IASA 2019 Annual Conference

Celebrating IASA’s 50th anniversary is no mean feat. During my career as an archivist in Radio and Television - 23 years with IASA - I realised that only the far-sighted had all along appreciated the true value of broadcast content archives. Ironically, it was not the substantial investment in producing and acquiring content that prompted broader recognition, but the digitisation of archives. With easier access and ‘cheaper’ content re-use and re-purposing, archives were recognised as extensive and valuable sources of the content needed for a multi-channel multi-platform environment. Doing extensive research for a master’s degree dissertation a few years ago, I was impressed by the challenges the broadcasters in Southern Africa faced to preserve its collections. During a recent summit for Southern African Broadcasters it was clear that funding is still a huge prohibitor to bring the archives to its full value and prevents full scale digitization projects. In stark contrast was my work for a commercial broadcaster to build the ideal television archive to re-use, re-purpose and license content. Reflecting over my career, my passion for what I do, IASA’s role in my development as an archivist brought me to the point where I would like to share my story to relate to a future I imagine for Southern African public broadcasters’ radio and television archives that possibly can help prevent the potential loss of their story while shaping the future of the archives for generations to come. My paper will look at potential solutions for the dilemma.