LAC Group has been helping clients archive information in a variety of formats, both physical and digital, and we are actively involved in archiving film and video based moving images.
We are one of the sponsors of the 2013 AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists) annual conference. This year’s event runs from Wednesday, November 6 through Saturday, November 9, 2013, in Richmond, Virginia.
AMIA – Association of Moving Image Archivists – represents the archiving community from a cross-section of film, television, video and interactive media. This community protects and saves valuable content including classic and contemporary movies, newsreels, documentaries and television programming from news and public affairs to entertainment.
While moving image archiving has been primarily the domain of media companies, the advent of easy, inexpensive digital recording means other industries like business and law need to consider these formats in their own archiving and records management plans.
Archiving Criteria for Video and Film
The criteria for determining whether or not to archive these files is another issue we help our clients resolve. No different from other formats, it essentially begins with answers to some basic questions:
- Do you want a particular video or other moving image to be available in the future?
- Does it need to be archived for historical, cultural, legal, business, educational or other reasons?
- Who are the stakeholders and the intended audience?
A crucial step of any archiving process is the metadata – the “information about the information” that adds necessary context. Otherwise, the meaning of your audio, video or film could be misconstrued or simply not understood at all. And finally, timeline and budget are always important considerations. As for risk, it depends on a variety of factors, first and foremost being the nature of the content.
In general, the risks faced by organizations that fail to take adequate steps to archive their moving images include:
- Accidental or deliberate loss forever.
- Inaccessibility or difficulty locating the content when needed.
- Degradation or obsolete formats that eventually cannot be played.
LAC Group helps media companies and other organizations with a variety of moving image solutions for physical and digital formats, from archiving to rights management. We are excited and proud to support the efforts of AMIA.
Three Notable AMIA 2013 Conference Sessions
Some valuable, educational sessions are on the agenda, addressing the “how to” of a variety of video, audio and film archiving requirements. The following three may be of interest to most organizations:
Magnetic Media Stream
While digital has arrived, volumes of magnetic media are still here, requiring secure, controlled storage of physical film and video. Figuring out what to do with analog media collections is an issue facing many organizations. AMIA’s Magnetic Media Crisis Committee presents an important session on Friday, November 8 that addresses this topic from many angles.
First Digital Library “Hack” Day
AMIA will host its first hack day on November 6 in partnership with the Digital Library Federation. A hack day gives archivists and collection managers the opportunity to work with technologists to develop software solutions for managing and preserving digital collections.
Navigating the Digital Archive
With technology advancing and changing rapidly, this panel session, including a speaker from the Library of Congress, will provide a kind of primer on how to make the best decisions for developing a digital archive plan. The session promises to be helpful for any institutional setting and a wide range of budgets.
We hope to see you in Richmond this week at AMIA 2013!
Otherwise, we invite you to check our Event calendar to see what’s coming up in the future, or learn how we can help you manage your Digital and Physical assets.
Tim Knapp
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