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APPENDIX B
Huidige English summary selectiecriteria en de online documentaire
INTRODUCTION
The Dutch Institute for Sound and Vision, as a cultural heritage institution, is faced with numerous
challenges in the rapidly changing digital age. The Dutch documentary is an internationally
acclaimed tradition that has proven to be of great value for historical research and re-use.
For this reason documentaries are a most-valued part of the collection of the institute. As
documentary makers begin to use the Internet as a distribution method and explore the new
possibilities that become available, new approaches to acquisition, preservation and disclosure
are required. This study aims to address the current status of the documentary and determine
for now and in the near future, what the challenges are and how these can be addressed by
the Institute for Sound and Vision.
The research was mainly performed through the description and analysis of new
documentaries, and interviews with different participants in the financing, production and
distribution of these artefacts. I also took note of different international initiatives that concern
the long term preservation of interactive art, websites, games and software.
CHAPTER 1: CURRENT SELECTION CRITERIA AND ONLINE DOCUMENTARIES
The selection criteria that are currently being used are based on the preservation of traditional
and linear forms of audio-visual material. These need to be judged on their merit as a selection
tool for upcoming media forms. Most importantly attention must be paid so that selection
criteria do not become absolute rules. A great degree of flexibility is necessary if one is to
anticipate to the wide variety of media expressions that are produced in contemporary society.
Already experimental productions are lost due to a lack of institutional flexibility and gaps in
policy. It is with good reason that Sound and Vision aims at the preservation of born digital
material because there is little care for artefacts on a decentralised network like the Internet.
Manual and custom acquisition will take a more prominent place as the production and
distribution becomes dispersed across a wide range of websites and portals. Also the incidental
coverage level through sampling will become more important as the quantities increase.
At the root of archiving practice lies a strong sense of national identity. For decades
this has served as a useful and common sense boundary for the selection of materials.
The Internet hardly allows for such a distinction based on national borders. International
co-production becomes a more and more common modus operandi, and subject matter is
often spread across different countries. A radically different approach is suggested by John
MacKenzie Owen, who proposes to take the use of audio-visual material, regardless of their
nation of origin, as the most important selection criterion. He also suggests to focus more on
nonprofessional productions, because they form the digital fabric of society. Mackenzie Owen
also thinks it might be necessary to consider conserving less material, and instead to invest in
in-depth descriptions of context, use and importance. A final suggestion he makes is to seek
collaboration with private parties such as Google or Microsoft to facilitate the disclosure of
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