Digitisation of the Independent Radio News Archive
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Grant Holder:
Commercial radio in Britain was launched in October 1973 when Independent Radio News (IRN) and its sister organisation, the London Broadcasting Company (LBC) were granted their licences. A joint IRN/LBC archive of programmes and news items was established and this, together with its catalogue, constitutes the archive in its current form. It forms an important part of the history of radio broadcasting since it provides an alternative source of radio journalism and news and current affairs broadcasts to the BBC’s own collection, but in its current form the archive is inaccessible for research.
This project aims to conserve in digital form as much of the news and current affairs in the archive as possible and place the material within a teaching and research environment where it can be exploited for future knowledge. One of the most significant developments in the field of media and communications studies (including journalism, broadcasting and cultural studies) has been the growing interest in history and archives. Making archived programme material, together with searchable databases, available online has major implications for learning, teaching and research across the humanities curriculum.
Generation of MP3 and METS files
| Project start date: 2007-03 | Project end date: 2009-10 |
Subject domains:
| Methods used | Category |
|---|---|
| 2d Scanning and photography | Data capture |
| Cataloguing and indexing | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Content-based sound retrieval | Data analysis |
| Moving image capture | Data capture |
| Sound recording | Data capture |
| System quality assurance and code testing | Strategy and project management |
| preservation | Strategy and project management |
| sound | Content types |
| text | Content types |
Funding sources:
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
Content types created:
Dataset/structured data, Sound, Text
Software tools used:
Microsoft Project, Integrated Proxi Indexer
Source material used:
This project focuses on the most noteworthy content – over 3,000 hours of recordings relating to news, current affairs and dramas. The archive includes invaluable recordings of a wide range of broadcasts including coverage of the Falklands war, the miners' strike, Northern Ireland and the whole of the Thatcher period of government. It includes the first hours of UK commercial radio and the first commercial radio news.
The archive comprises approximately 7,000 mainly reel-to-reel audio tapes covering the period 1973 to 1995 (when digital storage was introduced).
Digital resource created:
A complete online searchable database which combines access to the archive catalogue and digital audio files.
Data Formats created:
MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3), Text file (TXT), JPG
Metadata standards employed:
Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS)
Institutions affiliated with this project:
| UK HE institutions involved: |
|---|
| Bournemouth University |
| University of Essex |
| UK HE institutions involved: |
|---|
| British University Film and Video Council |
| Memnon |
Project staff and expertise:
| Principal staff member: | Sean Street, Stanley Peters, Hugh Chignell |
|---|---|
| Other staff: | Computing officer(s) / Technical supporter(s), PhD student(s) |
| External expertise: |
| Metadata on this arts-humanities.net record | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) of record | Stanley Peters |
| Title | Digitisation of the Independent Radio News Archive |
| Record created | 2010-03-29 |
| Record updated | 2010-04-21 16:23 |
| URL of record | http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2684 |
| Citation of record | Stanley Peters: Digitisation of the Independent Radio News Archive. <http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2684> created: 2010-03-29, last updated 2010-04-21 16:23 |