cultural memory and online audiovisual content: issues in preservation of identity in small stories

Cultural memory and online audiovisual content

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Leisa Gibbons IMS 5021/5037

Cultural memory and online audiovisual content:

Issues in preservation of identity in small stories

Leisa Gibbons

Monash University

MIMS IMS5021 / IMS5037

November 2007


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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the

construct and ongoing development of moving

image in an online environment and its potential

impact on cultural heritage preservation. Threads

of conversation concerning the impact of digital

technology on the construction of visual culture,

its value and its place in the world can be found

in the literature of sociology, cultural and media

theorists and archival research. Research into the

culture of the web and internet does not

specifically address the types of user generated,

moving image content under scrutiny in this

study. One of the important aims of this study to

find a place and a language to describe these

online moving images and their context.


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Cultural Memory and Online Audiovisual Content: Issues in Preservation of Identity in

Small Stories

1.0 Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomena of amateur moving image on

the internet as it pertains to the creation of cultural memory and cultural heritage.

Independent video production has found a home and an audience on the internet. New

social software sites such YouTube provide a virtual space for the uploading, watching

and sharing of video with little or no production values. The content of these videos

range from video blogging, which is the practice of recording a diary style

‘performance’, to illegally recorded TV shows, amateur video productions and

announcements by political leaders, the most famous in Australia being policy

announcements by the Prime Minister, John Howard in 2007.

These videos are embedded in dynamic web pages whose content changes all the time.

In contributing to this You Tube users are creating and re-creating the memory of

culture continuously. Through semantic web features such as tagging, users are also

defining culture and cultural identity. Traditional concepts of audiovisual and

audiovisual heritage do not fit comfortably with these new stories. Questions about

definition and identity of these stories, as well as how the label of ‘cultural heritage’ can

be applied, must be asked. The implications of for cultural heritage and collecting

cultural institutions is numerous. Who is archiving these disposable audiovisual bytes

and who cares about it?

1.1 Research Questions

The primary goal of the study is to gain an understanding of preservation issues

concerning amateur digital born moving image as cultural heritage object in an online

environment.

The primary research question is: How does amateur born digital moving image used

within a dynamic online environment contribute to cultural heritage?


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Within the scope of this broad question there are many elements that must be

considered, particularly as there is little literature about this subject. One the of most

important aspects of this study is to be able to analyse the genre of these information

objects and where they might fit into current memory making theory and practice.

• Who creates and uses these online moving images?

• What is the purpose and use of these online moving images?

• What is the content and context of these online moving images?

• What is the genre of these online moving images?

• What relevance does the format and medium have on these online moving

images and their preservation?

• How do these moving images contribute to memory and memory making?

• How is cultural memory attributed to these online moving images?

• How do these moving images contribute to cultural heritage?

• Do these online moving images fit into the current paradigms of cultural memory

making?

• What effect does current cultural heritage collecting practices have on the ability

to define these online moving images?

1.2 Terminology and Key Concepts

1.2.1 Audiovisual or moving image?

Audiovisual is a hierarchical subject heading and is often coupled with such terms as

moving image, multimedia, sound and audiovisual documents. The term audiovisual

has grown out of an archival/information need to describe a collection and categorise a

subject or field of study. This means often audiovisual is defined through its application


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to a particular collection. In doing so, there are inconsistencies with the definition of

audiovisual across the literature and a trend in identifying audiovisual as “object”.

The Oxford English Dictionary definition reveals the perceptive base, “pertaining to

both hearing and vision, esp. of mechanical aids to teaching” (http://www.oed.com/

[restricted access]). This definition has been derived from a reference concerning

teaching aides in a 1959 publication and states that audiovisual involves hearing and

vision, but does not say how. It also implies that audiovisual is something that is

mechanical, but is only especially so, not specifically so. The final statement describes

audiovisual as an educational aid. The implies that one of the attributes that defines ‘a

thing’ as audiovisual is way how it can be experienced. Thus audiovisual is not a ‘thing’

or an object, but the way something else, possibly something mechanical, can be

experienced.

The above definition also reveals two quite important issues. Firstly, audiovisual

description can be highly subjective and contextual, according not only to ideology, but

also institution and practice. This dictionary reference is very general, yet is also fixed in

times and space: cultural and historical use of audiovisual shows it is most likely to be

associated with teaching aids. Secondly, that the things that is experienced as

‘audiovisual’ needs technology in order to experience it.

Audiovisual archives, such as The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Audiovisual Archive, use the term ‘audiovisual’ as an

identification tool to establish the boundaries of the collection and field of study,

namely, “moving image, recorded sound and photographic materials”.

(http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/audiovisual_archives) The International Association of Sound and

Audiovisual Archives (IASA) has member countries who collect a range of audiovisual

materials including, “musical recordings, historic, literary, folkloric and ethnological

sound documents, theatre productions and oral history interviews, bio-acoustics,

environmental and medical sounds, linguistic and dialect recordings, as well as

recordings for forensic purposes.” (http://www.iasa-web.org/pages/Default.htm)


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The definition from the Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS)

defines audiovisual as:

“A work in a medium that combines sound and visual images, for

example, a motion picture or videorecording with a sound track, or a

slide presentation synchronized with audiotape.”

(http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-records/2533.html)

This definition has been developed and applied as an information tool. The change from

this definition from the above is that audiovisual is not an experience, but a ‘work’:

audiovisual embodies sound and vision as part of its attributes. The purpose of this

definition of audiovisual is to describe a ‘thing’. Again two quite important issues are

raised by this definition. Firstly, that the ‘work’ is a creation, rather than an experience.

Secondly, there is a medium upon which the audiovisual ‘thing’ or ‘work’ is in or part

of.

Whether it is the medium that combines sound and visual images, or the work that

combines them, the definition is not clear. This distinction between medium and work is

important in understanding audiovisual as ‘object’. The medium with which the

audiovisual ‘object ‘ is made is often used as the descriptor of the object itself. For

example, video is both media and audiovisual object. The implications for the use of the

term ‘multimedia’ and other terms from internet jargon, such as ‘hypermedia’ in relation

to the use of audiovisual is significant. Deeper explorations of these issues continue on

later.

The seminal reference, Audiovisual archiving ; philosophy and principles , written by

Ray Edmondson, first published in 1998 as a study into the values, ethics, principles and

perceptions for UNESCO, defines audiovisual as, “‘directed at the faculties of seeing

and hearing’”. (2004, p. 16) This definition relies on experiencing where the experience

is specifically ‘directed’ or aimed at ‘seeing and hearing’. Further definitions are

offered by Edmondson from a variety of legal and archival points of view which

introduce appending terms such media, work, materials and heritage. (Duranti, 1997;

Edmondson, 2004, p. 22) These present types of audiovisual ‘things’ as well as

applications of the term in archival literature.


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However, Edmondson supplies a “professional definition” of audiovisual which details

much more specific attributes, as well as explores the ideas of purpose and technology.

“Audiovisual documents are works comprising reproducible images

and/or sounds embodied in a carrier whose

• recording, transmission, perception and comprehension

usually requires a technological device

• visual and/or sonic content has linear duration

• purpose is the communication of that content, rather than use

of the technology for other purposes” (2004, p.23)

A key concept identified in this definition is that audiovisual is a type of document. The

implications of the use of the word document cannot be overlooked, particularly as a

memory making tool in genre analysis and description. Edmondson says that document

is used “used in the sense of a recording created by deliberate intent…” which includes

not only the content of the document, but the carrier as well. (2004, p. viii & p.17)

In Edmondson’s definition, audiovisual is being described as a genre of document. Once

identified as belonging to a genre, the medium of the document becomes part of the

attributes of that genre. The document is then seen as “information-as-thing” (Buckland,

1991), wherein, “a digital movie is still recognizable as belonging to a genre called

‘movies’”. (McKemmish, Piggott, Reed, Upward, & (eds), 2005, p. 79) Audiovisual is

considered as “thing” and object within this thinking.

