2014 Poster Presentations
Poster presentations will be held from 12:00pm – 2:00pm on Thursday and Friday, October 9-10th in the Regency Ballroom as part of the Vendor Cafe.
Doris Chase and the WCFTR: Creating a Culture of Collaboration at UW Madison
Willie Thurlow, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research/UW-Madison
The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research’s Doris Chase collection comprises numerous film elements, including both 1” and ½” videotape. In an attempt to inspect and digitally preserve these older videotapes, while still working within our institution, the WCFTR is partnering with the public broadcasting unit at the University of Wisconsin. This partnership will process the collection’s film elements of the collection in-house, cross-reference with archives housing similar collections, and digitally preserve material, as needed. To achieve our goals as a self-sufficient preservation organization, efficient inter-departmental workflows are required. In specific circumstances, outsourcing may be necessary. This poster will highlight these workflows and partnerships. This effort not only represents the WCTFR’s first attempt to clarify its preservation processes for videotape and other fragile materials, it also is a novel and direct approach to collaboration between the moving image-based departments at the UW.
Ho’okele: Navigating the Moving Image History of the Hokule’a
Robert Omura, The Henry Ku’ualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawai’i
The Hōkule‘a is a traditional Hawaiian double-hulled canoe, navigated through the Pacific without modern navigational instruments. “She is more than a voyaging canoe—she represents the common desire shared by the people of Hawaii, the Pacific, and the World to protect our most cherished values and places from disappearing” (Pacific Voyaging Society). ‘Ulu‘ulu preserved and digitized multiple analog formats from 2″ Quad to Betacam SP that documented the Hōkule‘a’s first 1976 voyage and succeeding trips until the early 1990s. These recordings captured the antecedents and their collective effort that make today’s 2014 Worldwide Voyage to Tahiti, Sāmoa, and Aotearoa, possible. Just as the journey of Hōkule‘a continues to play a significant role in the revitalization and strength of the Hawaiian people, ‘Ulu‘ulu is dedicated to preserving and making accessible this unique history. This poster will highlight the rare footage aboard the Hōkule‘a and share news on ‘Ulu‘ulu’s community partnership with the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
Bridging the Gap: Social Media and Traditional Outreach Strategies
Amy Ciesielski, Moving Image Research Collections
What happens to legacy forms of engagement as social media platforms present new opportunities to reach broader audiences, pique interest, and spark discussion? What are the curatorial challenges of limited space for context and interpretation? How do we measure engagement? Case studies from the University of South Carolina’s Moving Image Research Collections will identify benefits, limitations, and challenges of new outreach strategies, as well as possibilities for a cohesive approach across digital and physical venues.
Grassroots Digitization for Living Archives
Rebecca Fraimow, Dance Heritage Coalition
This poster will present the methods that Dance Heritage Coalition has been using to support grassroots digitization of endangered audiovisual records in areas served by the DHC Preservation Hubs (NY, DC and SF.) Focusing on the ‘regional hub’ model, the poster will go through the life-cycle of small-scale preservation projects from beginning to end — from the initial outreach and relationship-building to get small performance organizations aware of and invested in preservation, to the education and support that helps dance companies and other small living archives gain intellectual control of their videos and prepare for a digitization project, to the actual preservation process that takes place at the Hubs.
One Reel at a Time: Facing the Reality of AV Collections
Cynthia Ghering, Michigan State University Archives
Portia Vescio, Michigan State University Archives
We’ve all faced large AV collections with seemingly insurmountable challenges. At MSU we faced a room full of alleged AV treasures. With no budget or expertise to manage the materials they sat untouched. Changing our mindset to “one reel at a time” we now look at AV as a sustainable program that will be addressed each year. We will demonstrate how our change in approach removed the pressure and paralysis and celebrates the small victories.
