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Proceedings of the Media Management Seminar "Changing sceneries, changing roles".
Edited by Mieke Lauwers, October 2004 :
> get the 1300 KB pdf document 
March 19 & 20, 2004, Felix Meritis, Amsterdam
By Bart van der Linden & Mick Bal (Netherlands' Institute for Sound and Vision)
 Voting : Annemieke de Jong & Irmgard Noordhoek, the seminar hosts, at the foreground |
On Friday afternoon, March 19, 2004, a large number of international documentalists, librarians and information specialists met at the Amsterdam cultural centre Felix Meritis for a two-day seminar on the future of audiovisual archiving. The seminar was organized by the FIAT/IFTA Media Management Commission and the Netherlands' Institute for Sound and Vision.
The two-day seminar, consisting of lectures, powerpoint presentations and discussions, took place in the Shaffy Room of the magnificent 18th century Felix Meritis building. The motto of the seminar was 'Changing sceneries, changing roles' and the focus was on the future role of information specialists in a multimedia environment. The majority of the participants in the seminar work for European broadcasting companies and archives, including RTL/HMG (NL), the BBC (UK) and RTBF (B), but some travelled all the way from Russia, Mexico and Japan.
Menno Helmus, master of ceremonies, talked us through two days of presentations and at crucial moments he interjected to reflect on each subject. Helmus had the challenging job of keeping everyone alert and involved and of analyzing the lectures on the spot. He repeatedly used the phrase "How does that keep us on the straight and narrow?" Helmus is a television presentor at the Dutch Evangelical Broadcasting Corporation (EO) and closely involved in Digital Facilities (DDV): the digitization of the Dutch broadcasting process in Hilversum.
 Menno Helmus, the seminar moderator, and Eva-Lis Green (SVT) |
The seminar was built around five major topics :
The seminar concluded with a panel discussion on the future of the audiovisual documentalist and information specialist.
The first lectures covered the audiovisual production and archive environment. All presentations were conducted in English which was not always easy for the international crowd to understand, especially when a non-native speaker was talking. Fortunately, eloquent speakers such as Philip Laven of the EBU succeeded in captivating the audience with their views on the current status of the archives, the processes that they go through and the benefits of digitization.
The powerpoint presentations on a large screen proved useful and some speakers used moving images, which was even better. Public speaking though is an art. When a speaker loses himself in his subject in front of a room full of intimates he may get carried away. But if he forgets the time and starts off yet another series of slides, it falls to a good chairman to set bounds to his enthusiasm. Many of the seventeen speakers heard the inevitable call of "You've got five minutes left".
The second subject of the day was one of vital importance to all archives involved in digitization : Metadata. The two lectures on this topic included issues such as standardization, workflows, quality control and asset management.
The second day of the seminar, which ran from nine o'clock in the morning till six in the evening, started with the disturbing announcement that no coffee was available. Then there was the news of the death of the Dutch Queen Mother, princess Juliana, at the age of 94. One of us had a mobile phone with internet and kept us informed about the latest news.
 Arnold Smeulders, University of Amsterdam |
The morning was devoted to interesting new developments in the field of search & retrieval and automated indexing. There was a lof of discussion on these subjects and a great many different views. This was often the direct result of the specific background of each participant. Some audiovisual archives are fully involved in the broadcasting process, whereas others, such as the Netherlands' Institute for Sound and Vision, are independent organisations, with no such link.
The final subject of the day was the future of our work : documentalist or media manager? The lectures focussed on the way in which our line of work might develop. One participant remarked how rapidly things are changing in a digital world and how much had been achieved in such a small span of time. Apparently digitization skips the small steps and goes straight to the giant leaps. Everyone agreed that such developments are irreversible. The Netherlands' Institute for Sound and Vision will try to incorporate the seminar's conclusions in the day-to-day practice of audiovisual archiving in Hilversum. Further exploration of the seminar's conclusions will take place at the next FIAT/IFTA conference, to be held in October 2004 in Paris.
A bientôt, à Paris !
Last update : 01/03/06
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