Contents:
- Executive Summary
- Project Description : The Problem
- Project History
- NYU Preservation Repository
- The metadata problem
- Historical production processes of public media content producers
- Transition to digital is an opportunity to improve processes
- Preservation-compliant production Media Asset Management system
- How our findings can help other organizations
- Challenges and initial lessons learned
- Next steps
- System Description
- Appendix
This report describes a ‘preservation-compliant’ media asset management (MAM) system developed for WNET, a public television station in New York City. After providing some background on the project from which it came, (PTV Digital Archive Project) the report goes on to describe issues confronted such as format standardization, the metadata problem, change management within the broadcast production environment and satisfying preservation compliancy requirements. After lessons learned and the next steps forward, the system description section follows. This describes the core design principles, including use of PBCore, implementing new technology tools to ensure metadata is added throughout production, background on why the particular MAM vendor was chosen, file formats, storage, ingest, archiving and distribution processes. It was written by WNET staff and a consultant from AudioVisual Preservation Solutions.
This real world case study honestly presents the challenges involved in trying to accommodate both broadcast production and preservation requirements in one workflow system. Besides offering an assessment of the difficulties involved trying to convince production staff in particular, the value of aiding the preservation process throughout the production cycle, it demonstrates that such an approach not only can work, but must work as file based production takes over the broadcast community. Useful reading for broadcasters considering long-term preservation as well as archives charged with managing broadcast materials.