SWF seeking PBCoreXML to help test Pop Up Archive

[Anne Wootton]

Hi PBCore group!

I hope you all are doing well and that 2013 is treating you right so far. Pop Up Archive has been quiet on this list for the last couple months, but we've been busy... and I'm writing now in search of PBCoreXML to help us test the archive system we are building. 

In case you need a memory jog: Pop Up Archive is a Knight News-funded project that makes it easy to tag and store audio and related material on the web (video is phase two — but for testing, any records will work). We're planning to debut the site in March at SXSW:Interactive, and we're looking for beta testers. The site will initially be capable of single file, CSV, and PBCoreXML uploads — and we suspect many of you have amazing PBCoreXML that you might want to add to the Archive, with or without digitized media files, whether publicly or privately. We're working to secure records from larger organizations and stations as well as media from independent producers and small archives. We'd be honored if any of you would like to take the system for a spin. By the way, it's free. 

So what does Pop Up Archive do exactly? Plainly put, Pop Up Archive is a repository of oral history records that: 

1. Preserves digital audio. Valuable cultural material is lost every time a hard drive dies or a folder gets erased to make more space on your laptop. Pop Up Archive enables anyone to add archival records and safeguard media privately on Pop Up Archive servers or publicly at the Internet Archive 

2. Makes it easy to add metadata. Pop Up Archive uses speech-to-text software to create useful subject tags about audio automatically. Users can add custom metadata using a simple form or by importing existing CSV or XML records. 

3. Enables anyone to search, filter, and access a substantive database of archival material from oral history archives, media stations, and individuals. However, we realize that not all audio is ready to be shared, so users will also be given the choice of storing their audio publicly or privately. 

If you agree to participate, you'll be helping with us with crucial user testing. We know that everyone is using PBCore in slightly different ways, so testing your records will give us an opportunity to make sure that our PBCore mapping serves everyone as best it can. If you're interested, please let us know, and we'll go from there. Also, if you're planning to make it to SXSW this year, we're hosting an archiving workshop and we'd love to see you there. 

Thank you for being friends of Pop Up Archive!

Yours,

Anne & Bailey

popuparchive.org

twitter.com/popuparchive