AMIA Newsbriefs

Saving India’s endangered film, video and sound heritage

Highlighting the pressing need to safeguard films, videos and sound recordings in India’s Cultural Institutions, several Indian and International Cultural Heritage Professionals, met at the National Museum Institute (NMI), here today to discuss possible strategies and solutions. The meeting was chaired Dr. Mounir Bouchenaki, Director- General, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), Rome.

Read the story here:  http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43087

Persistent Corporation to Create First Global Archive

A new organization has been formed to provide the first ever permanent storage solution for electronic information archiving. Persistent Corporation will use its patent pending technology to establish the first Global Archive. This archive will be publicly accessible over the Internet. It will allow people to solve problems that previously had no clear solutions.

Read the story here:  http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/persistent-corporation-create-first-global/story.aspx?guid=%7BB1E723B6-BA59-4FA0-B73A-653ADD8CAC04%7D&dist=hppr

Vintage Film Archives at Ripley's Believe It or Not! to be Colorized and Converted to 3D

With modern-day technological foresight, the 90-year old Ripley's Believe It or Not! has begun the process of converting its extensive film footage, much of which was shot by Robert Ripley himself in the 1920s and 1930s, into 3D digital programming.

Read the press release here:  http://www.pr-inside.com/vintage-film-archives-at-ripley-s-believe-r811582.htm

100 years of film history to be brought together in one European portal

Work began today on a three-year project to establish a European film portal – the European Film Gateway (EFG) – with an inaugural meeting in Frankfurt am Main in Germany.

Read the story here: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/11478/digital-life/100-years-of-film-history-to-be-brought-together-in-one-european-portal

Has the digital era killed Kodachrome?

Only one commercial lab in the world, Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, still develops Kodachrome, a once ubiquitous brand that has freeze-framed the world in rich but authentic hues since it was introduced in the Great Depression.

Read the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/09/22/kodakchrome.fading.ap/index.html

Video added to IMDB.com

"Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has finally done what many have been asking it since the time the company bought IMDB: it has enabled video on the film and TV database/info site. The company says users can now watch 6,000 full-length feature films and TV episodes for free on IMDb.com’s video section. Would be interesting to figure out how many of the videos from Amazon VOD service on being ported over to IMDB...guess would be a low figure, as it is likely IMDB video would be used more as a promotional tool. It even says so in the release: The rotating video content is provided by CBS, Hulu, Sony Pictures Television and about 500 indie filmmakers. The content includes shows like “24”, “The Office” (both from Hulu), “Beverly Hills 90210”, “Star Trek”, and movies such as “Fever Pitch”, “Bring it On” and others."

Read more here: http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-amazon-does-the-obvious-finally-enables-its-video-service-on-imdb/

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ANNOUNCES NEW CHIEF OF THE PACKARD CAMPUS

The Library of Congress has appointed Patrick Loughney as the chief of the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, in Culpeper, Va.  Loughney will oversee the state-of-the-art facility where the Library of Congress acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of movies, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings.

Hollywood's historic El Capitan Theater for sale

The El Capitan Theatre, a classic Hollywood movie palace restored by Disney as a showcase for its kids movies, is for sale for $31 million.

Read the story here: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10485874

ina-signature to support MovieLabs metadata specifications

Ina, one of the world's largest audiovisual archives, presents the ina-signature technology at the IBC trade show. This fingerprinting solution allows rights owners to automatically track and manage the distribution of their assets on UGC (User Generated Content) sites such as Dailymotion.

Read the press release here: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ina-signature-support-movielabs-metadata-specifications/story.aspx?guid=%7B1BB7A4C5-A956-48A1-8CD3-E5122D8C9EFE%7D&dist=hppr

Planting of unsolicited documents into the National Archives must stop - Historian

Accra, Nov 28, Ghanadot/GNA- Professor Irene Odotei, a Lecturer at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana on Tuesday appealed to government to take measure to stop the infiltration of documents into the national archive.

Read more here: http://www.ghanadot.com/news.gnadot.112807d.html