How many times have you seen this in an advertisement? It seems to be a popular marketing strategy, but how can one size really fit all as well as something that was designed to be a good fit based on need? Lets take a closer look at this concept in the context of preservation...
Digitization: a one size fits all panacea (?)
Digitization for preservation has many positive aspects, as we have discussed previously, and will likely continue to do so in future posts, but there are drawbacks that need to considered as well if we are to have a sustainable and usable solution. Consider these four different types of information in the context of preservation; an 8mm movie of the New York World's fair, a digital photograph, an historic photograph, and a film negative.
World's Fair 1934:
In New York in 1965 a promotional film was made to show what a day at the World's Fair would be like using then current technology (Kodachrome 35mm movie film). Fast forward to today. This film has now been digitized and preserved for future generations and provides a detailed look at a past event that we would otherwise not have. In this instance the solution for preservation has allowed for a seemingly total preservation of the information, and done so in a way that allows for more people to view the information remotely without the destruction of storage media. The only drawback that I can see is that the technology used to scan the original (part of the Prelinger archives) is now outdated and newer technology could have preserved more detail from the original, or provided a larger image for viewing. All things considered, I would still say that in this case we have a good example of the proper matching of the method of preservation and information to be preserved.
A film negative:
Here is an example of an older type of film with a nitrate base that presents a different problem for preservation than the other examples. The video shows how easily, and quickly, the base of the film burns, making this medium difficult to both preserve and access the information it contains. By selecting a preservation method that removes the danger of fire - another good example of making a good decision based on the information to be preserved and the method of it's preservation.
A.P. News digital photograph of the 9/11 events:
On September the 11th of 2001, both towers of the World Trade Center were struck by aircraft and destroyed. An Associated Press photographer created digital captures of these events using a digital camera and stored them in digital format on a computer (or more likely many computers). These images, having been created in digital format originally, require only the occasional update of their storage format in order to remain accessible for the foreseeable future. Again, this appears to be a very good match of preservation format to the type of information to be preserved.
A historic photographic print:
In the early 1900's a photographic movement called Pictorialism was very popular. In this style photographers manipulated their prints, used heavily textured papers, and worked to represent as wide of a tonal range as possible (meaning that they attempted to have as many subtle shades of grey between the white of the paper and solid black). Again, fast forward to today. Here we begin to detect a mismatch between the method of preservation and the information to be preserved. In today's technology there is no way to represent the feel, or look, of textured paper that presents the same experience as the original (Relph-Knight, 2006).
The experience of information
Information is not always completely self contained - as I have mentioned before, it may have contextual or tactile properties that are part of what the information is without actually being part of the information itself. Sound confusing? Well, let's take a quick look at this idea in a little more depth using the last example above, since I determined that it was not necessarily a good choice for digitization.
In this particular example, the photographer was working in a time when the paper choice was as important to the resultant art as many other factors (Peterson, 1997), the texture of the paper used becomes part of the information itself. By removing this aspect of the information via translation into a format the does not allow for tactile interaction we are editing what is preserved, and therefore the information is no longer preserved in it's entirety, but only in edited form. The action of editing has removed one of the senses used to experience the information, and therefore has altered the original experience (Perricone, 2007).
In the digital format we also run the risk of losing valuable visual information, because even if extraordinary care is taken in the scanning of this print to form the preserved form, the process of viewing will alter it's representation. Every person viewing the resulting image will not see exactly the tonal range of the original because every computer monitor is adjusted differently, and only with the most modern calibration equipment can the settings of one monitor be made to closely represent the results of another (Widman, 1999). Therefore, information that existed in the original print is not completely preserved in the format selected for preservation, even if that format is capable of retaining those subtleties.
Lastly, the format of the original information - a specific size print in this case - presented in a specific way - in a specific size and color mat - is not retained in the act of preservation, a further act of editing resulting in further change. This is especially important for large prints which exceed the size of a computer monitor. Size influences the way a photograph is viewed (Shore, 2007), and by altering the size presented information in relation to the original size we change the way this information is used - in this case interpreted.
works cited:
Peterson, C. (1997). After the photo-secession: American pictorial photography (1910-1955). W. W. Norton & Company : New York.
Perricone, C. (2007). The Place of Touch in the Arts. The Journal of aesthetic education, 41(1), 90-.
Relph-Knight, T. (2006). Colour perfect.(colour management of computers). Personal computer world
Shore, D. (2007). The nature of photographs. Phaidon : New York.
Widman, J. (1999). Digital photography and the workflow: output. Graphic arts monthly, 71(6), 26-.
3 comments:
I was fascinated by the need to create a method of preservation that would prevent the incineration of an entire medium. I have been in a film library where the fire extinguishing system was radon instead of water in order to quench flames and prevent the spread of toxic fumes in the event that film in the room caught on fire. It was a little frightening when my boss told me if I ever heard the fire alarm in the room to get out because all of the oxygen in the room would be gone in less than 60 seconds.
Depending on what is being protected, halon systems can be a good option, as long as everyone is very well trained. Halon binds free oxygen, making it unavailable to fire, or people as the case may be. It's still there, just in a form that cannot be used. Great care must be taken in implementing this sort of fire suppression system due to the great danger of suffocation, but it is an excellent example of how fire can be controlled without using damaging water.
I think you have chosen a very important topic and one that might be taken for granted. Video reels such as the one from the 1965 World Fair are so important as far as studying our culture and history, that to lose that would be a tragedy. On a different scale, I think of the fire at Universal Studios in California and the tragedy that was averted because all the old movies were also stored in a different location. Imagine how horrible it would have been if the movies had only been stored there - we would lost such a large chunk of history.
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