National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP)

The Library of Congress, through its National Digital Information
Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), today announced
eight partnerships as part of its new Preserving Creative America
initiative to address the long-term preservation of creative content
in digital form. These partners will target preservation issues
across a broad range of creative works, including digital
photographs, cartoons, motion pictures, sound recordings and even
video games. The work will be conducted by a combination of industry
trade associations, private sector companies and nonprofits, as well
as cultural heritage institutions.

Several of the projects will involve developing standardized
approaches to content formats and metadata (the information that
makes electronic content discoverable by search engines), which are
expected to increase greatly the chances that the digital content of
today will survive to become America's cultural patrimony tomorrow.
Although many of the creative content industries have begun to look
seriously at what will be needed to sustain digital content over
time, the $2.15 million being awarded to the Preserving Creative
America projects will provide added impetus for collaborations
within and across industries, as well as with libraries and
archives.

"America's creativity is unrivaled in the world, and it is among our
most important exports," said Librarian of Congress James H.
Billington. "The Library is pleased to be able to bring together
creators of such diverse content for the sake of saving our nation's
heritage, which is increasingly being created only in digital
formats."

Preserving Creative America is the most recent initiative of the
National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program
<URL:http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/>, authorized by Congress in
December 2000. The authorizing legislation specifies that the
Library should enlist the private sector to help address the
long-term preservation of digital content. A cornerstone of NDIIPP
has been the establishment of a broad network of partners committed
to the continuing stewardship of digital content of value to
Congress and the nation. With the new awards, the NDIIPP network
grows to more than 90 partners, including other government agencies,
educational institutions, research laboratories and organizations,
both in the United States and abroad. Previous NDIIPP projects have
involved primarily educational and cultural heritage institutions.

   "The Library of Congress is delighted to welcome private sector
    participants to our growing network of NDIIPP partners,"

said Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives Laura E.
Campbell, who is leading NDIIPP for the Library of Congress.

   "We were very encouraged by the willingness of the content
    industries to work with us. Collaborations such as these are
    essential if we are collectively going to be able to ensure that
    valuable cultural content survives for the benefit of future
    generations."

Following are the lead entities, their project partners and the
focus areas of the projects:

    *   Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS): Today's
        digitally created motion pictures are at risk unless
        suitable technologies, practices and standards are developed
        and adopted. AMPAS, best known for its annual Academy
        Awards, devotes considerable resources to a host of motion
        picture-related educational, scientific and cultural
        endeavors, including the technical aspects of filmmaking and
        the preservation of motion pictures. The Digital Motion
        Picture Archive Framework Project will build upon AMPAS'
        current research on digital preservation issues from the
        perspective of the major motion picture studios, extending
        the effort to include independent filmmakers and smaller
        film archives. Additional key components of the project will
        involve developing a case study system for investigating
        archival strategies for digital motion pictures and
        recommending specifications for image data formats across
        the production chain.

    *   American Society of Media Photographers: Digital photography
        has no accepted standard set of rules for handling digital
        image files and maintaining information about them. This
        project has two major objectives: (1) to expand an existing
        set of guidelines, the Universal Photographic Digital
        Imaging Guidelines, with recommendations for refined
        production workflows, archiving methods and best practices
        based on image use and capture methods and (2) to promote
        the use of the guidelines through a Web site and awareness
        campaigns within the professional photographer community.
        Partners: PhotoDistrict News, ASMP Foundation.

    *   ARTstor: Small organizations and individuals in particular
        are often not equipped to create "archive-ready" images.
        This project aims, through training and tools, to enable
        photographers to submit archive-ready images to repositories
        such as ARTstor. Development of a tool will allow
        photographers to capture technical and preservation metadata
        early in the creation workflow and embed the metadata in
        their digital images, while outreach efforts at art schools
        and professional conferences will both generate requirements
        and raise awareness of the importance of metadata to the
        long-term usability and preservation of digital photographs.
        Partners: Art on File, Artesia, Josef and Anni Albers
        Foundation, Northwestern University.

    *   BMS/Chace: The adoption of digital recording has virtually
        eliminated the vital documentation once created on paper
        during the recording process. At the same time it has
        created tremendous unrealized potential to create and
        maintain all key information about a recording throughout
        its life cycle. The project focuses on creating a
        standardized approach for gathering and managing metadata
        for recorded music and developing software models to assist
        creators and owners in collecting the data. A standardized
        metadata environment will allow content creators, record
        labels, individuals and cultural heritage institutions to
        document, archive and manage "born digital" recordings
        effectively. Partners: Sony BMG Music, Universal Music
        Group, EMI Group, Buena Vista Music Group and the Producers
        and Engineers Wing of the National Academy of Recording Arts
        and Sciences.

    *   Stock Artists Alliance (SAA): Essential information about
        stock images is frequently lost as images are disseminated
        across multiple distributors, licensees and end users,
        making the archiving and repurposing of these images
        difficult. SAA, through online resources and educational
        seminars at professional trade shows and in key cities, will
        promote the importance of metadata for long-term usability
        of digital photographs.

    *   Universal Press Syndicate: Universal Press Syndicate, a
        newspaper syndication company, will use a collection of
        Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury" comic strips and Pat Oliphant's
        editorial cartoons to model and test the transfer of digital
        content to the Library of Congress. The project will
        constitute a case study for public-private partnerships for
        archiving digital content and will focus on aligning
        metadata practices, transfer procedures and continuing
        collection management in a manner consistent with the goals
        of digital preservation.

    *   UCLA Film and Television Archive: The long-term
        sustainability of digital works has received little
        attention within the independent film community. This
        project award supports awareness and education within the
        independent film community through symposia and workshops at
        major film conferences. Partner: Sundance Institute.

    *   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Interactive
        media are highly complex and at high risk for loss as
        technologies rapidly become obsolete. The Preserving Virtual
        Worlds project will explore methods for preserving digital
        games and interactive fiction. Major activities will include
        developing basic standards for metadata and content
        representation and conducting a series of archiving case
        studies for early video games, electronic literature and
        Second Life, an interactive multiplayer game. Second Life
        content participants include Life to the Second Power,
        Democracy Island and the International Spaceflight Museum.
        Partners: University of Maryland, Stanford University,
        Rochester Institute of Technology and Linden Lab.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:19
                 Distributed: Wednesday, August 8, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-19-002
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