Filter, Focus, Forward: Intro & Tip 1
19 March 2020
Filter, Focus, Forward is the 2020 mantra I created for myself back in the beginning of the year. The longer version is Filter out distraction and negativity, focus on positivity and priorities, and continue to move forward with progress and momentum. Little did I know just how relevant (and tough!) this would prove to be in 2020.
Why do Music Libraries ❤️ Aviary?
21 February 2020
Aviary is a game changer for accessible, connected, and protected audio and visual content. We’ve heard the following seven features add up to make it a must for music libraries. Please join AVP for a webinar just for music libraries on Wednesday, August 12th at 1 PM ET. Sign up here.
DOCUMENT THIS. And this. And this, too.
5 February 2020
As a consultant with AVP, I work with many different types of organizations to help them assess and optimize their digital preservation programs. I have the opportunity to really dig into the inner workings of these digital preservation environments. I’ve found that it is very common for institutions to have very little documentation relating to their digital preservation programs. Sure, you know what you’re doing, but there are so many other reasons to create documentation!
Digital Preservation Storage- The Basics
26 December 2019
When it comes to digital assets, digital preservation storage, and the various digital preservation actions that go along with it, are core to the implementation, development or enhancement to your digital preservation program.
In this series of three blog posts, my goal is to communicate the value and need of digital preservation storage, the requirements to adhere to best practices, and provide some information and links to organizations that create and administer digital preservation storage standards.
Want to learn more about how AVP can help? Contact us or read more about our Digital Preservation services here.
AVP Holiday Card – 2019
23 December 2019
Artwork by Stephanie Housley from Coral & Tusk (scratch off)
Shaping the Future of Digital Preservation in Ibero America
12 December 2019
This post is by Pamela Vizner Oyarce, AVP Consultant and RIPDASA member. Pamela has participated in RIPDASA since its creation and is actively contributing presentations at international conferences about their efforts. With AVP’s full support, Pamela allocates much of her professional development time to supporting RIPDASA by organizing free webinars focused on audiovisual digitization and digital preservation. The webinars have been attended by over 800 people from over 100 institutions in 20 countries. She recently attended the first in-person meeting in Mexico City and has contributed this recap.
AVP 2019 Holiday Card
10 December 2019
Did you receive an AVP holiday scratch off card this year? If so, what scene is beneath your scratch off? If it’s a fireside scene and the clock reads 12 then you won the grand prize. If it’s a fireside scene and the clock reads 6 then you won the runner-up prize. If it’s a snowman scene it means you have won our appreciation and admiration. All of you are AVPeeps and we treasure you.
If you are a grand prize winner or runner-up prize winner email us at [email protected] with a photo of your winning card and your shipping information. Happy Holidays and New Year!!!
Grand Prize: A limited edition, signed copy of Said the Computer to the Scientist from illustrator Tom Rowe. This book of illustrations captures the essence of the meaning behind our holiday card this year (read the explanation below). The grand prize winner will also receive a mug with the snowman and fireside illustrations seen below, created by by Stephanie Housley from Coral & Tusk.
Runner-Up Prize: A mug with the snowman and fireside illustrations seen below, created by by Stephanie Housley from Coral & Tusk.
Explanation: The holiday card this year is a reflection on the larger role that technology plays in our lives beyond the function that it serves. At the point of creation, all technology (broadly defined) fulfills some need. Take, for instance, the design of the television illustrated on our holiday card this year. Clearly aesthetics was central to the design of such a television, ensuring it brought the world into our homes through an attractive piece of living room furniture any family could proudly display. Aside from aesthetics, the state of the technology at the time likely drove whatever other design wasn’t purely aesthetic: the shape of the television screen, or the push button navigation and control panel. Today, in retrospect, and with the dramatic changes in how we consume media, both the intentional and unintentional choices that went into creating the televisions of yore give us a sense of time and place, evoking a quaintness and sentimentality that never could have been foreseen by the original designers.
The let it snow text on top of the scratch off is — as you might assume — a reference to the television “snow” illustration that it’s printed over. Television “snow” and its accompanying crackling audio, both caused by transmission signal noise, were once considered an annoyance, greeting those that fell asleep and awoke in front of the television after all programming had ended for the night. Or something to be quickly passed over in search of a signal containing an actual television program. Today, many people wouldn’t even know what a mention of television “snow” was in reference to. It will not be long until the reference point will go extinct entirely. This one time annoyance, that was simply a reality, will soon be, if it’s not already, looked upon with warm feelings, as a shared experience among older generations, taking people back to another time and place.
