| The Problem | ||
The audiovisual archive field is at a crisis point. While film can last hundreds of years if kept in cold and dry storage, it has been known since the mid-1990s that analog magnetic media (audio and video tape) has a life expectancy (LE) of 35-50 years, depending on the storage environment.[1] Tape manufacturers themselves gave[2] a LE of 30 years for their products; technical studies and tests have shown that if the media is consistently stored at 55 F and 50% RH, its LE is increased to 50 years. Archives have no choice but to digitize magnetic media for preservation. A confluence of short LE, natural deterioration processes, format obsolescence, and the unavailability of analog tape stock has contributed to this reality. Analog audio tape is no longer being manufactured, so sound preservation has by necessity adopted digital encoding for preservation. As digital videotape has become widely used in professional and consumer markets, analog videotape stock is also disappearing, with Umatic and VHS the most recent formats that are no longer produced. BetaSP is considered next in line for obsolescence. As a result, archives have begun digitizing analog video for preservation as well as audio. Digitally preserving analog magnetic media results in the same file preservation, management, and access issues as managing “born-digital”[3] produced content. If analog magnetic media can be expected to have a LE of 35-50 years, then the oldest original video and audiotapes held in the nation’s collections will surely have deteriorated within the next 5-20 years, leaving only the digital files. While not truly “born” digital, the content will survive as digital files; it becomes “reborn” digital. Digitizing for preservation creates its own suite of problems. Many archives lack the infrastructure to store, manage, and preserve their digital files. Since they are not able to internally support digital programs, they tend to only create access copies on physical media (DVD, CD, external hard drives), which are themselves prone to media failure. Many production organizations working in a tapeless production environment say they are not saving their raw content (what would be called “outtakes,” “B-roll,” or raw interviews in the analog world) since they do not have storage or digital management capabilities. They are only saving their edited broadcast masters. This is a huge shift in production processes from the analog production workflow, where it was simple to keep tapes and reels stored on shelves. Since many archives do not have the infrastructure to preserve “reborn” digital files, much important content on magnetic media is not being encoded and is therefore being lost. AVAN will offer a solution to these archives’ lack of infrastructure, which will aid the archives’ preservation efforts. Improving archives’ digital preservation efforts will result in more content made available to researchers, scholars, and the public. Preservation and access must be tandem initiatives in the digital environment. AVAN can provide digital preservation and online access services for these archives, which can then focus on preserving the analog content in their collections. While archives struggle with finding solutions to digital preservation, digitizing content also presents an opportunity for improved means of access to time-based resources. With analog content, “deep indexing” was performed by creating transcripts with timecode, or shotlist cataloging records. A researcher would read the transcript or shotlist record, find content of interest, and note the minutes and seconds when that content should appear in the film, video, or sound recording. The physical item would be pulled from the shelf, put into a playback deck or film flatbed, and fast-forwarded to the point of interest. We view the digital era as improving access in that with the AVAN Library, researchers can type in subject headings, keywords, dates, personalities, geographic regions, titles, formats, and many other access points; be given a list of “hits;” and the user can go directly to the point in an item where their search result can be found. [1] See: Dr. Dr. John W.C. Van Bogart. Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives. Commission on Preservation and Access and the National Media Laboratory, 1995. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub54/ ; and: Television and Video Preservation 1997: a Report on the Current State of American Television and Video Preservation. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1997. http://www.loc.gov/film/tvstudy.html Many U.S., international, and UNESCO reports on the crisis in audiovisual preservation have been published since then. [2] The past tense “gave” is used since analog audiotape and most videotape formats are no longer being manufactured. [3] “Born-digital” refers to content that was originally created as a digital file. In sound and moving image production environments, the term “tapeless” is also used.
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Who will use AVAN? Archives Filmmakers Schools and Universities Video and Sound Artists Students Researchers Scholars General public Libraries Broadcasters Studios Museums Radio Arts Centers Production Organizations Everyone |
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