Video Active: Creating Access to European Television History

1. Video Active: Creating Access to European Television History by Linking Academic and Archive Practice ‘Moving Image and the Academy’ University of Leeds 15 March 2008 Dana Mustata

2. Aims of Video Active • Creating, by means of an online portal, multi-lingual access to television heritage material across Europe • Selecting 10.000 items of television archival content from a comparative perspective, reflecting cultural and historical similarities and differences of television cultures across the EU • Enriching selected contents by means of metadata and research analysis Target users: • education, • general public, • cultural heritage • creative industries

3. The Consortium ! 14 members from 10 countries ! 11 content providers/10 languages

4. Associate Members • VRT (B) • Moving Images Communications (UK) • INA (FR)

5. The Video Active Data Television Archive Content (10.000 items): -Earliest recordings of TV on film and (filmed) TV programmes *reflecting the cultural and historical similarities and differences of television from across the European Union *demonstrating new technological developments in TV *development of common TV genres *televised historical moments that have shaped collective memory *examining changes in everyday life and influence of media -Other data such as clippings from TV guides and stills

6. Research Added Value • Comparison is crucial and aims towards: • Exploring and showing the cultural and historical differences and similarities of television in Europe, meaning: History of television in Europe & European History on Television

7. Performing Comparison: Comparative survey of the television holdings of archive partners and of the right issues involved (based on a questionnaire) We found: Different programmes in different genres for different periods and different right issues Approach: Thematic approach to content selection Development of common metadata schema

8. Performing Comparison Development of a grid containing a large agreed list of topics over six decades (over 30) First explorative research on five topics, discussed at consultation conference: • Emigration/immigration • Leisure • Sexual revolution • Drugs/alcohol • National holidays

9. Illustrating Comparison • Archival contents on ‘national holidays’ • BBC (UK) • Touching on leisure, consumerism on national holidays, European integration events, television rituals at holiday moments • Wider spread over genres --- weaker association of holidays to the idea of the nation • ORF (Austria) • Emphasis on national rituals and events • Concentration on factual genres – asserting the sense of the nation • Nava (Hungary) • Predominance of national historical celebrations • Nationalistic celebration rituals across different factual genres • Henaa (Greece) • Focus on traditions and the religious inscription of national events • Predominant national character regardless of the programme genre

11. Performing Comparison Consolidation of thematic approach as content selection strategy, exploring new topics such as Controversial Programming Television about television European integration Wars/Conflicts Education Religion Food/Drinks

12. Added Value: Metadata = Context The need of consistent information on the selected content: new and extensive metadata for each item: Abstract, audio, video Catalogue data: who, when, where, what … Production information (colour, outside...) Significance (exceptional; national/European) Classification (genre and topic)

13. Making Use of Metadata as Context • Metadata brings insights on: • Historical context • Social impact • Technological dimension • Facts: when, where and who • The Video Active platform makes it possible to: • Search: for any part of the context • Browse within a context • Find: results presented with context • Relationships between data

15. Signifying Practice • The Video Active portal is a mediated platform built upon the co-operation between TV historians and archives, which allows for comparative research into European television history by means of: • Content selection policy and metadata aimed towards • cultural and historical significance • Diversity of genres, periods • Analysis of selected content • Editorial strategy developing high quality contextual material and articles

16. Signifying Practice: Editorial Strategy • Long Articles (Key Note Articles) centered on an European Comparative Dimension: • Programmes: mediating European identities • Institutions: Negotiating European Television Spaces • Technology: Shaping European Television Infrastructures • Events: Televising Europe and the Nation • Watching: Cultures of European Television Viewing • Short Articles (Knowledge Based Articles): on any specific topic related to European television history • Intro of color TV in Austria • Portable equipment and the search for a new documentary style • The start of TVC in Spain

17. Concluding remarks: • Video Active started in September 2006 for a duration of 36 months • The first version of the portal will be fully operational in April 2008 • After the formal project duration within the EC framework comes to an end, a new organisation the Video Active Association will continue the management of the portal

18. Thank you! Presenter: Dana Mustata Video Active Researcher Utrecht University, the Netherlands dana.mustata@let.uu.nl Project Coordinator: Sonja de Leeuw Utrecht University,the Netherlands sonja.deleeuw@let.uu.nl