracted from the mediabase. A number of current interactive media works, notably nonfiction works that deal with archives, are concerned with presenting contents of informational databases.
Every media work involves script, production, presentation, and content data.
In current practice, this data is recorded in various ad-hoc ways. Under the mediabase concept, this data is organised and integrated in machine-readable form, in a way that allows the use of contemporary database tools. The extent to which the data can be captured in this way and the extent to which it must be transformed to be integrated effectively are research issues. Research in this area would entail analysis of media works creation processes, and design of appropriate database structures to support the required collaborative relationships. An important challenge would be to develop common concepts for minimizing the number of different database designs needed to support the various media and styles in current practice.