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Moving image preservation and cultural capital
Library Trends, Summer, 2007 by Karen F. Gracy
ABSTRACT
This article examines the changing landscape of moving image archiving in the wake of recent developments in online video sharing services such as YouTube and Google Video. The most crucial change to moving image archives may not be in regard to the collections themselves, but rather the social order that sustains cultural institutions in their role as the creators and sustainers of objectified cultural capital. In the future, moving image stewardship may no longer be the exclusive province of institutions such as archives and libraries, and may soon be accomplished in part through the work of other interested individuals and organizations as they contribute to and define collections. The technologies being built and tested in the current Internet environment offer a new model for the reimagined moving image archive, which foregrounds the user in the process of creating the archive and strongly encourages the appropriation of moving images for new works. This new archetype, which in theory functions on democratic principles, considers moving images--along with most other types of cultural heritage material--to be building blocks of creative acts or public speech acts. One might argue that the latter represents a new model for creating an archive; this new democratic archive documents and facilitates social discourse.
INTRODUCTION
The quickly accelerating integration of moving images on the Web in the last year brings us ever closer to the goal of building digital collections that are rich in multimedia, thus adding to the collections of documents and images that are already well-established. Video clips have become a central feature of many Web sites, which are taking advantage of new technologies that make it easier to stream high-quality full-motion video. Refined streaming capabilities, the growth in the number of households with broadband connections, and the strong interest by users to create and share content have fueled the growth of Internet video sharing sites such as YouTube and GoogleVideo. (1)
These new developments suggest fascinating implications for the cultural heritage community involved in the work of moving image preservation and access. Finally, cultural institutions will be able to bring the riches of moving image archives to the masses, and to connect their collections with other moving image material. Through various methods, such as union catalogs or metasearch techniques, links can be made with not only those materials found within institutional collections, but also the material available via the burgeoning video sharing sites. The metaarchive of moving images seems to be finally within our reach. (2)
This article focuses on an interesting problem that emerges in the wake of embracing and connecting with these new resources. One must consider the implications of this blurring of the lines between the traditional archive and the new Internet moving image collections that are emerging. While the established institutions and organizations have established processes and practices for the management of collections, and have the tacit authority to make decisions about such things as acquisition, appraisal, and preservation, the newly emerging collections growing exponentially have few such structures in place to shape the direction of the collection. One might suggest that the latter represents a new model for creating an archive; this new democratic archive documents and facilitates social discourse by encouraging users to submit their own video creations to be shared by others in the community, to organize material by "tagging" them with keywords and linking them to related clips, to appropriate material from the archive through downloads and links to material in the archive placed on other sites, and last, to create additional documentation of clips through the addition of comments.
This paper attempts to explore the ramifications of the distinction between established cultural institutions and the newer forms of digital moving image collections now emerging. For institutions, does the appearance of these new archives force the old guard to reexamine and redefine themselves? If cultural institutions no longer muster the same authority to curate collections--and by curate I mean shape them through the activities of acquisition, appraisal, description, deaccessioning, and all the other processes in which such institutions engage--what is their role within society and in regard to cultural heritage? Are we now seeing the ascendancy of a new order, one in which users and creators take a more proactive approach to shaping the content and structures of moving image collections? More pragmatically, does the average user understand or even care about the difference between the "archive" as such, and other formal collections?
MOVING IMAGE ARCHIVES AND THE SOCIAL ORDER
In the digital age, moving image preservation continues to evolve beyond its origins in the care of analog motion picture and video media. As more and more moving images are created, distributed, and maintained in digital form, moving image archives will no longer match the stereotypical image many of us have of stacks of rusty cans and boxes filled with quickly decomposing films and videos in need of salvation. Instead, the moving image archivist of the twenty-first century will face the even greater challenge of managing enormous collections of digital files, containing dozens of formats (most of them obsolete) and residing in networks maintained far from the archivist's actual location. While many of today's archivists are preoccupied with the preservation and restoration of individual titles (somewhat like conservators treating works of art or individual volumes), tomorrow's archivists will be much more concerned with the management of component parts of the work that may in fact be reused in other works (Besser, 2001).
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