The illustrations revealed beneath the scratch off speak to the warmth and sentimentality that underlie and evolve out of the technology that we use in our everyday lives. Often considered only as a tool in the present, technology and the associated aesthetics are interwoven and imprinted in our minds as part of life events, time spent with loved ones, aesthetic trends, political moments, societal norms, and so much more.
Artwork by Stephanie Housley from Coral & Tusk (scratch off)
Unscratched
Scratched Snowman Scene
Scratched Fireside Scene with clock at 6 o’clock (runner-up prize)
Scratched Fireside Scene with clock at 12 o’clock (grand prize)
Back of scratch off
All Images on this page are copyright protected and may not be reproduced or used without permission from AudioVisual Preservation Solutions.
AVP 2019 Holiday Card
10 December 2019
Did you receive an AVP holiday scratch off card this year? If so, what scene is beneath your scratch off? If it’s a fireside scene and the clock reads 12 then you won the grand prize. If it’s a fireside scene and the clock reads 6 then you won the runner-up prize. If it’s a snowman scene it means you have won our appreciation and admiration. All of you are AVPeeps and we treasure you.
AVP’s Bertram Lyons Joins Colleagues In Prague For Digital Preservation Seminar
27 November 2019
At AVP we have a dedicated team of globetrotters with a mission to solve problems around data management. We strive to be good global citizens and share our experiences whenever we can. One of the last efforts of the year will come from AVP Partner and Senior Consultant Bertram Lyons. Bert has an extensive history of engagement in the global cultural heritage community through years of participating in trainings, presentations, and conferences in addition to his varied day-to-day work with AVP.
This week Bert is headed to Prague, Czech Republic for an event in conjunction with the National Museum of the Czech Republic. This will be the second year in a row that he has visited. Last year, he spent two days learning about their projects and workflows at the National Museum. Bert in conjunction with Michal Konečný and Bohus Získal, will be facilitating a day-long seminar on digital preservation. The seminar is attached to a national yearly gathering of archives, libraries, and museums.
Bert was invited by Filip Šír. Filip has been a tireless advocate behind the New Phonograph project which is a comprehensive effort to create universal audio preservation procedures for the Czech Republic. Bert and Filip first met in 2013 at a conference for the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). Bert is a very active member of IASA, serving on the executive board and as the editor of the IASA journal. Filip says Bert’s experience in digital preservation, software, and audiovisual formats is unique. He knew that Bert was the right person to dialog and share with the greater cultural heritage community serving the entire nation.
Filip feels that this seminar is different from ones in the past because it’s broadening the audience beyond curators and technical staff to managers, executives, and other key people working to preserve cultural heritage. The goal is to present primary digital preservation concepts together with practical examples of preservation practice worldwide with a focus on related organizational prerequisites. But it is not intended to be a lecture, rather it is a time to share, discuss and inspire collaboration. Filip says lots of progress has been made but overall there is a need for well formulated strategies that aren’t fragmented by departments and institutions. He thinks that very few organizations have made it to a satisfactory level of long-term digital preservation. He hopes that the conference and the seminar will bolster these efforts and give renewed energy to the people working on this every day.
For Bert, trips like this are extremely valuable to the project work he does with AVP. It’s a chance for him to step out of his normal routine and learn from colleagues working in very different institutional and political environments. He says that overall, despite what resources organizations do or don’t have, it comes down to having passionate people in place to champion for progress. While some people may have anxiety about what they are doing right with digital preservation, the truth is most everyone is in the same boat—just trying to learn as they go and build a network of support that talks about how to keep raising the bar. Ultimately it does take financial and programmatic support for long-term digital preservation to be effective, but not as much as some may think if good planning is in place.
This seminar is a huge step in that direction, with more than 150 people participating. Bert says that the more bridges that can be built between collections and information technology, the faster the potential progress.
Learn more about the seminar, the National Museum and on-going preservation projects at these links:
Digital Preservation Seminar with Bertram Lyons, Michal Konečný and Bohus Získal
https://novyfonograf.cz/en/progress/seminar-with-bertram-lyons/
National Museum
New Phonograph
20th Conference Archives, Libraries, Museums in the Digital World 2019
AVP’s Bertram Lyons Joins Colleagues in Prague for Digital Preservation Seminar
27 November 2019
At AVP we have a dedicated team of globetrotters with a mission to solve problems around data management. We strive to be good global citizens and share our experiences whenever we can. One of the last efforts of the year will come from AVP Partner and Senior Consultant Bertram Lyons. Bert has an extensive history of engagement in the global cultural heritage community through years of participating in trainings, presentations, and conferences in addition to his varied day-to-day work with AVP.
