Digital meets Culture

Dubrovnik, Croatia, 28-30 September 2017

As a result of the long and devoted work of dozens of experts and professional juries, more than 40 major award schemes from around the world announced some 300 prize-winning museum, heritage and conservation projects in 2016. At The Best in Heritage conference, the featured, handpicked selection of the most innovative and inspiring candidates from this accumulation of quality will represent a balanced variety of best practices.

The gathering will consist of two events: IMAGINES, a one day event where multimedia and new technology achievements will be presented; and the core event, with its packed two-day schedule. Over 40 projects from China, the United States, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Russia and Europe will be presented. The conference is a rare international platform where official, private and civil society institutions & actions meet.

The audience, moderators-judges, and the keynote speakers will vote for “The Project of Influence 2017”, for each part of the programme. The two representatives of the winning projects will have the privilege of delivering the key-note speeches at the 2018 conference, and will be invited to present their institutions projects at the EXPONATEC fair in Cologne, in November 2017.

In addition to its global survey of best practices, the conference features rich social and cultural content organised with help of Dubrovnik Museums, Dubrovnik Archives, – all taking place in the Renaissance city centre of Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The dinner-receptions, all located in the historic palaces, will provide an inspiring and relaxed atmosphere, ideal for networking, discussing potential collaborations and getting to know prize-winning professionals in person.

The conference is organised in partnership with EUROPA NOSTRA & the Endowment Fund of ICOM, with the local partnership of Dubrovnik Museums, the support of the City of Dubrovnik and Ministry of Culture of Croatia, and with sponsorship from Meyvaert Glass Engineering.

Website: https://www.thebestinheritage.com/conference

The Programme

Thursday, 28 September

8.00 – 19.30 Registration for all events in the lobby of Theatre “Marin Držic”

16.00 – 18.00 Guided tour of the Dubrovnik City walls, for all registered participants

Official opening and IMAGINES

Multimedia Hall VISIA – Moderator: Alex Palin

10.00 – 10.10 The Best in Heritage Official Opening

10.10 – 10.30 Keynote address, Joost van der Spek, Tinker Imagineers – IMAGINES Project of Influence winner 2016

10.30 – 10.45 Project i 1: Heritage in Motion / Apps for mobile devices Award

Virtual Architecture Museum: Russia by Vizerra

10.45 – 11.00 Project i 2: 2016 MUSE Awards / Games and Augmented Reality Gold Award

Sydvestjyske Museer: Augmenting the Historic City: Trade and Merchants’ Life in Ribe

11.00 – 11.15 Project i 3: AVICOM 2016 F@IMP Awards / Video Art Prize laureate

Mosman Art Gallery: “SYRIA”

11.15 – 11.30 Project i 4: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Granaries of Memory

11.30 – 11.45 Project i 5: Museums and the Web GLAMi Awards 2016 / Platinum

AnnoTate

11.45 – 12.00 Project i 6: 2016 MUSE Award for Mobile Application

Brooklyn Museum: ASK Brooklyn Museum

12.00 – 12.15 Project i 7: Heritage in Motion / Best Achievement Award 2016

Provincie Limburg: Limburg 1914-1918, Small Stories From a Great War

12.15 – 12.30 Project i 8: AVICOM / FIAMP 2016 Website and Webart Gold

“The Voyage On Board the Cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi” by Rosphoto

12:30 – 13:30 lunch & coffee

13.30 – 13.45 Project i 9: Heritage in Motion / Websites and Online Content Award 2016

ArchivPortal – D – Building a German Archives Portal by Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg

13.45 – 14.00 Project i 10: Museums and the Web GLAMi Awards 2016 People’s choice

British Art Studies Online Journal

14.00 – 14.15 Project i 11: Museums + Heritage Awards 2016 / Educational Initiative

Historic Royal Palaces, Movie Maker Mission

14.15 – 14.30 Project i 12: 2016 MUSE Award for Video, Film, and Computer Animation