Complex web pages in a non-linear and dynamic environment, such as those studied in

this research, do not sit easily next to the concept of an identifiable “object”. This

implies a fixed content that can be lifted out from its surroundings and still have context

and relevance. This is not necessarily so.

In contrast to the concept of audiovisual as object, the term, ‘moving image' implies

what is seen rather than a carrier, it is “A medium of expression”

(http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-records/2533.html). The concept of medium in this

definition refers specifically to communication and how ‘something’ can be or is


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expressed. (http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-records/2533.html) This use of expression in

this context emphasizes the medium as purpose rather than medium as format.

In 1980, when UNESCO authors, in conjunction with International Federation of Film

Archives (FIAF) wrote the seminal document, “Recommendation for the Safeguarding

and Preservation of Moving Images”, the concept of media was described as a “support”

to impart in the “impression of motion”.

(http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/cinema/html_eng/page1.shtml ; (CCAAA, 2005, p. 1) A moving

image has these elements and is what is seen or perceived. It can be a document or even

a record, but is still a moving image. The concept of the moving image can be used to

describe something that is going on or perceived within a dynamic web page without

having to identify it as “object”.

The definition of audiovisual given by Edmondson is very similar, but differs in one

important aspect. Audiovisual must be a “object”; it must be defined by its format, either

a document or a moving image or a video etc. In context audiovisual is used to describe

a attribute of something else, for example, at the Australian Film and Sound Archive, the

archivists preserve and share “moving images” from the “audiovisual media”, referring

to the industries that create them. (http://www.screensound.gov.au/about_us/what_we_do.html)

In this study the concept of moving image is used to identify something that can be

perceived as what it is (a moving image) where ever it may be: on a computer hard

drive, ipod or on a web page. Moving image is not a document, but can be found within

a document. Moving image can be a record in itself, but also sits within a larger

contextual record.

1.2.1.1 Video

An important note must be made in consideration of the use of the term ‘video’ in this

study.

‘Video’ in this study does not come from the strict audiovisual archiving tradition or

being a technological medium, but from a more social or vernacular use of the term.

Video has had many incarnations in the past,


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“Video—moving pictures captured electronically on tape or in digital

form instead of chemically on film—has in its short history evolved

from three-quarter-inch analog tape reels to half-inch consumer

cassettes to minicassettes, then to digital tape and digital discs to

digital data stored on hard drives of computers or transmitted only in

electronic form. Video telephones—a staple of science fiction for

decades—are now a reality and are still using the term “video” for the

pictures they transmit.” (Hetrick, 2006, p. 78)

Video rental stores still exist even though the media they actually rent is DVD

and they do not often rent videos at all. In this study the use of the word video

involves all these multilayered concepts of:

1. moving image media and storage format, the ‘object’ captured as bytes;

2. a synonym for moving image as a genre;

3. a socialised activity.

1.2.2 Amateur

The amateur is generally considered to be a creator who is making content that is

“private rather than [for] commercial viewing”. (http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-

records/2533.html)

Amateur implies consumer performing or copying the task of professional, but an

amateur also does what the professional does not do and collects “moments”. (S. B.

Davis & Moar, 2005, p. 158; Orgeron, 2006, p. 77) Devin Orgeron, in exploring the

concept of “moment collecting” in home travel movies, tells of a perceived sense of

preservation of a present moment by an amateur for a possible future. (Orgeron, 2006, p.

77)

This idea of ‘memory catching’ in these moments plays an important role in the purpose,

use and reuse of memory in moving image particularly in the context of the internet. The

amateur presents a point of view that is their own, where “their eyes” tell the story and

create a record. (Orgeron, 2006, p. 95)


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Amateur can also mean a creator who is an “unsophisticated user”(S. B. Davis & Moar,

2005, p. 159) where the intention is to show a video “ within a circle of family and

friends, rather than exhibited publicly.” (http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-

records/2533.html) This aspect to the concept has some validity in this study, however

some of the moving image on YouTube is quite sophisticated and also exhibits to a very

wide audience.

The definitions need to be broadened here and be able to take into account ideas of style

and concepts of communities of practice being similar to a circle of friends and family.

These are overlapping ideas and are drawn from the culture of the internet, including

virtual communities and communities of practice and their peculiarities.

Amateur can also be a style, which has been made famous on YouTube with scandals

erupting about professional film makers creating an amateur video blog of a young

teenage girl that everyone thought was real. (http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/19376/ ;

http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/categories/security/3701/lonely-girls-missed-opportunities.thtml ;

http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2006/10/4/moreLikeLyingGirl15)

Amateur in this study refers to those who are telling the small stories that are found on

YouTube as well as the style in which YouTube outputs their videos. They are the

creators who are making, re-jigging, editing, posting and sharing their moments to a

world wide audience for no profit. The idea of commercial gain is not discounted from

this definition as the purpose of exhibition may very well encompass some marketing

aspect which may give financial gain.

1.2.2.1 Storytelling and small stories

The concept of storytelling are primarily drawn from the concept of the ‘tale’ in Frank

Upward’s Cultural Heritage Continuum model (CHCM). (Upward, 2005b, p. 22) The

‘tale’ is the starting point of an interaction and a communication; a trace of a narrative

which draws in content and context then spreads out spatially and across time. (Upward,

2005b, p. 22) The CHCM tells the story of this ‘tale’ across space and time where action

and structure effect its immersion in society and as being identified as Cultural Heritage.

(Upward, 2005b, p. 22)


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The small story is one that is told by the amateur. It is the purpose of ‘memory catching’

that defines this concept. These small stories spread across space and time via the

internet in ways that we have not seen before. They are small, ‘memory catching(s)’ of

the individual, but at the same time contribute to the community of practice, as well as

the internet community as a whole and lastly in society as a whole at the same time.

1.2.3 Dynamic web page or hypermedia?

There is a need of a term for a YouTube web page which adequately describes the

concepts of user contribution, communication as technology, systems of communication

and multimedia with hypertext elements that are constantly changing and growing.

Hypermedia is currently defined as a “…hypertext document in which text is combined

with graphics, audio, animation, and/or full-motion video”

(http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-records/2533.html). Hypertext being, “[a] method of

presenting digital information that allows related files and elements of data to be

interlinked, rather than viewed in linear sequence.” (http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-

records/2533.html)

First coined in 1965 by Nelson at an ACM Conference, hypermedia is used to describe

the “complex information processing” of creative file structures. (Nelson, 1965)

Nelson’s paper concerns information retrieval systems, where inter-linking, re-

configuration and copying of lists can be achieved at any given point in space and time.

(Nelson, 1965, p. 97) In this context hypermedia is a type of information document, with

media referring to format that is not paper, such as film, video, sound recordings, which

can be “arranged as non-linear systems” (as a result of physical editing practices rather

than the sequences or content of the film itself). (Nelson, 1965, p. 96)

To this end, hypermedia is also often used to describe varied computer processes such as

the human-computer interaction of the World Wide Web , or an information system such

as a knowledge management system which allows access and retrieval of documents of

varied media. (Akscyn, McCracken, & Yoder, 1988; Nürnberg, Leggett, Schneider, &

Schnase, 1996)


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Defining a YouTube page as a web page with audiovisual or moving image content,

using the definitions above, means memory is being fixed with only one possible story.

User contribution to the page is not part of this term. The phrase ‘user-contributed web

page’, derived from the concepts of Open Source, Web 2.0 and social software to which

YouTube plays a part does not, only goes some way to addressing the nature of the

richness and difference of the web pages. (http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd ;

http://web2.socialcomputingmagazine.com/the_state_of_web_20.htm ;

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/07/levels_of_the_game.html)

The phrase ‘dynamic web page’ is currently being used to describe web page navigation

where content “…(text, images, form fields, etc.) can change, in response to different

contexts or conditions.” (Dynamic web page, 2007, September 6) This seemed a likely

candidate but is very software and navigational focused rather than addressing media

and mediated content in the page.

