XFR Collective
Written by xfrcollective on Fri, 03/25/2016 – 12:49
XFR Collective (pronounced transfer collective) is a non-profit organization that partners with artists, activists, individuals, and groups to lower the barriers to preserving at-risk audiovisual media – especially unseen, unheard, or marginalized works – by providing low-cost digitization services and fostering a community of support for archiving and access through education, research, and cultural engagement.
The preservation of analog media collections (whether personal or through an institution) present certain unique challenges. From identifying obsolete media formats, to assessing the condition of an item, to selecting digital file formats for transferring, there can be a seemingly intimidating number of steps to care for analog media. Often analog media collections get overlooked or put to the side because of this intimidation. However, experts predict that in 15-20 years magnetic media will be unreadable due to tape degradation and equipment obsolescence.1
XFR Collective believes that with detailed, easy to understand training materials, people who do not have a background or professional training in handling analog media can become proficient. XFR Collective would like to develop a free and reproducible curriculum that provides educational and tutorial material on the basics of audiovisual digitization and preservation thus empowering people who have audiovisual materials to educate themselves and teach others in realistic best practices. This curriculum can encompass many forms to adequately fulfill the learning needs for diverse learning styles. This may include text documents, animated images, audiovisual materials, and self-guided tutorials for audiovisual preservation software. This curriculum can create a structure for workshops focused around archival training.
A fellow would work to develop this curriculum material and research communities in need of access to training.2
1 Council on Library and Information Resources and The Library of Congress, The Library Of Congress National Recording Preservation Plan. (Washington DC: December 2012), 7
2 For inspiration, see RailsBridge.