REPORT:THE HISTORY OF THE BALTIC AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVAL
COUNCIL (BAAC)
INTRODUCTION
The Board of the Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council
(BAAC) has made decision to document the history of BAAC with
reference to the tenth anniversary of the work of BAAC in year 2015. The goal
was to publish a book about the association.This project was not possible to
make due to the cost of work.
The goal for the paper presented is to publish a preliminary
report about the history of the Baltic council. The report is also dealing with
the prehistory of the association ,and the events leading to the setting up a Baltic working group. Therefore I have to report about meetings,
venues, conferences, individual persons and above all: The support from two
international associations in the field of audiovisual archives: The
Interntional Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) and the
International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). Important support from the Norwegian Broadcasting
Corporation (NRK) and Swedish Television(SVT) was a must to establish a Baltic
council for education in the field of audiovisual archives.
The report is focusing on the content of the Bylaws of BAAC
signed at the Estonian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 21, 2006. The
philosophy of the document is based on ideas and experience known among members of IASA and FIAT/IFTA.
The report contents different events, conferences, seminars
and issues of importance to members of the audiovisual archives in the Baltic
countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The preliminary report of the history of BAAC is not ment to
present the total history of the work done. I take for granted that some
members want to focus on other issues than those I have chosen. A critical
approach to the report by members of
BAAC might result in an up-dating of the content of the report?
About events leading to the set up of Baltic Audiovisual
Archival Council(BAAC)
The site is Antalya, Turkey. The official event is the
FIAT/IFTA Conference 2002. The dates for the international conference are
October 14- 17.
Delegates from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are participating
at the conference. The General Secretary of FIAT/IFTA, Tedd Johansen (later
Urnes), is also chairing a working group to support members from the Baltic
countries. According to FIAT/IFTA statues and policy ,the set up of regional
seminars is an important part of the international work of the association. The
first FIAT/IFTA Nordic –Baltic Seminar took
place in Tallinn, Estonia, May 26-27,
2000. The seminar was hosted by the Eesti Television and was held at the Hotel
Viru located in downtown Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.The members of the
organizing committee were: Jyrki Stolt,YLE, Reet Harkmaa,ETV, Tedd Johansen,NRK
and Lasse Nilsson,SVT.
During the conference in Antalya, representatives from the
three Baltic countries had informal meetings aiming at setting up a conference
in Latvia. The contact person for audiovisual archives in Latvia was Andris Kesteris.
He speaks Latvian because his family had fled to Canada after the Second World
War. We had already a working group for the Baltic countries within FIAT/IFTA chaired by Tedd Johansen and
a contact person who knew the archival situation in Latvia, Andris Kesteris.
This is how it all began: A result of
talks with dedicated persons in Antalya in year 2002.
The result of the informal talks and meetings was an
invitation by Director General of Latvian Television, Uldis Grava, to hold a
seminar at the LTV facilities in Riga, Latvia. The names of the persons who
participated in the meetings leading to the seminar in Riga, were: Andris
Kesteris, Canada, Tedd Urnes, Norway, Rasa Miskinyte, Lithuania , Reet Harkmaa,
Estonia and Uldis Grava, Latvia. No reports were made of the meetings.
We wanted to set up an independent association for the
Baltic countries. The official name of the association was not yet decided. The
Independent Canadian/Baltic Working Group (CBWG) made a formal contact with The
Nordic Branch of IASA about the issue. The later President of IASA, Jacqueline
von Arb, supported the work of setting up a new association. Different names
for the new association were suggested. ”Task Force for Pan-Baltic Council for
the Preservation of Cultural Heritage –or of Audiovisual Material” were suggested by Jaqueline von Arb. Later on
we talked about ” Pan Baltic Council for Preservation of Cultural Heritage ”.