One of the aims of this research project is to closely investigate the elements of the

YouTube webpage and the interaction by users in generating content and how moving

image within this frame can be defined. This means that a definition and concept is not

available at this time. However, during this research proposal, the term online moving

image is used frequently to describe what is being ‘looked at’ and where and at the very

least provides a working definition.

1.2.4 Memory

The concept of memory is applied in many senses in this study. From the individual

memory which has no tactile form, to cultural and shared memory in stories and

language, to recorded memory which is the ‘object’ retained in archival institutions, as

well as the action of archives “preserving the memory” for access over space and time.

(McKemmish, 1996, p. 183)

Memory is these senses are both intangible and tangible, an action and a process and can

be found in individuals and the collective, as well as in storage containers and as concept

itself.


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To this end, the concept of memory in this study is applied using the tool of the CHCM.

Traces and relationships between memory are found throughout the CHCM, however in

this study the focus is on the dimensions of the continuum framework where memory is

formed through transaction and context by individuals, group, organisational and the

collective. (McKemmish et al., 2005, p. 14)

1.2.4.1 Remembering and forgetting

Memory is also often used in reference to ‘remembering’ and memorialising, where

“evidence of me” leaves behind the evidence of self, which can then be carried through

space and time. (McKemmish, 1996, p. 181) This concept is at an individual level and is

related to the ‘memory catching’ of the amateur as written above.

The aspect of remembering is very important in relation to the very closely aligned

concept of forgetting. In this study these two concepts are used concept draws attention

in relation to the integrity and fragility of digital documents and their use in socialisation

and language.

1.2.4.2 Memory-making

This term is used quite frequently in this study and refers specifically to the action and

process of capturing memory. This term comes from Anthony Giddens’ writings on the

meaning of memory which involves the use of perception and ‘presencing’ a term

borrowed from Heidegger which refers to the idea of existing in a continuous present

which is constantly fading into the past. (1984, p. 45) This concept is related to the

above notion of remembering, but is distinguished by its intent; subjective memory

creation and the action of choice.

1.2.5 Culture

Culture is one of those terms, similar to memory, whose meaning in becomes clearer in

context, i.e.: popular culture, high culture, internet culture, organisational culture. An

18th

century humanistic definition of culture refers to the literature, arts and music.

(Scott & Marshall, 2005) Cultural anthropologists of the 19th

century began to use the


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concept of culture to describe the sum of human activity. (Scott & Marshall, 2005)

These historical definitions of culture still find their traces in the use of the term today.

The definition used in this study comes from the writings of Geert Hofestede, who

conducted a large research project into national culture differences across subsidiaries of

IBM in 64 countries between 1967-1973. (http://feweb.uvt.nl/center/hofstede/index.htm)

Hofestede says that “cultures manifest themselves, from superficial to deep, in symbols,

heroes, rituals and values.”(http://feweb.uvt.nl/center/hofstede/page4.htm) He refers to this as

“mental programming” where “patterns of thinking, feeling and potential acting which

were learned [by individuals] throughout their lifetime” are “shared with people who

live or lived within the same social environment”. (1997, p. 4&5)

Hofstede refers to the humanistic definition as “culture one” and the anthropological

definition as “culture two”. (1997, p. 4-5) This study deals with cultural memory and

heritage, where collective thought, processes and action is the primary focus. The

definition of culture by which this study looks at is the Hofstede definition of culture

(two) being, “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members

of one group or category of people from another.”. (1997, p. 5)

1.2.5.1 Cultural memory

Cultural anthropologists divided the concept of culture into three levels. One is the

“learned patterns of behaviour.” (Scott & Marshall, 2005) Secondly, “aspects of culture

that act below conscious levels”, which refers to, as an example, the ‘knowingness’ of

how language works in a culture. (Scott & Marshall, 2005) Thirdly, “patterns of thought

and perception, which are also culturally determined.” . (Scott & Marshall, 2005)

These three ‘identities’ of culture are related to memory and perception as discussed

above and are also found throughout the CHCM, linked to memory and applied on a

dimensional level of individual, group, organisation and collective. Hofstede’s “software

of the mind” directly references the idea of memory and remembering as tool. (1997)

The term ‘cultural memory’ blends the ideas of culture and memory as defined above

and can be found in both the intangible and tangible, i.e.: language as well as artefact.

The use of the term comes from the concepts of Jung’s “collective unconscious”,


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wherein memories are shared by all people and are manifest in cultural phenomena.

(Scott & Marshall, 2005) In this study, ideas of the development of a shared language

and artefacts which are involved in this sharing are referred to as the building and

storing of ‘cultural memory’.

1.2.5.2 Cultural heritage

The concept of cultural heritage in this study takes the idea of cultural memory one step

further by bringing in the construct of the museum. This construct, as discussed by

Upward in relation to the creation of the CHCM, refers to an enshrinement or the act of

elevating in status those values, memories and ideas which are deemed worthy. (2005b,

p. 20) In using the word heritage, the concept of recordkeeping, where records are

selected and constructed through a sense of value, plays a vital part.

Upward refers to cultural heritage as being “based on storytelling over spacetime”.

(2005b, p. 22) The definition of cultural heritage uses the notion of a disembedded

record that moves through time and space via a constructed choice, and which is built on

values that are shared through the acts of language and communication. (Upward,

2005b)

1.3 Methodology

This project will employ an interpretivist grounded theory method to study the use of a

particular information communications technology (ICT) in relation to cultural

storytelling by individuals, groups and societial institutions. (Williamson, 2002)

Grounded theory, as defined by Strauss and Corbin, is a qualitative method where,

“…theory that was derived from data, systematically

gathered and analysed through the research process…where

the researcher begins with an area of study and allows the

theory to emerge from the data”

(Strauss & Corbin, c1998, p. 12)

The approach will be in the form of a case study which will present qualitative data

findings of a moving image website which has user contributed material. The case study


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fits in with the development of theory in a grounded theory approach by scrutinising the

emergence of theoretical concepts and propositions as they appear through the

investigation of data and phenomena. (Williamson, 2002, p. 112)

The case study approach allows for phenomena to be scrutinised in its context.

(Williamson, 2002, p. 113) In this case, the value is derived from the studying the

particular culture and actions of the community of practice in action with the ICT.

Concepts and ideologies from the fields of communications and media will provide the

lens upon which this research is conducted. Frank Upward’s Cultural Heritage

Continuum model (CHCM), which has been offered as a adjunct to the Continuum

theory array of models, will provide the basis for which the research is structured and

designed. (Upward, 2005b)

1.3.1 Selection of moving image ICT

This study aims to undertake a study of moving image content on the web and how it is

being used, accessed, shared, stored in order to build theory and concepts about the use

of moving image material online and its impact on cultural heritage processes. There are

different types of moving image exhibitors on the web, including online only film

festivals, tv channels, both commercial and non-profit as well as video sharing sites such

as entertainment site metacafe which has been around since 2003.

(http://www.metacafe.com/aboutUs/)

The video sharing website YouTube has been selected as a current example of the use of

technology as communication tool, “medium is the message”, wherein the behaviour of

the participants creating the environment, also define the role they have in it. (M.

McLuhan & Fiore, 1967) The case study subject is the technological system (ICT) itself:

YouTube. However, it is the actions of people engaging with the technology that

provide the information about its use. It is this use that drives the change in

communication and connectivity with technology by people, not the technology itself.

