DR is having over 200.000 ¼” open reel tapes digitized by Memnon Archiving Services. DR no longer has the possibility of storing the tapes. The ambition is therefore not just to digitize the tapes, but rather to migrate the collection, i.e. the entire content and the accompanying metadata, to a digital form, enabling us to discard the tapes in the end. Part of the challenge is that 75% of the tapes does not have a digital metadata representation, but only handwritten entries. These entries have been transcribed by PHI in India. We have matched this data with ocr from printed broadcast schedules to create a dataset which has enabled us to construct an automatic setup for the ingest.

The project is still running, and every week DR receives around 2.000 files from Memnon via ftp. The metadata setup automatically ingests these, combined with the relevant metadata from the dataset of the handwritten and printed source. The metadata setup is of big value for journalists in DR, who can easily find the digitized files in the MAM-system; programs which earlier were unknown and very inaccessible.

The film collection is fully mapped and searchable to encourage valorization.

The VRT archives have a collection of 36 000 film index cards relating to 16 and 35-mm films with TV programmes from the 1950s to the 1980s.

The aim of the project was to transfer both the technical and content data of the cards to a digital database. Entering this information manually into data frames is possible but terribly time-consuming. Therefore, we preferred a streamlined and efficient process.

Images of the index cards were created, OCR was used to make the cards searchable, and the database was built using field recognition on a selection of fields. The data from the film registration database were used to compare the film numbers of the index cards.

The result of this project is a powerful new search tool that combines a reliable database, quality controlled by the staff, with a full-text search function using the original index card images. Users of the collections can now search and access the film database directly and initiate the request for film digitisation.

After digitisation, the information from the index cards is automatically added to the metadata of the archive.

The extraordinary age, scale and depth of the records kept by RTÉ Archives reflects some eight decades’ collecting of the documentary and creative output of the national broadcaster. Now in its 60th year of public service media in Ireland from its launch at midnight December 1961, the collection of News 1960-1969 incorporates the first Irish broadcast news gathering on film of approximately 5,000 news film reels created between c. 1961 and 1969 making up roughly 150 hours of unique moving image content documented Irish politics and society in a period of great change. The film recordings were vulnerable to physical decay, largely unknown, inaccessible and at significant risk of loss prior to the funding support grated under the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Archive Funding Scheme.

This collection was mainly shot on film stock made with acetate plastic, both for picture negative and magnetic soundtracks – a material which inherently has a decaying characteristic known as vinegar syndrome.

The project involved the conservation, digitisation, storage and cataloging for access, in a project lasting roughly 24 months using in-house procured scanning technology solution. Digital copies of the items on film were placed on RTÉ IT’s storage infrastructure from where they were made available via RTÉ’s research archive services for discovery and production as well as on RTÉ Archives Daily publications on www.rte.ie/archives to promote and develop broadcast heritage for the fullest public access and dissemination.

The series (12 chapters) focuses on major events and figures in history but is told through the unusual and funny perspective of events forgotten from history. With the combination of witty narration, rare archive footage, and interviews (not the one expected), each episode takes on a forgotten event and brings it back to the history books.

This series’ strength is the unique archives research, deep and creative, that enabled to surface of forgotten events and figures that were significant at that time. Special attention was given to locating archive details that helped the director to illustrate major events through the memories of the “unimportant” people who witnessed the events and telling the story of an era from their point of view. It’s fun to watch, the creators managed to bring the past events upfront with vivid narration and creative editing of the various archived footage.

Anna May Wong (1905-1961) is the first Chinese American Hollywood movie star. The collection of historical images recorded her eight-month trip to China in 1936. With the archive footage, Shanghai Audio-Visual Archives produced a 5-episode series of short videos “Anna May Wong’s Vlog”, trying to simulate Anna May Wong’s first-person perspective and connect the existing precious videos in the form of Vlog, restoring the historical scenes and analyze the cultural meaning behind it. Postmodern production methods such as flashing, quick cutting, collage and cutout animations frequently appear in the works to ensure that the audience receives enough information in a short time, based on carefully research.

The public screening project “Memory of French-speaking Switzerland” is a strong emotional experience of promoting the archives of the RTS, in direct contact with the public.

