Acceptable Shrinkage

Amidst several news items/rumors this morning that Google was implementing their own URL shrinker I began to think again about some issues that have always bugged me. Like, how exactly does a URL shrinker (like tinyurl) work? And what is the persistence of the usability of that shrunken URL? Most URLs are vaguely human-readable. If I have a link or address that doesn’t work, I can typically figure out if the text got cut off when I copied it or if it somehow got some extra text added to the end or somewhere else. But just the other day I clicked on a shrunken link in a Tweet and it led to a broken links page from the shrink app. The page didn’t tell me what the actual full link was, or how I could fix the break, it just informed me the shrunken link did not exist and maybe I had some extra text in it.

I guess this means the companies that distribute these apps possibly have databases where the original link is associated with the shrunken link, or the shrunken link goes through some sort of decoding process during some routing through their servers. Whatever the case, we are essentially relying on a proprietary encoding format when we use one of these shrinkers. tinyurl claims their encoded URLs are permanent access routes, but should we trust that any more than we trust that file formats, codex and operating systems will persist over time? There is a Firefox add-on that decodes tinyurl-encoded addresses (Greasemonkey), but that is only one encoding system among a growing number.

This may seem like a tiny issue, but shrunken URLs are an ingrained part of the functionality of the shortened forms of communication we are using more and more nowadays (texts, Tweets, instant messaging, short emails). If they do not persist, then the fullness of our communication does not persist. Some people may question if these forms of communication are worth saving, but this is an issue beyond just what belongs accessioned into an archive; this is about maintaining our personal histories. The image of pulling out a stack of old letters tied up in a ribbon or an old photo album is something that will be increasingly rare for one’s own memorabilia. Opening files on a thumb drive or from a storage system will be what we are doing (unless you really want to print out all of those Tweets and texts…).

Just as we must be with all of the image/text/video/audio file formats and codexes out there, we must also be aware of the encoding/decoding/tagging cycle that occurs in all aspects of materials we produce and receive. It seems tedious or uptight or unimportant, especially because we have such easy access to our stuff right now and can’t imagine when we won’t. But then again, it would seem difficult to misplace 22 million e-mails until it actually happens. And that’s no small problem.

— Joshua Ranger

Things That Shouldn’t Be Archived #1

How can I say “Happy Holidays” with this song around? Orrin Hatch, what have you wrought?

Tablet Magazine has Orrin Hatch write Hanukkah song…

— Joshua Ranger

Starting From Scratched

A few months ago a friend told me she had heard that you could fix a scratched DVD with toothpaste. There weren’t many details beyond that, but she assumed it meant you just rubbed some toothpaste over any scratches on the disc and that would fill them in somehow. Of course my mind jumped to trying to figure out how this might work, as well as to what the short term / long term degradation issues might be — not really to the DVD but more to the player. I don’t know if DVDs are that great of a format for thinking so long term about, but I really didn’t think it was a good idea to stick a toothpaste coated disc into a DVD player.

This was the same person whose father lost a number of paperclips in his computers disc drive while trying to poke around to make it run faster, so I wasn’t so sure about her technological reliability. That is until I saw this Wired Wiki post the other day on How to Fix a Scratched CD. There it was, tips not only on using (abrasive) toothpaste to polish out scratches on an optical disc, but also anti-glare spray, Brasso metal polish, wax or something called Meguire’s Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner which is for automotive use.

It sounds crazy, and normally something like this would send me off mumbling about archivally sound practices and how kids just don’t respect things anymore and grumble grumble grumble, but this time I didn’t have that same reaction. Maybe it’s because it’s hard to care about the piles and piles of commercially produced discs out there. Even without being loofahed, they aren’t going to last all that long.

Or maybe it’s because I’ve seen enough ad hoc or re-purposed tools being used in archives and on collections that these things don’t phase me anymore (audio engineers sometimes seem part mad scientist). Maybe these make-dos are not the best thing for the media, but the simple fact is that many of the tools we need to do our work have not been created or are no longer being produced. Cleverness and inventiveness are necessary traits of the archivist / preservationist, and who knows when some out of left field solution might be the correct one.

