18 December 2007
December 11th 2007
1. Digitization and Services
Pilot Education Media Platform
Education is an important target group for Images for the Future. We want archived content to find its way into classrooms and lecture halls to enrich education. 2008 will be the year of building experience in service development through the Pilot Education Media Platform (Pilot-EMP).
The Pilot-EMP offers pupils and teachers a single platform to work with audiovisual source material and selections of external content. Users can look for videos, photos, and texts, cut them to measure as they go along, and store their work in a personal collection. Pupils can also upload their own videos and incorporate these in multimedia assignments, while teachers can devise multimedia lessons with an online ‘lecture-maker’. The pilot is closely coordinated with the aid of different suppliers of Electronic Learning Environments (ELEs), Kennisnet (‘Knowledgenet’), and content providers such as Naturalis. During the first six months of 2008, a number of classes are going to drop their books and start getting to grips with the Pilot-EMP.
Filmmuseum joins forces with Haghefilm in Preservation
This autumn, the Filmmuseum published an international invitation to tender for the preservation of historical cinematographic content. Laboratorium Haghefilm, which came out as the preferred partner, will spend the coming years photo-chemically and digitally securing no less than a million meters of nitrate and acetate film. Headed by the motto ‘preserve first, then digitize’, the Filmmuseum started selecting Dutch films for restoration and preservation as of August. Eligible are all Dutch feature productions – from the end of the 19th century until recently – as well as a selection of shorts, cinema documentaries, animation features, cinematographically interesting assignment films, and cinema commercials.
Experts Council Pilot Education Media Platform
December saw the allocation of a council of experts for the Pilot Education Media Platform (EMP). The ICT and education specialists that make up the council will support our thinking in developing a new service, so that it may be a progressive, useful piece of electronic learning equipment. To foster a complete picture and a dynamic discussion, we invited ICT-lecturers as well as representatives from the field (e.g., market parties) to join. Our first deliberation will take place in January, after which the Council will stand by the consortium until it finishes evaluating the pilot in September.
The Experts Council Pilot EMP:
Wim Veen – professor of education and technology – Technical University Delft
Rob Martens - professor of multimedia education – University of Leiden
Marijke Kral - lecturer Learning with ICT – Polytechnic Schools Arnhem and Nijmegen
Lieneke Jongeling – Head of the Northgo College
Geeske Steeneken – manager Codename Future
Jaap van Loon – Head of publisher Thieme-Meulenhoff
Ton Gloudemans – educational designer
Business Models for the Future
Images for the Future wants to disclose as much content as possible. We’re currently researching under which terms this can be done most favourably. Already, several videos and photographs can be watched freely on Youtube, but part of the digital collection will be offered against payment. Copyrights attached to content tend to be the all-dependent factor, but quality, target groups, and the effort that goes into contextualization also play their part. The consortium recently called into a being an Exploitation Bureau to develop business models. For 2008, the bureau has already put a platform for education, video-on-demand, and open content model on its agenda.
VOB and Teleac/NOT sign contract
The Association of Public Libraries (VOB) has set Teleac/NOT (the Dutch public educational broadcaster) the task of selecting and preparing Images for the Future film and video content for educational purposes. The first step will give school pupils and teachers the opportunity to watch content on Teleblik (a public educational website). The VOB strives to connect the service to Schoolbieb.nl, a website for pupils to gather information for speeches, essays, and assignments.
Sound and Vision digitizes audio collection
Thanks to Images for the Future, Sound and Vision can now also digitize its audio recordings. To process all 123.900 hours of it in the coming seven years, Sound and Vision has set up its very own encoding machine (see image). Sixteen completely revised Telefunken M15 tape recorders and eight DAT-recorders are churning overtime to digitize 6.900 hours by the end of this year. Technicians at Sound and Vision are working around the clock to eternally preserve historical reports about the homage to queen Wilhelmina and the flooding disaster of 1953.
2. Meetings
Round Table discussion about Intellectual Property Rights brings filmmakers and experts together
The Dutch Filmmuseum and Knowledgeland organized a round table discussion about intellectual property rights during the Dutch Film Festival. The private meeting aimed towards kick-starting a wider discussion about the exploitation of film content via the Internet, so that workable models can be thought up. Representatives in the fields of production, direction, distribution, as well as intellectual property rights specialists, devoted themselves to the copyright issues facing Images for the Future.
Headed by Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven’s inspiring moderation skills, the participants constructively debated about possible solutions in making our cultural heritage accessible in the best possible way. Looking back, we can say that the discussion propelled an extremely fruitful reconnaissance of different insights. All those involved seem to envision a common goal: preserving but also disclosing audiovisual heritage. We’re taking the appropriate steps to shape a workable model of exploitation.
Seminar 'Create more using public content' @ PICNIC '07
Last September, Images for the Future organized a seminar during PICNIC’07: 'Create more using public content'. International experts Peter Kaufman (Intelligent Television), Paul Gerhardt (BBC Creative Archive), and Brian Gruber (Fora.tv) shared their vision on the digitization of audiovisual heritage. Much time was devoted to Images for the Future. Vincent Evers (General Partner at InterimIC and CEO Pczapper.tv) moderated the presentations and the panel discussion that closed off the session.
The central question posed that morning was: How can you put digitized content out there, and at the same time satisfy those controlling ts copyrights? Check the Images for the Future website to read what participants had to say, and view their presentations.
3. Short news
- Bert Haanstra finally on DVD
- Second prize for Teleblik at Prix Europa Festival
4. Images for the Future presents
Website Images for the Future.org
We’ve been working hard these last months to create a website worthy of the Images for the Future project. The main goal: to focus on the collections. That’s why you’ll see film stills, photos and video excerpts all over the site. On www.imagesforthefuture.org you can find, in addition to general information, the latest news and an overview of upcoming events surrounding our main theme: Digitization of Cultural Heritage.
Research.imagesforthefuture.org
Digitizing and disclosing heritage is being done all over the world. We want and need to keep up to date, which is why we’ve created a separate website: the Images for the Future Research Blog. In English, because interesting developments just don’t happen in our backyard alone.
In addition to the blog, we’ve created a separate page with social bookmark service del.icio.us. Here you’ll find continually updated links to articles interesting to the project. In short, want to read more about copyrights, business models, product development, technology, and user research with respect to the digitization and disclosure of audiovisual heritage? From now on, check the Images for the Future Research Blog.
Promotion Leaders Images for the Future
Submarine and SIN have had their way with photo and video content and provided us with two tantalizing leaders. Click on the screenshots to check them out!
5. Colofon
Images for the Future is a joint project by the Filmmuseum (FM), the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Sound and Vision), the Centrale Discotheek Rotterdam (CDR), the National Archive (NA), the Association of Public Libraries (VOB) and the Netherlands Knowledgeland Foundation (KL).
Editors
Marcel Oosterwijk (moo@kl.nl) and Geert Wissink (gw@kl.nl) edit the newsletter and the website.
Consortium partners
Check the website for more information on the partners and how to contact them.
