Digitize It! Part 1: Preparing for AV Digitization
Day and Time: August 10th, 6:30-8:30pm
Description: This workshop will offer participants a general overview of the process of digitizing, migrating, and preserving your audiovisual collections. We will focus on media that are particularly at risk: analog video tapes (VHS, U-matic, Hi8), digital video tapes (MiniDV), and optical disc media (DVDs and CDs). You will learn the essential steps that are needed to digitize and migrate these media effectively, including: How to appropriately identify media for digitization, how to select preservation file formats, how to identify and use the necessary software and hardware for digitization and migration, and how to implement file management and digital preservation practices in order to ensure the successful preservation of your materials.
By the end of this course, participants should have a clear understanding of the fundamental concepts of digitizing, migrating, and preserving audiovisual media. Participants will also be prepared for the second course, which focuses on the hands-on processes of digitizing and migrating audiovisual media.
Learning Objectives:
- Gain hands-on experience digitizing and migrating audiovisual materials
- Feel confident using the following preservation tools: dvrescue, vrecord, ddrescue, makeMKV, handbrake and QCTools
- Be able to analyze digitized video content for errors and quality
- Feel confident in running simple commands on the mac terminal
- Have digitized and migrated at least one tape and at least one DVD.
- Be able to identity and notate important details during the digitization and migration of audiovisual materials
- Be able to identify and describe the differences between preservation and access files created from archival audiovisual materials
Instructor: Morgan Morel, Library of Congress (facilitating in a personal capacity)
Morgan Morel is an media preservationist who specializes in preserving tape-based audiovisual media. He has worked in various preservation labs, from small boutique labs to large mass-digitization facilities. While working as the Preservation Director for BAVC Media, Morgan developed a training program focused on teaching archivists and librarians the fundamentals of analog video preservation. Morgan has been involved in the development and documentation of various open source preservation tools, including QCTools, the AV Artifact Atlas, and DVRescue. He is passionate about preserving the cultural heritage and memory of marginalized and under-represented communities, and believes that educating and training archivists, folklorists, and activists will be critical in saving these records from being lost to deterioration and obsolescence.