Or maybe it’s because these kinds of solutions, while dealing with digital content, are actually more about physical process. They are about solving the ways that physical degradation like scratches impede the mechanisms of disc reading.

That last must be it, because what bothers me about the wiki on “how to fix a scratched CD”  is the cavalier attitude about file formats and blindly trusting computers & digital distribution.

The authors conclude that “you don’t have to worry about scratching your MP3 like you can a compact disc,” as if that means you don’t have to worry about other issues with digital media. And they suppose that, “If you lose your music, chances are, in the future, your music store will replenish the music you bought from them for you at little or no cost,” which is a rather optimistic outlook that commercial media providers will suddenly turn so altruistic.

The kicker seems to be that they recommend using Error Correction when importing particularly damaged materials to something like iTunes as MP3. As our own Dave Rice has shown, digital file transfer and transcoding are particularly fraught areas in maintaining a persistent object. The audio of an error corrected CD may sound fine, but reformulating the digital makeup of a file is the same as reformulating its physical structure. Even though you cannot always see the results as you can with a physical object, the changes have occurred and should be taken with the same consideration as how you physically handle an asset or what kind of image storage/transfer decisions you make.

We’re moving toward the Cloud, but that doesn’t mean we should let our conceptual hold of our media become ethereal as well. You don’t have to understand every smidgen of code (that’s the technical term for a piece of code, isn’t it?), but working in a world where archives are becoming more digi-centric does require that you understand how file formats work and what their transfer and transformation mean. It seems like starting all over once again, but its better than accessioning 40 boxes of minty fresh smelling discs.

— Joshua Ranger

5 Tips For Effective Collections Advocacy

The human desire to classify and name is a highly personal and a greatly prized act. Naming the files we create is no different, though the number of files and tools used for managing them place a great need on consistent structure and application of file naming guidelines. What to do is then very simple – consistency. More to the point is what not to do in order to avoid pitfalls.

• 5 TIPS FOR FILE NAMING (PDF)

Top 10 Media Preservation Related Texts Published In The Aughts

The texts below contain words enough, so I’ll try not to add more to your burden. Criteria called for something more than articles, though not necessarily books; something related to preservation and archiving, though not necessarily strict instructional resources; something that helped advance the available knowledge base of the field, though not necessarily dry and unreadable.

10. Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists, Fred R Byers, 2003
Because they’re everywhere, but not for as long as was claimed.

9. Tinfoil Phonographs, Rene Rondeau, 2001
Because we are not immune to pictures and mechanical technologies.

8. Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use, 2005
Because, agree or disagree, action needed to be defined and taken in order to move the issue forward and make the stakeholders engage.

7. The MXF Book, Nick Wells, Oliver Morgan, Jim Wilkinson & Bruce Devlin, 2006
Because it’s the way things are going, and we need to understand the route.

6. Restoration of Motion Picture Film, Paul Read & Mark-Paul Meyer, 2000
Because we need to remind ourselves that we got this one down pretty good; magnetic and digital media are next.

5. The LCSH Century: One Hundred Years With the Library of Congress Subject Headings System, Alva T. Stone editor, 2000
Because taxonomies matter.

4. IPI Media Storage Quick Reference, Peter Z. Adelstein, published by Image Permanence Institute, 2004
Because not everyone has an iPhone, and this is reference information we need.

3. FACET Format Characteristics and Preservation Problems, Mike Casey, 2007
Because such thorough, systematic training with visual examples is hard to come by.

2. PrestoSpace Wiki, http://wiki.prestospace.org/
Because digital publishing is a valid resource, and PrestoSpace is a great resource.

1. The Film Preservation Guide: The Basics for Archives, Libraries, and Museums, National Film Preservation Foundation (U.S.), 2004
Because you gotta start somewhere

— Joshua Ranger

Clipp’d

The New York Times gave it short shrift by placing this as an Arts, Briefly article, but I think the new video site movieclips.com is pretty intriguing. The quality of the clips is a lot better than YouTube, and because the studios are behind it there’s not the risk of content being taken down. I also feel like this is an important baby step toward a new kind of distribution model for film. Allowing open access and reuse through embedding for these pieces of works may start opening some minds in different areas.

