1. Sound Directions Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage Indiana University Harvard University

2. Archives of Traditional Music Indiana University  Established 1948 (or 1954?)  110,000 recordings  1890s to present  Field—30%  World music traditions  Endangered/extinct world languages

5.  Collaboration between Harvard University and Indiana University  Phase 1 an R&D project funded by NEH  Focus on preservation Sound Directions Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage

6. Project Partners  Archives of Traditional Music, Indiana University  Archive of World Music, Harvard University  Harvard College Library Audio Preservation Services  Digital Library Program, Indiana University  Office for Information Systems, Harvard University

7. Sound Directions Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage Objectives  Research best practices in areas without standards or best practices  Develop best practices to meet existing and emerging standards  Test existing and emerging standards/best practices with a real world project

8. Sound Directions Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage Results  Publication— Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation  Software tools  Development of audio preservation systems  Preservation of field collections www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/sounddirections

9. Audio Preservation Systems Standards and Best Practices  Ensure Quality  Provide Philosophical/Ethical Foundation  Encourage Sustainability  Foster Interoperability  Provide a Migration Path

10. Audio Preservation Systems Standards and Best Practices  IASA-TC 03 and TC 04  Broadcast Wave Format  AES31-3  AES-X98-B and C  METS

11. Audio Preservation Systems What tasks or functions are required for successful audio preservation?  Preservation operations/activities as systems  General Systems Theory

12. Audio Preservation Systems Common sense definition of system:  Set of interacting units or elements  Forms an integrated whole  Performs a function

13. Audio Preservation Systems A few basic principles:  Each element/part affects the whole  Whole is greater than sum of parts  Inputs and outputs

14. IU Audio Preservation System What should we preserve? Selection for Preservation  Analysis of research value  Evaluation of preservation condition and risk

15. Data Collection/Analysis Research Value Score Condition/Risk (FACET) Score Combined Selection Score Collection Ranking Curatorial Review Selection for Preservation

16. IU Audio Preservation System Field Audio Collection Evaluation Tool (FACET)  Point-based, collection level  Analyzes data on condition of field formats  Returns a risk assessment score  Formats document  Procedures document  Appendices

19. IU Audio Preservation System Where should preservation work be done?  In-house or outsource?  Issues: studio space, technical expertise, amount of work, future location of expertise  Critical listening spaces  Development of preservation studio

21. IU Audio Preservation System Who should do preservation work?  Audio engineer  Importance of analog playback stage  Project assistant  Programmer  Digital librarians

22. Audio Engineer Preservation Transfer Preservation Master Files Technical MD Collection Checksums BWAV MD ADL’s Signal Processing Project Assistant Content Division Production Masters QC ADL’s Workflow Management Collection Setup Ingestion Process Programmer Software/Script Development Digital Library Program Preservation Repository Services Deliverables Access System

23. IU Audio Preservation System What is the target preservation format?  Digital file  Broadcast Wave Format (BWF or BWAV) Preservation involves a long-term responsibility to the digital file

24. IU Audio Preservation System IU Audio Preservation System Broadcast Wave Format  Audio file format based on.wav files  EBU 1996 for the exchange of files  “Open source”  Recommended by IASA, AES, NARAS, Sound Directions for preservation  “Chunk” for metadata residing with the file  Time stamp

25. IU Audio Preservation System IU Audio Preservation System Broadcast Wave Format Metadata elements include:  Description of the sound sequence  Name of the originator  Date/time  Coding history (signal chain components)  Format independent, sample accurate time stamp  “Catastrophic” metadata

27. IU Audio Preservation System How should we define the files we create? we create?  What is in them?  How are they created?  What do they represent?

28. IU Audio Preservation System Best Practice Documents Preservation (Archival) Master Files:  Unmodified  No subjective alterations or improvements  Preserve history, not re-write it  As true to the original source as possible

29. IU Audio Preservation System Preservation (Archival) Master Files at the ATM:  Complete, unaltered stream from playback machine  Carrier of raw material from transfer  No editing, signal processing, data reduction, gain manipulation, announcements (slates)  24 bit, 96 kHz

30. IU Audio Preservation System Production Master Files:  Used to generate further derivatives  Optimized—signal processing, editing  Produced for all content and retained  Content of one Face  Usually 24/96

31. IU Audio Preservation Systems Best Practices  Define purpose of every digital file  Written guidelines on characteristics of files  Written guidelines on “technical” and content edits  Maintain common reference timeline

32. IU Audio Preservation System How do we ensure authenticity over time?  Data integrity checking  “Checksums”  MD5 hash or algorithm

33. IU Audio Preservation System MD5 algorithm  All files with enduring value  As soon as possible  Critical metadata stored in database and in preservation package  Verify before trusting

34. IU Audio Preservation System How do we render the preserved content understandable and manageable?  Descriptive Metadata  Administrative—Technical Metadata  Administrative—Digital Provenance  Administrative—Rights Management  Structural Metadata

35. IU Audio Preservation System Audio Technical Metadata Collector (ATMC )  Enter/edit technical and structural metadata  Audio object and process history metadata  Enter/edit audio object evaluations  Parse files to collect metadata

36. IU Audio Preservation System Audio Technical Metadata Collector (ATMC )  Generate MD5  Relationships diagrams  AES-compliant XML export  Java Swing application

42. IU Audio Preservation System How do we assure and control the quality of the work?  Quality control and quality assurance  QC at ATM: aural, visual, software tools  Collection setup—preliminary transfers  Role of permanent staff  QA at ATM

43. IU Audio Preservation System How do we store data after capture?  Local, interim storage  Backup copies at each stage  ATM NAS  Additional redundant copy

44. 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 Digitization Technical metadata Structural metadata Checksums Quality control Local storage solution Post-Transfer Processing Quality control Generation of derivatives Marking areas of interest in files Signal processing (if appropriate) Preliminary Work / Pilot Project Exploratory transfers and metadata collection Quality control 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

45. Director Project Development Selection for Preservation Archivist Selection Preview Collections QC Documentation Librarian Cataloging Issues Associate Director Project Management Selection—Format Issues Scheduling Coordination QC R&D Audio Engineer Preservation Transfer Preservation Master Files Technical MD Collection Checksums BWAV MD ADL’s Signal Processing Project Assistant Content Division Production Masters QC ADL’s Workflow Management Collection Setup Ingestion Process Programmer Software/Script Development Digital Library Program Preservation Repository Services Deliverables Access System

46. Sound Directions Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage Project Future  “Preservation” Phase funded by NEH  Increase throughput  Simultaneous transfer  Indiana automation  Release ATMC, Audio Object Manager, APXE  Develop access system for field collections

47. Sound Directions Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage Indiana University Harvard University www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/sounddirections micasey@indiana.edu