Modern archives
Dec 1, 2006 12:00 PM, BY BRAD GILMER
The repository moves to the front of the workflow.
I can remember walking through the MGM film archives shortly after Turner acquired the library. The archive is in a warehouse not far from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. It consists of row upon row of shelves with just about every film and tape format you can imagine (except nitrate, which had been removed for safety reasons). The different videotape formats read like an artifact listing from a museum: 2in quad, 1in Type B and Type C, 3/4in, U-matic, various 1/2in formats, and so on.
As movie studios, broadcasters and post houses move from tape to digital facilities, the nature of their archives is changing. Modern archives house legacy film and videotape formats, but they are also repositories for new file-based content, much of which has never been copied onto tape. What is the meaning of an archive in a network-based facility? What is the role of an archive?
The traditional archive is an end-of-pipe process, meaning that it is a repository for finished content. The function of an archive has changed as new technologies have brought new possibilities.
In some facilities, the archive is the hub of a larger workflow. In others, it serves as the input source for subsequent processing. Both of these configurations depart dramatically from the traditional view of the archive as a repository.
Shared storage
Positioning the archive as the central point in the workflow transforms it to shared storage, where users can gain access to content concurrently. ( See Figure 1.) While one person is editing content, another may be dubbing some of the same content to DVD. Some of these shared storage systems have long-term storage associated with them. In this configuration, these devices become an important archive for the organization.
Shared storage systems can turn into archives. We are rapidly approaching the point where disk storage is so inexpensive that it is not worth the time and effort to delete completed projects. As this shift takes place, the shared storage system naturally becomes an archive. Managing this stored content effectively is another issue.
Triage systems
Placing the archive at the start of the workflow allows incoming news feeds, for example, to go directly into the archive. Once the content hits the archive, one editor may begin working on a rough cut for a breaking news story. In parallel, another editor may be working on a longer version of the story for the evening news. Perhaps a little later, a third editor may access the same content for use in a magazine show that will air over the weekend. Again, content is available to several users at the same time, allowing innovative changes in workflow. An archivist looks through the content, determining what content should be retained and what should be discarded. In this way, the archive functions as a triage system. (See Figure 1.) It enables ubiquitous access to content while simultaneously allowing the organization to determine what to keep for the long-term.
All of this is possible with conventional analog video or SDI. But these workflows are really optimized for network-based technology because the centralized archive is closely related to the computer client server model. In this model, multiple clients connect to a central server to access desired content on the server. Content is automatically routed to and from the central archive using the self-routing nature of packetized computer networks.
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