[ANPPOM-Lista] Magnetic Tape Alert Project (MTAP) Survey

[Carlos Palombini]

*Magnetic Tape Alert Project*

*An initiative of the Information for All Programme (IFAP) Working Group on
Information Preservation*

*** Help us to map out the state of archives in the world today by filling
out our survey at **http://www.mtap.iasa-web.org/*
<http://www.mtap.iasa-web.org/>* ***

Today’s knowledge of the linguistic and cultural diversity of humanity is
widely based on magnetic tape recordings produced over the past 60 years.
Magnetic audio and video tape formats are now obsolete. Spare parts supply
and service is fading, replay equipment in operable condition is
disappearing rapidly, and routine transfer of magnetic tape documents is
estimated to end around 2025. The only way to preserve these sounds and
images in the long term, and to keep them accessible for future
generations, is their digitisation and transfer to safe digital
repositories.

While many professional memory institutions have already secured their
audiovisual holdings, or have planned to do so in time, a great part of
audio and video recordings are still in their original state, kept in small
academic or cultural institutions, or in private hands.

With the Magnetic Tape Alert Project, the Information for All Programme
(IFAP) of UNESCO, in cooperation with IASA, the International Association
of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, intends to alert stakeholders of the
imminent threat of losing access to their audiovisual documents. Part of
this is to conduct a survey of existing audiovisual documents on magnetic
tape that are not yet digitally preserved. The survey focusses on unique
recordings rather than copies.

The information obtained through the questionnaire on collections at risk
will serve as a basis for the planning of adequate solutions for the
safeguarding of these irreplaceable original documents in the long-term.
Information gathered will be kept on the IASA website and will be used to
compile a report that will be made publicly available. Names and addresses
will be disclosed publicly only with permission.

UNESCO and IASA seek the assistance of associations and NGOs engaged in the
study of contents typically recorded on magnetic tapes (music, endangered
languages, folklore, rituals, dance, oral history, etc.) by alerting their
members to the threat and to the project’s website at
*http://www.mtap.iasa-web.org/* <http://www.mtap.iasa-web.org/>

The Magnetic Tape Alert Project intends to assess the dimension of the
threat. Although realistic measures to safeguard these yet unsecured
collections by transfers to trusted digital repositories are only a second
step, holders of such collections should not miss the opportunity to
document their situation by filling in the questionnaire before *30th
September.*

*The project coordinator, Dr Andrew Pace, can be contacted at the following
address: *mtap em iasa-web.org
-- 
carlos palombini, ph.d. (dunelm)
professor de musicologia ufmg
professor permanente ppgm-unirio