AMIA Student Chapter at New York University 2014
Lorena Ramirez-Lopez, New York University
Carmel Curtis, New York
This poster shares information on projects initiated by New York University’s AMIA Student Chapter group that focus on the promotion of, education on, and advocacy towards archiving and preserving audiovisual materials. This poster reflects projects throughout the 2013-2014 academic year as well as provides information on planned works for 2014-2015. Learn about the first ever Home Video Day, a volunteer trip to Uruguay, and upcoming plans to initiate archival film screenings in local afterschool programs.
System Anatomies of Metadata Extraction in Digital Video
Erik Piil, Anthology Film Archives
Technical metadata is culled from a variety of sources in digital media – raw stream information, “atoms” in Quicktime files, “chucks”in WAV files, and “packets” in MPEG transport streams to name a few. This poster compares readouts from two common metadata extraction tools (MediaInfo, ExifTool) and discusses the role of semantics and information exchange between developers and downstream archival communities.
It Shows Everyday Life: Cataloging Challenges in Bilingual Film Archives
Travis L. Wagner, University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina’s Moving Image Research Collection (MIRC) holds The Chinese Film Collection. Since 2009, the collection has been processed with the help of Chinese interns. Though accessible through keyword searches, the language barrier created by some items being in Chinese makes implementing/interpreting catalog records a challenge for non-bilingual individuals. Similarly, since MIRC uses LoC Authorities for subject headings, language becomes an issue for content creation as such standards prove challenging to those who speak English as a second language. This poster will discuss how MIRC is addressing such problems by cleaning up its catalog, looking at how records are changed to become more reflective of the contents original language, while considering accessibility. This poster focuses specifically on creating standards for headings and technical descriptions that retain the importance of the content, without disregarding how items will display to users with varied language skills.
BD-R technology for Redundant Copies and International Standards for Long Term Archiving
Max Inui, JVC Advanced Media USA, Inc.
The challenges in long-term storage of digital data are: a) storage stability/safety; b) accessibility; and, c) migration capability and longevity. We see BD-R technology as a solution that is one of the most promising candidates, for redundancies, when compared to other media such as tape and HDD. My poster will explain the remarkable features of optical discs (BD-R) for long term archiving.
GE: ORWO Region – Methodology of the National Film Heritage Digitization
Miloslav Novak, Film and TV Scool of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Marek Jicha, Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
In Central Europe, due to budgetary constraints and the unavailability of film stocks during certain time periods, a set of particular laboratory and creative techniques were applied whereby cinematographers shot films on Eastman Kodak negative, but all intermediate and positive elements were printed on East German ORWO film stock. The stocks were not always compatible, and therefore the results between what was captured on the original camera negative and what was screened in theaters differed greatly. This poster presents the first research results of the National Film Fund Project (DF13P01OVV006) to optimize digital restoration workflow. This program is part of the Czech NAKI Programme and Network, a collaborative project that demonstrates digitisation and access sharing best practices at work in Central European countries today. The goal of this research is to determine the best way to digitally recreate the original theatrical screening experiences of these films.
Party Out of Bounds: Friendraising and Outreach in Special Collections
Mary Miller, Walter J. Brown Media Archives
In February 2012, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection (BMA-PAC) relocated to a dazzling new Special Collections building on the edge of the UGA campus. Already an archive and a library, BMA-PAC also became a museum and event destination. Through a process of trial and error, we have learned a lot about creating multimedia exhibits, partnering with local organizations, and presenting events such as the Peabody Decades screening series and the ARTifacts Rock Athens: Relics from the Athens Music Scene exhibit that have piqued the community’s interest and earned the loyalty of repeat visitors. Key areas of focus: *Creating multimedia exhibits, using captions to create a story arc, selecting static and media objects. Abstract: *Identifying your target audience, publicizing your event, obtaining sponsorships *Identifying partners within and beyond your institution, becoming essential to your community, obtaining sponsorships
From Videola to BlackMagicPro: Digitization Solutions at Underfunded Archives
Jorge Avila, Fundación Patriminio Filmico Colombiano
Juana Suarez (Translator), NYU
This presentation illustrates the most common digitization process at Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano/Colombian Film Heritage Foundation. In the absence of an optical scanner, digitization at Patrimonio is done by using a Videola®/handycam/BlackMagic Pro Card thread (large digitization projects are outsourced and not conducted in situ). This effective but basic procedure has proven useful in the production of access and screening copies. The poster also illustrates how resourceful staff members have to be at underfunded archives in order to come with solutions for tasks that won’t wait. In this regard, we also use this case study to raise awareness in the role of staff members and the need to guarantee continuity of processes in such a way that their temporal/definitive absence is not to the institution’s detriment. The question at stake is to what extent obsolescence (of knowledge, equipment and processes) can be controlled by alternative archival/international collaborations.
