Annual Conference: Singapore (with SEAPAVAA)
President: Crispin Jewitt, British Library National Sound Archive, UK
Editor: Chris Clark, The British Library National Sound Archive, London, UK
Trond Valberg, National Library of Norway Keynote speech delivered to the IASA/SEAPAVAA Conference 2000, Singapore
(Editors’ note: Unfortunately most of the hyperlinks as shown in this article are no longer available)
Times are changing! Let me start by introducing a Turkish cult figure, Mr Mahir Cagri, and the story behind him. Early in the morning 3rd November last year Mahir woke up in a new world. The phone rang constantly and people all over the world wanted to comment on his homepage (http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/primall/mahir/index.html). He didn’t know much about what had happened and he tried to find his simple homepage on the web. But it was not there. Someone had moved the homepage to a new web address and also changed the content. What used to be a polite description of a Turkish middle-aged teacher had become an invitation to pick up a girl. Under the headline “I KISS YOU!!!!!” (with five exclamation marks) Mahir was said to be anxious to be married and crazy about girls. His knowledge of English was not very good, saying:
“Who is want to come to TURKEY I can invitate. She can stay my home.” [sic]
The complete name, address and phone number were given as well. Mahir contacted the police but they couldn’t do much. One week later more than a million visitors had seen Mahir’s homepage and Mahir got many visitors at home as well. He hit the headlines in many newspapers and TV, for instance in the Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet. Today Mahir utilizes his stardom to declare peace and love on the earth. What a magnificent example of sensible use of the Internet!
Times are changing. During the last 3,000 years, the world has expanded several times, but recently – or at least in the last century – the world has started to implode. In the machine age humans have expanded space – just think of the great world explorers. Time and space have been fundamentals in the human understanding of life at all times, but electricity and more recently information technology have wiped away this traditional thinking. The changing of the way we communicate has even greater impact on human life. The ancient Greeks used to meet at the marketplace in the city to discuss trivial things, cultural affairs and politics. The one that was best practising the art of speech got most power, even if he was not the most knowledgeable person. Even today I think it is interesting to read how Plato describes the conflict between the philosophers (at that time the scientists) and the sophists in his dialogues. Furthermore, just imagine the impact of the phonetic alphabet in the Western world. The Greel myth about King Kadmos tells us about political power and authority, the dissolution of the city state and the development of military empires. This has to do with the fact that the alphabet was quite easy to learn and messages could easily and reasonably be transported by papyrus. As a consequence the priests had to transfer their political power to the military movements. Next it is reasonable to compare the electronic evolution with the invention of printing. Messages could more easily be transported even from one continent to another. Time and distance are not fundamentals the way they were, and you could say that people are getting closer to each other in a new global world.
What’s going on today? The digital age certainly takes place also in Norway, a country with a rural population of 4 million. Recently, the use of Internet-based services has increased remarkably, for instance within banking and finance. All the major banks are now offering Internet-services, and some banks even base all their business on the web. The development is growing even faster if you look at the companies offering stock trading on the Internet. Today six companies are offering trading at the Oslo Exchange. Soon I believe the World Stock Exchange will be a reality. The New York Exchange has started discussions with the Tokyo Exchange and other exchanges in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and Hong Kong to establish a global 24-hour stock exchange. Just like the sun never sets on the British Empire, the computer screens will never go dark! This evolution is closely related to what we call the New Economy and e-commerce. Estimates indicate that the Europeans will spend almost 50 billion $US by e-commerce this year. The average Swiss e-trader spends most money, followed by the Swedes and the Norwegians. Even if the Internet use is much higher in the Nordic countries than the rest of Europe, both Great Britain and Germany dominate e-commerce in terms of the quantity of content. Countries with large populations like Italy, France and Spain seem to be less concerned about web shopping.
We know many examples of how new technology impacts on our daily life. A trend today (at least in Norway) is the use of text messaging on mobile phones. Teenagers, especially, use this technology very frequently, developing a new language or code system mainly based on abbreviations:
4E |
For Ever |
|
H2H |
Happy to help |
AFAIK |
As Far as I Know |
|
HAND |
Have a Nice Day |
ASAP |
As Soon As Possible |
|
JIC |
Just in case |
BBL |
Be Back Later |
|
L8R |
Later |
BFN |
Bye For Now |
|
NBD |
No Big Deal |
BIBI |
Bye Bye |
|
OIC |
Oh, I See |
BRB |
Be Right Back |
|
PRW |
Parents Are Watching |
BTW |
By The Way |
|
TIA |
Thanks In Advance |
CUL |
See You Later |
|
U |
You |
FYI |
For Your Information |
|
WB |
Welcome Back |
GA |
Go Ahead |
|
WTF |
What The F*** |
This form of communication is similar to chatting on the Internet, but there is one important difference: the sender of SMS (Short Message Service) knows the recipient while Internet chatting normally takes place anonymously. This activity happens not only for amusement and because it is quite cheap. Imagine you want to invite somebody for dinner or to the cinema for the very first time. Sending SMS can work as an easy invitation without losing your pride. A Finnish world-leading manufacturer claims that they are connecting people, and in a way the Finns are right.
