British Library Sound Archive

We went to the British Library Sound Archive. It was interesting to see all the old formats, such as wax cylinders.

I have used the British library sound archive website many times before as I found the recordings of dialects and accents to be very interesting. I don’t really have a very region-specific accent (discernible from southern English), when I came to London multiple people assumed I was already from London.

It was interesting to learn about the fact they didn’t edit digitised recordings in post.

The fact that their focus is on digitising physical media and that physical media has long been in decline (other than for enthusiasts).

Im probably more interested in digital archives, focusing on archiving current things. Cloud computing has allowed for easier personal archives and backups, however if the internet goes offline for the day then you can’t access it, especially when the service is propriety. Theres the potentially for abuse by centralisation (latin bible vs common language). Also a potential Library of Alexander kind of situation with digital obsolescence.

(BBC Domesday Project)

https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/permacomputing.html

https://www.technologyreview.com/2002/10/01/234717/data-extinction/

High definition vs low definition. What is lost/gained through each. High def formats take up more space.

Ethics of Healing damaged Archival material.

Ai and conservation in the archive.

I plan to use some archive material in my piece, maybe field recordings of locations or news reports. I was also looking on the BBC archive website, and Internet Archive