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Re: [ARSCLIST] Mass Digitization
There would certainly be numerous technology possibilities here - automation, meta-data,
work-flow, storage systems, etc...
Something for everyone!
Rob Poretti
Sascom - Toronto
vox.905.825.5373 fax.905.469.1129 cel.905.580.2467
www.sascom.com www.cube-tec.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Marcos Sueiro
> Sent: May 15, 2007 2:09 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mass Digitization
>
>
> It seems to me that a "Mass Digitisation" panel/session would
> be a good
> thing for our next conference. Perhaps someone could update
> us on things
> like SAMMA, the PrestoSpace project, and things of that sort.
> I agree,
> it really is the only way to go.
>
> Cheers
>
> Marcos
>
> Andes, Donald wrote:
> >
> > Jim,
> >
> > Let me add a positive retort here, (before the waves of
> negative ones
> > begin)....
> >
> > I agree with you 100% that most in the archival world are
> focusing on
> > the wrong issues, or maybe have been lingering on the same problems
> > for too long. The issue in my mind is scale because most in the
> > archival industry are seeing a box, or room full of tapes, and have
> > not had the opportunity to see over 1 million assets in a single
> > location, nor contemplated what to do with them.
> >
> > As the Director of Archives for EMI, I look at all the
> assets under my
> > control (over 1 million, just in North America), and think
> to myself:
> > "How much sense does it make to preserve these assets in these
> > formats, when the machines, engineer knowledge base, and
> media itself
> > if deteriorating."
> >
> > Once you scale out and see the big picture, you start to see the
> > REALLY big problem. If we (the archival industry) can't get a
> > digitization schema to be cost effective, we simply won't get the
> > funds to digitize. Worse, if someone outside the archival industry,
> > gets "their" plans in motion, you can rest assure that it
> will not be
> > done anywhere near correct.
> >
> > As you know, the barriers to digital migration are also far more
> > complex than the real time transfer that it involves (even if we're
> > using SAMMA
> > "robots".) Digital files take error checking, redundant
> copies, naming
> > conventions, metadata collection, metadata hierarchy standards, etc.
> > Figuring all this out UP FRONT, makes for a daunting task
> that I will
> > venture to say, takes a completely different skill/mind set
> than analog.
> > Unfortunately people don't change, and no matter how many positive
> > reasons you give to migrate, those entrenched in analog will want to
> > stay there.
> >
> > I believe there should be communal, parallel thinking in regards to
> > mass digitization strategies, metadata collection and so
> forth. I am
> > aware of library groups focusing specifically on metadata,
> but I have
> > my own concern with their focus, and priorities in regards to
> > collecting metadata on A/V assets.
> >
> > I'm available for dialog on this topic, and I would hope
> that others
> > on the list may open minded enough as well.
> >
> >
> > Don Andes
> > Director of Archives
> > EMI Music
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > The point is that Analog is over, and the sooner we get to
> the really
> > hard job of developing cost effective mass migration techniques to
> > save the vast corpus the better. Now some of you may say my
> statements
> > are self-serving - and I will fully and freely admit that I have
> > worked very hard to develop these techniques and have worked to
> > commercialize them - but I do not see any other way to save the
> > content, and I have been successful in driving the price lower and
> > lower using new technology. But - we are just one company - and we
> > need help - yes we need competition because THE point is to
> save the
> > content - and to do that - we need to be thinking differently. The
> > problem is not how do we stop a single troublesome tape
> from squeaking
> > - the problem is how do we migrate the millions of recordings fast
> > enough and cost effective enough and good enough - for the
> future. I
> > don't see much of that going on - and it deeply concerns
> me. We need
> > more people thinking this way - I want to read about
> techniques that
> > can be applied to thousands of tapes that will allow fast and cost
> > effective transfer. This is something that we ALL need to work on -
> > the collective brains and expertise on this list and others
> needs to
> > focus - we can differ in our individual philosophies but
> please let us
> > not get so distracted by esoteric un- scaleable treatments, that we
> > forget the whole point. Which is - to save the stuff. I am
> sad to say
> > that collectively - all of us (including me)- have not been doing a
> > very good job - we need to do MUCH better. We need to work
> together -
> > and smarter. The risk of loss is simply too great.
> >
> > Ok - I am done - and I am running,,,,
> >
> > Jim Lindner
> >
> > Email: jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Media Matters LLC.
> > SAMMA Systems LLC.
> > 450 West 31st Street 4th Floor
> > New York, N.Y. 10001
> >
> > eFax (646) 349-4475
> > Mobile: (917) 945-2662
> > Office: (212) 268-5528
> >
> > www.media-matters.net
> > Media Matters LLC. is a technical consultancy specializing
> in archival
> > audio and video material. We provide advice and analysis, to media
> > archives that apply the beneficial advances in technology to
> > collection management.
> >
> > www.sammasystems.com
> > SAMMA Systems provides tools and products that implement
> and optimize
> > the advances in modern technology with established media
> preservation
> > and access practices.
