Abstract
Professionals in the television industry are working towards a certain future—rather than end—for the medium based on multi-platform storytelling, as well as multiple screens, distribution channels and streaming platforms. They do so rooted in institutional frameworks where traditional conceptualizations of television still persist. In this context, we reflect on the role of the national television archive as an agent of historical knowledge in the convergence era. Contextualisation and infrastructure function as important preconditions for users of archives to find their way through the enormous amounts of audio-visual material. Specifically, we consider the case of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, taking a critical stance towards the archive’s practices of contextualisation and preservation of audio-visual footage in the convergence era. To do so, this article considers the impact of online circulation, contextualisation and preservation of audio-visual materials in relation to, first, how media policy complicates the re-use of material, and second, the archive’s use by television professionals and media researchers. This article reflects on the possibilities for and benefits of systematic archiving, developments in web archiving, and accessibility of production and contextual documentation of public broadcasters in the Netherlands. We do so based on an analysis of internal documentation, best practices of archive-based history programmes and their related cross-media practices, as well as media policy documentation. We consider how audio-visual archives should deal with the shift towards multi-platform productions, and argue for both a more systematic archiving of production and contextual documentation in the Netherlands, and for media researchers who draw upon archival resources to show a greater awareness of an archive’s history. In the digital age, even more people are part of the archive’s processes of selection and aggregation, affecting how the past is preserved through audio-visual images.
Highlights
Television increasingly plays an important role in present-day societies by making archival and contextual materials accessible on online platforms
Many hours of audio-visual material have been digitised in the Netherlands since 2007 thanks to a governmentfinanced programme called Images for the Future
The access to film and television programmes from the past has increased immensely, offering more opportunities for re-use. In this process described as the archival turn (De Leeuw, 2011, p. 11), infrastructure and contextualisation function as important preconditions for users of archives to find their way through the enormous amounts of audio-visual material
Summary
Television increasingly plays an important role in present-day societies by making archival and contextual materials accessible on online platforms. The access to film and television programmes from the past has increased immensely, offering more opportunities for re-use In this process described as the archival turn 11), infrastructure and contextualisation function as important preconditions for users of archives to find their way through the enormous amounts of audio-visual material. Such users include television programme makers, media professionals and academic researchers. This article considers the impact of online circulation, contextualisation and preservation of audio-visual archival materials in the Netherlands on two levels. We consider the relevance of systematic archiving of production and contextual documentation, especially for television studies research and the preservation of cultural heritage in the Netherlands. We reflect on how audio-visual archives should deal with the shift towards multi-platform productions and whether the national archive should focus more on contextual archiving in the digital era
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