Audio Media Preservation Through Imaging Conference
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS in collaboration with LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY + + + + + AUDIO MEDIA PRESERVATION THROUGH IMAGING CONFERENCE + + + + + FRIDAY JULY 17, 2015 + + + + + The Conference met in the West Dining Room, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE PETER ALYEA, Library of Congress EUGENE DeANNA, Library of Congress CARL HABER, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ADRIJA HENLEY, Library of Congress STEPHEN LEGGETT, Library of Congress SPEAKERS MARK SWEENEY, Associate Librarian, Library Services OTTAR JOHNSEN, Haute ecole d'ingenieurs et d'architectes de Fribourg, Switzerland STEFANO SERGIO CAVAGLIERI, Swiss National Sound Archives, Lugano, Switzerland JOHN MCBRIDE, University of Southampton, United Kingdom STIG L. MOLNERYD, National Library of Sweden NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 JOSHUA STERNFELD, The National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC, USA JESSE JOHNSTON, The National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC, USA BILL VEILLETTE, Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover, MA, USA MASON VANDER LUGT, Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover, MA, USA JAMES NYE, University of Chicago Library, IL, USA SUNDAR GANESAN, Roja Muthiah Research Library, Chennai, India SURESH BABU GOVINDARAJULU CHANDRAN, Roja Muthiah Research Library, Chennai, India CARLENE STEPHENS, National Museum of American History SHARI STOUT, National Museum of American History FENELLA FRANCE, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA BILL KLINGER, Klinger Engineering Services, Chardon, OH, USA NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Recovery of South Asian Recorded Heritage James Nye ................................ 4 Archiving Audio Cultures of India Sundar Ganesan .......................... 33 Experience with IRENE in a Tropical Climate Suresh Babu Govindarajulu Chandran ...... 51 "Hear My Voice": Learning form Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory Sound Recordings Carlene Stephens and Shari Stout ........ 59 Discussion and Questions Jim Nye ................................. 91 Preservation Research for Audiovisual and Storage Materials at the Library of Congress Fenella France ......................... 108 In the Trenches: Surveying the Groove Bill Klinger ........................... 133 Establishing Preservation Standards for Imaging of Audio Media Peter Alyea ............................ 158 Carl Haber ............................. 167 Group Discussion Fenella France ......................... 172 Next Steps Fenella France ......................... 242 Closing Remarks Fenella France ......................... 249 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 (9:31 a.m.) 3 MR. ALYEA: Good morning. I guess this 4 is everyone. So, this is the second day. We are 5 going to start off with a talk by James Nye. 6 MR. NYE: Well, I'm James Nye. I'm at 7 the University of Chicago. I'm really pleased to 8 be with you and to have this opportunity to reflect 9 on what it means to recover the heritage of recorded 10 sound from a world region. And in this case, I am 11 particularly talking about South Asia. 12 In contrast to most of yesterday's 13 presentations, I will be looking at the uses of 14 recovered and preserved sonic recordings. So, my 15 reflections today are organized not in a PowerPoint 16 but along five different themes. Let me review 17 those for you quickly, so you will have a roadmap. 18 I am going to introduce myself, not for 19 egotistical reasons but I would like to use it as 20 a basis for describing some of the beliefs that have 21 underpinned my work as a bibliographer because I am 22 the bibliographer for Southern Asia at the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 5 1 University of Chicago. And next, I will move on to 2 describe a few key collaborating partners we have 3 worked with. Using those collaborative partners' 4 descriptions as a base, then I will move on to talk 5 about a few of our current and near term projects. 6 These will be just very quick sketches. 7 And then I will, as a fourth topic, I 8 will reflect on some of the major impediments we have 9 encountered so far as we have tried to engage in 10 these preservation and access projects related to 11 audio in South Asia. 12 And then finally, following Carl's good 13 lead from yesterday, I will try to take a look at 14 some of our needs and especially focusing on the 15 needs that are of the highest priority. 16 So, as I said, I am the bibliographer 17 for Southern Asia. I am not a scientist, nor am I 18 an engineer. And what I am is a humanist. And I 19 am responsible for building our collections as a 20 humanist to serve the needs of faculty and students 21 and the University of Chicago who work in the area 22 of South Asia. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 6 1 Now what is South Asia? Just to clarify 2 it because there is sometimes confusion, I am 3 talking about the nation states, that is the current 4 nation states, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, 5 Bhutan, Burma, India, the Maldives, Nepal, 6 Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Tibetan Regina of 7 China. 8 You might say that this is that whole 9 area that through tectonic shifts if pushed up and 10 caused the formation of the Himalayan Mountains over 11 time. But it is important to keep in mind that this 12 accounts for something like 25 percent of the 13 world's population. 14 Well, as I promised, there are two 15 beliefs that I would like to announce here for you, 16 things that have underpinned my work as a South Asia 17 bibliographer. It was wonderful to hear that 18 similar convictions were enunciated by Carl 19 yesterday and by others. 20 Number one, it is my firm belief and it 21 has been my practice to allow scholarship to be 22 informed by open access to resources. Carl, you hit NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 7 1 on this very nicely, I thought, yesterday, as an 2 important prerequisite for the kind of ways you have 3 approached the IRENE system and its development. 4 So, why open access? For practical 5 reason -- well, there are several but let me just 6 say simply I found that having a level playing field 7 between scholars who are in South Asia as compared 8 to scholars who are in resource-rich institutions 9 in the United States really presupposes that we are 10 going to have open access. Otherwise, there is a 11 disenfranchise, for our colleagues elsewhere in the 12 world. 13 And number two belief is that the tools 14 for discovering resources that we are developing, 15 putting out for open access, those tools for 16 discovery also need to be open and freely available. 17 Now, I hope you will see, as I move on, 18 why these two beliefs intersect with some of the 19 projects we have undertaken, will be undertaking, 20 and how it interlinks with the overall contours of 21 what I will be saying in these reflections today. 22 Moving on to brief descriptions then of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 8 1 some of our collaborating partners. You may wonder 2 why I am starting with collaborating partners 3 instead of projects. Well, it has been, again, 4 something I have discovered over the course of the 5 last third of a century doing what I have been doing 6 is that close links with people and with 7 institutions usually have been the most important 8 bedrock for accomplishing whatever it is we have 9 been able to accomplish and, I believe, for whatever 10 we may be able to accomplish over the coming years. 11 So, let me start describing 12 collaborating partners at home, since you might say 13 that most important collaborations really do have 14 their roots at home. 15 As I say, I am at the University of 16 Chicago and there I have been very fortunate to work 17 with a gifted group of intellectuals. These 18 include ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, 19 linguists, people in computing, and more recently 20 and not as firmly linked, I would say colleagues who 21 are in the two national laboratories that are 22 associated with the University of Chicago, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 9 1 specifically Argonne and Fermi. 2 Moving out a little bit more broadly into 3 the United States, considering the range of people 4 we have been involved in, again, keeping in mind 5 audio projects, I am very happy to say that Carl, 6 our work together has been so important, formative, 7 in more ways than I think you may realize, and the 8 work as well with Earl. 9 Our linkages with you, things that will 10 be discussed by my colleagues following in 11 subsequent presentations this morning have been 12 just invaluable.