Field Museum: The Switch: A Bill Stanley Story

14.30 – 14.45 Project i 13: MAPDA 2016 / Institution Website Level B Best in Show – Multimedia

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu Website

14.45 – 15.00 Project i 14: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Prehistoric Picture Project. Pitoti: Digital Rock-Art in Cambridge

15.00 – 15.10 Vote on the “IMAGINES Project of Influence 2017″

15.10 – 15.30 Closing Remarks

19.30 – 21.00 The Best in Heritage Welcome ceremony in the Theatre “Marin Držić”

With Keynote address by Dr Roberto Nardi, Centro di Conservazione Archeologica Roma – winner of Project of Influence award 2016

21.00 – 23.00 Welcome party in Sponza Palace, Venue courtesy of the Dubrovnik Archives

Friday, 29 September

“Marin Držić” Theatre: Presentations of projects

Morning session moderator: David Fleming

9.30 – 9:55 Project 1: European Museum Forum / Council of Europe Museum Prize 2016

European Solidarity Centre, Gdańsk, Poland

9:55 – 10.20 Project 2: European Museum Academy Micheletti Award 2016

Den Gamle By, Aarhus, Denmark

10.20 – 10.45 Project 3: Chinese Museums Association / Most Innovative Museums of China 2016

Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou, China

10.45- 11.10 Project 4: Estonian Museum Awards 2016 / Best Permanent Exhibition

Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia

11.10 – 11.40 coffee

11.40 – 12.05 Project 5: UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize 2016

Iberarchivos Programme for the Development of Ibero-American Archives, Madrid , Spain

12.05 – 12.30 Project 6: American Alliance of Museums / Excellence in Exhibition Awards 2016

San Diego Natural History Museum: “Coast to Cactus in Southern California”, San Diego, United States

12.30 – 12.55 Project 7: Portuguese Museum Award 2016

Museu da Misericórdia, Porto, Portugal

13.00 – 15.00 lunch break

Afternoon session moderator: Suay Aksoy

15.00 – 15.25 Project 8: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2016

Conservation Study of The Village Gostuša, Niš, Serbia

15.25 – 15.50 Project 9: Intermuseum 2016 festival Grand-prix / ICOM Russia Award

State Darwin Museum, Moscow, Russia

15.50 – 16.15 Project 10: Swedish Museum of the Year 2016 Award

National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

16.15 – 16.40 Project 11: Telegraph Family Friendly Museum Award 2016

York Art Gallery, York, United Kingdom

16.40 – 17.10 coffee

17.10 – 17.35 Project 12: European Museum Forum / European Museum of the Year Award 2016

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland

17.35 – 18.00 Project 13: ServiceIQ 2016 New Zealand Museum Awards / Best Museum Project

Pearson & Associates: Kaiapoi Museum, Kaiapoi, New Zealand

18.00 – 18.25 Project 14: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2016

Employees and activists of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

18.25 – 18.45 SPOTLIGHT: Dr An Laishun, Vice President and Secretary General, Chinese Museum Association

“The Development and Innovation in Museums in China”

18.45 – 21.00 free time

21.00 – 23.00 Ethno dinner-party offered by Dubrovnik museums in Rupe Museum

With guided tour of the Rupe Museum 20.00 – 21.00

Saturday, 30 September

“Marin Držić” theatre: Presentations of projects

Morning session moderator: Carl Depauw

9.30 – 9.55 Project 15: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2016

Adopt-A-Monument, Tampere, Finland

9.55 – 10.20 Project 16: European Museum Forum / Silletto Prize 2016

Vukovar Municipal Museum, Vukovar, Croatia

10.20 – 10.45 Project 17: Japan Institute of Architects Grand Prix 2016

Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita, Japan

10.45 – 11.10 Project 18: Norwegian Museum Of The Year 2016

Vest-Agder Museum, Kristiansand, Norway

11.10 – 11.40 coffee

11.40 – 12.05 Project 19: European Museum Forum / Kenneth Hudson Award 2016

Micropia, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

12.05 – 12.30 Project 20: EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Preserving and Promoting Dance Heritage, Berlin, Germany

