FIAT / IASA Southern African Workshop on Film, Video and Sound Archives

Johannesburg, 10-14 October 2005

The host, SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation)

The FIAT/IASA Workshop on Film, Video and Sound Archives started with the seed of an idea from Branko Bubenik, a little earth from Dennis Maake and Sue Malden, fertilizer from FIAT, IASA and UNESCO, germinated and grew on the southern tip of Africa. Under the care of the dedicated teams from the National Film, Video and Sound Archive and SABC, supported by the planning committee, and watered by more sponsors like National Geographic, Convera, Knowledge Focus, Blue Order and Cube-Tech, the flower bloomed and was named Ya Pele, the first of its kind.

The objective was to bring the knowledge and experience of FIAT and IASA to people working in audiovisual archives in the Southern part of Africa. To achieve that, we provided a huge range of professional experience from many parts of the world, Ray Edmondson (Australia), Johan de Lange (South Africa), Albrecht Haefner (Germany), Richard Wright (UK), Crispin Jewitt (UK), Sue Malden (UK), Branko Bubenik (Croatia), Piet Dempsey (South Africa), Matthias Naumer (Germany), Jacqueline von Arb (Norway), Mark Rosen (South Africa), Patrick Ngulube (South Africa), Jan Horn (South Africa).

The Conference was opened by presentations by Dr Graham Domini (Chief Director, National Archives of South Africa), Mr Gelfand Kausiyo (General Manager, Radio Broadcast Facilities, SABC), Sue Malden (FIAT) and Jacqueline von Arb (IASA).

Albrecht Haefner, Ray Edmonson

Sue Malden

Johann de Lange

Among topics covered were a general overview of archive management, different types of carriers, recording and reproduction techniques, good housekeeping, obsolescence, transfer and digitization of the various media, principles of cataloguing, policy formulation, metadata, storage and retrieval, sales and marketing, ethics, rights, and the academic and commercial researchers' expectations.

There were visits to the archives of SABC and M-Net as well as the National Film, Sound and Video Archive. There were over 160 delegates from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius, Kenya, Swaziland, Botswana, Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa. This was double the expected attendance and shows the enormous need for and importance of a conference like this, and the thirst for information in the audiovisual field.

The audience

The sponsors from FIAT and IASA were hugely impressed by the wide range of archives represented and the diversity of national and institutional situations. They admired the enthusiasm of the attendees, their candour in sharing their needs, their hunger thirst and curiosity for solutions and their commitment to shape the future.

We've learned a great deal about the general situation of archives in Southern Africa. We recognize the great need but also see a great potential. We're pleased to see that steps are already taken to make sure that the network that this forum represents is built upon, using the knowledge base that is already here in the NFVSA, SABC and M-Net.

FIAT and IASA believe an important step has been taken to develop a community of archives on this continent. Ya pele was the first - let each and every one of us take the seeds of this flower and nurture them across Southern Africa.

Sue Malden (FIAT) and Jacqueline von Arb (IASA)