Unlike other moving image entertainment sites, YouTube allows its community of

registered users to contribute videos to the site; videos that the users themselves have

made in response to other videos on the site as well as to current affairs or about any


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subject they please. This socialising and amateur aspect of the subject of study is critical

to the idea of culture forming and sharing of memory and has its links in the ideas of

social software and Web 2.0 which is discussed in more detail later.

These elements mean that YouTube, like other ground breaking software platforms

before it such as Napster and eDonkey, is in the press over copyright issues and its

content and value in cultural production. (see some examples:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2007/09/123_9982.html ;

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/media/16jazeera.html ;

http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2746937&page=1 ; http://www.news.com/YouTubes-fate-

rests-on-decade-old-copyright-law/2100-1028_3-6166862.html ; http://www.evropa.bg/en/del/info-

pad/news.html?newsid=3978 ; http://www.news.com/NBC-strikes-deal-with-YouTube/2100-1025_3-

6088617.html ; http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2006/07/warner-bros-cartoons-hates-their-fans.html)

1.3.2 Selection of moving image content

It would seem logical to ground the idea of cultural heritage into a place or identity.

Being also that the idea of this research is to test ideas about cultural collecting and

memory making and the role of the archives in society it would seem that the choice best

choice would be that of the researchers own archival practice: namely the Australian

tradition.

Selection of quantitative data will come from the identification of descriptive tags

assigned by users that denote cultural identity, in this case, ‘Australia’.

The scope will then to work within these identities to interview individuals and groups

who are contributing to the content to fully understand how the site and the descriptor is

being used. Further information from additional sources will need to be gathered to

understand the technology from the perspectives across the continuum of the CHCM.

Hence the research will be divided up in line with the dimensions of the model, so that

types of users within the CoP can be identified.

Research questions have thus been framed by these terms of reference. However, it must

be noted that the flexibility and the blurring of points that is so inherent in the continuum

models is somewhat diminished by this approach. Knowing this, the discussion of the


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findings in relation to the application of the model address this issue and bring back to

focus the continuum aspects of the model as a whole.

1.3.3 Data Collection

Culture and memory forming through interaction, and communication plays a great part

in what data is collected in this study.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to examine the content makers,

users and the subject itself in order to understand how complex web pages are used as a

information and communication tool.

Initial first level data collection will be undertaken as a quantitative search of the

Australian classification tag, as mentioned above. Data will then be retrieved from

counts through selection of subsets of original works, copyright breached works etc.

against the original subset. Further quantitative data will be collected on sharing and

viewing hits which can be sourced through a variety of methods including from

company publications.

Qualitative research methods, including observation of users online behaviour, content

and document analysis and in-depth interviewing. Empirical evidence from users will be

collected through surveys and questionnaires, as well as through interviewing.

1.3.4 Triangulation

One of the methods of ensuring distance and determining rigor when using the case

study approach is to gather sufficient evidence from a variety of similar circumstances

and multiple users to corroborate information. (Williamson, 2002, p. 118) In doing so

the phenomenon under examination will be a “convergence of information from a

variety of sources”, which will strengthen the creditability of the interpretive viewpoint

of the researcher. (Williamson, 2002, p. 118)

Approaching the data collection armed with multiple data collecting tools will ensure

rigor and variety of viewpoints in which to approach data analysis. Using qualitative and

quantitative methods of collection will also ensure credibility. Such tools are interviews,

surveys, field notes, random numerical samples and even the videos themselves.


19


In this study the data collection will need to be collected over a period of time, and

individuals and group contributions will need to be tracked. Multiple selection of

different individuals and groups will contribute to many sources providing evidence of

shared phenomena. Furthermore, analysis of shared meanings of such concepts of the

tag, Australia, will provide different interpretations to the material, ensuring the

subjective viewpoint of the researcher is challenged.

1.3.5 Data Analysis and presentation

Data analysis will need to be performed on both the quantitative and qualitative data

collected. The primary model used in this study, the CHCM will also be used as an

analytical tool. Software will be sourced to help analyse the surveys and questionnaires

as well as the interview and interpretive data.

Analysis of qualitative data will be achieved using the qualitative grounded theory

approach of Strauss and Glaser which involves coding as the data analysis tool. (Strauss

& Corbin, c1998) The procedures for coding are outlined below:

Coding Procedures

1. Build rather than test theory

2. Provide researchers with analytic tools for handling masses of raw data

3. Help analysts to consider alternative meanings of phenomena

4. Identify, develop, and relate the concepts that are the building blocks of

theory (Strauss & Corbin, c1998, p. 13)

As part of this approach, analysis will begin from the creation of the interview questions,

as well as through effective listening skills. Keeping in mind analysis at all times during

the data collection process will also ensure immediacy, plus building of interpretation.

The final presentation of the case study will be presented as a story the development of

culture and possibilities of cultural heritage of online moving image content.

1.3.5.1 Cultural Heritage Continuum model

The CHCM will structure the research and be used as tool in analysis. How this model

can be applied to this study is discussed briefly here.


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The CHCM forms part of an array of models created by Upward as an exercise in

“Continuum mechanics”. (2005a) The continuum models are influenced by sociological

theory concerned with the dynamics of space and time, particularly the work of Anthony

Giddens and structuration theory. (Upward, 2005a)

The CHCM in particular articulates the process of memory making and culture

formation constructed by Upward as a “continuum tool for the spacetime examination of

memory as part of the process of cultural making”. (2005b, p. 20) The spatial frame of

the model, has been used for all of the Continuum models created by Upward

contributes to what Upward refers to as, “recordkeeping activity theory” (2005a, p. 86).

Recordkeeping activity theory examines the “act and the processes” by which memory is

“deeded” to the future by archival work. (Upward, 2005a, p.86) Upward puts forward a

“plurality of memory” incorporating the idea of plural meaning communities of

individuals and the multiple memory this contains, with that of sociological concepts of

memory being in recorded information. (2005a, p. 86) The “plurality of memory” for

Upward then becomes the “thing” of recorded information, as well as the processes and

objects involved in its becoming. (2005a, p.86)

In understanding this perspective of memory, the application of the model in this

research will aid in defining action and process of the use of technology across the

dimensions of the model.

The greatest strength of the CHCM model is that of the continua: multiple layers of

meaning can be construed from the continua of “motion around the intersecting point of

creation” constructing meaning through all interconnected dimensions (the rings), but

can also be unpacked and used to describe singular layers of meaning. (Upward, 2000, p.

124) The continuum is recursive. Time and place can situate process and thing at a point

on the model, yet through time and place this point is not fixed and can be blurred. The

model establishes places where the process of memory making happens, thus the logic

of the terms museum and cultural heritage containers. (Upward, 2005b, p.21) This in

turn describes a process in which a ‘thing’ moves through time and space, changing

according to description of place. (Upward, 2005b, p. 21)


21


Thus a reading of the model in the first instance is used to situate the technology,

YouTube, in a time and place. Initially it would seem that YouTube, as exhibitor, falls

within the second dimension of organisation. The user’s engagement with the

technology however, promotes a complexity of organisation that exists in the third

dimension. Yet at its inception, this technology provides an impetus to create, as well as

capture. This stretching out of place across the dimensions is effected by time and has

provided the conceptual framework on which the research is built.

1.4 Conclusion

There are two primary outcomes of this research. The first outcome is to contribute to

the field of information systems knowledge concerning purpose and use of very complex

electronic documents in an online content. This outcome with contribute and build upon

research on the role of archive in society, the impact of technology on both archival

science theory and cultural memory. (Gilliland & McKemmish, 2004, p.151)


22


The second outcome is to test the CHCM model in order to determine the value of its

application in theoretical frameworks concerning cultural heritage issues and electronic

documents. The structures and terminology of the model will be used to create the

research boundaries. This model draws heavily from sociology and Giddens’

structuration theory (Giddens, 1984) and has been used extensively in archival science

research in Australia. (Williamson, 2002, p. 40)

However, there is little written about the subject of cultural memory and online moving

image content and this study will explore an archival field in which very little has been

written.


