01

DEADLINE2025
Collections at risk

nfsa.gov.au

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There is now
consensus among
AUDIOVISUAL archives
internationallythat we will not
be able to support
large‑scale
digitisation ofmagnetic media
in the very near
future. Tape that is
not digitised by 2025
will in most cases
be lost forever.

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Deadline 2025:
Collections at Risk
Governments past and present haveinvested in Australia’s audiovisual
culture and industries, and supported
the various sectors involved in
the production, distribution, andpreservation of recorded sound andbroadcast media. Much of what is now
this nation’s heritage originated in theanalogue era of the 20th century andhas been handed down on various
magnetic tape formats.

We need to unlock our audiovisual
history and allow it to continue
to create value and benefit for all
Australians. We need a National
Framework for Digitisation of
Audiovisual Collections –a collaborative approach to the
mass-digitisation of our heritage.

All tape-based formats created in the 20th century are now
obsolete. Tape that is not digitised by 2025, we risk losing
forever. This creates a deadline, and a dilemma, for those
entrusted with the care of these precious memories.
At current rates of investment in digitisation, only about
30% of magnetic tape can be saved in time, meaningtens of thousands of hours will be lost to future generations.
Considerable resources are required to ensure all surviving
tape-based media is digitised and managed for long-term
digital storage and access. Without this work, we will losea significant part of Australia’s public memory, currently
threatened by magnetic tape obsolescence.
We need to unlock our audiovisual history and allow it
to continue to create value and benefit for all Australians.
We need a National Framework for Digitisation of AudiovisualCollections – a collaborative approach to the mass-digitisationof our heritage.
We refer to the NFSA’s magnetic tape collection throughout thispaper to illustrate the situation and extrapolate to this national
collaborative approach.

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The Digital Utopia vs
The Analogue Reality
More than any other medium, moving image
and sound recordings can bring the memoryof a nation to life. Time, place and actions
are invoked more vividly than throughany text‑based documentation.
The NFSA’s national collection records every aspect ofAustralian life and endeavour. While the greatest concentrationof audiovisual materials is looked after by the National Filmand Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), other institutions
are also responsible for preserving and providing accessto a vast range of formats. There are substantial collections
stored at the National Archives of Australia and the National
Library of Australia. Commonwealth organisations such as
AIATSIS, the Australian War Memorial, and the national
broadcasters ABC and SBS are keepers of other importantmaterials. Significant holdings exist in State Libraries, researchand educational institutions, and community organisations
across states and territories. Our national estate is subdivided
into many locations, and until now there has not been a joint
management plan in place to unlock it for the public.
Digital technology is the most convenient answer for a‘distributed’ national collection. The walls of our galleries,
libraries, archives and museums become ‘genuinely moreporous’ as we shift to ‘open access, open sharing, and greatercollaboration with the public’1. It brings us closer to a digital
utopia where Australia’s audiovisual history is available for all
Australians and the world to find, access, and use effortlessly.
At this stage we are still living in an analogue archival reality.
It encapsulates celluloid film negatives and prints; soundrecordings on magnetic tape, acetate and vinyl disc; and radio,
film and television broadcast on various magnetic tape formats.
While original film and record formats will remain largely
stable for the foreseeable future, all tape-based formats createdin the 20th century are now obsolete.

The ability to successfully replay magnetic tapes depends on theinterplay of equipment, skills and technologies. This once healthy
ecosystem is collapsing due to the removal of tape from themarketplace as broadcasters have shifted to file-based workflows.
There is now consensus among audio-visual archives
internationally that we will not be able to support large-scale
digitisation of magnetic media in the very near future. Tape thatis not digitised by 2025 will in most cases be lost forever as:›› Analogue video and audiotape, as well as early digital tapeformats, will be effectively inaccessible due to the practicalinability to maintain playback systems.
›› The last generation of fully experienced analogue-to-digitaltransfer broadcast engineers will be retired. Their practicaltechnical skills will either have been strategically shared with
the newer generations of digital engineers or lost forever.

Where in the world?
Large-scale digitisation of audiovisualmaterials has been undertaken in several
European countries, most notably in
the Netherlands with their seven-year,€115M ($177M) initiative Images for the Future.
Several Dutch heritage organisations digitised
their at-risk collections in bulk: 90,000 hoursof video, 20,000 of film, and more than
100,000 of recorded sound. Public access
has increased dramatically, and the projectencouraged the educational, creative andcommercial re-use of the content – a culturaland financial outcome for both the archives
and their sponsors and partners.