12.30 – 12.55 Project 21: National Lottery Best Heritage Project 2016

Lion Salt Works, Cheshire, United Kingdom

13.00 – 15.00 lunch break

Afternoon session moderator: Viv Golding

15.00 – 15.25 Project 22: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2016

Wimpole Hall’s Gothic Tower in Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

15.25 – 15.50 Project 23: Museums + Heritage Permanent Exhibition Award 2016

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh: The Lister Project, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

15.50 – 16.15 Project 24: International Association for Children in Museums / Children in Museums Award 2016

GeoFort, Herwijnen, The Netherlands

16.15 – 16.40 Project 25: Chinese Museums Association / Most Innovative Museums of China 2016

Changzhou Museum, Changzhou, China

16.40 – 17.10 coffee

17.10 – 17.35 Project 26: Museums + Heritage International Award 2016

Horsens Museum and Kvorning Design & Communication, Horsens Prison Museum, Denmark

17.35 – 18.00 Project 27: MAGNA Awards 2016 / Interpretation, Learning & Audience Engagement

Museum Victoria and Princes Hill Primary School: Building Our School Museum, Melbourne, Australia

18.00 – 18.25 Project 28: Soft Power Destination Awards 2016 / Soft Power Organization

Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg, Canada

18.25 – 18.30 Vote on the “Project of Influence 2017” by the audience and moderators

18.30 – 21.00 free time

21.00 – 23.00 Closing ceremony, Dinner and farewell party in Rector’s palace

With guided tour of the Cultural History Museum 20.00 – 21.00

Sunday, 1 October

The Post Conference Excursion by bus (only upon reservation)

THE CITY OF KOTOR (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and THE BAY OF KOTOR (MONTENEGRO)

Facet Publishing have announced the release of Open Licensing for Cultural Heritage by Gill Hamilton and Fred Saunderson.

new book: Making the case for open licensing in cultural heritage institutions

In the digital era, libraries, archives, museums and galleries are no longer constrained by the physical limitations of their buildings, analogue books, manuscripts, maps, paintings and artefacts. Cultural collections now can be safely distributed and shared globally. To ensure that the benefits of this ability to share are realised, cultural institutions must endeavour to provide free and open access to their digital collections. The tool for achieving this is open licensing.

Featuring real-world case studies from diverse education and heritage organizations, Open Licensing for Cultural Heritage digs into the concept of ‘open’ in relation to intellectual property. It explores the organizational benefits of open licensing and the open movement, including the importance of content discoverability, arguments for wider collections impact and access, the practical benefits of simplicity and scalability, and more ethical and principled arguments related to the protection of public content and the public domain.

The authors said, “Openly sharing our knowledge, experience, content and culture for free is not a new concept. Sharing is an innate and natural part of our human character. Forward looking, inclusive, modern, relevant cultural heritage organizations must play a central role in supporting free, open access to culture at a global level. This is possible, practical and achievable with considered and informed application of an open licensing framework. Our book will provide readers with the insight, knowledge, and confidence to make a case for and implement an open licensing approach.”

Open Licensing for Cultural Heritage, Aug 2017, 240pp.

paperback: 9781783301850 | £64.95 |

hardback: 9781783301867 | £129.95 |

eBook: 9781783302505

Gill Hamilton is Digital Access Manager at the National Library of Scotland where she leads on access to the Library’s extensive digital collections, and oversees its resource discovery and library management systems.

Fred Saunderson is the National Library of Scotland’s Intellectual Property Specialist where he has responsibility for providing copyright and intellectual property advice and guidance, as well as coordinating licensing and re-use procedures.

The book is published by Facet Publishing and is available from Bookpoint Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1235 827702 | Fax: +44 (0)1235 827703 | Email: facet@bookpoint.co.uk | Web: www.facetpublishing.co.uk. | Mailing Address: Mail Order Dept, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4TD. It is available in North America from the American Library Association.

