Re: [ARSCLIST] What to Keep and Why....was now why preserve

["Andes, Donald" <Donald.Andes@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Karl,

Yesterday, I wrote this email in response to a previous dialog. I was
going to hold off on sending until I returned to work on Tues, but I'll
throw it out to the public forum today, in hopes that some may give it
thought over the long weekend, then offer their responses.

So here we go....  

Here's another one of the monthly resurfacing threads that keeps coming
up, which I'll summerize as: "What to keep and Why"

It's clear that efforts should be made to keep assets, and reasonable
logic seems to explain why.

But I challenge the list to bring new information and viewpoints to
forward the thinking/postings here instead of a simple rehash of "save
it all". NO ONE has the funds, the storage space, or the ability.

Therefore, I believe we would all benefit from a intellectual well
rounded discussion about prioritizing assets without drifting too far
off on tangents.

When contemplating criteria for assessing an assets "worth" I came up
with these:

Historical - Does this represent it's age/time period in a special or
unique way?
Cultural - Does this speak to/of a cultural group?
Personal - Am I personally interested in this asset or what it
represents?
Unique - Is this asset a 1 of 1 or 1 (like a painting) of 1,000,000
(like a commercial pop CD)?
Conditional - Is this an exceptionally fine example or is it impossible
to playback because of damage? 
Value - Is this thing worth money for what it is? And how much in a
reasonable market (i.e. Ebay)
Exploitability - Differs from value, in that there may be revenue
streams generated from the material, if there are minimal
legalities/barriers for repurposing.

(Obviously the list is inverted for corporate Archives, as mine.)

Don Andes
EMI Music

P.S. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here so if someone knows of a
accepted method that libraries/archives are currently using please let
me know.


-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Karl Miller
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 6:16 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ARSCLIST] was Mass Digitization-now why preserve

"Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:    ***Further, at
least IMO, the reason for preserving intellectual property, including
things like newspapers, magazines, sound recordings, still and moving
images, usw. is so our posterity (assuming we have such a thing) will
have the necessary information to understand and/or comprehend our
times.

I believe that the reason we have such little support for preservation
is that society does not value history. What is the value of history? I
just typed that in at google. Most of what I read suggests that the
documentation of history satisfies curiosity. 
   
  One other reference I encountered came from a 1934 speech to the
Kansas Historical Society, "The point I wish to emphasize is that our
history is in the making; it is not a dead thing to be pulled out and
praised or deplored; and our Historical Society, therefore, is not
merely a custodian of the past, but is the recorder of the present, and
so is as vital and essential to Kansas as any department of the state."
   
  I also found the statement "Public appropriations for historical
societies have been reduced everywhere." I thought to myself, so what
else is new...
   
  So what is the value of our recorded history. How does one place its
worth within a context of what is valued by our current society?

  Karl

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