DEVELOPING OUR PROFESSION

REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW UNESCO PUBLICATION,
"A PHILOSOPHY OF AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVING"

Note: The publication can be accessed on line at the following URL: in HTML format at: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/en/highlights/audiovisual_archiving/philo1.htm or RTF at: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/en/highlights/audiovisual_archiving/study.rtf and printed copies can be obtained from UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France (code CII-98/WS/6). (Email Mrs. Joie Springer at j.springer@unesco.org)

If I started by saying "I want to talk to you about a publication on philosophy" you might be wondering if you’d come to the right place, or at least you might wish you’d stayed outside for another cup of coffee. The word "philosophy" doesn’t suggest a subject that’s either very interesting or very relevant to a group like this. Well, I hope I’m about to convince you otherwise. Bear with me.

Late last year, UNESCO published a slim volume with the above title. It was the result of work over five years by a distinguished international group of twelve audiovisual archivists who have links to most of the major professional federations in our field. They included Sven Allerstrand (the president of IASA), Roger Smither (Secretary General of FIAF) and two colleagues who have specific roles in SEAPAVAA – Annella Mendoza and Dietrich Schuller.

As the author, the words in the publication are mine, but the content is collaborative – the synthesis of many minds.

The intention was to descriptively codify the principles of audiovisual archiving, so that they could be deliberately understood and debated, rather than be assumed. It was done to respond to a growing global need among audiovisual archivists to ponder their identity, image, professional affiliations and ethics, and to face practical issues of training and accreditation. There was a need to test whether the principles were similar to related collecting fields (such as museology, archival science and librarianship) – and therefore could be adopted by analogy – or whether there were new principles which arose from the nature of the audiovisual media.

In a short presentation, it’s not possible to present the whole content of such a document – though if you’re interested, the complete publication can be accessed and downloaded on the internet, or can be obtained in hard copy (see above). So let me highlight just a few of the topics covered.

You might think you know the answer to this, but when you try to define it – it’s not so easy! So we set out to define everyday terms that we constantly use like audiovisual media, audiovisual heritage, audiovisual archive and audiovisual archivist. We defined film, television, radio and sound recordings as specific audiovisual media – so a film archivist, for example, is an audiovisual archivist who works with this particular medium.

It would take too long to set out all these definitions here (you can look them up yourself) so let me quote just one:

An audiovisual archive is an organization or department of an organisation which is focused on collecting, managing, preserving and providing access to a collection of audiovisual media and the audiovisual heritage.

If that looks vaguely familiar, you’re right! There’s a similar (though not identical) definition an article 1 of the SEAPAAA constitution!

The text goes into lengthy discussion about the various uses of the words "archive" and "archives", and it challenges some traditional ways of looking at things. For example, it questions the appropriateness of defining audiovisual media by such terms as "non-book", "non-text", or "special materials" – in other words, describing audiovisual media by what it is not, rather than by what it is. (It would be just a logical to say that books are "non-AV" materials). Does such terminology subtly suggest that the audiovisual media are less important than traditional formats?

In Section B of the document, there’s a "typology" of audiovisual archives. Depending on how you look at it, there are up to 5 kinds – maybe more! They include:

The document explores the thesis that audiovisual archives are defined by their perspective – the particular way they view the world and the material they collect. They see the audiovisual media in its own right and not as an aspect or subset of something else: and this determines the way collections are organized, the way material is catalogued and accessed, and the way it is selected for the collection in the first place. For example, the primary characteristic of a television program is that it is a television program! The secondary characteristic is that it may have many other attributes: it may be a record, a work of art, an information resource – even an artefact.

Audiovisual archives are also defined by circumstantial characteristics, such as their relationship with the film or broadcasting industries, their corporate culture and their approach to preservation.

Are the audiovisual media different from the traditional media, and if so, how? And what does this tell us about the underlying principles of our work?

Yes, they are different in physical form, of course: and this leads to very specific environments and systems of storage and preservation, and the need to develop the associated skills and facilities to care for them and access them. But they are also different in more subtle ways.

For example, they have no objective existence. They are perceived subjectively – through the "persistence of vision" and wave patterns in the air – so they really only exist in our minds! And every individual perceives them slightly differently! When copies are made, the image and sound quality can be changed, subtly or dramatically: so the content of the original production is thereby altered. Preserving the integrity of a film or program requires an understanding of these characteristics and an objective documenting of the copying processes to which it is subject.

Audiovisual archivists occupy positions of trust, and they are guardians of the integrity of their collections. The work has a general ethical basis, as well as elements which are specific of it. So a number of ethical principles are put forward.

For example, the following clause (3.3.3) deals with responsibility to collection materials:

Audiovisual archivists….respect the integrity of the works in their care and do not mutilate or censor them, misrepresent them, improperly suppress access to them nor in any other way attempt to falsify history and access to it. They resist the efforts of others to do so. They endeavour to complete what is incomplete, find what has been lost, remove the accretions of time, wear and misinformation. They hold in tension their personal tastes, values and critical judgements against the need to responsibly protect and develop their collection in accordance with policy.

This is the first attempt to codify a philosophy for our field and the primary intention is to stimulate discussion and debate, so that something more substantial and refined can evolve. It is meant to be the beginning, not the end, of a process. It is likely to be some time before the major associations, and the audiovisual archiving field generally, adopt a common and universal philosophy (such as the older collecting professions have each done).

Nonetheless, there are some interesting responses to the appearance of the Philosophy. IASA is proposing to formally adopt its definition of audiovisual. FIAF has drawn on its Ethics section in developing the Code of Ethics which has just become the new basis for FIAF membership.

In the field of professional education of audiovisual archivists, the Philosophy is a standard text for the courses offered by the University of New South Wales (Sydney) and the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation (at George Eastman House, Rochester, USA). It is therefore becoming part of the formal frame of reference which new entrants to the profession are acquiring, the first generation which has been able to break the cycle of informal "learning on the job".

You can play a part in the refinement of our professional philosophy! The avenues of discussion – the list serves, the newsletters are available. Read the document – and then let your voice be hear. And I, for one, will be interested to hear it!