Contributions are encouraged in media studies, digital humanities, television and media history. Deadline for proposals 2 October 2017.

Call for papers VIEW Journal: Audiovisual Data in Digital Humanities

Considering the relevance of audiovisual material as perhaps the biggest wave of data to come in the near future (Smith, 2013, IBM prospective study) its relatively modest position within the realm of Digital Humanities conferences is remarkable. The objective of this special issue for VIEW is to present current research in that field on a variety of epistemological, historiographical and technological issues that are specific for digital methods applied to audiovisual data. We strive to cover a great range of media and data types and of applications representing the various stages of the research process.

The following key topics / problems / questions are of special interest:

Do computational approaches to sound and (moving) images extend or/and change our conceptual and epistemological understanding of these media? What are the leading machine learning approaches to the study of audio and visual culture and particularly time-based media? How do these approaches, models, and methods of learning relate to acquiring and producing knowledge by the conventional means of reading and analyzing text? Do we understand the 20th century differently through listening to sounds and voices and viewing images than through reading texts? How does massive digitization and online access relate to the concept of authenticity and provenance?
What tools in the sequence of the research process – search, annotation, vocabulary, analysis, presentation – are best suited to work with audio-visual data? The ways in which we structure and process information are primarily determined by the convention of attributing meaning to visual content through text. Does searching audio-visual archives, annotating photos or film clips, analyzing a corpus of city sounds, or presenting research output through a virtual exhibition, require special dedicated tools? What is the diversity in requirements within the communities of humanities scholars? How can, for example, existing commercial tools or software be repurposed for scholarly use?
What are the main hurdles for the further expansion of AV in DH? Compared to text, audiovisual data as carriers of knowledge are a relatively young phenomenon. Consequently the question of ‘ownership’ and the commercial value of many audiovisual sources result in considerable constraints for use due to issues of copyright. A constraint of a completely different order, is the intensive investment in time needed when listening to or watching an audiovisual corpus, compared to reading a text. Does the law or do technologies for speech and image retrieval offer solutions to overcome these obstacles?

Practicals:
Contributions are encouraged from authors with different kinds of expertise and interests in media studies, digital humanities, television and media history.
Paper proposals (max. 500 words) are due on October 2nd, 2017.
Submissions should be sent to the managing editor of the journal, Dana Mustata.
A notice of acceptance will be sent to authors in the 1st week of November 2017.
Articles (3 – 6,000 words) will be due on 15th of February 2018. Longer articles are welcome, given that they comply with the journal’s author guidelines.
For further information or questions about the issue, please contact the co-editors: Mark Williams (Associate Professor Film and Media Studies, Dartmouth College U.S.), Pelle Snickars (Prof. of Media Studies Umea Univesity, Sweden) or Andreas Fickers (Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History).

About VIEW Journal
See http://www.viewjournal.eu/ for the current and back issues. VIEW is supported by the EUscreen Network and published by the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in collaboration with Utrecht University, Royal Holloway University of London, and University of Luxembourg. VIEW is proud to be an open access journal. All articles are indexed through the Directory of Open Access Journals, the EBSCO Film and Television Index, Paperity and NARCIS.

Manchester (UK); 27-29 November 2017

DCDC17 Conference: The cultural value of collections and the creative economy

Join the #DCDC17 in November for three days of discussions and workshops on how we gather, measure and present evidence of the cultural value and impact of our collections.

DCDC17 keynotes

Geoffrey Crossick, Distinguished Professor of Humanities, School of Advanced Study
Shân Maclennan, Deputy Artistic Director, Southbank Centre
Mike Jackson, Chief Executive, North Somerset Council
Nancy E. Gwinn, Director, Smithsonian Libraries

In today’s uncertain political and economic climate the ability to demonstrate why heritage and culture matter – and to whom – has never been more important or relevant. The ways in which we gather, measure and present evidence of cultural value and impact has attracted increasing attention in recent years, as emphasis has led to a stronger focus on the experience of individuals and of communities.

