Comments on: digitizing oral and video interviews http://oha2012.thatcamp.org/10/11/digitizing-oral-and-video-interviews/ The Humanities and Technology Camp Sat, 13 Oct 2012 15:54:04 +0000 hourly 1 By: lauren.kata http://oha2012.thatcamp.org/10/11/digitizing-oral-and-video-interviews/#comment-102 Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:31:54 +0000 http://oha2012.thatcamp.org/?p=259#comment-102 I can relate to these challenges, which are daunting enough in an institutional context, but even more so for all-volunteer projects. What I know in terms of current industry standards, archiving best practices, project management, etc., are all fine if I have the resources to accomplish. But with participatory/volunteer-based projects, how can I ensure sustainability? I’d love to hear more about your project and how small projects/groups can navigate through these problems.

]]> By: Erin Bell http://oha2012.thatcamp.org/10/11/digitizing-oral-and-video-interviews/#comment-75 Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:39:33 +0000 http://oha2012.thatcamp.org/?p=259#comment-75 Sounds like a good session. I think there are several challenges here.

The first is the process of (re-) encoding interviews in a digital format (which of course involves time, resources, etc).

The second is doing so in a way that is as future-proof as possible, especially in regards to web standards. Web formats for audio and video are still sort of up in the air, with some browsers supporting MP3 and M4V, while others support OGG, WEBM, etc. Unlike images, you need multiple versions for different browsers (unless you use Flash, then you block out most mobile devices).

We generally store our media in uncompressed formats, which is probably overkill in terms of fidelity (especially for audio). It’s not a bad idea, but it definitely adds a layer of processing for any sort of online projects.

It would be great to have a system like NPR’s Create Once, Publish Everywhere (COPE), which not only separates content from design, but also separates content from presentation across multiple instances.

So in the case of web media, such a system might take the digital archival copy and create web-friendly versions on demand as needed for different projects. Sounds doable actually, given the right circumstances.

… I may be getting carried away. 🙂

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