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SEAPAVAA Newsletter |
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ASEAN audiovisual database on internet
Audiovisual archivists from ASEAN and Australia met recently at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) in Quezon City to finalize plans to launch an internet ASEAN database of film and television productions to be online in January 1999. The film and TV archivists from the ASEAN region and from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) gathered at the PIA last September 30 for a two-day assessment meeting on the "Development Plan for AV Archiving in the Region: The ASEAN Catalog of Film and Television Productions." According to PIA Director General Joel C. Paredes, the online database will contain a standardized catalog of selected films and television productions considered culturally and historically significant on the national and regional levels. This project, which PIA is spearheading, is considered a pioneering effort that will complement the plan to set up an ASEAN satellite television channel. The database will serve as ready reference of available materials from the region. The online catalog was developed using the Merged Audio-Visual Information System (MAVIS) with ongoing contributions from ASEAN member countries. The records will then become publicly accessible using internet browsers targetted at the NFSA website. Links to the database will also be included in the websites of ASEAN, the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (COCI), and the South East Asia-Pacific Audio Visual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA). There are also plans to make the database available through CD-ROMs and traditional publications for wider dissemination. By providing access to the region's film and television productions, ASEAN-COCI hopes to facilitate exchange of information among member countries, promote the region's rich cultural heritage as well as provide an excellent opportunity to let people from within and outside the region know more about our creative endeavors. The project is being implemented by PIA and the NFSA through the ASEAN-Australia Cooperation program and in coordination with SEAPAVAA. The assessment meeting was attended by delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam and resource persons from NFSA and SEAPAVAA.
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