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2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The purpose of this literature review is to survey research discussion on born and

exhibited digital moving image as they relate to cultural memory making. There is a

distinct lack of literature in this area. This literature review attempts to describe the

potential areas of growth in this field through identifying key areas of study and research

in fields such as online and internet studies, cultural and media studies and information

management and archival studies. Current paradigms in audiovisual archiving contribute

to the concept of moving image as mediated objects. The underlying assumption implies

that audiovisual documents are ‘objects’ and like an object, can be picked up or plucked

out. Digitisation of analogue moving image material and strategies on how to create

online audiovisual archives contribute to this lens of definition.

This literature review investigates research that contribute to the generation of these

concepts in archival research and theory. This is divided into three sections; first looks at

the intersection of digital media, moving image and culture; the second explores digital

media archiving research including internet archiving, distributed databases for online

access; the third explores the literature of audiovisual archiving as cultural memory

making machine.

2.2 Digital media and moving image

The term “digital media” came in existence in the early 1990s. (Castells, 2000, p. 330;

Manovich, 2000, p. 4) Digital media is often considered synonymous with the term ‘new

media’ and refers to the technology that records or transmits data as discrete,

discontinuous voltage pulses represented by the binary digits 0 and 1, called bits.

(http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/single-records/2533.html) The computer plays an integral and

vital part in the production, distribution and exhibition of this media.

In the field of the media and visual arts studies Lev Manovich calls the advent of digital

media a “revolution in moving image culture”. (2006) The impact of digital technology

on visual culture, in particular the moving image, is described by Manovich as

“computerization” which redefines of the cultural form of visual arts including cinema.


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(2001, p. 24) The use of the term, “computerization” implies that the digital has re-

formed and dramatically changed something fundamental about the visual arts. By using

such a word as revolution, Manovich is also implying that there is a time and place

before computers, creating a time line where the rise of the digital is significant.

These implications and concepts are drawn out in the four areas concerning the

intersection of memory, moving image and digital media below. The first concerns the

universality of digital language; the second the use of the language of past cultural forms

to describe new cultural forms; thirdly, ideas of mediated culture and technology; and

finally, networked memory.

2.2.1 Universality of digital language

The first area of is the accessibility and relative ease that digital technology allows for

anyone, professional or amateur to create, edit, publish and store digital video.

(Manovich, 2006, p. 6) This is also applicable to those that can find, access, view and

manipulate digital content.(Manovich, 2001, p. 19)

This is commonly referred to as the universality of digital language and is related to

digital language being simple, universal, numerical data which can easily be re-ordered

and changed into new forms. (Castells, 1996, p. 352; Cohen & Rosenzweig, 2006, p. 5)

In this sense all digital memory is data, whether it is text, sound or moving image.

Mats Lindquist’s contribution to Audiovisual Archives: A Practical Reader uses the term

“transcendence” which encapsulates this issue:

“E-documents encompass in a uniform way information that

traditionally has been considered to be of different kinds: text,

graphics, images, sound, and video. All definitions and classification

of documents based on media must be reconsidered. Digitalization is

making it difficult to maintain consequential difference based on

media. E-documents are also, at the same time, potential print, film,

phonogram and video.“ (Harrison, 1997, p. 357)


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The language of digital media stores memory in a way that contradicts the a concept of a

fixed point of time and space. In sociology, Manuel Castells refers to the communication

network of digital media and as a “meta-language”. (2000, p. 328) This refers

specifically to what is called, “multimedia”, where all forms of communication exist

simultaneously and side by side: a language of languages. (Castells, 2000, p. 394)

Castells talks of the “timeless time” and the “space of flows” in a new culture of make

believe and representation which he refers to as “the culture of real virtuality”. (2000, p.

406)

The implications of this is when digital media is used to create and re-create using the

forms of text, moving image, sound and interactivity and because of its loose fixity in

time and space, the concept of the ‘original’ does not exist in the same way that has done

previously. Digital data does not deteriorate, it is duplicated, so there is no actual

original and copy, rather a fluidity in ‘constant becoming’ or continuum. This does not

just effect moving image, but is the nature of all ‘documents’ created on digital media.

2.2.2 Cultural memory forms

The second area involves the language of cultural memory and form in history. The

appropriation of forms and structures from existing cultural paradigms to describe,

analyse, and create new media and in particular, moving image uses the memory of what

existed before and influences how digital media is discussed and treated, which is

especially relevant to the field of audiovisual archiving.

Media studies researcher, Lev Manovich talks of “representation” in relation to digital

media and the screen, and in particular about the World Wide Web . (2000, p. 16) This

concept refers to the new media and computer technology referencing older cultural

forms and media and with it the privileging of some at the expense of others.

(Manovich, 2000, p. 16) Manovich discusses the use of the screen in visual culture as a

key element of this “representation” in his book, The language of new media. (2001)

The use of the screen in visual culture is one of the key points of how people see digital

technology in action: on the computer screen. The screen represents a virtual space

inside a frame that exists inside normal human space: it is a window and a reflection.


26


(Manovich, 2000, p. 95) The computer screen is completely different to that of painting

or cinema screen in that it is an interface which can show\multiple images and change in

real time according to input from a person or another computer. (Manovich, 2000, p. 98

& 99)

Manovich refers to digital media as the “meta-medium” of the “digital computer”.

(2000, p. 6) This use of “meta-medium” by Manovich refers to the both to his definition

and concept of what the impact of digital media has on culture. Meta-medium is not

clearly defined by Manovich, but could be said to be where digital media references all

other media as a reference to its own definition; it is all at once, every other kind of

media that has existed previously. This concept is problematic, but useful, as it assumes

that new media is always existent from old and that no new media can be formed (what

is newer than new media?).

Sociologist Manuel Castells writes of the “challenge” of audiovisual and moving image

as communication in a hierarchy of the alphabet and written word.(Castells, 2000, p.

328) The reputation of moving image is grounded in concepts of mass media and

disposable culture in opposition to literature and writing and where audiovisual has been

“relegated to the backstage of the arts”.(2000, p. 328)

2.2.3 Mediated memory and language

The third element builds on the first two to describe the action and construct of

technology and moving image as communications medium. This deals with concepts of

mediation and use of terms such as mediated memory, computational media and

computer-mediated forms in cultural and media studies literature. (M. Davis, 1997;

Manovich, 2001, p. 19; van Dijck, 2007)

Media researcher Marc Davis founded the Garage Cinema Research group at UC

Berkeley in 2002 which focuses on the model of computational (digital) media as

process in which a new language is formed that will change the relationship between

humans and media. (1997 ) In his paper, Garage Cinema and the Future of Media

Technology (1997), Davis describes moving image as a “semasiographic writing

system” where image, symbols or pictures are the form of the language. (p. 44)


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Digital technologies change the processes of creation, transmission and communication

in moving image. (M. Davis, 1997, p. 43) Davis’ model of “garage cinema” is intrinsic

to concepts of amateur users, communities of practice and informal networks. (1997, p.

46) He refers to the “re-purposing of popular media” where the user selects and

produces content through their experience of media. (1997, p. 46) This content can come

from anywhere and be in any form: the digital technology plays its part by allowing

sampling, communication and interaction of moving image in an all pervasive form.

Davis’ writing is a vision of the future, but having been written in 1997 it can be said to

have foreseen the technological change in broadband network communications which

allow software such as YouTube and the relatively easy sharing of videos, as well as

basic video software editing systems which allow amateurs to ‘craft’ a story with the

sophistication of the professional. This style of communication reflects the primary

function of Davis’ model of a semasiographic writing system.

Davis sees moving image in the language of the story and storytelling and of linguistics.