Archives, libraries, museums and heritage organisations across the UK and further afield have played a leading role in this movement. They have actively looked to examine, capture and measure the wider social, cultural and economic impact of their collections, and to engage more effectively with a wider variety of audiences. Work in this area continues to evolve, as does the need for new and better ways of evidencing value and impact through continuing research and the effective sharing of experiences within and between sectors.

DCDC17 will consider how, by working collaboratively through networks of inter and cross-disciplinary initiatives, we can continue to improve and develop methodologies in order to build a strong evidence base to demonstrate the cultural value of collections and their contribution to the creative economy.

Programme and info: http://dcdcconference.com/

Pre-conference workshops :: 27 November 2017

This year we will be holding three pre-conference workshops, taking place around Manchester. These interactive workshops are an excellent opportunity to explore and discuss practical issues, and to get to know fellow delegates before the main conference. Places are limited for these workshops so we advise that you register early to avoid disappointment.

Successful partnerships: A practical guide
Manchester Libraries and Archives services (Archives+)

This will be an interactive session featuring workshops, discussions and practical exercises… Learn from our experience, with a chance to discuss successful approaches to partnership working, strategic management and achieving outcomes for customers.

Audience development at the John Rylands Library:Working hard to establish relevance with special collections
University of Manchester

Over the past two years our audience-focussed approach to everything we do has helped us to establish our relevance. At this workshop we will share with you the tools we’ve used to answer ‘Who are our ‘core’ and ‘keep warm’ audiences and how can we shape our programme to make us relevant to them?’

Difficult Conversations – Creating relevant and responsive public engagement opportunities about past conflict and the contemporary world
Imperial War Museums

Considering case studies from our recent programmes, we will lead discussion of how public engagement and learning programmes can be responsive to current events, shifting media, and new technologies while contributing to, and driving, public debate grounded in research, sites, collections, and stories from 100 years of conflict.

Cultural sites are highly emotional places and Emotive will research, design, develop and evaluate methods and tools to support the creation of narratives which draw on ’emotive storytelling’.

Presenting EMOTIVE project

Emotive is an EU-funded heritage project that aims to use emotional storytelling to dramatically change how we experience heritage sites.

For heritage professionals, the Emotive application will provide a powerful storytelling engine and a set of rich digital media assets that can be used to create detailed characters and narratives featuring archaeological sites or collections of artefacts.

For visitors, Emotive will offer dramatic, emotionally engaging stories that can be experienced while at a cultural site or remotely. Wherever visitors are, they can follow characters, look for clues and explore environments alone or with family and friends.

the Emotive team at the kick off in November 2016

From 2016-2019, the Emotive consortium will research, design, develop and evaluate methods and tools that can support the cultural and creative industries in creating narratives which draw on this power of ’emotive storytelling’. The output of this process will be a number of prototype tools and applications for heritage professionals and visitors that produce interactive, personalized, emotionally resonant digital stories for museums and cultural sites.

EMOTIVE has received funding from the Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation under grant agreement n° 727188.

Project Website: http://www.emotiveproject.eu/

Webinar, 19 September | 15:00 CEST

Life after PREFORMA: the future of veraPDF

The PREFORMA project that commissioned and funded the development of veraPDF draws to an end this year. Recent activity has been focused on PREFORMA acceptance testing, formalising the decisions of the PDF Association’s Technical Working Group and fixing issues reported by the community. In this webinar, the veraPDF Consortium will present the results of recent development and the plans for life after PREFORMA. Specifically, the webinar will cover:

Improvements to the veraPDF policy checker aimed to make it easier for users to create custom policies.
Real world policies produced by the veraPDF consortium for PREFORMA acceptance testing.
Common validation issues, particularly around PDF/A’s Unicode requirements.
Our plans for the future, including feature reporting for PDF 2.0 and support arrangements for the veraPDF project.

Session leads

Carl Wilson, Open Preservation Foundation

Boris Doubrov, Dual Lab

Registration

Registration is now open at: https://openpreservation.clickmeeting.com/life-after-preforma-the-future-of-verapdf. There are 50 places available, allocated on a first come, first served basis. The webinar will also be recorded for OPF members who cannot attend at this time.

