Strategies and Preservation Policies in the Radio Archive of the German Public Broadcaster SWR

1
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
Strategies and Preservation Policies in the
Radio Archive of the German Public Broadcaster
SWR
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
2
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
What the paper deals with ?Public Broadcasting
in Germany ?The SWR ? The fundamental tasks
of radio sound archives ? The basic problems of
today's radio sound archives ? The way out ?
Chronology of activities ? Strategies and
perservation policies ? The near future
developments towards multimedia
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
3
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Public Broadcasting in Germany
Federal structure - Aim
freedom of the broadcasting media
- Constitutional mandate - Federal
states have a parliamentary jurisdiction
- Formation of independant broadcasting
organisations - The ARD
Significance and importance for the cultural
heritage Archival situation
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
4
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? The SWR Broadcasting Corporation
Short overall description The SWR
radio sound archive - Input
- Content -
Documentation - Size
- Growth rate - Users
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
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1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? The fundamental tasks of radio sound archives
Acquisition Metadata
Access Preservation
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
6
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
The basic problems of today's radio sound
archives Lack of quality monitoring
- Time-consuming qualtiy
checking - The eternal carriers
does not exists - Spot checks
sufficient? Obsolescence problems
- Obsolescent and obsolete
- Life time of audio formats
- The driving forces of format changes
- The consequence automated
(trans)migration
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
7
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? The way out - What do we
need? - Computer-aided
automation - The digital mass
store - something new?
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
8
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Chronology of activities ?1990 Joint
Technical Symposium, Ottawa Away from the
ephemeral carrier towards the eternal
information
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
9
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Chronology of activities ?1990
Joint Technical Symposium, Ottawa
?1992 - 1994 SWR task force on "Future digital
storage media" in the
radio sound archive" ?1992 - 1995 ARD task
force on "Safeguarding the radio sound
archives" ?1995 - 1999 ARD
task force on "Automated radio archives" ?1996 -
1997 SWR pilot project DMAS (Digital Media
Archive Storage)
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
10
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
11
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Chronology of activities ?1990
Joint Technical Symposium, Ottawa
?1992 - 1994 SWR task force on "Future digital
storage media" in the
radio sound archive" ?1992 - 1995 ARD task
force on "Safeguarding the radio sound
archives" ?1995 - 1999 ARD
task force on "Automated radio archives" ?1996 -
1997 SWR pilot project DMAS (Digital Media
Archive Storage)
?1998 - 1999 SWR task force on "Digital mass
stores in the sound
archives of SWR" ?2000 - 2001 SWR call for
tenders, evaluation of offers
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
12
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Strategies and perservation policies
Use of digital mass storage technology Pros
and cons - Pros
Permanent access
Close of the "archival gap"

Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
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Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
14
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Strategies and perservation policies
Use of digital mass storage technology Pros
and cons - Pros
Permanent access
Close of the "archival gap"

Parallel use Fast copying No Shelves, no
boxes No air condition Operation araound the
clock Staff reduction in the long term
Miniaturization effects
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
15
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
Scale of storage volumes for several media (incl.
Housing)
1/4 magnetic tape, 1000m, 38 cm/s3.4 cm³/MB
Compact Disc, 60 min/635 MB at 16 bit/44.1
kHz0.27 cm³/MB
DAT, 120 min/1.38 GB at 16 bit/48 kHz0.052 cm³/MB
MagStar Cartridge 20 GB0.01 cm³/MB
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
16
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Strategies and perservation policies
Use of digital mass storage technology Pros
and cons - Pros
Permanent access
Close of the "archival gap"
Parallel use
Fast copying No
Shelves, no boxes No
air condition
Operation araound the clock
Staff reduction in the long term
Miniaturization effects

High data rate, fast file transfer Extremely
large storage capacity Extremely low error
rate Standardized recording format (bit stream)
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
17
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
? Strategies and perservation policies
Use of digital mass storage technology Pros
and cons - Pros

- Cons - Benefits for
the company SWR strategy
- Short term strategy - Medium
long term strategy SWR preservation
policies - Selection criteria
needed - Set priorities -
Speed of transfer process - Quality
contol during transfer process
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
18
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
The near future developments towards multimedia
Convergence of the audiovisual
media The future of broadcasting
multimedia
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner
19
1st InternationalAudiovisual Seminar "Los
Archivos Sonores y Visuales en América Latina
Mexico City,
22 - 24 November 2001
Thank you for your attention!
Dipl.-Ing. Albrecht Haefner