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What is magnetic tape?
Magnetic tape technology has been used for audio from the mid 1940s and video from the mid 1950s. Many Australians would
certainly have owned music cassette tapes and VHS videotapes. Perhaps they recorded ‘home movies’ on a camcorder or had an
8-track machine, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Magnetic tape was used professionally as well as in the home and the NFSA
holds over 40 different magnetic formats across video and audio.

1/4” reel to reel 1934 Talking Book Metal Cartridge
as early as 1953 Magnetic Film mid 1950s (USA), early 1960s (AUS) 1/4” tape
1958–1964 Analog Compact Cassette 1963 8 Track Tape Cartridge 1965
Micro Cassette 1969 1/2” Beta Domestic High Fidelity Audio 1975 Beta
PCM Audio Only 1980 Beta PCM and Hi‑Fi Audio 1983 Bernoulli Box
1983 VHS PCM Audio Only 1984 VHS PCM and Hi-Fi Audio 1984 Audio
Video8 (PCM Audio Only) 1985 Digital Audio Cassette 1987 Digital 8
track audio (Hi‑8) late 1980s U-matic Audio Only (1630 or 1610) late1980s Digital Compact Cassette 1992 VIDEO timeline: 2” Quadruplex Low
Band 1956 Low band colour 1960 2” Quadruplex High Band 1963
1” A Format 1965 Open Reel Japanese ‘J’ Standard 1969 Cartridge
Japanese ‘J’ Standard 1969 Phillips 2000 1970 U-matic High Band (BVU)
1971 Betamax 1975 1” B Format 1976 1” C Format 1976 VHS Domestic
1976 Betacam 1984 Standard 8 Video 1984 U-matic SP High Band (BVU)
1986 D1 4:2:2 19mm Digital Video Cassette 1987 Betacam SP 1987 Super
VHS (S-VHS) 1987 D2 19mm Digital Video Cassette (composite) 1988 Hi8(High Eight) Professional 8mm (Metal-E Tape) 1989 D5 High Definition
Digital Video Cassette 1993 Digital Betacam 1993 Mini sized DigitalVideo 6mm (consumer tape) 1995 Betacam SX 1996 DVCAM Digital
1996 DVCPRO 25 Digital 1997 DVPRO 50 Digital 1997 HDCam 1997 DigitalVideo Camera cassette (DD8) 1999 HDCAM Special Resolution 2003
AUDIO timeline:

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Our Audiovisual
Heritage is Too
Precious to Lose
The recordings, radio broadcasts and TV programs
held in our archives represent a small fraction ofwhat was actually produced, as much has alreadybeen lost. For many years programs and recordings
were discarded or destroyed once their immediatebroadcast life was deemed over. Audio andvideotape recordings were erased to be reused, andsome radio and television programs which went
live to air were not recorded at all.
Decades of Australian Government funding has enabled
the NFSA and other institutions to locate and build collections
that tell the Australian story from many different perspectives,
representing the richness and variety of the Australianexperience. At the NFSA and sister institutions, highly
skilled staff are committed to digitising audio and videotape
to international best practice, and we are constantly improving
our systems to increase our capability and capacity.
Yet we stand to lose much of this vital cultural memory.
Unless we act swiftly to invest in digitisation infrastructure
and capability, we will be facing a ‘second mass extinction’when tens of thousands of hours of music, spoken word,
news and current affairs, drama and comedy become
inaccessible only a decade from now.

What’s on the tape?
NFSA collection examples
The NFSA holds over 30 years ofcomprehensive television news and current
affairs coverage along with significant andlong-running series such as 60 Minutes(1979–present), Homicide (1964–76),
Prisoner (1979–86), The Mike Walsh Show
(1969–71, 1973–84), Young Talent Time(1971–88), Neighbours (1985–present)
and Offspring (2010–14). In its collectionof recorded sound, the NFSA holds mastertapes by artists like Cold Chisel, Midnight
Oil, Mental as Anything, The Angels andHoodoo Gurus. The NFSA radio collection
covers a wide variety of commercial andcommunity stations from around Australia.
It includes analogue recordings of broadcastsof significant news events, election campaigns
and advertising jingles, drama serials likeNight Beat and Portia Faces Life, interviews
with celebrities and newsmakers, comedy
sketches and current affairs.