Sure, it is limited to studio films and curated clips which may not be from the finest films ever made, and it isn’t truly “free” if you have to give up your email address and your Facebook connections if you go through that app, but then again, you get to do this:

(Well, you get to do that if you adjust the object width and height to a 3:4 ratio if it’s not a widescreen film and disable the autoplay — the clip is fine on the site but the embedding code default stretches the image too much.) I made a comment on their beta site to change this aspect ratio problem. Looks like both issues have been addressed.

It may be pointless, it may be nefarious, it may be indispensable, or it may just be a fun little toy. I’m not interested in immediately proclaiming its potential for success and cultural value — that will play out soon enough. But right now I am interested in all the different permutations of its faceted search (Henchmen in an Elevator! Grabs of Forgiveness by a Cowboy! Scenes of Twinkies and Acceptance!). Looks like a busy weekend…

— Joshua Ranger

Top 10 Library Of Congress Subject Headings Added In The Aughts

Though The Library of Congress Subject Headings and similar stricter taxonomies have gotten a bad rap from the tagging / folksonomy crowd, there is something necessary and wonderful in classification structures. And in a way, the Subject Headings are their own form of “social tagging” — exploring newly created headings reveals how they mark the changes and trends in society and the larger culture by referencing the need for ways to describe the materials that are entering libraries. My Top 10 New Subject Headings below (and others) can be found at the Library of Congress’ list of weekly updates.

*Subject Headings are classified in the 15X fields, with explanatory notes listed below them in the higher numbered fields.
BT = Broader Topic
RT = Related Topic
UF = Used For

10. April 2009, The This American Life Effect

155 Compilation radio programs [sp2009025039]
680 This heading is used as a genre/form heading for radio programs that are composed of pre existing broadcast or unbroadcast radio programs, or portions thereof. Radio programs made up of different episodes or stories which are usually connected by a theme, event, location or original author, often having a wrap around tale, are entered under Radio anthologies.
455 UF Compilations, Radio
455 UF Radio compilations
555 BT Radio programs
681 Note under Radio anthologies

155 Radio anthologies [sp2007025592]
680 This heading is used as a genre/form heading for radio programs made up of different episodes or stories which are usually connected by a theme, event, location or original author, often having a wrap around tale. Radio programs that are composed of pre existing broadcast or unbroadcast radio programs, or portions thereof, are entered under Compilation radio programs.
455 UF Anthologies, Radio
455 UF Anthology radio programs
555 BT Radio programs
681 Note under Compilation radio programs

9. March 2000, Language, Naming & Structure Are Beautiful

(C) 150 Brown-headed cowbird [May Subd Geog] [sp 00004502]
053 QL696.P2475 (Zoology)
450 UF Molothrus ater
550 BT Molothrus

8. October 2007, Trends Serious…

(C) 150 Climatic changes—Effect of human beings on [May Subd Geog] [sp2007004712]
450 UF Anthropogenic effects on climatic changes
550 BT Human ecology

(C) 150 Gays in the military [May Subd Geog] [sp2006000714]
* 450 UF Gay Armed Forces members
* 450 UF Gay soldiers

7. October 2007, …And Trends Faddish

151 Hale-Bopp comet [sp 97000501]
* 053 QB723.H17
* 053 QB723.H17 (Comet) CANCEL
* 451 UF C/1995 01 (Comet) CANCEL
* 451 UF C/1995 O1 (Comet)
* 451 UF Comet 1995 01 CANCEL
* 451 UF Comet 1995 O1
* 451 UF Hale-Bopp’s comet

(C) 150 Nintendo Wii video games [Not Subd Geog] [sp2007007398]
450 UF Wii video games
550 BT Nintendo video games

150 Piracy [May Subd Geog] [sp2006001424]
* 680 Here are entered works on acts of robbery committed at sea for personal gain. Works on acts of armed violence at sea that are committed for political motives and are not lawful acts of war are entered under Maritime terrorism.
* 450 UF Maritime piracy
* 681 Note under Maritime terrorism

6. September 2001, Knowing Before It Was Known

(A) 150 Attrition (Military science) [May Subd Geog] [sp2001008445]
450 UF Wars of attrition
550 BT Strategy

