We Need to Talk About Digital Preservation of Audiovisual Collections: Strategies for Building National Networks

Abstract

This paper is about the relevance of creating national networks to digital preservation of audiovisual collections, from both film and television industry. The proposal arises from the perception that, in the same proportion that the audiovisual production is being created in digital formats, it is expected the preservation of such information to be based on appropriate techniques and technologies also digital. It is similarly considered that the concern of digitization and preservation of collections are present in several initiatives guiding public policy in many countries. Based on the experiments already undergoing in the world, especially in the most advanced countries in the area, it is possible to predict that the building of a national network for the promotion of audiovisual digital preservation, with range and broad scope, can significantly contribute to the development of the national expertise in the area, to consolidate partnerships and to leverage the emergence of solutions adapted to the context of each country. Steps in this direction could include, among other actions, the promotion of two complementary strands of initiatives: (a) the organization of a consortium of public and private organizations interested in digital preservation; and (b) assembling a “backbone” of national repositories for large-scale digital preservation.