One of the most important aspects of his model is that of annotation, where moving

image information that is being accessed and re-purposed is, being added to with

“temporal, semantic and relational content” which creates layers of meaning through

each use and communication. (M. Davis, 1997, p. 47) Memory and media then

intertwine in content and use shaping its use in a continuum.

Cultural theorist José van Dijck puts forward a model of media and memory where

experiences of media help shape the meaning and use of media. (van Dijck, 2004; 2007)

Memory and media in this model are not considered separate entities where a hierarchy

of media changing, shaping and replacing memory, but,

“Mediated memories are the activities and objects we produce and

appropriate by means of media technologies, for creating and re-

creating a sense of past, present, and future of ourselves in relation to

others”. (van Dijck, 2007, p. 18&21)

van Dijck argues that “memory is mediated by media, but media and memory transform

each other” whether it is individual or personal memory, or cultural, social or collective


28


memory or home media or mass media. (2007, p. 18&19) van Dijck is presenting the

idea that media and memory are not static objects but dynamic relationships, the

outcomes of which are expressed over time and in identity in constant process. (van

Dijck, 2007, p. 21&22)

Sociologist Anthony Giddens’ writings on structuration theory, particularly about what

he refers to the “duality of structure”, where,

“the rules and resources drawn upon in the production and

reproduction of social action are at the same time the means of

system production”, (Giddens, 1984, p. 19)

foreshadow that of the model of mediated memory above. Giddens’ concept of time-

space distanciation wherein social structures, such as media, mediation and memory

practices are stretched out over time and space, changing and re-emerging interactions

between individuals, groups and social totalities. (Giddens, 1984) Giddens says in his

1991 publication, the “media do not mirror realities but in some part form them”

(Giddens, p. 27)

The rules and resources Giddens refers to are actions and codes that are enacted that

control and retain. In a sense Giddens is talking about storage of information, either

within the individual, collective as intangible information or stories, as well as rules and

regulation that are tangible and codified. This concept impacts on the ability of societies

to store information – rules and resources create conditions in which information is

stored and influences the ability to remember and forget. (Giddens, 1984, p. 261-262)

These two models influence how technology shapes memory and systems and present a

somewhat alternative version to “computerization” where a dynamic relationship and

recursive role is played in the creation of culture and cultural objects which places

greater emphasis on the role that storytelling and memory have on the development of

cultural practice.

Research Professor in the Department of Media and Culture at the University of

Amsterdam, Thomas Elsaesser, writes about the influence of digital technology on

moving image as creator of new “diegetic worlds”. (2004) Referring to the ‘parts’ of


29


audiovisual content as “cinema”, “television” and “electronic audio-vision”, Elsaesser

challenges the nature of these new digital formats as being distinct or constituting a

break from traditional conceptions of film in film theory and history. (2004, p. 77)

Elsaesser argues that digital technology challenges the notion of time and space of

cinema history and future and does not fit into a linear structure or genealogy of “media

archaeology”;

“We seem to be on an inside for which there is no clear outside,

and we seem to be in a “now” for which there is no clear “before”

or “after.” Thus, the move to the digital marks a threshold and a

boundary, without thereby defining either.” (Elsaesser, 2004, p.

98)

Cinema then does not influence digital media, but the other way around; a new form is

born that appropriates the language of cinema, creating a fork off the path.

In the writings of communications and media theorist Marshall McLuhan, media is that

which extends human actions by doing so creates “new patterns of human association”.

(E. McLuhan & Zingrone, 1995, p. 151) The famous McLuhanism; “the medium is the

message” refers to the “psychic and social consequences of the designs or patterns as

they amplify or accelerate existing process”. (E. McLuhan & Zingrone, 1995, p. 152; M.

McLuhan & Fiore, 1967)

McLuhan uses the form of the tetrad to explore and highlight aspects or qualities of

culture and technology. (M. McLuhan, 1988) They are a visual representation which

acts as model of aspects of right brain and left brain perception which can be read any

which way, but the way it is read influences the outcome. (M. McLuhan, 1988) This

model of mediation allows a perspective of digital media from a social totality

perspective across time and space, where it is the use and reproducing of the media

itself, rather than the content which contributes to the new patterns and codes of

information storage. (Giddens, 1991, p. 24)

McLuhan’s focus on form of media, such as television or telephone, particularly in his

use of the tetrad modelling, does generate a sense of “object” which multi-media forms

do not sit comfortably within. A second issue with McLuhan’s theories is that it seems


30


easy to fall into the idea that he is saying that media changes human actions, but is not

true, either in concept or in fact. McLuhan’s theories most resemble social patterning

and memetics.

2.2.3.1 Memes

Memetics is relevant to McLuhan’s focus on media forms as transmitters of information

and worthy of a mention in this study. Meme activity is about perception, replication and

use – memes are messages or bytes of information which saturate social paradigms.

(Bjarneskans, Grønnevik, & Sandberg, 2000) They are similar to Giddens’ resources

mentioned above, enacting structures which create rules and are a valuable tool in being

able to identify structures.

Memes in “media is the message” is about using itself to create itself plus new selves.

McLuhan talks about this in reference to the formation of new media from “old media”.

(1988, p. 99) This then references the idea of digital media as language. Memes are not

the moving image themselves or the digital media that they are created with, but are

found “on it” as pieces of information; the media is the message carrier, but also the

message itself.

2.2.4 Networked memory

“The Web… positions the individual as a node in a greater network. A cultural

memory.” (Barnet, 2001, p. 22)

Networked memory is the individual which is plugged in as well as the greater network

itself. It refers to the perception of time and space within a reality of vision and

interaction. The networked memory forms part of how digital and moving image play

out perceived role.

Rainer Hubert writes that the internet will make the virtual “real”. (2006, p. 62) What he

is describing is a world of digital where content is all that we perceive, rather than the

medium itself. Whatever and however that content is presented is “the object” rather

than the individual forms or parts which make up the whole.


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Sociologist Maurice Halbwachs, father of collective memory, describes memory as a

social and socialising event:

“One may say that the individual remembers by placing himself in

the perspective of the group, but one may also affirm that the

memory of the group realizes and manifests itself in individual

memories” (Halbwachs, 1992, p. 40)

This myth making view of memory stretches out over time and space in long threads of

social action.

Media and communications theorist, Belinda Barnet describes networked memory in

terms of the public and private domain, which somewhat alters the Halbwachian sense

of socialising. (Barnet, 2001, p. 225) In the digital network people sit alone at a

computer disseminating collective or community memory, storing it on their machines,

creating individual memory (Barnet, 2001, p. 225)

“The promise of digital technology was not just its connectivity, its

community, but also its capacity to augment thought and memory

itself. “(Barnet, 2001, p. 225)

2.3 Digital archiving research and moving image

This section discusses research on the fields of virtual archives and museums including

the concept of the distributed archive. Current research and practice in the field of

internet and web archiving is examined, with particular reference to unstable digital

media formats and why they are relevant to the research topic.

Most information organisation related literature on digital media discusses the problems

associated with electronic archiving and in particular that of storage of information for

online accessibility.

2.3.1 InterPARES 2


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The InterPARES project, in particular that of the third in the series, InterPARES 2,

investigated electronic records in the archival moving image field. (Hacket, 2003, p.

100) ; http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_index.cfm )

The project aims of InterPARES 2 were to,

“develop and articulate the concepts, principles, criteria and

methods that can ensure the creation and maintenance of accurate

and reliable records and the long-term preservation of authentic

records in the context of artistic, scientific and government

activities that are conducted using experiential, interactive and

dynamic computer technology”

(http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_index.cfm)

The resulting case studies, which delve into performance art, online magazine,

interactive media and moving image production, provide valuable information about

terminology and processes of digitisation. However there are two issues concerning this

project in relation to the subject of this study.

The first issue reveals that the case study organisations are the records creators who own

their work. Concepts of a distributed moving image content and memory through

networks of multiple record creators is not addressed. Secondly, the case study

organisations are all professional. The Digital Moving images case study of a moving

image production from pre-to post production and relationships between digital entities.

