July 18, 2005

Libraries and Supercomputer Center Work to Preserve
“Conversations with History,” Other At-Risk Multimedia Collections

By Alison Gang

Vast amounts of digital content are created every day, making it increasingly difficult to manage using traditional archival methods. As a result, large amounts of intellectual and historical material are at risk of becoming lost to future generations. The UCSD Libraries and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) have teamed up to address the unique preservation challenges that are fast becoming a global problem.

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Library of Congress, these two UCSD-based organizations have selected University of California Television (UCTV) as the content partner in developing a demonstration prototype that will integrate essential preservation processes into the production workflow of one of its ongoing television series, "Conversations with History" from UC Berkeley.

Broadcast and Web-cast on UCTV for more than five years, "Conversations with History" was chosen by UCSD Libraries and SDSC as an ideal collection for this long-term preservation project because of the series' unique and ongoing contribution to public knowledge.

The program's host, Harry Kreisler, Executive Director of UC Berkeley's Institute of International Studies, has welcomed hundreds of prominent guests into his studio over the years to talk about their lives, influences, and perspectives, allowing viewers unprecedented access to prominent journalists, diplomats, Nobel Laureates, economists, activists, military leaders, historians, and everything in between.

The collection consists of 300 one-hour programs, as well as unedited footage, accompanying audio, transcripts, annotations, related Web pages, and production information.

"The role of the library is changing, as are the materials we are charged with preserving," said Brian E. C. Schottlaender, UCSD’s University Librarian. "This type of interdepartmental and interdisciplinary collaboration certainly demonstrates the fundamental shifts libraries are experiencing."

The goal of the project is to save this valuable material without disrupting the fast-paced television production cycle. Using "Conversations with History" as a test case, the project goes beyond the theoretical and focuses on the practical application of a long-term digital preservation system within an existing video production workflow. It is the hope of UCSD Libraries, SDSC and the supporters of theproject, NSF and the Library of Congress, that the project's success will lead to the preservation of larger, on-going multimedia collections also at risk of becoming lost in the digital void.

The San Diego Supercomputer Center will provide the technological expertise for the multi-media collection to be ingested and incorporated into a sustainable platform that can expand and evolve over time.

"The ‘Conversations with History’ project represents an increasingly critical direction for the science and engineering community and for SDSC," said Fran Berman, the director of SDSC. "With the modern era's deluge of digital data, managing, preserving, and providing access to valuable data collections has become increasingly critical. This project will enable SDSC, the UCSD Libraries and UCTV to develop an approach to preserving video that will impact not only the sustainability of the ‘Conversations with History’ collection, but also the sustainability of other valuable community video collections.”

Media Contact: Alison Gang, (858) 822-5060