[AV Media Matters] Application for Membership to CCAAA

[James Lindner <jim@vidipax.com>]

Dear Members,
On your behalf I have applied for the membership of the AV Media Matters
Listserve to the Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives
Associations. CCAAA is an international organization whose mission is to
co-ordinate the efforts of various AV Preservation groups. While AV
Media Matters is a "virtual" organization - the fact is that many of us
are members of other organizatons that belong to CCAAA - and the fact is
that we ARE a group - and if nothing else it could at least be useful
for our members to know of the activities of CCAAA and participate in
them. If there is a single place in this field that is international and
multi-disciplined in nature - it occurred to me that AV Media Matters is
IT! While we don't charge dues - or have "physical" meetings - the
reality is that we ARE a group (probably the LARGEST group) that has a
broad membership and interest in this field.

If nothing else it will be interesting to see how CCAAA reacts to this
application. I am SURE that they never anticipated this. I hope they
accept us. Here is my email to them:

AV Media Matters
c/o James Lindner
450 West 31 Street
New York, N.Y.  10001

CCAAA
Mr. Karl Griep, chair
Participating Members
June 5, 2001

Dear Mr. Griep and Participating Members,
As a member of the FIAT Executive Council I was privileged to receive a
copy of the minutes of your last meeting. I was very pleased to see a
revision to the terms of membership of CCAAA to now be:

"Membership is open to organizations whose primary objective is the
support of professional AV archive activities, and whose membership is
primarily institutional and international (worldwide or regional)."

I strongly applaud your adoption of this new policy. On that basis - I
would like to ask the CCAAA to consider membership of a new
organization, the AV Media Matters Listserve. Now this is certainly
something new, and something you may not have anticipated - but what
could be more appropriate then a "virtual" organization with it's main
interest being matters relating to Audio Visual Media being a member of
CCAAA? In fact AV Media Matters as a group is very large - and much
larger then many current members of CCAAA. AV Media Matters has over 800
members and is very international - there are members from over 100
countries. The membership of AV Media Matters is as deep as it is broad
- with very large pools of expertise in Audio, Video, Film, and many
other areas. Scientists, Manufacturers, Academics, Archivists and many
other professions are represented in the group. Our group does not have
dues, we do not hold annual "physical" meetings - but MANY of the
members of your organizations are also members of the AV Media Matters
Listserve - and receive great benefit by receiving a great deal of
information as well as answers to your questions.

As a practical matter - you can only expect one "physical" person to
show up at your meetings - which is me - or another delegate as decided
by the group - but perhaps most importantly the importance of this to
CCAAA is that you will now have extremely high visibility and the
opportunity to have access to much more expertise and assistance then
you now have. Please do not view this as "an explosion of members to the
detriment of the working of the CCAAA" but rather a way for the CCAAA to
have a real and potent voice on an international basis - MUCH larger
then you have ever had before.

While I realize that this application is a bit "unconventional" - it is
a real and official one. Many of you know me or know of me and my work.
I have been involved in this field for many years and have given a great
deal of time and effort and have participated in organizations that are
members of CCAAA such as FIAT as well as others such as AMIA. I
sincerely believe that it is to the fields great benefit for you to
allow the membership of our group. Although we are not traditional in
our organization type - we have a very strong and intelligent voice in
this field and as a practical matter the information that is shared in
our group has helped many organizations. While we are "virtual"
organization in nature - that is no basis to exclude us. And - after all
- is it not appropriate in a field such as this for CCAAA to truly have
a virtual member who can assist those media collections that can not
afford ANY annual meeting or ANY membership. Our information is truly
free to anyone who has a computer or can borrow the use of one - and the
expertise found within the membership of AV Media Matters is unmatched
anywhere.

I thank you for your kind and prompt consideration.

James Lindner
Moderator: AV Media Matters Listserve
To subscribe to AV Media Matters Listserve send an email to:
AV-Media-Matters-subscribe@topica.com

James Lindner

General Manager VidiPax Division
VidiPax - The Magnetic Media Restoration Company

Executive Vice-President
Loudeye Technologies
NASDAQ Symbol:LOUD

VidiPax
450 West 31 Street
New York, N.Y.  10001
212-563-1999 ext. 102
www.vidipax.com

Moderator: AV Media Matters Listserve
To subscribe to AV Media Matters Listserve send an email to:
AV-Media-Matters-subscribe@topica.com