0. An Inside Look At Managing
MDPI Digitization
Mike Casey, Director of Technical Operations, MDPI, Indiana University
Andrew Dapuzzo, Director of North American Operations, Memnon Archiving Services

1. Manage…
administer conduct govern guide handle maintain operate oversee regulate run supervise
take care of
train
use
advocate
captain
counsel
designate
direct
disperse
engineer
execute
head
influence
instruct
minister
officiate
pilot
ply
preside
request
steer
superintend
watch
care for
carry-on
engage in

2. MDPI Overview Digitally preserve all significant audio and video
Complete by IU Bicentennial in 2020
University-wide initiative

3. MDPI Funding Office of the President Office of the Provost
Office of the Vice President for Research
Additional funding and in-kind support: UITS, Libraries

4. MDPI Digitization Strategy
Memnon – parallel transfer (industrial-scale) workflows
IU – 1:1 workflows for fragile formats and problem items
Digitally preserve approximately 280,000 audio and video recordings
Digitized 139,794 as of yesterday
6.5 PB in 4 years

5. MDPI Digitization Strategy
Project file formats
Audio preservation master – BWF, 24/96
Audio production master – same
Video preservation master –
FFV1/Matroska
Video mezzanine – 50 Mbps MPEG-2

6. IU Media Digitization Studios
Audio preservation
7,000 field cylinders, lacquer discs, mixed speed tapes, wire recordings
Sound Directions 1:1 workflow
Two critical listening rooms designed by Jeff Hedback
Studer, Prism, Benchmark, WaveLab, etc.

7. IU Media Digitization Studios
Video preservation
Hi 8/8mm, Betamax, ½” EIAJ
Problem VHS, Umatic, Betacam SP
FFmpeg, home-grown interface
Blackmagic card

8. IU Media Digitization Studios
Productivity
Systems thinking
Theory of Constraints principles
Scrum methodology
Scripts

9. Theory of Constraints Why do we need to focus on productivity?
Our to-do list is longer than the time available
Our budget is limited and static
The more we get digitized, the more recordings are preserved for future use

10. General Systems Theory

11. General Systems Theory
Theory created in the 1930s in which complex systems are viewed holistically
Way of thinking
Aid evaluation of media preservation system design, effectiveness, sustainability, completeness, and behavior

12. General Systems Theory
What is a system?
Commonsense definition of system
Set of interacting units or elements
Forms an integrated whole
Performs a function or achieves a goal

13. General Systems Theory
Systems thinking
Holistic rather than reductionistic
Insight into the whole through links and interactions
Small events may cause large changes

14. General Systems Theory
A few basic principles
Each element/part affects the whole
Whole is greater than sum of the parts
Inputs and outputs – transformations

15. Workflow management / scheduling
Migration decision
Workflow management
Workflow management / scheduling
Cleaning or physical restoration as needed
System / Project
Planning & Development
Funding
Personnel / Vendor
Equipment
Software Tools
Creation / maintenance of software and scripts
Selection for Preservation
Assess research value
Evaluate condition
Consider political, technical, and other issues
Establish priorities
Digitization
Analog playback
A/D conversion
Creation of Preservation Master Files
Local filenames
Technical metadata
Structural metadata
Checksums
Quality control
Local storage solution
Post-Transfer Processing
Generation of derivatives
Marking areas of interest in files
Signal processing (if appropriate)
Preliminary Work /
Pilot Project
Exploratory transfers and metadata collection
Reassessment of digitization plan
Collection Setup
Gather and assess documentation
Evaluate collection needs / condition
Assess cataloging / descriptive metadata issues
Develop digitization plan
Assess and calibrate equipment
Ingestion into / Copy to
Long-Term Storage Solution
Preservation packages
Periodic Evaluation
Data integrity checking
Format obsolescence analysis
Migration
New carrier
New format

16. Theory of Constraints

17. Theory of Constraints Overview
Developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt in the early 1980s
Methodology for identifying the most important limiting factor that stands in the way of achieving a goal
Improve constraint until it is no longer a limiting factor

18. Theory of Constraints Overview– define terms
Constraint is a limitation or restriction
Constraint = bottleneck
Bottleneck = stage in a process where progress is impeded, “weakest link in the chain”
Throughput is the quantity of raw material processed within a given time

19. Theory of Constraints Overview
Every process (workflow) has a constraint
Throughput is governed by how much can be run through the constraint per period of time
Throughput improves when constraint improves
Improving a non-bottleneck does not make the workflow more productive