Wireless applications have increased rapidly in the last few years and estimates signify that this tendency will continue. The mobile phone is not longer just made for talking. Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson and the US software company Phone.com were the initial partners that teamed up to develop the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP is an attempt to define the standard for how content from the Internet is filtered for mobile communications. Some manufacturers have already produced a model that makes it possible to download MP3 music. A Norwegian airline claims to be the first airline in the world to make it possible for customers to order airline tickets all over the world using the WAP technology. E-trade and stock traders are also examples of WAP-services. WAP in most Asain countries is still undersubscribed mainly due to poor content and high cost. However, in Japan, the number of users for the Japanese i-mode standard recently exceeded 7 million. This makes Japan the first country in the world to create a mass market for the Internet on the mobile phone. The reason behind the NTT DoCoMo’s success is that its users are charged by the amount of data downloaded rather than by the duration of the connection (like WAP). There are more than 10,000 web sites specially written for i-mode with shorter text and simpler graphics.
Investors and other analysts talk about a new world market in the 3rd millennium based on converged, integrated and interactive solutions. There is a new term, TIMES, which stands for telecommunication, information technology, multimedia, entertainment and system service. So far I believe we only face the very beginning of the progress in technology and communication as we enter a new millennium. Also the familiar broadcasting media, both radio and television, will lead to more interactive use in the future.
This development also means new conventions governing our use of work time and leisure time. People want more flexibility. The traditional way of counting hours of work within a fixed time period will more and more lose actuality. A recent European research report indicates that we spend more time web surfing at work, simultaneously as we do work at the computer at home. The merging of leisure time and work time is one of the significant tendencies in a digital age of communication.
So far I have given some examples of technology that impacts on mankind. It is essential to ask how this is being done. The Canadian media researcher, Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) is famous for his academic debate on technology and culture. In his major work, Understanding Media:The Extensions of Man published in 1964, he proposed revolutionary theories that were not understood at that time. Although he didn’t live to see internet-based communication, we can deduce some of his theoretical explanations and, generally, I think McLuhan’s ideas are more meaningful in the year 2000 than they were 36 years ago.
The Internet can be regarded as a huge but diffusely organized information database, with the data located all over the world. The main challenge for the user is to find the information. Different search engines try to solve your problem if you don’t know the exact web-address – and in most cases you do not (except for the bookmarks in your browser). From an archival view it is even more important to know how to present information on the web, so that the user can find the information. I have seen a lot of informative web-sites, but in many cases you have to spend a lot of time to find what you are actually looking for. With these facts in mind, it is worth trying to understand one of these theses in media theory: ‘the medium is the message.’ Let us think about the electric light. We usually don’t consider this to be a medium in itself. But if the light comes out from an illuminated advertising sign, you perceive the light as a medium – even if it is the content that grabs your attention. In fact this again is a new medium, which is characteristic for all media. The content of any medium is always another medium. The written word contains the spoken word, the same way as the printed word contains the written word and the World Wide Web contains the printed word. All in all you can say that all media or forms of communication are extensions of ordinary human functions. If the wheel is the extension of the foot, you can think of the Internet as an extension of your mind or the central nervous system. Probably the Internet is the most striking example of a complex media-structure in a new digital age. McLuhan introduced the term ‘global village’ some decades ago, but not until today can we really say that this has come true. People all over the world can work and live together in a way that was not possible earlier. The National Library of Norway’s choice of database system (MAVIS), which partly has been developed in co-operation with ScreenSound Australia, is just an example. E-mail and other net-based communication have globalised our workplace villages.
What makes the Internet so interesting? Communication is the keyword more than wideband technology, although technology and communication go hand in hand, in fact, McLuhan classed media as either ‘hot’ or ‘cool’ depending on how high the level of interaction is. Hot media have very low levels of interaction, whereas cool media demand a high level of interaction. You could say the radio is a hot medium, whereas the phone is a typical cool medium. In the future I believe radio will turn out to be more of a cool medium with DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) and audio streaming on the Internet. The web is a very cool medium, potentially, as it can require high levels of interactivity and participation from the user. At one extreme you can be the author yourself – and certainly the archivist should be!
We can divide interactivity into three categories or paradigms: navigational interactivity focuses on fundamental ways of navigating through the information space, either via commands, menus, search engines or hypertext links. This is the most basic form of interactivity. Even the most sophisticated forms using search engines and hypertext links, still limit the user to control what is accessed next. Good navigational layout is fundamental to the success of a web site.