The model developed from this research will aid in identifying and describing digital

entities, but its application to a dynamic web space may be limited.

(http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_case_studies.cfm)

Related to both these issues is the idea of moving image objects and concepts of digital

entities as objects, whose relevance to moving image as process and language is also

limited. However, there is a case study on an interactive multimedia piece called The

Danube Exodus which provides small insights into the problems associated archiving

dynamic digital forms and content from the viewpoint of the preserver. (Hubbard &

Staresina, 2006)


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2.3.2 Internet archiving research

Internet and web archiving is sometimes done by audiovisual archives, however it is not

often considered the domain of this field and often internet archiving is found in

libraries.

In Australia the National Library (NLA) leads the way in internet archival research and

practice with the PANDORA archive project (Preserving and Accessing Networked

Documentary Resources of Australia) and the PADI initiative (Preserving Access to

Digital Information).

2.3.2.1 PANDORA

The PANDORA project has a number of participant partners who help the NLA help

provide services and material to the archive, including the National Film and Sound

archive which is Australia’s national audiovisual archive.

(http://pandora.nla.gov.au/guidelines.html) The interest that PANDORA has on this study is

how selection and appraisal of cultural heritage is performed in an online environment.

Currently PANDORA selects according to subject and is determined by those which are

considered of national significance. Of particular interest to this study will be how the

NLA approaches online content regarding the current federal election material that is

being shown on YouTube, both official and unofficial.

2.3.2.2 PADI

The PADI initiative of the NLA is a resource that provides access by subject to

international digital preservation resources and “aims to provide mechanisms that will

help to ensure that information in digital form is managed with appropriate consideration

for preservation and future access.” (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/about.html)

Information resources on audiovisual digital preservation concentrate on issues in

digitisation of analogue format, but also include the general concerns of digital format

preservation in areas such as obsolescence, as well as strategies such as migration,

emulation, encapsulation and metadata research. (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/18.html).

Research in these areas is well developed and not the primary concern of this study.


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On the PADI website there is a category called “Variable media art” which is a sub topic

under audio and audiovisual. This topic considers preservation issues in relation to

digital and internet art. Of particular interest is the research overview publication called,

Capturing Unstable Media. (Fauconnier & Fromme, 2003) The model of “unstable

media” is interesting because it relies on the concept of not being able to define the

“original state” of and art object. (Fauconnier & Fromme, 2003, p. 5)

The research project works from the point of view that its offers an alternative to the

static approach in preservation which focuses on material and objects, and promotes

“process over product”. (Fauconnier & Fromme, 2003, p. 5) The research uses the terms,

“manifestations” and “occurrences” which describes processes at a point in time and

space, i.e.: a public installation artwork. A conceptual model called the Capturing

Unstable Media Conceptual Model is presented in order to

One of the major reasons why this research work is relevant to this study is that the

unstable media pieces under scrutiny often rely on user input, which is crucial to the

concept of moving image as dynamic web page. The second area in which this research

is valuable is that it identified areas of need, such lack of a standard terminology and

definitions.

2.3.3 Distributed digital databases & access

There is a field of literature which explores issues in access to audiovisual material, both

born digital, but more primarily, digitised analogue documents. This poses some

interesting conceptual issues in how original media and document information is

presented, but is not relevant to this study. However, how the (resulting) digital material

is conceptualised within these databases, regardless of previous media ‘state’, is relevant

to this study.

This literature comes mostly from the field of information technology and concerns

building databases that attach metadata to content in a way that allows audiovisual

documents to be “read”. The way metadata is created and how it is attached is usually

the subject of the research.


35


The purpose of this research is to establish how memory in the form of metadata can be

attributed to information and how to break down information into smaller pieces or units

in order to make it more accessible and ‘readable’ in a digital environment. How the

‘unit’ is defined is the most relevant to this study.

Much of this research comes from the Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) and

the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society journals

plus other technical journals. These articles present models and an information

architecture on audiovisual and multimedia access in digital space. (Claxton, 2001; de

Polo, 2005; Dimitrova, 2004; Garzotto, Mainetti, & Paolini, 1994; Hart, Pierson, & Hull,

2005; Hemminger, Bolas, & Schiff, 2005; Lee et al., 2006; Nürnberg et al., 1996)

Auffret and Bachimont, in presenting their model of a digital audiovisual library, define

their ‘units’ as being part of a larger stream that has been broadcast. (1999) The stream

is identified as audiovisual media as a whole – for example: a continuous feed of

television or the projection of a film in a cinema. (Auffret & Bachimont, 1999, p. 60)

The smallest unit is what has been stored from this stream – a segment – which is a

record of the editorial practice of the producer or broadcaster. (Auffret & Bachimont,

1999, p. 60)

In developing this concept, the authors build upon the idea of the editorial stream and

cast the information professional into the role of editor, adding another layer of memory

through organisation of information. The library or archive chooses what it has

determined as relevant and representative of the editorial practice of the stream and adds

this to the audiovisual database. This type of research has determined that the content of

the media and how the message is portrayed is more relevant than the media itself. The

stream of media is the carrier of information, not information itself.

Nevenka Dimitrova, researcher at Dutch technology company, Philips, presents a model

which addresses issues of binding time and space. (Dimitrova, 2004) Micro, macro and

mega boundaries are ‘created’ through the content of the moving image work itself, i.e.:

fades between scenes (micro); multiple scenes or collection of micro segments (macro);

multiple macro segments. (Dimitrova, 2004, p. 8)


36


These units of description rely on the internal structure, format and storyline of the

moving image itself, what she refers to as the “video’s inherent syntactic structure”.

(Dimitrova, 2004, p. 8&10) These are relevant to the structure of a movie as a

screenwriter or film director would see it, such as “act”, “scene”, “storyline” (and/or

subplot), “story sequences” or even “plot points”.

2.4 Moving Image, memory making and digital networks

“Every thing that is human endeavour transmitted is cultural

heritage.” (Harrison, 1997, p. 1)

“Language and memory are intrinsically connected, both on the

level of individual recall and that of the institutionalisation of

collective experience.” (quoting psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan,

Giddens, 1991, p.23)

This section investigates issues in how memory is made by those that collect it.

Literature discussing categorisation practice in audiovisual archives is examined.

2.4.1 Categorising digital audiovisual media

Audiovisual media have been collected sporadically by various institutions including

libraries, archives and studio collections since they became part of society in the late

nineteenth century, however the cultural value was generally not highly regarded.

(Edmondson, 2004, p. 27)

There was a surge of literature written concerning audiovisual archival theory in the

1980s and 1990s due to concerns of rapid technological change and loss of material due

to a widespread and diverse lack of interest, especially by governments, as to the cultural

value of moving image. (Klaue, 1984 / 2004; Kula, 1983, p. 2) These writings called for

the recognition of audiovisual archives as a single and specialised field of academic

merit which has a specific focus and training need top distinguish them from simply

being “non-book”. (Harrison, 1997, p. 2)

This most influential literature in the field of audiovisual archiving are; UNESCO

Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images (UNESCO,


37


1980 ). Audiovisual Archives: A Practical Reader, (1997); and Audiovisual Archiving:

Philosophy and Practice. (2004) (This is the 2nd ed., 1st ed. was published in 1998.)

These documents laid down a path of how audiovisual heritage is seen and collected,

especially concerns regarding preservation, obsolescence, appraisal, legal deposit,

copyrights, education and recognition and are still very much current today.

