Moving Image Archiving and Preservation

preservation audiovisual film motion picture training education masters degree digital copyright conservation

Digital Preservatoin, Fall 2007, H72.1807

MOVING IMAGE ARCHIVING & PRESERVATION PROGRAM

DIGITAL PRESERVATION, H72.1807

Version 1: 9/16/07

Fall 2007 — Mondays, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm (please note classes are not necessarily sequential and one class is on Wednesday); 665 Broadway, Rm 643

Instructor: Mona Jimenez: mona.jimenez@nyu.edu 212-992-8458: Rm 613, 665 Broadway

GOALS:

This class will address the use of digital files as both production and preservation media, and will investigate current theories and practices for the conservation and preservation of both digitized and born digital materials. Characteristics of image, audio and video files will be explored, as well as the computer environments within which they are produced and stored. Students will gain practical skills with identification and risk assessment for works as a whole, their component parts, and associated software and metadata. Initiatives by broadcasters, the Library of Congress and other national archives, digital libraries and others will be explored as examples of the architecture and attributes of digital repositories. Emphasis will be placed on how moving image archivists may interact with these repositories as part of their preservation practice. Students will also develop an increased understanding of metadata and of rights management for digital materials.

EXPECTATIONS:

A blackboard site will be available for this course. Students will be expected to check in on the site several times a week for updates. Students are encouraged to pass along resources for the benefit of the class; forward them to Mona for posting.

Attendance at all classes is expected as the classes are doubled up into 4-hour blocks. Please speak to me about all absences; more than one unexcused absence will substantially affect your grade. Each class will include a 20 break.

Please note that all written work must utilize proper citations, including proper web citations. Works that do not include complete citations will be returned for revision and considered late. Also, please read the Plagiarism Advisory at the end of the syllabus.

MIAP Digital Archive:

In addition to submitting assignments in print form, all course papers/projects will be submitted to me in electronic form. The materials will be made part of the MIAP digital archive in a private space for faculty use, and on the MIAP web site. Further information will be provided.

Texts:

It is not necessary to purchase books for the course – Most are on the web; articles will be put on reserve in the Bobst Library as needed. Please note: Some readings may have been assigned in other classes in the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program; however, some repetition is necessary to create a context. It is expected that you will review these readings before class time to re-familiarize themselves with the concepts.

Access to Computer Labs:

Please see http://www.nyu.edu/its/labs/ for locations and descriptions of NYU's computer labs as needed to work on your computer–related assignments.

Cell phones:

Turn completely off during class as they may create problems with classroom audio.

Assignments and grading:

Each student will do two assignments as described below. Grades will be based on a combination of class preparedness and participation (40%); and two assignments (30% each).

Assignment #1:

Creation of computer timeline. Students will work together to create a partial timeline of computer environments from the introduction of desktop computers to the present. The focus will be on the hardware, storage media, operating software, production software, file formats, interfaces, etc., that will help an archivist theorize about the environment in which a particular work was produced. This information will be useful to the archivist in determining the look and feel of a work, and will assist her/him in recovering and/or conserving older files and works. Each student will be given an aspect of the timeline for study. The final form of the timeline will be determined through the group–s work. Due dates: Draft on October 22; final on November 5.

Assignment #2:

Students will work in several small groups to analyze digital video productions in order to understand the production process, what elements are appropriate to be archived and preserved from such a project (i.e., original elements, project files, metadata, edit decision lists, final rendered projects, etc.) and what steps are necessary to submit them to a digital repository. These productions will typically start out on tape, are edited in either Final Cut Pro or the Avid, and exist in final form partly or wholly as digital files. A report will be generated describing the production history, the state of the elements, what should be saved, what the risks are to the materials, recommendations for care and storage, and steps to be taken to deposit the works. The submission information package (SIP) for the Preserving Public Television Project will be utilized. Due: November 21.

Class 1: Monday, September 17

Due this class

Read the following:

View:

As follow-up to today's class:

Resources for further study of computer history:

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Class 2: Monday, September 24

Due this class

Read the following:

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Class 3: Monday, October 22

Due this class:

Read:

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Class 4: Monday, November 5

Due this class:

Read:

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Class 5: Monday, November 12

Due this class:

Read the following:

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Class 6: Wednesday, November 21

Due this class:

View:

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Class 7: Monday, December 3

Due this class:

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Plagiarism Advisory:

Plagiarism and other violations of the University's published policies are serious offenses and will be punished severely. Plagiarism includes presenting or paraphrasing a phrase, sentence, or passage of a published work (including material from the World-Wide Web) in a paper or exam answer without quotation marks and attribution of the source, submitting your own original work toward requirements in more than one class without the prior permission of the instructors, submitting a paper written by someone else, submitting as your own work any portion of a paper or research that you purchased from another person or commercial firm, and presenting in any other way the work, ideas, data, or words of someone else without attribution. These are punishable offenses whether intended or unintended (e.g., occurs through poor citations or confusion about how to reference properly).