Time

The webinar takes place at 14:00 BST / 15:00 CEST and will last approximately one hour.

Singapore, 5-6 April 2018

Future of Information and Communication Conference (FICC) 2018

FICC 2018 provided a forum for researchers from both academia and industry to share their latest research contributions, future vision in the field and potential impact across industries. FICC2018 allowed attendees to exchange knowledge with the common goal of shaping the future of Information and Communication.

The conference programme included paper presentations, poster sessions and project demonstrations, along with prominent keynote speakers and industrial workshops. Accepted papers were published in IEEE Xplore and indexed in Scopus, IET Inspec and many more.

Information and Communication is playing an increasing role in society and within our lives. The conference provided its attendees an uncommon opportunity to expand their network beyond their immediate professional environment. It is a unique chance to work with other accomplished individuals from diverse areas towards the common goal of shaping the future of the communication, computing and society.

FICC is part of the SAI Conferences, a group of annual conferences produced by The Science and Information (SAI) Organization, based in the United Kingdom. Previous conferences include Future Technologies Conference (FTC) in San Francisco, Intelligent Systems Conference (IntelliSys) in London and Computing Conference in London.

Complete details are available on the conference website : http://saiconference.com/FICC

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with people using MediaConch within their institutions.

Interview with Julia Kim

Julia Kim at NYU (photo credit: Elena Olivo)

Hey Julia! Introduce yourself please.

Hi, I’m Julia Kim. I’m the Digital Assets Specialist at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. I’ve been here for just about 2 years now. I get to work with a good mix of both digitized and born-digital multi-format collections. While we create collections documenting concerts and events, the heart of our collections are ethnographic materials from collectors, folklorists, and anthropologists. AFC highlights include the Lomax family archival collections, the indigenous Native American wax cylinders, StoryCorps, and “Web Cultures,” but in-between, we get a little bit of everything that is evidence of “folk” around the world. I’m considered a specialist, but I do a bit of everything in my day-to-day work.

What does your media ingest process look like? Does your media ingest process include any tests (manual or automated) on the incoming content? If so, what are the goals of those tests?

Great question. We have different workflows for in-house created versus externally produced, and vendor-digitized collections. The collections themselves also are processed to very different levels depending on factors like quality, difficulty, extent size and types, and staff. For now though, only several very special collections get MediaConch treatment and love, but this is all great preparatory work for a future division-wide time-based media digitization push AFC is in the very beginning stages of.

Any vendor digitized still image collection goes through technical assessors to check against file headers and specifications, similarly, we also have bulk processes in place to QC and sample still images. These checks have been integrated into our repository system and are available upon copying, verifying checksums, and running malware scans on content on ingest servers. Audiovisual and audio content (the bulk of our collections), however, generally runs through checks and processes that are external to our repository environment. This means a mix of tools and software like exiftool, mediainfo, bwf metaedit, sleuthkit, ftk, exact audio copy, exactly, and … it can go on. The time-based media in our collections are a great challenge. Sometimes these tools come into play after the SIP is ingested to prepare the AIP, sometimes they are used before. Regardless, tools help identify, confirm, and even migrate content to give them a better chance at longterm preservation. Digital preservation as simply copying files to geographically dispersed and backed-up linear tape is no longer sufficient; our jobs are a lot harder now. While we have a few command-line scripts cobbled together and repository tools that work en bulk, I would say that we also rely on a lot of manual processes as well. So… it’s a bit of a smorgasbord that is collection-dependent.

Where do you use MediaConch? Do you use MediaConch primarily for file validation, for local policy checking, for in-house quality control, for quality testing for vendor files?

So far, I’ve primarily used MediaConch to create reports for new and incoming born-digital video from the Civil Rights History Project (Apple Pro Res 4:2:2, 10TB unique) and the DPX files (1536, 10bit, printing density, 20 TB unique) from digitizing celluloid film. Both of these collections share a few factors in common: they’re really important to the department, they’re extremely large in size, and as is, they present some technical difficulties.

