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Collecting born-digital material at the source: Acquisition strategies and lessons learned
Journal of Digital Media Management,
7
(4),
339-347
(2019)
Abstract
The archival of born-digital films and other digital moving-image content presents unique challenges. Complex file formats and content with increasingly higher resolution result in large file sizes and large packages of files, with multi-terabyte master files being the new norm. Standards for long-term preservation and what content to collect from film production remain in flux, with practices varying among institutions. To process and provide access to these materials efficiently requires innovative and nimble workflows that can adapt to the changing landscape. This paper describes the challenges and experiences with born-digital films at three institutions: the Asian Film Archive (Singapore), Library of Congress (USA) and Eye Filmmuseum (The Netherlands). The authors discuss their personal experience of the issues related to collecting practices, technology implementation and funding. This information will be of particular benefit to any archives and institutions about to embark upon digital preservation planning.
Keywords: born-digital film; film archiving; preservation
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Laura Drake Davis is a digital specialist in the Moving Image Section of the Library of Congress. In this role, she processes born-digital moving-image content, develops new workflows for born-digital content and develops strategies for metadata capture and transformation. She brings a wide range of experience to this role, with previous positions in college and university archives, special collections and state government archives. A certified archivist since 2007, she holds a master of library science degree from the University of Maryland College Park.
Anne Gant is Head of Film Conservation and Digital Access at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. The department has grown to include the intake and ingest of born-digital material, digitisation of the film collection, restoration (photochemical and digital), digital access and archival sales. She has an MA in the preservation and presentation of moving images from the University of Amsterdam, and is a member of the FIAF Technical Commission. She has previously worked for a mix of digital, film and cultural heritage organisations, including an early photography digitisation project at the Brooklyn Historical Society, and at Women Make Movies.
Chew Tee Pao is an archivist at the Asian Film Archive, where he has worked since 2009. He oversees the development of the film collection, helps to plan the archive’s preservation strategies and is also responsible for selecting and overseeing film restoration. He has written various articles on film preservation and has co-written a chapter on independent digital filmmaking and its impact on film archiving in Singapore for the book ‘Singapore Cinema: New Perspectives’.
