LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.0

Help for ARSCLIST Archives


ARSCLIST Archives

ARSCLIST Archives


[email protected]


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

ARSCLIST Home

ARSCLIST Home

ARSCLIST  July 2003

ARSCLIST July 2003

Subject:

Re: Long-term/preservation audio

From:

George Brock-Nannestad <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

[log in to unmask]

Date:

Sat, 5 Jul 2003 21:48:01 +0200

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (66 lines)

From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad

It is nice that so many of the usual crowd are getting philosophical about
this issue.

In the old days, those who wanted to preserve a sonic event used a cylinder.
Then came the instantaneous disc, and people rented disc recorders or
experimented with attachments for their gramophone. Those who could afford it
or who could count on a limited sale had processed records made via a
professional recorder. It is a good thing that we have traces of that sort
going back to the 1890s. Post-WW2 the tape recorder took off, and usually the
quality got better than before. However, in the early 1960s a huge change
took place.

Just as the Brownie (Kodak) became the means of documenting innumerable
visual activities performed by private individuals, the Compact Cassette
became the medium of choice for private individuals for documenting sonic
events."You press the button, you do the rest", only there was nothing else
to be done but to rewind. The medium, the CC, was the universal medium, not
just for this, but for small-volume publishing as well. Naples, Sicily, and
Sardegna share this with Papua New Guinea and a lot of minority interests
worldwide, and because the cassette medium is a difficult one in the long
term, we do not regard it as archival. However, so much of our recent audio
heritage is in that format and a reasonable selection of it must be preserved
under public responsibility. I regard the Compact Cassette as the largest
preservation problem for the future, just because of the variety and the vast
quantity available now. The system and the medium were truly the most
democratic and simple to use for a long time. The MiniDisc at quarter-speed
is similar in functionality, if you remember to switch on the automatic
marker facility. Otherwise it is hell to find a particular spot. But I doubt
that the system will survive as long as the CC.

Selection is one of the professional activities of an archivist. However,
those who search in vain for stuff that has not been selected deplore this
activity. Why can't we keep all of it? The main reason is that indexing for
retrieval is so expensive. I have put forward the heretic view in the
International Association for Sound and Audiovisual archives - IASA that a
trace of the sound is better than no sound at all. Which would mean that data-
reduced versions are better than no versions at all. And, honestly, they do
not take up much space in that form. And we do accept data-reduced versions
in other connections; the Flötenuhr music written by Haydn and Mozart and
encoded on spiky cylinders for small mechanical harmoniums are data-reduced
versions of contemporary performances.

Back to the indexing: because sound is a linear medium in time, indexing
requires linear listening, which however is computer assisted in our times.
With an audio file it is no great thing to automatically flag changes of
sound quality according to pre-defined criteria, so possibly the actual
listening may be limited to 30 seconds before and after a change, in order to
identify the next item. The more there is a need for this kind of processing,
the easier it will be available.

Now, that was only the publicly funded archives. Private individuals may do
what they want - destroy or keep it all are the extremes. However, if private
individuals would agree to use recognized data formats, both for the sound
file and for the indexing (cataloguing, metadata - call it what you like),
the greater the likelyhood that such private material may some day be
integrated into a public archive, in which it will be accessible, but which
does not put any burden on the archive. They will already be using a large
amount of their annual budget on migrating stuff from one hard disk to
another.

Well, keep your ears open!

George

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTSERV.LOC.GOV

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager