This article from the April 2011 issue of the AMIA Tech Review has as its subtitle Digital Cinema Technologies from the Archive’s Perspective: Part 2. It opens with twelve ‘lessons’ learned concerning the long term preservation and management of digital cinema works. They are followed by what the author calls ‘thinking out loud’: eight ‘worries’ about analog collection management resulting from the rapid acceptance of digital cinema. Issues such as file encryption, the need for specialized staff (especially specialized IT staff) and the disappearance of analog film labs are among some of the issues discussed.
The article clearly outlines both the primary digital cinema preservation issues as well as the changing context within which traditional (analog) film archives find themselves as digital cinema becomes the norm. It offers a good overview of current challenges and issues facing film archives, with a particular emphasis on staffing considerations.