A Different Kind of Data Rescue: Digitizing & Preserving Obsolete Analog Video

Date & Local Time:
Location: Barnard College Library | Mehler Parlor, Elliott Hall / 49 Claremont Avenue (at the corner of 119th Street) / New York, NY 40.8092405 -73.9660858
Website: https://library.barnard.edu/events/Endangered-Data-Week-Presentation-XFR-Collective

Archivists who work with audiovisual materials have suggested that we currently face a “magnetic media crisis”—and that by 2030, all analog video and audio formats will be unplayable, resulting in the loss of a great deal of valuable historical documentation (or “data”). In this #EndangeredData Week workshop, members of the XFR Collective will offer a general introduction to the challenges and opportunities of this “magnetic media crisis.” We’ll discuss a range of existing strategies for preserving and stewarding analog media collections; consider the ways in which the magnetic media crisis disproportionately affects media documenting marginalized communities; debunk some notions around “best” practices in audio/visual archives and preservation; and talk about the ways in which the XFR Collective and other DIY/grassroots projects work to address these issues.

Contact: Jenna Freedman