1. How to Preserve Audio (and video) Richard Wright BBC Information & Archives www.prestospace.eu

2. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 2 Richard Wright BBC Overview The audiovisual preservation problem The “digitisation factory” solution Problems with the solution Digitisation Factory approach Digital Preservation Funding, equipment, training … Rights

3. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 3 Richard Wright BBC The Problem: Analogue Media Decaying Obsolete Fragile Presto Survey, 2001 5 million hours of holdings (10 European broadcasters)

4. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 4 Richard Wright BBC Decaying Obsolete Fragile Obsolescence: at least 2/3 of the material Deterioration: approximately 1/3 of the material Fragile media: roughly 1/4 of the material Overall: 70% of holdings have problems The Solution: digitisation

5. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 5 Richard Wright BBC Obsolescence Videotape 2”; 1”; U-Matic: no playback equipment Film Disappearing in post production Audio formats Grams : no playback equipment ¼” no longer accepted in BBC radio production and playout systems

6. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 6 Richard Wright BBC Deterioration Videotape – decay of adhesive 2”; 1”; U-Matic (30% read failures at BBC) Audio – decay of adhesive ¼” tape (depends upon brand) Magnetic sound tracks Vinegar syndrome Other Acetate – other sources of acetic acid Decay of film splices General decay of polymer materials

7. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 7 Richard Wright BBC Fragile Media Vinyl and shellac Film 10 plays per print (videotape: 50) Video or audiotape can easily be physically damaged or affected be magnetic fields

8. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 8 Richard Wright BBC Size of the Problem – in Europe Presto: found 5 million hours 2001 Mainly broadcast archives Prestospace: found 10 million hours 2004 Broadcast and large national collections TAPE: found additional 20 million hours In collections not covered previously UNESCO estimate: 200 million hours worldwide (100 million in Europe)

9. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 9 Richard Wright BBC Where is the material? Broadcast archives 30% (roughly) National collections 15% Other major collections 15% Small and specialist collections 40% NB: all these figures refer to archived material ONLY

10. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 10 Richard Wright BBC The “digitisation factory” solution Efficient workflow Staff specialisation Triage

11. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 11 Richard Wright BBC Problems with the solution 1: Digitisation “You’re not preserving anything; you’re only making more proxies and adding to the problem.” Not accepted as a solution for film Not easy to implement for video (in full quality) But – very much accepted for audio

12. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 12 Richard Wright BBC Problems with the solution 2: Factory approach Works on homogeneous collections Of good quality material – and lots of it Which is well documented. Also requires excellent staff and facilities

13. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 13 Richard Wright BBC Problems with the solution 3: Digital Preservation M edia M ultiple copies M aintenance M igration

14. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 14 Richard Wright BBC M edia Datatape is cheaper that hard drives But needs an expensive tape drive And has reliability issues Optical is cheapest of all But isn’t really mass storage (DVD=4.7 GB) New DVD format(s) promise 20 to 100 GB And has reliability issues Hard drives prices have dropped sharply Easiest to automate management And has reliability issues More information from PrestoSpace: prestospace.eu (“digitisation & storage”)

15. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 15 Richard Wright BBC M ultiple copies Two copies Two technologies In two places But fastest recovery is by mirroring Which means identical technologies Big arguments about RAID vs simpler options vs more complex options

16. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 16 Richard Wright BBC M aintenance Life cycle management Should be every archive’s built-in process Begins with blank media Then the writing Then the initial checking Then the periodic checking and ‘aerobics’ Ends with migration to the next format

17. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 17 Richard Wright BBC M igration A fact of life Every five years Can involve a lot of manual handling (of datatapes or optical media) Or can be nearly transparant (disc upgrades) – but: every three years! Needs lossless file formats

18. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 18 Richard Wright BBC Problems with the solution 4: Funding, equipment, training … TAPE – Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe IASA TC04: Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects ARSC PrestoSpace “Guide to Audiovisual Preservation”

19. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 19 Richard Wright BBC Problems with the solution 5: Rights Huge pressure for greater access Access is the key to funding (for cultural / heritage collections) Web technology solves the technical issues Rights limitations can be overcome: Disclaimers; due diligence; escrow Creative Commons; Public value; Fair Use; Educational and research use

20. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 20 Richard Wright BBC PrestoSpace Recommends Set up your own factory if you can OR: use somebody else’s PrestoSpace working with the ‘facilities industry’ to convince them to give a high quality service at an affordable price

21. FP6-IST-507336 PrestoSpace SAM Work Area 21 Richard Wright BBC How to get help: PrestoSpace: technology and support for audiovisual preservation: information on the PrestoSpace websites, from TAPE training, and from the Preservation Guide wiki: www.prestospace.eu prestospace-sam.ssl.co.uk www.knaw.nl/ecpa/tape/ www.bbcarchive.org.uk