The close contact with The Nordic Branch of IASA led to the
seminar in Riga in year 2004, September 30-October 3. The seminar was supported
by Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation(NRK) represented by the Head of Archive & Reseach,NRK, Bjarne
Grevsgard. He gave the key note address and participated as a delegate, too.
The seminar in Riga was not limited to Baltic countries. It was an
international seminar.
Latvian Television, Lithuanian Radio & Television ,
Estonian Television and Swedish Television supported the seminar. The main host
for the seminar was The Latvian Television(LTV).
The title for the seminar was: ” Partnerships, Access and
Preserving Our Cultural Heritage ”.
THE BALTIC COUNCIL
In April, 2005, a meeting took place in Riga aiming at a
final decision of making a permanent Baltic Council. The new council was
elected. The members of the council were:President: Piret Noorhani, Estonian
Literary Museum,Vice-President: Rasa Miskinyte, Lithuanian Radio &
Television, Vice-President: Inga Vicane, Diena Library,Riga, Secretary: Nora
Licite, Latvian Television and board members: Tedd Urnes,NRK, Lasse Nilsson,
SVT, Andris Kesteris, National Archives of Canada, Reet Harkmaa, Estonian
Television, Jan Aasmund Jakobsen,
Norway, Ivi Tomingas, Estonian Filmarchives, Vilnis Auzins, Latvian
Museums of Photography, Eha Vainsalu, Estonian Television, Lelde Neimane,
Occupation Museum,Riga, Alexander Jaransky, Lithuanian Radio &
Television and Egle Gudelyte, Lithuanian
Radio & Television.
Those of the Board members listed who took an active part in
the talks about setting up an independent association for the Batic countries
during the FIAT/IFTA conference in Antalya, Turkey in year 2002, were: Rasa
Miskinyte, Reet Harkmaa, Andris Kesteris and Tedd Urnes. Director General of
the Latvian Television, Uldis Grava, did not take part in the work because he
left LTV in Janaury 2004 to work for Janunais Laiks, the party of Prime
Minister Einars Repse. Uldis Grava worked for LTV from 2002 to 2004. The host
of the Riga seminar was Deputy Director
General Edgars Kots.
BALTIC AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES COUNCIL(BAAC)
The main goal of BAAC
Board meeting in Stockholm,Sweden, on March 21, 2006, was to sign the document
for registration of BAAC as a non-profit organization at the Estonian Embassy.
Participants at the Embassy were the elected board members:
Piret Noorhani, Juozas Markauskas, Inga Vilcane, Andris Kesteris, Tedd Urnes,
Lasse Nilsson, Lars-Gunnar Bengtsson and Kristine Paberza.
The board meeting was held at the premises of Swedish
Television, Stockholm.
Eva-Lis Green, Swedish Television and Gunnel Jønsson, SRF
Radio Archives, IASA, attended the meeting.
Planning of the Riga seminar 2006 and IASA/BAAC conference
2007 were important issues on the agenda. Opening of the BAAC old webpage at
the new address and elaborating its new version were also discussed.
The venue
chosen for the first formal meeting of the intrim board of the Baltic Audiovisual
Archival Council(BAAC) was the old and beautiful capital of Latvia, Riga. The
year was 2005. The month was April. The atmosphere of the old medieval
Hanseatic city at the Baltic coast was relaxing. The host for the meeting was
the Latvian Television. The aim of the meeting was to twofold: Is it possible
to establish a Pan-Baltic audiovisual archiving cooperative organization and do
we want to organize a second Riga conference in the fall of 2005? Tedd Urnes,
NRK, chaired the meeting. Lasse Nilsson, SVT, was invited to give a limited,
but a provocative presentation on the topic: “Why are we doing all this
conferencing and networking – what is it good for? “. He asked many crucial
questions: Is it worthwhile for our organizations to be investing in this kind
of acquisition of knowledge? Will there be people ready to accept the offices
and responsibilities in the board of such an organization? How much work will
it mean, that has to be carries out in addition to our usual responsibilities?