The UNESCO document essentially decrees that moving image is to be considered

cultural property which would then be covered under other decrees such as the

Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict –

1954 (UNESCO, 1954) and the Convention concerning the Protection of the World

Cultural and Natural Heritage – 1972. (UNESCO, 1972)

Important concepts in this document have laid the foundation of what moving image

means as cultural heritage. This includes the moving image as national cultural heritage,

the advent of a specialised institutions to look after the heritage of moving image and the

creation of expression through the language of moving image. This last point is the most

important, especially when read in relation to the paragraphs concerning moving image

being that of the “heritage of mankind” and that “imported images have an important

role in the cultural life of most countries”. (UNESCO, 1980 , 2001, p. 157)

The collection of documents edited by Helen Harrison bring together ideas from a

variety of authors about the paradigm of the audiovisual archive, including legal, ethical,

typology, collection and management. (1997) This document is also published by

UNESCO and supported by them on their site: “the aim of this collection of material is

to provide in one volume some of the most accepted literature already published.”

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=3521&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

The Edmondson document is also published and supported by UNESCO as well as the

Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA). Edmondson

puts forward a comprehensive philosophy of audiovisual archiving which includes

definitions, and what work is done in an audiovisual archive including the ethics of such

work. (2004)


38


These collections of writings firmly establish the issues in the audiovisual field of

research and collection. In addition these writings also, and perhaps more importantly,

distinguish the conceptual foundations and language used to express what audiovisual

means. This goes beyond a simple glossary – this literature establishes the culture of the

practice of audiovisual archiving itself.

2.4.1.1 Moving image as object

Memory making in audiovisual archival institutions is grounded in the concepts of

media, carrier and artefact, which are housed in a building. This is often referred to as

“custodial archives” and means a collection of materials or objects.(Edmondson, 2004,

p. 6) Audiovisual archiving is still seen as very much in this tradition and the literature

reflects a very ‘object’ centred point of view where ideas concerning new formats of

audiovisual is not clear or directly addressed.

The emphasis on object comes from the need of technology to be able to view the

moving image. In the example of film, a projector is needed to view. This concept is

crucial to the development and foundations of what audiovisual is and is pervasive

across the literature. (Edmondson, 2004, p. 23; Harrison, 1995, p. 185; 1997, p. 6)

“Their content cannot be reduced to written form, and its integrity

is closely tied to the format of its carrier…”(CCAAA, 2005, p. 1)

Edmondson, in Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Practice uses the concept

“digitization” to refer to not only to the migration of analogue format to digital format,

but to the advent of digital technologies and new media itself. (2004, p. 50) The

emphasis is on carrier, which is separated into analogue or digital, and on the

conceptual foundation of “object”, such as CD, DVD, video etc (2004, p. 16).

Recognition of the development of new formats and carriers of moving image has been

addressed however, particularly in the 2005 CCAAA issues paper. (2005, p. 2) The

issues paper calls for a change what is considered audiovisual heritage asking for


39


inclusion of the “entire spectrum of moving images and recorded sounds in all their

forms”. (2005, p. 2)

The spectrum is referring to a much broader definition of audiovisual as described in

Edmondson’s Philosophy and Principles.(2004, p. 22-23) However, in Edmondson’s

paper questions about moving image and web pages is addressed as moving image being

“ perceived as part of a website”, implying that a moving image ‘object’ is on the web

site. (2004, p. 23) This concept of being “part of” is not addressed specifically or in

detail, but is referenced in relation to the difficultly of website material fitting into the

definition of a linear duration. (2004, p. 23)

Speculation concerning new or emerging formats is addressed vaguely with the example

of audiovisual being “anything projected on a screen”, which has been generally used

previously to describe audio-slide-show. (Edmondson, 2004, p. 22) This concept of

‘screen’ is also referred to in the CCAAA paper in relation to the computer, where the

pervasive use and fast uptake of these technologies has meant that there is often public

confusion over “Audiovisual heritage” and “digital heritage” wherein they are the same

“because images and sounds are easily accessed by computer”. (CCAAA, 2005, p. 3)

Harrison, in her 1995 paper concerning selection and audiovisual collections refers to

refers to forms and formats such as film, tapes, discs etc, also referring to the future of

electronic formats as being “high density storage media”. (1995, p. 185) However,

digital media stores information the same way (in bytes of information), whether it is

moving image or text.

These concepts of moving image as object are problematic when concerning digital

media and digital presentation. The memory of object/artefact heavily influences the

conceptual foundations of what moving image is and how it is approached as a genre of

information record. This memory of object means that moving image on web pages can

be seen as independent from the content going on around it and this is not always the

case.

2.4.2 Audiovisual Archives as memory makers


40


Recordkeeping and archiving is a form of memory making, a particular was of

witnessing and evidencing. (McKemmish et al., 2005, p. 3)

The Mitchell and Kenyon collection of 826 films, recently digitised by the British Film

Institute, was a set of ‘lost films’ that changed the value of the filmmakers themselves,

as well as British history. (Carroll, 2006) The films by Sagar Mitchell and James

Kenyon were “made for local working-class audiences to see themselves onscreen” and

were not known are now being studied by academics and the public, as well as been

digitised for DVD distribution. (Carroll, 2006, p. 54)

“Similarly, it is allegorically inferred on these DVDs that a citizen recognizes

their great-grandparent in the way an entire country recognizes its hidden past.

Under this rhetorically strategic production of empathetic context, history

becomes a transparent archive of fragmented stories, constantly revealing and

concealing the conditions of its own archival contingency—familial history

narrated for cultural purposes.” (Carroll, 2006, p. 70)

Alex Byrne, in his address to the 2006 Prato Informatics Conference refers to libraries,

archives and museums as ‘memory institutions’ that convey records across time and

space, referring to community memory as an interaction or meeting in time and space of

a moment of recollection and perspective made by viewers and content makers through

their memories and their myths. (2006, p.1)

These content makers are not only those that make artefacts, but the record-makers, both

historical and present , institutional and amateur, as well as those that exist in the

community in the present – those that bring the memories ‘forward’ into a present

context. This memory-making remembers those recorded, as well as those

conspicuously not recorded.(Bryne, 2006)

Elsaesser’s concerns regarding cinema history and the genealogy of forms being

selectively used to create a linear timeline for moving image evolution imagine an

interaction between memory, the archive and digital media.


41


“ Perhaps it is advisable in the case of the cinema and its

encounters with television and the digital media to speak not only

of a past, a present and a future, but also of an archaeology of

possible futures and of the perpetual presence of several

pasts?”(Elsaesser, 2004, p. 113)

Ideas about how archives contribute to memory making by being subjective ‘judge’ are

well represented in the literature. (Barnet, 2001; Bryne, 2006; Cunningham, 2007) The

relevancy of this field of discussion to this study ties into the history and development of

the audiovisual archives, whose leaders and visionaries have battled government and

society for legitimacy. This also concerns developments regarding digital media and

how it is treated within the field of information management, electronic recordkeeping

and archival processes.

The dynamism of digital media and its impact on cultural process is still being explored.

How this impact is defined is being addressed in the literature and varies from field to

field.

2.5 Conclusion

This literature review has been designed to survey the possible fields of study that will

contribute to the study of online moving image as cultural practice. Some of the fields of

research are extensive and there is opportunity to expand on the current review into

more specific fields, namely memetics and collective memory, particularly in regard to

digital networks and visual media. The writings of sociologist Maurice Halbwachs and

the concepts of socialisation of memory would be of interest. (Halbwachs, 1992)

Another area that needs greater detail and depth is the literature concerning the archive

in society. The relation that archives (and by extension, museums and libraries) have in

the process of cultural formation, particularly when it comes to the subject of electronic

archiving. Information management is setting precedents about how digital information

is being captured, defined and ascribed value. This impacts on how cultural processes

are being represented in the literature.


42


This literature review has presented some fields of study that influence how online

moving image is being discussed in reference to cultural heritage. The media-centric and

object-centred definitions of archival and collecting institutions do not address the

dynamism and purpose of online moving image. This study will go some way into

addressing this lack.


43


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