Quite a lot of our history on tapefinishes up in landfill just because
it is seldom valued at the time thatdecisions about its preservation
are being made.
Don Walker, guitarist Cold Chisel, 2015

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What will be lost?
NFSA collection example

Television
As we reach the horizon for digitisation of magnetic tape in 2025,
the Australian television industry will be just one year short of its
70th anniversary. The NFSA catalogue lists over 60,000 programson videotape that need to be digitised before 2025, and thisnumber will continue to grow as we retrospectively acquire morearchival TV content. An increase of 100% on the current rate ofdigitisation is required to ensure our small screen history remains
accessible into the future.

Radio
Australian commercial radio broadcasting celebrates its centenary
in 2024, and the NFSA holds a rich selection of around 80,000
radio programs on audiotape as well as vinyl and acetate discs.
Examples include news, talkback and radio documentaries, aswell as drama, radio serials and live‑to‑air performances. We
need to increase our current audio digitisation efforts by more than
50% to ensure our collection is safe.

Recorded sound
The Australian recorded music industry will also be approachingits centenary in 2025. The NFSA is the custodian of the publishedworks of our iconic performers, in addition to a multitude of hoursof nreleased or out-of-print – and sometimes out of copyright– music and spoken word recordings which are not available
elsewhere. Thousands of master tapes, the highest quality recordingsof our artists’ musical achievements, are at risk from magnetic tapeobsolescence. Countless recordings of live performances and otherunpublished materials will only survive if we can greatly increase
our capacity to digitise.

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What can we gain?
Digitising the analogue-based era of ouraudiovisual heritage benefits all Australians as:

It connects us to who we were, and who we are. The historical
record of many decades of our diverse Australian experience
is referenced in its most effective form through sound andvision, fostering understanding and identification.
It creates knowledge. The as yet unexploited wealth of originalcontent held in so many collections becomes instantly accessible
to both Australian and international audiences, and ideallythrough a national aggregation portal.
It protects Australia’s investment. The Commonwealth (andin fact all three tiers of government) have invested in building
and maintaining massive audiovisual collections. Rendering
them discoverable and accessible offers a tangible returnon this investment.
It allows the creation of new content. Unlocking a treasure
trove of images and sounds of the past will inspire creatorsof new works, and encourage entrepreneurs to bring on
new dissemination models and explore revenue outcomes.
It creates employment opportunities. Large-scale digitisation isa big job, and managing digital information a vital part of theinnovative and nimble industries of the future. Projects of scale
will promote specialised skills development and help retain
expertise within the cultural sector and the audiovisual industries.
It makes us proud. As a nation we punch above our weight in somany disciplines. Let’s not only play catch-up with others – let’s beleaders in creating digital access to our collections via broadband.

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Large-scale
digitisation
has the potential to rewrite the book – in terms of the size ofthe practical dividend that support for arts and culture can pay.
To measure its potential impact requires us to look beyond
existing performance indicators, such as site visits or attendance
numbers, and consider a broader scope of return. This broader
view encompasses effects that the increased participation in
our ‘national estate’ has on us as a people at large.
Examples include the benefits to community identity andwellbeing through increased intergenerational dialogue;
stimulating creative and intellectual property industries;
supporting cultural maintenance and exploration in a
globalised marketplace; and fostering curiosity anddigital literacy.
Mapping a path through the sea of information is the great
exploratory mission of the digital millennium, and ensuring
the Australian voice in all its richness and diversity can be seen,
heard, and mined for new purposes will result in uses we can’teven imagine today. It is an exciting journey to embark on.

If we wait until the metrics
are developed we will havemissed the boat. The digital
horse will have well andtruly bolted.
Frank Howarth, Museums Australia, 2015

What’s the benefit?
We are now in a better position to measure thepositive impacts of digitising our collections. A
new model for measuring the impact of digital
heritage resources has been developed byresearchers at King’s College, London1.
The Balanced Value Impact Model developedby Simon Tanner at King’s College looks
beyond the benefits resulting in the heritage
sector to the health, environment, transportand communications sectors. The model
balances tangible gains from economic,
social and innovation perspectives withharder to measure cultural values and isbeing adopted by organisations such as
the Europeana Impact Task Force.
1