A higher level of interactivity is functional interactivity. This level lets the user communicate with the system to accomplish one or several goals. This may be winning a game or ordering a product from an online catalogue. (Usually you ought to start at the lower level if you want to order anything!). It is of crucial importance that the user receives feedback throughout the process. Web-based applications incorporating functional interactivity are appearing in ever-increasing numbers, and will become even more common in the future, I believe.
Adaptive interactivity is the highest level of interactivity, allowing the user to adapt the application or information space to fit their goals, or even their personality. (What about the Mahiri-case?) At higher levels adaptive web-sites allow the user to add or modify the site itself. At this level the distinction between author and reader becomes blurred. Even more interesting is the intelligent hyperadaptive site that interacts with the user and adapts itself to fit the user, readapting as the user’s goals, knowledge or mindset changes. Such a site will totally engage the user, developing as the user develops – even acting as an adviser to the user. Hyperadaptivity carries the web to its maximum potential, converging hypertext, multimedia, object-oriented computing and adaptive interactivity. What if we can create hyperadaptive sites that develop and live their own lives?
What about archives and the web? Many archivists are still frightened when it comes to thinking about making a lifetime’s work available on the web. Some archivists even feel a sense of ownership of AV-material (which is rarely the case). Or they simply believe that copyrights and other regulations make it more or less impossible to publish catalogues on the Internet. Some even seem to mix together catalogue data and catalogue content, which of course has to be separated. Usually, librarians and archivists seem to be very concerned about quality control and completeness. Although these goals are important, they also limit an archivist’s ability to publish material on the web. Although technical and financial limitations certainly do exist, I believe the question about going on the web also has to do with attitude or willingness.
If so, it is just about time for a change! Communication in the 3rd millennium definitely takes place out there in the information space. The archive user more and more expects to find information about the archive and the holdings on the web, rather than physically visit the archive. Publishing catalogues on the web provides better access to our holdings because of search facilities. Even poor text-based search features may alternatively function like a database system (e.g. the Norwegian Jazz Discography). However, most archives usually use one or more database platforms related to different kinds of materials. Making a web-interface based on one or another database will be the user’s access to the collections. Even if there are good reasons for choosing one database system, it is possible to link several platforms into one infrastructure. The idea of establishing digital networks between different archives, both nationally and globally, will improve access. In addition, it will be an efficient solution to avoid duplication of effort where holdings overlap. Establishing network models is a big challenge due to an audio-visual landscape of barriers. Today, this certainly is the situation in Norway, but I presume other archivists will also agree with this.
Communication is also a matter of preserving. Furthermore, access is also a metter of preserving in the sense of digitisation. Web-based communication blurs the distinction between preservation and access. So to say, if any sound is published on the web consequently this is – or ought to be – a part of a preservation strategy. Nevertheless, archivists should care about preserving any format of the originals. The sound carriers document our cultural heritage themselves, usually regarding metadata as well. In the future new technology probably makes it easier to produce high quality digitisations of historic sound carriers like wax cylinders or shellac discs. Talking about digitisation one should also remember that any digitisation made can never brig back the original analogue signal. Choosing the appropriate digital format for preservation should usually differ from the compressed digital Internet-format. Building network structures may also provide rational outcomes with regard to the cost of preservation and time spent.
Let me try to summarise some of my ideas regarding communications and archiving. Web-based communications will certainly affect the work of all archivists. Some seem to worry that the Internet revolution will overtake their archiving work. Of course, this is not true. Archivists will be more important than ever, preserving AV-media and making them accessible. We have to remember that the challenge of preserving our cultural heritage still exists, even if digital media replace the analogue ones. The importance of high quality cataloguing work is even more important when the archive opens its holdings to any potential user in cyberspace. Let me indicate some consequences of archiving in the 3rd millennium:
Dear colleagues and friends, let us go out in the cyberspace together, building a future for the past. Let us create a joint WorldWideWeb designed for the users of our services.
Appendix: some Norwegian web-sites
The Norwegian Jazz Discography
http://www.nb.no/norskjazz/index_e.html
The preliminary web version is part of a larger collaboration between The Norwegian Jazz Archives and the National Library of Norway. The purpose of this project is to present a Norwegian jazz history on the Internet. This will be an advanced and updated database of jazz recordings by Norwegian musicians. The catalogue will have links to other forms of documentation: biographies, photographs, video and sound clips. Online registration takes place in Oslo using the MAVIS-database connected to a server in Mo I Rana (1000 km north of the capital). We estimate the complete web-version will be available in the first half of year 2001.
