Television and radio catalogue the times and our ‘culture’ in audio-visual archives. The organisation of ‘regional’ public service broadcasters in Europe, CIRCOM, took stock of the archive situation at its annual conference in Malta in May 2010.
Results of EBU TECHNICAL survey shared
However, many broadcasters in the EBU are making, or have already made, the transition to digital archives. CIRCOM delegates heard a prevue of the results of an EBU TECHNICAL survey of EBU Member’s experiences in digitizing archives. A common pattern emerged that includes problems coping with rapidly evolving storage technology, overspending, over-time projects, and staff reluctance. The role of the ‘archivist’ changes considerable from the days of tape librarian. A vital part of any digital library is the electronic labelling of files - ‘metadata’, and the EBU has been encouraging common standards here for many years – ‘if you can’t find it, you haven’t got it’.
The digitization of archives
When archives are digitized, the road may be open not just to better programme making, but also to provide content ‘on line’ to the public or via other ‘new media’. CIRCOM delegates heard of the ventures of the BBC and RTE. The results can be superb, but alas the act of digitization itself may not be the biggest barrier to providing archive programmes ‘on line’. We enter the complex legal world of rights and copyright, from which few sane men return. The EBU itself has been lobbying strongly for more uniform copyright regulations across European countries. Part of the problem is that, in the past, rights were agreed without any mention of ‘new media’ because they had not been invented. Needless to say, rights today do consider ‘new media’, but even so, will they cover the needs of the media of the future which have not yet been invented?
CIRCOM delegates are at least more aware of this complex environment.