20. Theory of Constraints Types of constraints
Physical – equipment, material, people, space shortages
Policy – required or recommended ways of working (ex. No bidirectional transfers)
Paradigm – deeply ingrained beliefs or habits
Market – production capacity exceeds sales

21. Theory of Constraints Five focusing steps
Identify – find the bottleneck
Exploit – quick improvements using existing resources
Subordinate –everything else must support the above
Elevate – further actions to eliminate bottleneck – may include capital investment
Repeat – continuous improvement cycle

22. Typical audiotape digitization workflow
Manager assigns work
Engineer
Inspects tape
Winds tape
Checks and repairs splices
Repairs pack problems
Gathers technical metadata
Engineer digitizes

23. Theory of Constraints Where is the bottleneck in our system?
Workflow step with capacity equal to or less than the demand placed on it
Where are the non-bottlenecks?
Workflow step with capacity greater than demand
How can we exploit the bottleneck?

24. Theory of Constraints Exploit and elevate
Offload tasks from the bottleneck and place elsewhere
Place QC before the bottleneck
Create inventory buffer before bottleneck

25. New digitization workflow
Manager assigns work
AV Specialist
Inspects tape
Winds tape
Checks and repairs splices
Repairs pack problems
Gathers technical metadata
Engineer digitizes

26. New digitization workflow
Manager assigns work
Engineer digitizes
AV Specialist
Inspects tape
Winds tape
Checks and repairs splices
Repairs pack problems
Gathers technical metadata
Engineer digitizes

27. Theory of Constraints Exploit and elevate
Offload tasks from the bottleneck and place elsewhere – AV Specialist
Place QC before the bottleneck– AV Specialist
Create inventory buffer before bottleneck
Keep the bottleneck working as much as possible
If bottleneck is idle for an hour, lose the cost of an hour for entire system
An hour saved at a non-bottleneck is a mirage

28. Management of Digitization Workflow
How can we –
Support choice
Foster investment and engagement
Keep morale high
Track which recordings should be digitized next

29. Scrum

30. Management of Digitization Workflow
Scrum methodology
Part of the Agile software development movement
Emphasizes collaboration, team self-management, and flexibility to adapt to emerging realities

31. Management of Digitization Workflow
Scrum methodology characteristics
Time is divided into short work cadences known as sprints
Two week sprints
Evaluate and plan next steps at end of sprint
Daily meetings to assess progress (standups)

32. Management of Digitization Workflow
Scrum methodology
Enter backlog into Jira
Backlog comes from deliveries – one project at a time
Divide recordings into groups based on technical characteristics
Engineers select groups to commit to for sprint
Story points = duration of group (minutes)

35. Management of Digitization Workflow
Scrum methodology
Sprint meeting
Evaluation of sprint
Selection of groups for next sprint

36. Management of Digitization Workflow
Scrum methodology
Built-in frequent feedback loops for both technical staff and administration
Always know where things stand
Supports philosophy of constant improvement
Focus on two-week commitments not endless future
Engineers have choice

37. New digitization workflow
Manager assigns collection
Engineer chooses recordings
Engineer digitizes
AV Specialist
Inspects tape
Winds tape
Checks and repairs splices
Repairs pack problems
Gathers technical metadata
Engineer digitizes

38. Software Automation

39. MDPI Post-Processing System
IUMDS Packager application
Script that runs on local capture machine
Set to run every evening
Acts on files created during the day
Files placed in watch folder by engineer

40. MDPI Post-Processing System
IUMDS Packager application
Collect metadata from physical object database (POD) in order to…
…Embed metadata into preservation master files using FFmpeg
Using FFmpeg, create production masters for audio or mezzanine files for video from preservation masters, embedding metadata

41. MDPI Post-Processing System
IUMDS Packager application
Generate XML manifest
Digital provenance metadata, file list
Copy preservation masters, derivatives, XML manifest and QCTools files to remote drop box
To post-processing system

42. MDPI Post-Processing System
IUMDS Packager application
Windows app written in C#
Acts as an intermediary – retrieves metadata via web-service calls from the POD
Uses metadata to drive FFmpeg, FF probe, and BWF MetaEdit
Provides command line arguments to above utilities which do the heavy lifting

44. An Inside Look At Managing
MDPI Digitization
Mike Casey, Director of Technical Operations, MDPI, Indiana University
Andrew Dapuzzo, Director of North American Operations, Memnon Archiving Services