Organized in partnership with local authorities, this restitution of heritage in the very places where it was recorded strengthens the proximity of RTS to its public. It allows different generations to reconnect with their collective memory, their regional identity and the history of their region.

By using restored archives and collecting current testimonies on themes from the past, we produce new content which has great potential on the web, social networks and television. During our public screenings, we also create a festive event around the audiovisual archives.

The “Mémoire(s) de Suisse romande” project therefore represents one of the essential vectors for enhancing the value of RTS’s archives and could be an interesting prospect for other television stations.

BBC Experience Classical is a new way to discover the rich and deep archive of classical music from the BBC, featuring hundreds of unique audio recordings all performed by the BBC Orchestras, Choirs and New Generation Artists, collated from many different sources into one place! Alongside these tracks there are hundreds of specially curated archive radio programmes and podcasts that give background and insight, to get even more out of the music. The digital archive features works by over 150 composers from 20 nationalities. Music fans can search by categories, including Composers, Instruments, Popular Classics, Cutting Edge, Discovery and moods like Energise, Focus and Wind Down. The offer has been created to showcase and present classical music to both younger and more established audiences.

BBC Experience Classical is a strong example of a creative initiative that served to increase the visibility and use of the BBC’s extensive audio archives. Covid saw an increase in engagement with classical music and the platform was specially designed to target specific user groups and audiences, namely younger audiences and those new to the world of classical music, whilst putting a spin on archive offers for aficionados of this genre of music. Many pieces of work were sourced from the depths of the archive and newly digitised and many had not been heard since their first broadcast and so we wanted to breathe new life into previously little heard material. The brief was also to represent performers and orchestras from across all 4 nations of the UK and showcase their variety. The approach to the look, feel, tone and storytelling of the archive was imperative in order to give
the work life and offer a fresh take.

The project was funded by both BBC Archive and BBC Radio 3 and formed an extensive partnership/collaboration between various internal and external stakeholders including BBC Archive, BBC Radio 3, BBC Orchestras and Choirs, BBC Learning, BBC Proms, Commercial Rights and Business Affairs, Music Copyright, Legal and networks of young and established composers and performers.

BBC Experience Classical has been a positive example of how to make archive content come to life in colourful and educational ways that appeal to both those who know this music, as well as those new to it. It was a complex project that tackled substantial copyright issues associated with the material; surfaced new and previously unheard pieces of content; provided context from the wider sound archive and presented it all in new ways. We are proud of what the initiative has achieved and the positive ways it’s been received and we look forward to exploring opportunities to present this and more classical music to audiences through our key BBC platforms and help them discover new and immersive musical worlds.

Team

• Lead Curator: Mark Macey
• Commissioning Executive: Philip Raperport
• Archivists and Music Librarians:
  • Tim Auvache
  • Tariq Hussain
  • Michael Jones
  • Richard Malton
  • Greg McKevitt
  • Kevin McKeown
  • David Russell
  • Joseph Schultz
  • Clara Smitherman

Deep down in the wilderness of Brazil’s tropical forest stands an enormous steel empire, meticulously crafted by the mysterious Colônia Luxemburguesa.

One hundred years ago, the Luxembourg-based steel giant Arbed – today ArcelorMittal – inaugurated its Brazilian subsidiary called Belgo Mineira in the heart of Minas Gerais. At that time, the lack of qualified workforce provoked a massive movement of hundreds of Luxembourgish migrants to Brazil in order to erect a colossal steel plant and its surrounding industrial city, giving birth to the cradle of the Brazilian steel industry.

While searching for her own identity, Luxembourg-Brazilian historian and filmmaker Dominique makes a fateful discovery as she comes across João Monlevade, an incredible and oddly familiar tropical version of the industrial south of Luxembourg she grew up in. This staggering revelation pulls her into a fascinating quest behind the curtains of the mythical stories of the Colônia Luxemburguesa. What is this Colônia like? Was it a success story of integration into the Brazilian society – a success story at all?

This transmedia project drags us into the nucleus of the Colônia Luxemburguesa and invites us to unearth one century of shared industrial, cultural and social heritage together. It is an interactive experience and discovery journey in which, navigating between myth and history, we are confronted with many stories told from various angles and across different platforms. What is behind Belgo Mineira’s corporate storytelling? Are we able to find truth in the midst of all those divergent stories?