Barcode Scanners, MiniDV Decks, And The Migration Of Digital Information From Analog Surfaces
28 October 2010
Dave Rice and Stefan Elnabli – October 28, 2010
Due to the susceptibility and challenges of both digital and analog carriers, data must be periodically moved from one carrier to another within a preservation process. When analog data is migrated from its original carrier to a new digital carrier, the analog data is ultimately transformed through the process of sampling. Challenges are then posed to authenticating the accuracy of such a migration. Despite the perceptual exactness of an analog source to its digital copy, the analog data and the digital data are never exactly the same. However, in the realm of file-based digital-to-digital migration, exactness can be achieved and evaluated. Within the entirely file-based environment, checksums and data comparison tools can verify that two copies are exact matches or reveal their deviation in a way that is not feasible between analog and digital environments.
AVPS Funds New AMIA Scholarship To Honor World Day For Audiovisual Heritage
27 October 2010
In celebration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2010, AudioVisual Preservation Solutions, in collaboration with the Association of Moving Image Archivists is pleased to announce the YADA! Scholarships for Education in Fundraising (PDF of news release). Three annual scholarships will funded by AVPS and awarded through the AMIA Awards Committee aimed at providing moving image and sound archivists with opportunities for education in fundraising.
Background:
On World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2009, AVPS announced the Your Archive Deserves Advocacy! initiative (https://www.avpreserve.com/avpsresources/about-yada/), an effort focused on promoting the people and stories behind archives as well as providing resources that support advocacy. As part of the YADA! initiative, and in celebration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2010, AVPS is funding three separate scholarship awards to help offset the cost of attending Foundation Center training classes. The Foundation Center is a national nonprofit service organization whose mission is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by providing information and resources that enable improved knowledge and access to philanthropic organizations. Their in-person and web-based workshops offer guidance and resources to help organizations obtain grants and other funding opportunities. The Foundation Center has regional centers for resources and training in Atlanta, Cleveland, New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC. For more information on the Foundation Center and the classes they offer, visit foundationcenter.org.
How does Fundraising Relate to Advocacy?
The activities involved in caring for audiovisual collections extend well beyond daily efforts such as arrangement, cataloging, reformatting, and providing access. These other activities involve an equally extensive set of endeavors that can roughly be defined as advocacy, including:
- acquisition of funding
- communication with administration and other organizational departments
- public promotion and outreach
- planning
- community involvement, and more
Congratulations To 2010 NYART Award Winners
18 October 2010
A hearty congratulations to the well-deserving FOAVPS (Friends of AVPS) Grace Lile, Archivist and Director of Operations at WITNESS, and the fine folks at the Jazz Loft Project who will be honored the evening of October 20th, 2010 by the Archivists Roundtable of Metropolitan New York.
Grace has been awarded the 2010 Archival Achievement Award for the spectacular work she has done to establish and maintain the WITNESS video archive documenting worldwide human rights and social justice issues. Along with the help of a dedicated staff and interns Grace’s efforts have included planning and implementation of extensive cataloging and digitization projects that will make the archive more searchable and usable by researchers and others, as well as the development of innovative guidelines and tools for the submission of video from across the globe in variable formats. Our own Chris Lacinak will be one of the proud presenters of Grace’s award.
The Jazz Loft Project is being honored with the Award for Innovative Use of Archives. The access to the treasure of photographs and audio recordings of jazz musicians captured by Eugene Smith in his 6th Avenue New York City loft from 1957-1965 opened up by the Project is establishing new levels of knowledge about the history of jazz during one of its most vibrant periods. The past year has also seen the fruition of years of work from Sam Stephenson, Jazz Loft Project Director, and contributors from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, WNYC Radio, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Alfred A. Knopf, and the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona. Activities have included the publishing of a book on Eugene Smith and the Jazz Loft, a series of programs from Sarah Fishko on WNYC Radio in New York, and a travelling exhibition of materials that opened at the New York Public Library.
Congratulations also to the Leon Levy Foundation, winner of the award for Outstanding Support of Archives. The Leon Levy Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation established to continue Leon Levy’s philanthropic legacy and to build on his vision, encouraging and supporting excellence in six broad areas: Understanding the Ancient World; Arts and Humanities; Preservation of Nature and Gardens; Brain Research and Science; Human Rights; and Jewish Culture. The generous support of such foundations and granting agencies help make sure that organizations like WITNESS and the Jazz Loft Project can do their valuable work.
Hope to see you at the awards ceremony!