Years ago, some of the first accessions of the CRHP collections were corrupted. In a post-ingest analysis, technical metadata fields created betrayed some indications such as truncated audio streams. While all the content was recovered, I decided to adapt workflows this with the new accession and advocated for creating some extremely granular reports as part of the archival package. The challenge now is to sit down and review the reports effectively.

With DPX, we didn’t get checksums for some of the batches. With that baseline measure gone, I knew I needed to find something else to ensure that each of the easily 7,000 – 50,000 files per directory were at least mirroring each other’s specifications. I reached out to the hive mind and MediaConch was highly recommended (thanks, Katharine!).

Initially, after creating the XML reports for each of the collections I was using, our staff used the GUI, but MediaConch would conk out when we tried to point to DPX directories; even the modest sub 10,000 files were simply too many. After several rounds of freezing my Mac and then uninstalling and reinstalling MediaConch, I realized I should just integrate a script. It was much easier than I thought it would be to set-up and use right away. Also, it’s great to use MediaConch in all three ways in which the developers have made it available. I like the browser-based version for storing local policies and comparing local policies against the public policies other users have generously shared and made available. It’s really useful for thinking about real-world time-based video specification, too. I was silly when I crashed my computers and had not downloaded my created policies for future re-use (fail!), so this is a great and easily accessible policy back-up. The GUI is also just incredibly easy and simple, too. I have trained staff to use it in minutes, which is not normal for implementing new software. Obviously though, with the previously unencountered numbers of files per film created when digitizing celluloid to DPX, I had to use the command line. At this point, I’m going to start reviewing the reports created and, again, I think that’s when I need to really think about making good use of all the data created. While some of this is a “store it and forget it” thing, I want it to be used much more actively as well. I’d be really curious to know how other people use and (re)package reports…

At what point in the archival process do you use MediaConch?

At the end, at least right now. That should change soon, but as a new staff member at AFC, I’m still catching up on various backlogs… although as I say that I think there will always be some sort of backlog to catch-up to! The collections are all actually already copied and checksummed on longterm servers long before I’ve used MediaConch with them… at least so far. My number one priority with any newly acquired hard drives is to get them backed up to tape and into our repository systems. We’ve also had a lot of division staff turnover with the first 2 digital technicians and 1 (hybrid) archivist leaving (all promotions), and the current digital technician I’m working with also leaving very shortly. So, excuses aside, I’m probably using MediaConch against my preconception of how I would have implemented it in workflows. But this is all in keeping with my focus this past year to start reevaluating older already ingested digital collections. AFC has been collecting and engaging in digital preservation for a long time, but MediaConch and tools like it had not existed before.

Do you use MediaConch for MKV/FFV1/LPCM video files, for other video files, for non-video files, or something else?

I use it for video and non-video (DPX), but once I’m through with the 2 collections mentioned earlier, I expect to expand its application. September is also my annual policy review month for me here, so I’m hoping that through update specifications for future vendor work and donors. I have started to create piles of migrated LPCM, so… I’m hopeful that I’ll be playing with this more and more.

Why do you think file validation is important?

File validation, specification checking, and checksumming verifying are probably the bedrocks of digital preservation, regardless of format. They all answer the questions of: what is this on the server? Is it what I think it is? Is it what I wanted? This is incredibly important, but it can be difficult to justify because of the time it can take in highly distributed workflows. Problems with collection quality and ingests often only become apparent with access. Given the wild world of audiovisual file specifications, MediaConch’s work with FFV1 and Matroska is really amazing and forward thinking… and I’m excited for when I get to work with these them in the future.

Of course, file validation itself is still not enough for many file types. Many file types are often invalid, but knowing that a collection include invalid files is important for assessing preservation risks and understanding collection content. It can also help with creating clearer archival policies for supported versus less supported specifications – that gray area where we many donor-created digital collections fall into.