How will the officers of the board be elected? How do we deal with the economy
of the organization; funding, membership fees, bank account? What about
cooperation with already existing organizations on the audiovisual archiving
scene? What will be the main objects of the organization?
THE NAMES
OF MEMBERS OF THE INTRIM BOARD OF THE BALTIC AUDIOVISUAL COUNCIL IN RIGA
The Baltic
Audiovisual Archival Council (BAAC) is born.
The presidency
was accepted by Piret Noorhani, Estonian Literary Museum, Vice Presidents were
Rasa Miskinyte, Lithuanian Radio & Television and Inga Vilcane, Diena
Library, Secretary Nora Licite, Latvian Radio & Television, members of the
board: Andris Kesteris, Library and Archives of Canada, Tedd Urnes (Formely
Tedd Johansen), NRK, and Lasse Nilsson,SVT.
All other
participants of the meeting signed up as members of the Council.
An answer
to the many crucial questions asked by Lasse Nilsson was given by Tedd Urnes who
presented a draft document of statues for the new audiovisual council. The
draft was accepted as such until further elaboration at a coming membership
assembly.
The working
fields of the new board was to establish the cooperation with the Nordic Branch
of IASA seeking possible funding for the organization and to work out the
programme for the Riga 2005 conference.
BAAC BOARD
MEETING IN STOCKHOLM 2006-THE ESTONIAN EMBASSY
The BAAC
Board elected in September in Riga had its open meeting in Stockholm on March
21, 2006.
The aim of
the board meeting was the legalization of BAAC as a non- profit organization.
The Estonian Embassy at Tyrgatan in Stockholm was the first venue for the
participants at the meeting. The 2nd
Secretary of the Embassy, Sven Tølp, welcomed the participants wishing the
organization every success for the future. BAAC documentation was signed for
the registration of BAAC as a non-profit organization and the signatures were
authenticated by Sven Tølp.
BAAC was
registered as a non-profit organization in Estonia (Tartu), April 4, 2006. The
official address of the organization is Vanemuise 42, Tartu 51003, Estonia.
BAAC has an official logo and stamp. The Council is registered under the laws
of the Republic of Estonia.
Participants
at the Estonian Embassy were the elected Board members: Piret Noorhani
(Estonia), Juozas Markauskas (Lithuania), Inga Vicane ( Latvia), Andris
Kesteris(Canada), Tedd Urnes (Norway), Lasse Nilsson (Sweden), Lars-Gunnar
Bengtsson (Sweden) and Kristine Paberza (Latvia).
The Board
meeting was continued at the premises of Swedish Television chaired by Eva-Lis
Green and Gunnel Jønsson, SRF Radio Archives.
On the agenda for the meeting was the opening of the BAAC old webpage at
the new address and elaborating its new version. Raising funds for BAAC
activities
and the planning of the Riga seminar 2006 and IASA/BAAC Conference in 2007 were
also discussed. The day ended with a most stimulating tour to the archives,
news rooms and studios of Swedish Television guided by Lasse Nilsson,
Lars-Gunnar Bengtsson and Monika Hurtig.
The
founders of BAAC were dedicated librarians, archivists, academics, media
technicians, film-and radio producers and above all: Persons who had
participated in international work for years in the field of the development of
audiovisual archives. The main aim of the working group was to set up an
organization in the field of archiving of the Baltic countries. The work was
not limited to sound archives or television archives or movie productions but
also libraries and archives for documents, papers and photo collections were
targets for the coming work of the organization.
The
supporters from international archival bodies came from the International
Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) and the Nordic Branch of International
Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA).
The new
organization was also supported by The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
(NRK), Norway, Swedish Television, Sweden and YLE, Finland.
Canada was
represented by Library and Archives of Canada.
THE VALUES
OF THE NEW BALTIC COUNCIL FOR AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES
The members
of the founding working group had to ask some some crucial questions before the
final signing of the official documents of the new council.
