The 2019 FIAT/IFTA World Conference will take place at the Rixos Hotel in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from October 22nd – 25th and will be hosted by HRT (Hrvatska Radiotelevizija) and supported by the HAVC (Croatian Audiovisual Centre) and the City of Dubrovnik.
Audiovisual content today dominates every aspect of our global media whether in the cultural, social or political sphere, regardless of borders or regions. Technological innovation is expanding the opportunities to connect and deliver on the promise of accessible, sharable value-driven content. While media organisations gather and distribute content across an increasingly disparate range of sources and contexts for audiences, the AV Archives profession is increasingly relied upon to provide the assurance of quality authenticated source material, credibly managed and maintained for stakeholders.
In the data driven economies, AI algorithms must be trained and servers filled with meaningful content that can be leveraged and reproduced many times over. This also makes carefully curated audiovisual archives a particularly attractive partner for the world’s largest technology companies. Media archives are powerhouses of data and have the knowhow and capability to validate the new intelligence products.
Audiovisual Archives are not immune to the challenges posed by the latest technologies. In such a world, archives must redouble efforts to make good the opportunities of the data revolution across the entire value chain while sharpening their attention to authentication and fixity of repositories.
With a 500 year history of diplomacy and a strong independent identity, the city of Dubrovnik is steeped in a heritage which has been a foundation of knowledge and culture for centuries. Audiovisual archives form the essential link between past and future in our media world and will bring the knowledge, cultural value and latest thinking to the fore. The medieval and beautifully restored city of Dubrovnik is an ideal setting in which to debate and examine these latest new challenges and possibilities.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Champions of Value and Trust. AV Archives in the all-media world‘. The conference committee invites proposals in the following domains:
A. Turbulence in the digital realm
It has taken years for archives to climb the peak called ‘full digitization’. But is it really a top, or rather a new basecamp, where new challenges loom? Which valuable insights do we pass on to those still climbing? Is everything different there, or do old laws continue to apply? We are looking for papers that take on the new challenges, but also for those who want or need to take a different route. Lossy compressed media formats in media archives: a necessary evil?
- To normalise or to manage the multitude? Coping with the diversity of born digital formats.
- Defying media degradation and obsolescence in particular regions: special circumstances,
common solutions? - Quality control in large scale digitisation: trust is good, control is better?
B. Maelstrom of future innovation
Considering the increasing number of media and publication channels and quantities of audiovisual content, a solid media management framework is a necessity for every media archive. Thorough thinking and intensive building processes are a given. Audiovisual content is published on far more platforms than ever before. How can we organise our systems in such a way that they are solid and flexible at the same time? How do we choose automation for the best effect and where do we still need manual input and control?
- Metadata strategy: the evaluation of metadata and quality control and creation methods.
- Artificial intelligence, machine learning and feature extraction challenges and their potential for automated annotation.
- Content security and rights management challenges and opportunities.
- Data mining, data analysis, semantics and linked data: improving the research process?
- Preservation framework development: a continuous archival process.
C. Mediation and full openness: a false opposition?
Broadcaster’s archives are increasingly considered as a public good. The boundaries between a production archive and an archive with direct access for everyone are becoming increasingly blurred. But does that mean that no mediation is needed between the archive and its audience? Should the services for new target groups necessarily be at the expense of our traditional service for media producers? How can they reinforce each other? How do we deal with legitimate access restrictions such as copyright and ethical issues? What storytelling formats do we choose to attract the right audience? And how to confirm our unique position in this all media world?
- Fortified and yet transparent? Broadcaster’s archives and the public demand for full access.
- Multi-platform delivery: strategies to tailor your content and metadata.
- Between remixing and disinformation: challenges of authenticity in the deep-fake world?
- No clearing needed: identifying rights free opportunities in your own collection.
- Ever more access: the end of curatorship?
D. Tear down this wall! Audiovisual archives, academia and the GLAM world
Media archives are an essential link when it comes to show and tell global and local histories. But what does it take to make that promise come true? Which stories should not remain untold, and how to do that in an appealing way? 30 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain it is time to draw up a balance sheet. How did we and do we bring worlds closer together? Which role can researchers and media archives play? Which commemoration events, programmes, productions or exhibitions around the fall of the wall can be of inspiration?
- Partners in making history visible: south-eastern European media archives, connecting east and west before and after 1989.
- Models of scientific valorisation: partnerships between the media archive and academia.
- Stories beyond the moving image: the value of broadcaster’s paper archives for national and regional media history.
- Enhancement in a triangular form: inspiring collaborations of archivists, scientists and programme makers.
E. Making your mark: strategies for archival impact
Broadcaster’s archives are increasingly acknowledged as far more than what is left after transmission. In the world of content platforms and non-linear viewing, they’re recognized as an extraordinary opportunity. But how to translate this into an advantage for the archive’s own functioning? Media archives outside a broadcaster from their side are seeking to build up an equally strong relationship with the audience, but they have to invent their own brand strategy, marketing and audience research.
To both kinds of archives proving their impact is crucial. Therefore we welcome presentations on:
- More than just a production resource: when archives go beyond services.
- Critical assets in their own right: archival content on OTT platforms.
- The archive as a brand: putting the archives on the map.
- Measuring the impact factor: business intelligence and audience research for archives.
- Success as a strategy: broadcasters, archives and what they should learn from each other.
- Strategic partnerships: teaming up with GLAMs, researchers, educators and creators to give archival content new meaning.
Proposals should be submitted via this link. The deadline for presenting propositions is April 25th 2019.
For more information, see FIAT/IFTA website.