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PANICPANICPreservation and Preservation and
Archival of New media Archival of New media and Interactive and Interactive
CollectionsCollections
Sharmin Choudhury Jane Hunter
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OutlineOutline
• Issues and problems involved• Alternative approaches• Other projects• Project objectives• Our proposal• Work to date• Conclusions • Future Work• References
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ExamplesExamples
• Ken Goldberg - Ouija 2000 – Robot arm controlled by Internet users, moves planchette across a Ouija board
• Mark Napier – Net Flag – Java applet program accessed over the WWW, that provides an interface for the creation of a hypothetical flag for the Internet
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The ProblemThe Problem
Long term access to New Media Artworks• Composite Multimedia objects
– Digital (images, video, audio, web, programs) + Physical• Act of preservation can alter fundamental characteristic
of the work• Highly proprietary – software & hardware dependent• Random interaction with the physical world • Highly fragile, and sensitive to environment• Difficult to capture – boundary problem• High mobility – travelling exhibitions• No standards or best practice guides
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IssuesIssues
• Obsolescence of physical storage device• Obsolescence of file formats• Translation to new display device, playback
software – may alter the “look”, “feel”, “meaning”
• Artist’s input is essential – need to capture/recreate key ideas, intentions, aspects, components
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Alternative Alternative ApproachesApproaches
• Maintenance of obsolescent hardware/software
• Metadata encapsulation: digital objects stored with their metadata
• Emulation – mimic original software application on current environment
• Migration – convert format to successive sequence of new formats
• Reinterpretation – completely reconstruct the artwork based on specifications.
Most Conservative
Most radical
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The two extremesThe two extremes
• Maintenance: Impractical– Costly: space and on-going maintenance– Wear and tear– Loss of expertise– Unforseen problems
• Re-interpretation: copyright problem– Loss of artistic integrity– Loss of intention/key message– Impossible to recreate fully or comprehensively– Some artists like dynamic re-interpretation
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Between the Between the extremesextremesMetadata
encapsulationEmulation Migration
Advantages •Standards such as METS available for encapsulation
•Allows future access tools to be developed
•One emulator lots of digital objects
•Data untouched
•Look and feel preserved
•Simple
•It works
•Extends the longevity
Disadvantages •On its own not a complete solution
•Difficult to know what to capture
•Time consuming
•Expensive
•Overkill for data archiving
•Cost
•Technical difficulties
•Old interface knowledge
•Labor intensive, time-consuming
•Corrupt or alter object incrementally
•Backwards compatibility needed
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Other projectsOther projects
• General digital Object– NDIIPP– CEDARS– CAMiLEON– PANDORA
• Concentrating on New media artwork– Archiving the Avant Garde
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OutlineOutline
• Issues and problems involved• Alternative approaches• Other projects• Project objectives• Our proposal• Work to date• Conclusion• Future work• Reference
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Project ObjectivesProject Objectives
• Analyse and compare current preservation strategies using case studies
• Extend/refine current preservation strategies for new media e.g., extend METS, MPEG-21?
• Determine optimum canonical/standardized platform-independent formats for multimedia– TIFF, MPEG-2/MPEG-4, MP3/AIFF, SMIL
• Develop metadata schemas, metadata input, workflow design, software registries, automatic migration tools
• Recommendations, best practice guidelines
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Our ProposalOur ProposalStep 1. Conversion to standard high-quality platform-
independent format – BWF, MPEG-2, TIFF, MPEG-4– SMIL/SVG
Step 2. Encapsulation of object with metadata– Descriptive, presentation, intent, preservation
Step 3. Semi-automated Migration– Migration-on-Request, Typed Object Conversion– Software version Registries– Notify agents of objects requiring reformatting when
new version released
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Our ApproachOur Approach
• Maintenance
• Metadata encapsulation
• Emulation
• Migration
• Reinterpretation
Most Conservative
Most radical
Our approach
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Nam June PaikThe elements (1989)Qld Art Gallery – Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 2002
http://www.qag.qld.gov.au/content/apt2002_standard.asp?name=APT_Artists_Nam_June_Paik
Lacquer cabinet
6 TV monitors with
Laser discs
Roots, 3 silk flowers
And 3 glass beakers
195x126x65 cm
The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection
Case Study 3Case Study 3
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Our ApproachOur Approach• Maintenance
• Metadata encapsulation
• Emulation
• Migration
• Reinterpretation
Most Conservative
Most radical
Our approach
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Metadata workflowMetadata workflowArtwork created
Artist defines/Alters
Structure of workPreservation
metadataIntent metadata
Presentationmetadata
Used by archivist Used by archivist Used by curators
Determinepreservationboundaries
Preserve theessence of the
artwork
Display artwork inexhibitions
Individualmultimedia
objectsOverall layout
Used by curatorConverted by
tool to
master format
Stored in
Multimediadatabase
Periodicallychecks
Registry of formats/softwares
Preserve andreinterpret work
If new versionavailable
Notify relevantauthority
Discriptivemetadata
Used by/Alteredcurators
Record of work
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Extended METS Extended METS SchemaSchema<mets>
<dmdSec> Descriptive Metadata Section</dmdSec> <amdSec> Administrative Metadata Section <techMD> Technical Metadata <AMD Schema> specific to audio files, e.g., sampling frequency </AMD> <IMD Schema> specific to image files, e.g., bits per pixel, color space</IMD> <TMD Schema>specific to text files, e.g., character set, encoding used</TMD> <VMD Schema> specific to video files, e.g., bit rate,compression codec.</VMD> </techMD> <rightsMD> Rights metadata </rightsMD> <sourceMD>Analog source technical info <AMD Schema> specific to audio files</AMD> <IMD Schema> specific to image files</IMD> <TMD Schema>specific to text files</TMD> <VMD Schema> specific to video files</VMD> </sourceMD> <digiProvMD>events that occurred in reformatting or migrating entities.</digiProvMD> <amdSec>
<behaviorSec>behaviours</behaviourSec> <fileGrp>links to files that are part of this digital object </fileGrp> <structMap>SMIL + metadata required to present and navigate this digital object </structMap></mets>
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The metadata input The metadata input tooltool
• Used to add most of the metadata– Descriptive,
– Presentation
– Intent
– preservation
• Basis for migration tool• Sets up registry notification system• http://maenad.dstc.edu.au:8080/panic/panic.jsp
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SMILSMIL
• W3C Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
• Simple XML for choreographing multimedia presentations
• Able to define regions for video, audio, images
• Defined using a graphical SMIL editor: Fluition
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Convert to SMIL:1 Image6 Video Frames
Image Region
6 Video regions
Example – Case Study Example – Case Study 33
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Our ApproachOur Approach
• Maintenance
• Metadata encapsulation
• Emulation
• Migration
• Reinterpretation
Most Conservative
Most radical
Our approach
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Migration strategyMigration strategy
Convert to a master format that is lossless(TIFF, MPEG-2, WAV)
Multimedia Objects
Images Video Audio Text
JPEG2000 mp3 PDF
Using the conversion module to generate a copy of the multimedia objects in thecurrent standard format for use
mp4
Conversion modulewritten as necessary
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ConclusionsConclusions• Possible to determine optimum approaches for
different classes/genres of works• Ancillary materials essential – interviews,
plans, photos, documentary evidence, metadata
• Platform-independent Standards essential – MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MP3, SMIL, metadata schemas and vocabularies (METS)
• XML – reduces database obsolescence
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Future WorkFuture Work
• Implement migration strategy
• Compare MPEG-21 to METS
• Simple software registry vs web services
• Platform independent formats for shockwave, flash
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ReferencesReferences
http://metadata.net/panic/