How to be an Archival Rock Star
Hannah Palin, University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Grays Harbor Happenings, a documentary about a collection of orphaned 1920s newsreels brought 1,000 people to a screening in a restored 1928 movie palace, and won three prestigious awards. Frankly, it’s not often that a bunch of old newsreels get this kind of attention, but this 8-year project is an example of how to move collections out of the basement, into the archival mainstream, and make archivists into rock stars (at least for one day).
Avalon Media System
Stefan Elnabli, Northwestern University Library
This poster session will display the progress of Indiana University Library and Northwestern University Library in developing Avalon Media System. Avalon is a collaboration of educational and cultural institutions and opensource software communities to create a freely available system that will enable libraries and archives to easily curate, distribute, and provide online access to their video and audio collections. Find out how Avalon can be used in your archive or library.
Research on Energy Saving Opportunities in Libraries and Archives
Christopher Cameron, Image Permanence Institute
The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) conducted a four-year investigation into mechanical system shutdowns in libraries and archives to successfully reduce energy consumption and implement sustainable practices in the operation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems without incurring undue risks to collection materials. The results of the study showed that it is possible to use mechanical system shutdowns as an energy-saving measure in library collections spaces without sacrificing the quality of the preservation environment.
The Race to Save the History of Hollywood Park
Staci Hogsett, UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies
Alina Sinetos, UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies
Hollywood Park racetrack closed its doors in December 2013, leaving behind an institutional archive of 75 years of horse racing and Los Angeles history. The archive was in shambles––with 16mm films molding in water-damaged boxes and without even a basic inventory. Students from the UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies program collaborated with the former television production supervisor (and default archivist) to develop guidelines for the care and preservation of the Hollywood Park collections.
The Lost Works of Fred Engelberg at The USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive
Makin Kan, UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies
This research highlights the USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive’s recent acquisition of the Fred Engelberg collection. That the late artist is virtually unknown is confounding and a feat of reclusiveness given the significant relationships represented by this collection across music, experimental and mainstream cinema, exhibiting a deep involvement in the Los Angeles sixties folk music scene as well as with BBS Productions, known for The Last Picture Show (1971).
Out of Experimental Television: Audiovisual Preservation at Cornell
Tre Berney, Cornell University
In 2011, in anticipating its closure in Owego, NY, the Experimental Television Center moved their video library to the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, part of the Cornell University Library division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. For 40 years, the Experimental Television Center (ETC) was the United States’ leading independent facility for video art creation and experimentation. Cornell Library’s department of Digital Scholarship and Preservation Services and Goldsen Archive received two large grants to digitize the collection for preservation and access. CUL recognized this and other video digitization projects as an ideal window and catalyst for expanding local infrastructure for audiovisual media digitization. These efforts have now paved the way for a library backed campus-wide initiative to assess Cornell’s audiovisual unique, rare, research and teaching resources. The poster will illustrate the interrelationship of the ETC video digitization project and major technical advances and decisions made along the way.
A Century of Sound: The Sound of Movies 1933-1975
Robert Heiber, The Rick Chace Foundation
A Century of Sound – The History of Sound in Motion Pictures: The Sound of Movies 1933 – 1975 is the long-anticipated second installment in film preservationist Bob Gitt’s series made available by UCLA Film & TV Archive and The Rick Chace Foundation. Part two of this series has 20 chapters of in-depth and comprehensive information using over 170 film clips and more than 1200 still images. Ordering information will be available at the session.