Re: [ARSCLIST] I.R.E.N.E.

[Rob Poretti <r.poretti@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I've seen IRENE at LC and I believe it's an on-going co-development.

The 2D chip sets employed for the scanning can only handle warps and eccentricities of a
certain magnitude.  So for media in good shape it does a good job.  

I believe they are looking at more current 3D scanner/chip-sets - which are much faster -
to ultimately handle more significant problem discs.

Rob Poretti
Sascom - Toronto
vox.905.825.5373    fax.905.469.1129     cel.905.580.2467
www.sascom.com    www.cube-tec.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List 
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Terry, Kopana
> Sent: June 12, 2007 11:06 AM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] I.R.E.N.E.
> 
> 
>  What do you know about this, if anything? Will any of you be 
> attending this talk?
> 
> --------
> 
> The Library of Congress, in an effort to preserve its 
> collections of recorded sound, is now evaluating a prototype 
> device to extract sound from phonograph records through 
> digital imaging.
> 	Scientist Carl Haber will discuss this project, 
> referred to as I.R.E.N.E. (Image, Reconstruct, Erase Noise, 
> etc.), from 10 a.m. to noon, Monday, June 18, in the Mumford 
> Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 
> Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The lecture, titled 
> *Capturing Recorded Sound through Imaging: The I.R.E.N.E. 
> Project and Future Prospects,* is free and open to the 
> public; tickets and reservations are not required. 
> 	Four years ago, the Preservation Directorate of the 
> Library of Congress initiated research collaboration with the 
> Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to study the 
> application of digital imaging to the extraction of sound 
> from phonograph records and other grooved media.  This 
> non-invasive approach protects delicate or damaged historical 
> items, and offers a direction toward large-scale digitization 
> of recorded sound collections. Haber, senior scientist at 
> LBNL, will discuss the status of the I.R.E.N.E. project, as 
> well as plans to develop a second device for high-resolution, 
> three-dimensional surface profiling of grooved media, such as 
> wax cylinders. According to Dianne van der Reyden, director 
> for Preservation at the Library of Congress, *This project 
> represents a successful partnership between the Library and 
> the scientific research community. The ability to capture 
> sound from otherwise unplayable broken or damaged discs, and 
> to do so in near real time, is remarkable.  We look forward 
> to working with LBNL on research and development for the next 
> iteration to capture sound from similarly at-risk 3D audio 
> media such as wax cylinders*
> 	I.R.E.N.E. is a system that rapidly makes a digital 
> image of a disc record.  It can efficiently extract sound 
> from an image of a fragile or damaged disc, *heal* scratches 
> or digitally
> *reassemble* a broken phonograph record.  The extracted sound 
> is converted to standard digital files and stored for 
> purposes of digital access and preservation.
> 	Recent surveys of collections nationwide, such as the 
> Heritage Health Index, have highlighted the acute need for 
> large-scale preservation efforts.  Millions of historical 
> recordings are believed to
> be in need of preservation.	
> 	I.R.E.N.E. research has been supported by the Library 
> of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the 
> National Archives and Records Administration, the Department 
> of Energy, the University of California, the Andrew P. Mellon 
> Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
> 	Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the 
> nation*s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest 
> library in the world, with more than 134 million items in 
> various languages, disciplines and formats.  The Library*s 
> Preservation Directorate is the oldest and largest library 
> preservation facility in the nation.  The Directorate*s 
> mission is to ensure long-term, uninterrupted access to the 
> Library's collections, either in original or reformatted 
> form.  The Directorate*s Research and Testing Division is the 
> premier preservation R&D lab in the nation. 
> It focuses on solving preservation problems facing 
> collections of all types, whether traditional, audiovisual or digital.
> 	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is a U.S. 
> Department of Energy national laboratory and is located in 
> Berkeley, Calif.  It conducts unclassified scientific 
> research and is managed by the University of California. Its 
> Web site is www.lbl.gov.  The Berkeley-Library of Congress 
> research Web site is http://irene.lbl.gov.
> 
> -----------------
> 
> 
> Kopana Terry
> Sr Image Management Specialist
> Preservation & Digital Programs
> University of Kentucky
> M.I. King Library, rm 105
> Lexington, KY 40506-0039
> office (859) 257-3210; fax (859) 257-6311
> klterr0@xxxxxxx ; http://kdl.kyvl.org  
> 
>