-
What
kind of council are we going to set up?
-
What
are the values for the work?
-
Do
we want to set up an international elite group of dedicated experts in the
field of audiovisual archives?
-
Do
we want an aristocratic club made for some members only?
-
Do
we want to make a new venue for media companies and businessmen to exchange
commercial information annually?
-
Do
we want a club for the heads of the audiovisual archives of different
television and radio companies?
-
What
were the needs of supports of the audiovisual archives of the Baltic countries?
-
What
kind of language should be used: Russian, German or English?
-
Do
we want a democratic organization where the members of the board could be
elected as individuals?
-
What
about the values of the principles of freedom of access to information, ideas
and works of imagination and freedom of expression embodied in the Article 19
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for meeting the social,
educational, cultural, democratic and economic needs of people, communities and
organizations?
-
What
about controversial issues connected to ethnic origin, citizenship, language,
race, gender, political philosophy or religion?
-
Seminar,
conferences, training meetings and workshops: Aims for the work of the council?
COMMITMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF BAAC: BYLAW II: ACTIVITIES-MINI-SEMINARS
With reference to bylaw II. 2.4.The council are committed to
set up conferences, seminars and workshops. The result of the goal of BAAC was
the organization of mini- seminars for the members.
Th first travelling mini-seminar was organized by Lithuanian
Television. Vilnius was the venue for the seminar. The year was 2007. The month
was February. The delegates experienced a cold but nice city.The host of the
mini- seminar was the Lithuanian Television. The pratical work was arranged by
the Vice-President of BAAC, Juozas Markauskas and the Head of the Lithuanian
Television Archive, Jonas Korys. The Lithuanian Television and Radio Director
Kestutis Petrauskis was also responsible for the successs of the seminar.
The goal of the mini-seminar was to invite new people from
the Baltic audiovisual archives to join the BAAC programmes that included
themes like:
-To increase public interest for awareness of audiovisual
archives of the Baltic countries
-To inform about the importance of sources stored in
audiovisual archives for academic studies
-Access to cultural, educational, historical sources stored
in audiovisual archives
-New training possibilities set up by the Council of BAAC
-The latest news in the progress of digitalization
programmes of the members of BAAC and official reports of the progress in the
field from different archives not located in the Baltic countries
-Television companies: Updating of the reports of the work
of Television and Radio archives
-The development of National Archives:The content of the
archives, Legal deposit Laws, preservation policy, storage of old tapes and
films, document and paper collections,
access policy for public use
The programme committe of the seminar made the programme
with reference to the goals mentioned. The result of the work was a good
programme including keywords like:
-
Future thoughts about BAAC, reuse of the
archival footage, mass migration, content description, digitalization policy, storage
and preservation works.
The last part of the programme was a visit to the archives
of Lithuanian Radio and Television .
ESTONIA. TALLINN – THE SECOND MINI-SEMINAR
In year 2007 the Counsil set up a mini-seminar in the
capital of Estonia, Tallinn. The month is June.
The publishing of the positive information of the first
travelling mini-seminar in Vilnius, Lithuania resulted in an increase of the
number of participants at the seminar in Tallinn. The host of the seminar was
Estonian Public Broadcasting Corporation. The venue of the seminar was the
Estonian National Library located in the center of Tallinn. The seminar was
supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. To highlight
subjects of interest for audiovisual archives of the Baltic countries were the
main goals for the mini-seminar.Keywords for the programme were preservation
and reuse. The new director of EPBC, Margus Allikmaa, supported the
seminar.Colleagues from Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Norway presented various
thematic issues.
The programme of the seminar was dominated by speekers from
Sweden, Norway and Finland. Gunnel Jønsson worked at Swedish Broadcasting
Resources as Head of Radio Archive and Technical Group of the Sound Archives.
