Internet Resources

Media Preservation Web Sites

AMIA : www.amianet.org: The Association of Moving Image Archivists focuses on archiving through acquisition, preservation, and exhibition. It offers workshops, publications, and meetings to promote preservation activities and to educate the public. The AMIA Compendium of Moving Image Cataloging Practice contains case studies on cataloging.; The guide’s Introduction, Appendix A (Participating Organizations), and Appendix E (Local Guidelines and Examples) may be previewed online. A very useful Video Preservation Fact Sheet is also available on the web site.
Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC : www.bavc.org: Since its founding, BAVC has supported the independent media community as a noncommercial media access and training center. In the early 1990s it expanded its focus into the video preservation field. The coalition’s preservation services include consultation, cleaning and transfer, correction services, and more. BAVC’s interactive DVD entitled Playback guides viewers through the technical aspects of video preservation. This site contains a wealth of preservation information, as well as a glossary and extensive links.
Conservation OnLine (CoOl): http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/: A project of the Preservation Department of Stanford University Libraries, CoOl is a rich site of conservation/preservation information. Topics include audio materials, digital imaging, electronic materials, suppliers, and more. Links are grouped under the headings “Individuals & Organizations” and “Resources at Other Sites.” New resources on the site include “Preservation/Conservation Presentations & Training Tools”, which links to lectures and PowerPoint presentations, and “Preservation of Motion Picture Film” (palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/motion-pictures) which provides information sources on a wide range of topics related to film preservation.
Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC): www.dpconline.org: DPC is an organization addressing the preservation of digital resources in the United Kingdom. This site provides an online edition of the DPC handbook, Preservation Management of Digital Materials, and a list of pertinent events (predominantly in the United Kingdom and Europe) and links.
Experimental Television Center—Video History Project : www.experimentaltvcenter.org/history/index.html: An ongoing research initiative of the Experimental Television Center, the Video History Project is dedicated to the documentation and preservation of video art and community television. The site includes Video Preservation—The Basics , which introduces the pertinent issues of preservation, from cleaning to storage to cataloging. The site also includes glossaries, a bibliography, and links to other organizations and sites of interest.
International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art: www.incca.org: INCCA is an international membership organization designed to facilitate communication among groups invested in the conservation of contemporary art. Their web site provides information on preservation education programs around the world, ongoing and completed conservation projects (some of which are accessible online), and upcoming conferences, meetings, and workshops. It also offers an extensive database of relevant publications. Links include sites on media art, theory, and collections, and limited conservation links.
The National Television and Video Preservation Foundation (NTVPF): www.ntvpf.tv: The NTVPF is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization dedicated to the preservation of and access to television and video projects in the United States. The foundation awards grants to individual public and nonprofit archives that currently consist of preservation services donated by commercial video and audio facilities, storage companies, consultants, and film laboratories. For grant guidelines, go to www.ntvpf.tv/html/grants/guide/guidelines.html. The site includes links to preservation resources for television and video, definitions, identification information, and standards. In the future the site will document the projects that NTVPF grants have funded.
Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI): www.nla.gov.au/padi/: Part of the National Library of Australia, PADI is dedicated to the preservation of and access to digital information. This thorough site is organized into two main areas. The first, Resource Types, includes event listings, preservation strategies, bibliographies, journals, and more. Digital Preservation Topics includes general resources, rights management, digitization, and an extensive formats and media section covering the preservation of audio and audiovisual material, e-mail, networked digital material, physical format digital material, and more. The site also has a comprehensive list of links to glossaries that contain terms relevant to digital information.
SOLINET : http://www.solinet.net/preservation/preservation_home.cfm: Based in Atlanta, Georgia, SOLINET is a membership organization of libraries and other information organizations in the Southeast United States. It looks to expand the region’s access to global information resources, while also fostering access and preservation of local resources. The site includes news, workshop schedules, a searchable vendor database, disaster recovery referral, and a link to SOLINET’s publications page. It also offers an information listserv for preservation news of interest to libraries and archives. The list is open to the public. To subscribe, go to: www.solinet.net/resources/available_lists.cfm?Department=preservation
Variable Media Network : http://www.variablemedia.net/: The Variable Media Network is a preservation project on installation and new media (and other ephemeral art) administered by the Guggenheim Museum and the Daniel Langlois Foundation. This web site provides project case studies (past participants included Bruce Nauman, Jan Dibbets, and Nam Jun Paik) and links to the Variable Media Questionnaire, transcripts from the VMN March 2001 conference, and downloadable PDFs of the latest VMN publications. The book Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach can be downloaded from the web site.
Video Art Denmark : www.videoart.suite.dk/: This major site for video art in Denmark includes important links to The Danish Video Art Data Bank and Video Art/e-monitor. The Danish Video Art Data Bank is an extensive English-language site on video preservation organized almost like a book. In addition to case studies of preservation (for example, one on the work of Nam Jun Paik), priority planning, and passive or active damage prevention, the site includes an exploration of ethical issues in preservation, a discussion of the Guggenheim Variable Media Questionnaire, and an examination of the artist’s intent versus the archivist’s intent. Video Art/e-monitor is the online newsletter of the Danish Video Art Data Bank and offers information and news about the international video art world. Issues 9 through 13 deal specifically with video preservation.

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