(C) 150 Bomb threats [May Subd Geog] [sp2001009878]
450 UF Bomb scares
450 UF Scares, Bomb
550 BT Threats

5. June 2003, Signs of the Times

* 150 Armored personnel carriers [May Subd Geog] ADD GEOG [sp85007330]
* 450 UF APCs (Armored personnel carriers)

150 Christian conservatism [May Subd Geog] [sp2003001882]
* 550 BT Religious right

4. May 2000, Concerns & Their Usurper

(C) 150 Genetically modified foods [May Subd Geog] [sp 00006274]
450 UF GM foods
450 UF Genetically engineered foods
550 BT Food
550 RT Food–Biotechnology

(C) 150 Indians as mascots [May Subd Geog] [sp 00006248]
450 UF Indian mascots
550 BT Mascots

(C) 150 Islamic leadership [May Subd Geog] [sp 00005089]
680 Here are entered works on leadership within Islamic institutions and organizations. Works on Islamic views of leadership are entered under Leadership–Religious aspects–Islam.
450 UF Muslim leadership
550 BT Leadership
681 Note under Leadership–Religious aspects–Islam

3. July 2002, Everything Has Its Place

150 Aesthetics, Mongolian [May Subd Geog] [sp2002005582]
450 UF Mongolian aesthetics

(C) 150 Amusement parks–Uruguay [sp2002007551]

(C) 150 Chlorosis in literature [Not Subd Geog] [sp2002007624]

2. November 2008, On The Minds Of All Americans

155 Political radio commercials [sp2008025557]
455 UF Political radio spots
455 UF Political spots (Radio commercials)
555 BT Radio commercials (Advertisements)

(C) 150 Splatter films [May Subd Geog] [sp2008008408]
450 UF Gore films
450 UF Spatter films
450 UF Splatter horror films
450 UF Splatter movies
450 UF Torture porn (Film genre)
550 BT Horror films

(C) 150 Thriftiness [May Subd Geog] [sp2008005647]
450 UF Frugality
550 BT Finance, Personal

1. August 2009, Life Goes On

(C) 150 Latex garments—Erotic aspects [May Subd Geog] [sp2009007035]
550 BT Erotica

— Joshua Ranger

Digital Tape Preservation Strategy: Preserving Data Or Video?

This paper examines preservation philosophies and strategies applied to large scale video collections that are both born-digital and tape-based. Technically and philosophically different approaches may be applied to migrating born-digital, tape-based content with decisions ranging from deck selection and choice of output to specifications of the resulting file. At the core of this is the distinction between migrating digital video as an audiovisual signal versus migrating it as data.

• READ FULL PAPER

Top 10 Documentaries Using Archival Footage In The Aughts

Documentary is one of the most theoretically strict or austere of genres. I decided to lean more towards aestheticism than toward asceticism in developing my criteria. Simply put, it is the use of footage not originally shot or specifically created for the film as a basis of the film’s structure or narrative, or perhaps just as the source idea.

10. Ballets Russes
Had to include this because of the article in the Times Sunday Magazine a few weeks ago bemoaning the lack / difficulty of preserving dance. Yes, it’s a conceptually difficult prospect, but there are a number of efforts underway that the author neglects to mention, including the work going on at the Dance Heritage Coalition. Also, as Ballets Russes so beautifully shows, preservation is not always in the maintenance of the “object” itself, but also of its context and its experiential nature, which can be maintained through oral histories, written records, and audiovisual recordings.

9. We Jam Econo / End of the Century
Like watching home movies, not of a family but of a subculture that has just as tight of bonds. As we mature we leave behind those life & death emotions that we connected to music or other art forms and it’s fascinating to be reminded of those years. At the same time, it wasn’t just a connection of personal upheaval, but of cultural upheaval. As the subculture becomes mainstream, we forgot how original or dangerous it once seemed, and the repercussions it had in the wider culture. One of the powers of archival material is to help us reconnect or understand past states of mind. Finally, being able to see these rock and roll heroes behind the scenes or in personal moments helps remind us that they aren’t gods, but are just normal people like us who were just able to express what many people felt in a better way.

8. Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
I can’t really sit still to watch a sporting event, but I’ve always loved sports journalism, documentary footage (Hear Hear for NFL Films!) and the subsequent narratives from the event. A good story is a good story.

