AutomatedWorkflow for Archiving Video Art in DVD Media

Abstract

From 2000 to 2010, the great majority of artists submitting video art work to the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin did it in DVD format. To archive these works in an HPC storage resource where they will be actively managed and preserved, the DVDs have to be converted into files that can fulfill both preservation and access functions. A survey of the technical lineage of the pieces as well as best practices in digital and in video preservation were important to decide the configuration of an automated workflow and the components of a SIP to submit the video files to storage. Quality video metrics were used to achieve a losseless conversion of the DVDs and were included in the workflow to verify the integrity of the conversions. Metadata about the files is gathered to dynamically customize the conversion processes according to the characteristics of the input DVD. Process information and technical metadata are recorded in a METS document that forms part of the SIP. Built with open source software, the workflow is integrated to the iRODS implementation of the storage resource as part of the ingest process.