Anything else you’d like to add?

MediaConch has made my life better. I’m grateful to the stars behind the development of MediaConch! Thank you also to the European Commission for funding a tool that is critical to archival work today.

A toolset to future-proof your digital files

PREFORMA: smart solutions for digital preservation

The PREFORMA project is looking for partners willing to deploy and/or further develop the file-format validation tools developed in the project and we would be happy to include your institution or organisation among our early adopters.

Download here the model letter of expression of interest to join the PREFORMA community and send it back to info@preforma-project.eu.

The importance of file checking for digital preservation

Digital preservation means taking precautions to ensure long term access to digital content. Each of the different variants of file formats and codecs held in digital archives should be checked periodically. This might necessitate migrating some content to new formats to mitigate the risk of files becoming obsolete or unusable in the future.

If digital files do not comply to the standard specification then even files of and identical format and using the same codecs can have different properties. This means that subsequent migration or conversion processes may yield unpredictable results, jepoardising preservation workflows.

Three steps to making digital data future proof

Validate incoming file formats and codecs against their standard specification. Files that conform with their specification can be parsed, processed or rendered consistently by any software that honours the specification.
If necessary, define custom acceptance criteria for archival content and validate whether incoming files comply with such criteria.
Make these checks part of the processing workflow.

The PREFORMA solution

The PREFORMA tools help memory institutions check file conformance, define custom policies, and build an efficient ingest workflow. Download and try them at www.preforma-project.eu/open-source-portal.html!

Four independent modules

Implementation Checker: validates compliance with the specification in all respects.
Policy Checker: enforces custom institutional policies beyond the scope of the specification itself.
Reporter: produces customisable reports formatted for both human readability and automated parsing.
Metadata Fixer: carries out any corrections to file metadata, if necessary, to achieve conformance with the specification.

Three media file types

Electronic documents (PDF/A)
Still images (uncompressed TIFF)
Audiovisual files (FFV1 video and LPCM audio in a Matroska container)

Three adaptable program interfaces

Command line
GUI
Web-based

Three deployment options

Standalone executable available for most operating systems
Network deployment as a client-server application
Integration with third-party systems via APIs

Open Source

All software is released under the GPLv3+ and MPLv2+ open licenses
All digital assets are released under the Creative Commons license CC-BY v4.0

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PREFORMA (www.preforma-project.eu) is a pre-commercial procurement project co-funded by the European Commission to enable memory institutions to take control of the conformity testing of digital files intended for long-term preservation. The intention is to reduce preservation costs, improve curation capacity and enhance competences in public organisations while reducing their reliance on individual vendors.

The PREFORMA consortium, coordinated by the National Archives of Sweden, comprises 15 partners from 9 European countries. These partners include national and local cultural organisations, audiovisual archives, public libraries, research centers, universities and SMEs.

During the project, a community of experts and users contributing to our work has grown to include more than 500 individuals from 50 countries across the globe. Through cooperation with institutions and organisations interested in validating the most common file-formats they curate, the PREFORMA tools are integrated into production environments worldwide.

Download here the PREFORMA brochure.

The presentation of the works of art will be random at Nasdaq site, lasting several minutes in each session.

International Surrealism Now – artist Santiago Ribeiro in New York

Since July 19, 2017 until December 31, 2017 will be shown art from Santiago Ribeiro at Times Square Nasdaq OMX Group, New York city.

Nasdaq, MarketSite is located in New York City’s Times Square.

The presentation of the works of art will be random, lasting several minutes in each session.

Until December 31, 2008, Nasdaq will exhibit painting of Santiago several times alternately.

Santiago Ribeiro, Portuguese surrealist painter, who has been dedicated to promoting the Surrealism of the 21st century, through exhibitions held in various parts of the world: Berlin, Moscow, Dallas, Los Angeles, Mississippi, Warsaw, Nantes, Paris, Florence, Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Lisbon, Belgrade, Monte Negro, Romania, Japan, Taiwan and Brazil.