The site shows how it is possible to publish a text document on the web including simple search facilities. You can search by main artists or band, album titles, track titles and (other) musicians. To search for main artist you must enter at least three consecutive letters from anywhere inside the name. If you want to search for a musician, you have to specify both first name and last name. When searching for a title you can enter the full title or part of it.
(Let’s see how it works: You want to find all the recordings of the Saxophone player Jan Garbarek as main artist. There are several ways to enter the search criteria:
Full name “Jan Garbarek” or “Garbarek, Jan” (note the comma use!)
First name or last name
Minimum 4 letters “arek” or “garb”.
Maybe you want to find all recordings that Garbarek has played on. Then you search for Garbarek as musician.
Let’s find all the recordings of the track, “Summertime.” In this case we will also find any titles including the word “summertime”.)
A jazz discography is slightly different from any other discography, focusing on musicians, recording sessions and track titles. Even if the album title is included, this is not the main entry. Due to the fact that the jazz scene certainly is international, you will also find international performers in the discography. Just to mention a few names like Keith Jarrett, Chet Baker and Dexter Gordon. So, the importance of producing such a catalogue concerns both national and foreign users. We are happy to know that the printed book has been given honourable mention in the press, also outside of Norway. Johs Bergh’s splendid work as a compiler definitely is the basis for making this site. The web-version is totally free of charge. The making of such a service points ahead: in the future we hope to also include the other Nordic countries in the making of a “Nordic Jazz Dscography”.
Spirit of the Vikings
http://www.nb.no/html/spirit_of_the_vikings.html
Spirit of the Vikings is a collection of Norwegian radio programmes broadcast in the US between 1941 and 1947. The National Library of Norway has digitized more than 400 programmes for the Internet from CDs via tapes from the original shellac discs. The programmes were produced by the Norwegian Embassy in New York, and the majority are in English aimed at the North-American listeners. The content includes both news from Norway about the Second World War, music programmes and radio plays.
You can use different ways to search through the online catalogue: genre, news sorted chronologically, subject heading or simply free text search. If you get any hits, you will get a short description of one or several programs. Next you can choose if you want to listen to the programme either via RealAudio or the linear wav-format. This site is a common example on functional interactivity, downloading AV-files related to the online catalogue.
The Spirit of the Vikings was the first collection the National Library made available on the web, back in 1995. Today our Digital Radio Storage project in Cupertino with the Norwegian Broadcast Corporation (NRK) is under way. The daily production of digitizing analogue tape reels started in February this year. So far (June 2000) approximately 2600 tape reels out of 45 000 reels have been digitized. The annual production is estimated at 9000 reels, which makes 9000 GB data storage. After three years the project will be evaluated, and we hope that the rest of the historic recordings will be digitized too.
Phonofile
http://www.phonofile.com/
Phonofile is the largest music site in Scandinavia containing more than 23,000 tracks of music. Phonofile is owned by TV2 (Norway’s leading commercial television channel) and FONO (the Association of Norwegian Record Companies). The National Library regards the project as interesting, mainly due to our legal deposit and preservation policy. Phonofile considers our technical competence to be valuable for storing the data, as well as building and maintaining the catalogues. Even if no final agreement exists yet, we have started a pilot project to explore technical aspects regarding the digitization. Naturally the project involves significant costs, but also the question of access is crucial for the National Library’s participation. So far, Phonofile is only developed for commercial use like broadcasting.
In this context, digitization means copying the music from the CD to data files. First an ID number is created to search for the actual CD in the CDDB2 database (http://www.cddb.com/). (CDDB claims to be the world’s largest online CD database and is an interesting example of adaptive interactivity. CDDB2 is grounded on CDDB, but it includes more information like expanded album credits, track-by-track credits and web-links.) If the actual CD is found in CDDB, the name of artist, album title and track titles are downloaded automatically. If the CD is not found in the database, the user has to register some minimum catalogue information. This happens quite often since the amount of Norwegian recordings is rather small. Next, the software reads the ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) if it exists, and then all the information is stored in the central database (Phonofile). Every track is converted into a separate wav-file, and then the converting module generates MP3 and RealAudio files automatically. The quality of the MP3 files satisfies the TV2 standard for television productions (256 kBit/s). The RealAudio format of 40 kBits has been chosen so that it is possible to download any file from the web. A minimum requirement is using a single ISDN connection.
Culture Net Norway
http://www.kulturnett.no/html/cnn.html
Culture Net Norway was launched 8th December 1998. Similar to other national culture sites this is the gateway to Norwegian culture on the web. Culture Net Norway is financed by the Department of Cultural Affairs and organized by the National Library.
A special site has been designed for children aged between three and six. Here you can try to do a puzzle; useful training for up and coming web-designers in the new millennium.