7. Bowling for Columbine
It was difficult to figure out where to place this one because of the conflict between my memory of seeing it when it came out (at a special screening in the student lounge basement at University of Virginia, because it wasn’t really playing anywhere else in Virginia) and my questioning of how well it has stood up over time, a judgment clouded by my assessment of Michael Moore’s subsequent movies. Though I have my doubts about the long term cultural impact of Moore’s mishmash style of talking heads, political theater, news footage, and humorous use of sponsored films & other archival footage, I have to remind myself that at the time it all felt fresh, fun, rebellious, and that it was actually doing serious work.

6. Capturing the Friedmans / Tarnation
We tend to have warm fuzzy associations with home movies, those gateways to the past that reconnect us with memories we have lost or that we want to share with others. But what happens when those memories are full of pain or questioning, or reflect something more sinister when viewed with some post facto knowledge? All families go through troubles, but they don’t always have the camera recording it all. There is something fascinating and disgusting about passively watching these problems play out, thus we talk about the exploitation of the subject in documentary by the filmmaker. But that seems to be negated by the fact of a family member documenting it all. What was the Friedman son thinking as he videotaped things, and why did he want someone else to edit and produce it for wider distribution? As Tolstoy says, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

5. The Five Obstructions
Perhaps a bit of stretch to include here, but this playful and entertaining documentary deserves to be on some list, especially since it reminds us that Lars von Trier is quite the trickster whose other work should be reviewed with that in mind. Von Trier’s challenge to his former film professor Jørgen Leth is in effect an argument in favor of the power and importance of archival material. Dig into the past. Let the memories retouch you and remind you, and use their inspiration to create anew. The results are something more than a mashup because of how they reengage Leth into the original creation and meaning of his images, developing meaning in the present by refinding it in the past.

4. Los Angeles Plays Itself
This has been sitting in my Saved Netflix queue for years with very little hope of it moving into Available. A delicious riff on the City Symphony sub-genre that incorporates too much copyrighted material to be commercially released any time soon. Perhaps an extreme example, but a beautifully made one that underscores the many problems low budget and documentary filmmakers have in repurposing material and releasing their films. Unless you feel like getting elected to Congress and rewriting American copyright law you should be scanning regional film festivals for the next time this screens.

3. The Case of the Grinning Cat
Uses Marker’s own stockpiled footage and archival materials from news and television as clues in an almost facetious mystery. “Almost” because, despite the slight smirk and guided Socratic method inherent in the film’s structure, the use of footage is truly engaging to the viewer. I found myself scanning the frame for glimpses of the grinning cat. When Marker “misses” one (i.e., tacitly lets the moment in some protest footage pass before going back to comment later) I felt myself light up and eagerly want to point it out to him. He leads the viewer to this Aha! moment, but a mark of great filmmaking is causing the audience to feel participatory in the story, not manipulated into reactions. Marker achieves this masterfully through his playful exploration of images.

2. Fog of War
Morris excels at exposing the human side of oddballs, geniuses, and monsters. Depending on your views, he’s potentially captured all three with Robert McNamara. I normally have problems with archival materials being used for aesthetic purposes that ahistoricize them, but Morris always does more with his imagery, whether archival or original. Something about being able to create a mood simultaneaous with the means for analysis through editing, repetition, and minimal narrative transcends my concerns through its combined expression of beauty and intelligence.

1. Grizzly Man
Another example like Friedmans of a filmmaker being hired to create a documentary from someone else’s materials with unanticipated and perhaps not happy results. The difference in this case is that there was plenty of back history to search through that should have given fair warning when engaging Werner Herzog. Good thing they did, however. Instead of some subpar basic cable hagiography they got themselves a masterpiece of the genre, and one that took Timothy Treadwell more seriously than it seemed to. Though almost confrontational, Herzog truly engages Treadwell’s theories, his life choices, and his filmmaking, trying to unpack it all and understand it in ways that a blandly positive documentary would not. Though Herzog may disagree with much of what he finds, his questioning, thoughtful approach is honest, personal filmmaking at its finest, and the resulting documentary approaches closer to truth than to history.

— Joshua Ranger

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