silver trak digital news

SILVER TRAK DIGITALLY PRESERVES INDIGENOUS MATERIAL FOR NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE
Totally unique ‘Maninpa-laju ngurrakarti’ project

SYDNEY 14 January 2008 – Silver Trak Digital, leaders in digital media migration, CD/DVD duplication and MPEG encoding today announced details of the ‘Maninpa-laju ngurrakarti’ project, a totally unique digital preservation initiative of indigenous material for the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) using Silver Trak Digital’s DAMsmart! technology.

Silver Trak Digital managing director Ron Anderson said, “The idea for the Maninpa-laju ngurrakarti project (Maninpa-laju ngurrakarti is a pan-western desert phrase whose closest translation is “we’re giving this back to its home”) first came about when I met up with the NFSA’s Chief Curator Meg Labrum at an archiving conference in Cambodia last year. Silver Trak Digital had just signed an exclusive Asia Pacific agreement with the US company SAMMA (System for Automated Migration of Media Assets) to use their automated digital media migration technology in conjunction with our DAMSmart ! Digital Asset Management system. This system is a world first, totally unique in Australia and a perfect fit for the NFSA who were looking to digitise parts of their archive beginning with the indigenous collection. ”

Meg Labrum added, “The Maninpa-laju Ngurrkarti Project was announced to coincide with the celebration of UNESCO’s World Day of Audiovisual Heritage. Focusing on Australian film and video that relates to the Australian Indigenous experience over the past century, the project will initially digitally preserve 360 hours of material from the NFSA’s enormous audiovisual collection.”

Titles have been selected from the past one hundred years of film production and range from the earliest actuality footage of an Indigenous community Torres Strait Islanders (1898) to silent features like The Romance of Runnibede (1928) to amateur footage which recorded the life and customs of many communities such as the Mitchell River Mission (1945), to television, feature and documentary titles of more recent years which document the strength of Indigenous identity today including editions of Imparja News or the award winning feature Ten Canoes (2006).

Anderson continued, “We are using the very latest technology to digitise the footage. The uniqueness lies in the automated part of the DAMsmart! digital media migration process. Traditionally, digitising film or video footage has meant a well-trained operator using one of the latest editing systems and completing the entire process manually. This method often takes two hours to digitise one hour of footage, is extremely expensive and thus not very practical. Using DAMsmart! the entire process is automated and scalable (with multiple inputs and feeds) significantly reducing the amount of time needed and cost involved. The automated process covers the sophisticated analysis of video and audio signals, compression, dropouts and constant monitoring and testing in real time. All of this can be done by Silver Trak Digital or an in-house tape operator, it’s that easy.”

As technology further extends the possibilities for both preservation and the delivery of works, much of the moving image history which has been collected and protected by the NFSA over many decades will benefit from digital preservation options. Whilst the more traditional forms of preservation continue to support the NFSA’s commitment to maintain the original format of production, and hence the original experience of film in particular, Silver Trak’s DAMsmart! digital processes open up new opportunities for the effective management of massive collections of moving image holdings. Working in collaboration with the NFSA whose commitment is the collection, preservation and dissemination of Australia’s audiovisual experience, the Maninpa-laju ngurrakarti project allows for a unique balance between core preservation principles and the ultimate opportunity to repatriate material of significant Indigenous relevance to both the Indigenous communities themselves and also provide it to the wider public. This access will be provided after full consultation with both the formal and traditional owners of rights in the works.

NFSA Director Paolo Cherchi Usai said, “The Maninpa-laju ngurrakarti project is of very significant importance to the indigenous population and the acquisition, preservation and promotion of Australian culture. The NFSA has a well-established digital strategy balancing the protection and presentation of our analogue heritage with the imperative of entering the digital domain. As digital technology becomes firmly embedded in even the most remote of regions, this digital preservation project will assist the NFSA to ultimately return images and sounds of special importance for specific Indigenous communities around the country. The NFSA has established relationships with a number of communities including the Martu, the Pitjantjatjara, the Walpiri, the Galwink’ku, the Yankunytjatjara and the people of Mornignton Island. The Maninpa-laju ngurrakarti project is a very compelling symbol of the future direction the NFSA wishes to take.”

Ron Anderson concluded, “Silver Trak Digital are proud to be able to use DAMsmart! for such a prestigious and worthwhile project. We are delighted at having the unique opportunity to partner with such an esteemed organization as the NFSA.”

For further press information contact Salvatore Di Muccio at Well Above on +61 412 64 99 64 or at salvatore@wellabove.com

News Archive