> >
> >
> > On May 14, 2007, at 1:59 PM, Richard L. Hess wrote:
> >
> >> At 07:48 AM 2007-05-14, Tom Fine wrote:
> >>> Hi Konrad:
> >>>
> >>> Some of what this guy says is simply not right about sticky-shed.
> >>> I can't comment on his "cure". I'll stick with baking
> tapes, which is
> >
> >>> proven to work.
> >>>
> >>> I'm hoping Richard Hess posts a long missive on this one.
> With this
> >>> topic well-addressed many other places, I wonder why so much
> >>> mythology persists?
> >> Hello, Tom, Konrad,
> >>
> >> Peter Brothers has posted an excellent hypothesis as to why the
> >> chemical technique may work. If we consider that the short
> (broken)
> >> chains which is the lower molecular weight, sticky stuff ends up
> >> partially adsorbing to the magnetic particles when water is driven
> >> out, then this mystery chemical could also be a water
> "magnet" and can
> >
> >> pull the water out of the coating allowing sites for the
> short chains
> >> to adsorb. This is consistent with the baking process.
> >>
> >> We certainly have seen tapes suffering from binder
> hydrolysis -- what
> >> I'm starting to call "Soft Binder Syndrome" (SBS). With non-
> >> back-coated tapes there is a large population (not 100%,
> but close)
> >> that do not respond to baking. These are the SBS without SSS tapes.
> >> We used to call them "loss of lubricant" (LoL) until we found out
> >> there was still ample lubricant in the tapes.
> >>
> >> What we are seeing with the non-back-coated tapes that
> have SBS (and
> >> squeal) is that they are in a rubbery phase at room temperature
> >> because the breakdown of the polymers has caused the
> temperature at
> >> which the surface turns from smooth to rubbery (called the GLASS
> >> TRANSITION TEMPERATURE or Tg) has fallen to below room
> temperature.
> >> What we do in these cases is play the tapes with the tape and the
> >> player below the current Tg of the tape.
> >>
> >> Measuring Tg is not easy -- you need to measure the Youngs
> Modulus of
> >> the Coating (alone not on the basefilm) at various
> temperatures and
> >> from that plot you can extract the Tg.
> >>
> >> It all comes down to the tapes decaying and for all of the
> >> polyester-polyurethane tapes it appears that moisture is
> the catalyst
> >> for the breakdown -- hence as Peter says, it's all hydroysis.
> >>
> >> Incubation/baking appears to cause enough movement in the
> tape pack
> >> to
> >
> >> break the layer-to-layer bonds that form under pressure (especially
> >> near the hub) that causes pinning and pullouts. I have
> found that slow
> >
> >> (1.88 in/s) playback of the tape also helps in that regard.
> >>
> >> I think our goal here is to use reliable, tested processes and
> >> digitize the content. I spent a substantial amount of
> effort working
> >> on tapes that squealed and did not respond to baking. My
> cold playing
> >> technique (which I encourage all of you to try and respond back)
> >> should, in theory, work with SSS tape as well as SBS (and
> I suggest
> >> that SSS is a subset of SBS), but the massive amounts of debris
> >> generated by the backcoat/magcoat combination overwhelms the
> >> capability of cold playback (at least right now) and at pro play
> >> speeds, pullout is exacerbated due to the bonding between
> backcoat and
> >
> >> magcoat.
> >>
> >> I do not think we've yet seen a documented case of LoL so
> thankfully
> >> that myth is being put to bed. We used to think the squealing Sony
> >> PR-150 and 3M 175 was LoL, but we now see that it is SBS.
> By the way,
> >> the Tg of one sample of 175 was about +8C or about 46F.
> >>
> >> Keeping polyester polyurethane tapes dry (<40% RH) is a good way to
> >> keep them feeling OK. I had a non-backcoated tape of this
> type that
> >> had been peaking at 75% RH in storage "heal" after three months
> >> storage at about 40% RH.
> >>
> >> By the way, it is approximately a minute:day relationship between
> >> thermal and moisture equilibrium--or at least that's a
> convenient way
> >> to think of it. In other words if a tape takes 90 minutes to reach
> >> thermal equilibrium throughout the pack, then it takes 90 days to
> >> reach moisture equilibrium. This is based on work with 1-
> inch tapes
> >> so 1/4-inch tapes might not be as bad, but it seems to match my
> >> experience.
> >>
> >> My AES paper cites the reference for that.
> >>
> >> In general, I am less happy with a chemical approach than a
> >> physical/state approach (within limits) to the SBS/SSS problem as
> >> there is a great chance of unknown, long-term damage from
> any chemical
> >
> >> approach. With that said, I have tried approaches to SBS
> based on the
> >> LoL hypothesis and they were abysmal failures.
> >>
> >> Konrad: we did have a belated success in your neck of the
> woods with
> >> playing a tape in a fridge. Paul or Mike have the details.
> I think it
> >> needed 48 hours of cold soak before it played.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Richard
> >>
> >>
> >> Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
> >> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/
> >> contact.htm Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
> >
> > -
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> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --
> Marcos Sueiro Bal
> Audio/Moving Image Project Archivist
> Preservation Division
> Columbia University Libraries
>
>