w ww.kdcs.kcl.ac.uk/innovation/impact.html

10What’s the cost?
NFSA magnetic tape-based holdings example
The additional funding required to increase
the NFSA’s capacity to meet ‘Deadline 2025’
is estimated at $10 million.
VIDEOTAPE
There is approximately 45,000 hours
of content on analogue videotape in the NFSA
collection awaiting digitisation. To deal withthis large amount of content in a short timerequires a combination of in-house specialised
work, for items requiring manual conservation
treatment, and the outsourcing of ‘bulk’
tape. Approximately 8,000 hours of content
requires specialist attention and work on
the remaining 37,000 hours of ‘bulk’ tape
could be outsourced at an average cost of$160 per hour of content. Competitive market
approaches may result in lower rates, at least
while there is still a market for such services.
Therefore the cost of videotape digitisation
is estimated to be nearly $6M.
AUDIOTAPE
Within the audiotape awaiting digitisationin the NFSA’s collection is about 12,000
hours of sound content on magnetic tape,
30,000 hours of audio content on obsolete
disc formats and 12,000 reels of audio
content on perforated magnetic film.
The average cost for magnetic audiotape
digitisation is $100/hour. Discounting raremagnetic film and disc formats, the costfor bulk-digitising the audiotape holdings
can be estimated at $1.2M. As perforated
magnetic film rapidly becomes obsolete in
the marketplace it becomes more and more
precarious and the cost of digitisation perhour is likely to be much higher. The total
cost for digitising all preservation-status soundmaterial is estimated to be close to $4M.

What MORE
CAN be Done?
The additional funding required
to increase the NFSA’s capacity tomeet ‘Deadline 2025’ is estimated at$10 million. It will ensure all surviving
tape‑based media in the NFSA collection
is digitised and ready for long-term
digital storage and access.
The NFSA example is core to this argument but it doesn’t
end here. Our national estate is bigger than just the NFSA
collection; Australia’s other national collecting institutions
and commercial and not-for-profit networks face similar
issues requiring similar technical and administrative solutions.
A collaborative approach in the form of a National Frameworkfor Digitisation of Audiovisual Collections is preferable to eachorganisation charting its own course through the digitisation
agenda. A consistent unified means would ensure that theeconomies of scale that can be achieved in large projects
are identified, implemented and the benefits realised andthat opportunities for private‑public partnerships are fully
considered and utilised. Our proposed course of action ispremised on a joint approach across government and theprivate sector, extending activities to other relevant collections
at risk, and offering economies of scale beyond the NFSA’s
specific needs and collection holdings.
We therefore call for the establishment of a National
Framework for Digitisation of Audiovisual Collections forthe targeted quality digitisation of magnetic tape formats,to meet ‘Deadline 2025’.

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IN
CONCLUSION
The development of a National
Framework for Digitisation of
Audiovisual Collections supported
by sufficient investment over the nextten years is vital to ensure future accessto and celebration of Australia’s at-riskcollections.

For analogue
documents,
digitization
can protect
valuable
documents
fromdeterioration
by reducing
handling. In
the case ofaudio‑visual
documents,
digitization is
the only meansof ensuring
their survival.2
UNESCO Vancouver
Declaration

In relation to the investment already made in the production,collection, storage and preservation of our audiovisual heritage,
this additional cost is not disportionate. Through digitisation
we will bring this content to life and deliver benefits which
ultimately repay the cost many times over.
If we act swiftly today, we will all enjoy the advantages
that digitisation of our collections can bring. There is stilltime to avoid a cultural calamity affecting future generationsof Australians: the preventable loss of an irreplaceable partof our heritage.

1

 ansfield, T., Winter, C., Griffith, C., Dockerty, A., Brown, T.
MInnovation Study: Challenges and Opportunities for Australia’s
Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, Australian Centre forBroadband Innovation, CSIRO and Smart Services Co-operative
Research Centre, August 2014, pp vi

2

 ww.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/w
unesco_ubc_vancouver_declaration_en.pdf

3

 ww.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/w
unesco_ubc_vancouver_declaration_en.pdf

DigitaLpreservation
should be adevelopment
priority, andinvestments ininfrastructure are
essential to ensure
trustworthinessof preserved digitalrecords as well as
their long‑term
accessibility
and usability.3
UNESCO Vancouver
Declaration

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Canberra
McCoy Circuit, Acton ACT 2601
Phone: +61 2 6248 2000
Fax: +61 2 6248 2222
Freecall: 1800 067 274
Melbourne
Level 3, 114 Flinders St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: +61 3 8638 1500
sydNeyLevel 1, 45 Murray Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009
Phone: +61 2 8202 0100
Fax: +61 2 8202 0101
The NFSA has Access Centres available in State Libraries
in Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin and Perth.
October 2015