In Buenos Aires, the Museo del Cine – a small and relatively unknown museum – is working valiantly to save some of Latin America’s most valuable creative heritage. Dedicated to Argentina’s cinematographic history, the bulk of the collection currently consists of tens of thousands of film reels and video cassettes that are disintegrating and fading into obsolescence. Ravaged by war, the preservation of Syria’s …
Introduction – Unlocking sound and image heritage: selected readings from the 2015 SOIMA conference
This is the introduction to the book ‘SOIMA: Unlocking Sound and Image Heritage‘. The book offers tips and advice from dedicated professionals from all corners of the world for the preservation and creative use of sound and image heritage. As a resource, it aims to interest collectors, users and educators alike, as it offers compelling examples and strategies founded in evidence-based research. …
Changing gears: Fast-lane design for accelerated innovation in memory organisations
Audiovisual archives are embracing the opportunities offered by digitization for managing their work processes and offering new services to a wide array of user groups. Organization strategy, working processes and software development need to be able to support a culture where innovation can flourish. Some institutions are beginning to adopt the concept of ‘two-speed IT’. The core strategy aims to …
What to do with audiovisual carriers after their digitization? Proposal for a five-step decision making framework
Both traditional and more recent audiovisual carriers degrade. Even CD-ROMs have typically only a ten-year expected life span. In addition, playback equipment for both analogue and digital carriers will ultimately grow scarcer and more expensive to repair or replace. Archives and museums are inevitably faced with the decision of whether to preserve audiovisual carriers after their content has been digitized. …
I value, you value, we value… but what’s the value? Value assessment as a tool to manage sound and image collections
Today‚ audiovisual collections account for a large portion of the world’s memory. They are part of museums, serve as research documents for various types of scientific institution, register history and provide us with a tangible witness of our most precious memories. Even though sound and image collections are generally accepted as being part of our cultural heritage, determining how to …
Philology in the preservation of audio documents: Customized versus ready-made approaches
Sound recordings have proven to be irreplaceable primary sources for disciplines like linguistics, musicology, ethnomusicology and sociology. Their fragile physical nature has activated a number of counter-actions aimed at prolonging the life expectancy of their content. Methodological issues have been raised in the past three decades, considering the relationship between the physical object and its (digitized) intangible content, which is …