Besides, she was Secretary-General of IASA. Lasse Nilsson worked at Swedish
Television and former Secretary-General of FIAT/IFTA. Tedd Urnes worked at the
Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) as senior adviser and former President
and Secretary-General of FIAT/IFTA. The contribution from Finland was: Eila
Haikarainen from YLE Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, Riita Koskivirta from
Finnish Photomuseum and Paavo Rytsa from
YLE Finnish Broadcasting Corporation.
The paper presented by Gunnel Jønsson dealt with definitions
of the concepts of archives in the audiovisual world. Information of other
international media associations was given with focus on the work done by IASA
in different fields. Lasse Nilsson dealt with the work and planning of
migration projects within SVT. From videotape to digital file was the subject
he focused on. Tedd Urnes presented a paper dealing with content description of
unknown films about Estonia. Elementary training in making a minimum data list
for a catalogue of films was also a subject for the seminar. A joint
presentation made by Lasse Nilsson and Tedd Urnes about reusing of archival
footage in the future took place.
Paavo Rytsa gave a paper on Finnish culture and the living
archive. Riita Koskivirta presented a report about preservation of original
photographs. Eila Haikatainen was preoccopied with issues concerning publishing
of archive photos and copyrights.
.
” …A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes
the main underlying theme of the seminar or a conference. The keynote address
is supposed to emphasize the framework for the following programme of events ,
the core message or the most important revelation of the conference. The task
of the keynote speaker is to draw the attention of the delegates to the
principal themes of the conference…”.
To make use of keynote speakers at the seminars and
conferences set by BAAC are not a commen policy. Welcome speches made by
official representatives from the Norwegian Embassy and the Swedish Embassy
have been a tradition together with a speech to officially open the conference.
The archive of BAAC has reports of some of the keynote
speakers only.
Historian Hans
Fredrik Dahl, Director of Fritt Ord, Erik Rudeng, The Head of the Audiovisual
archives of NRK, Bjarne Grevsgard and Andris Viks from The Ministry of Culture
of Latvia.
The Norwegian historian Hans Fredrik Dahl gave a speech in
2004 at the conference in Riga. The title of his paper is: ” History of the
Digital Mode ”.
The Norwegian Director of Fritt Ord, Erik Rudeng, gave a
speech at the conference in Riga in 2006.
Fritt Ord ( The Freedom of Expression Foundation, Norway) is
located in Oslo. The title of his speech is: ” Freedom of Speech-The future
value of audiovisual archives in a Democratic society”.
The issues of freedom of speech, access to information and
fredom of expression are stated in the bylaws of BAAC: Bylaw: II.ACTIVITIES:
2.10: endorsing the principles of freedom of access to information, ideas and works of imagination
and freedom of expression embodied in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, for meeting the social, educational, cultural, democratic and
economic need of people, communities and organizations.
The Norwegian Director of the Audiovisual archives of Nrk,
Bjarne Grevsgard, presented his paper at the conference in Riga in year 2005.
The Latvian representative of The Ministry of Culture of
Latvia gave his speech at the conferenc in Riga in 2007.
The Council is committed to organizing conferencs, seminars
and workshops
(Bylaw II. Activities. 2.4)
The arrangement of the annual conference or seminar is the
main task for the Board of BAAC. The programme committee has to evaluate the
proposals received. A final decision about the content of the programme has to
be made with reference to the aims of BAAC. Subjects related to the development
and work of audiovisual archives must be highlighted in the final official
programme. The selection of items is limited to themes like: Exchange of
information and new ideas, preservation work of tapes, films, sound recording,
books, photos are among important subjects for the programme. The introduction
of new technology to the libraries and archives is a permanent theme for the
conferences. The main keyword is: Digitalization. Reports from different
libraries, archives and collections about the latest news within the
development of the digitalization of the archival materials, are on the agenda
every year. Academic research and access to the audiovisual archives for
academics have been an increasing theme for the content of the seminars and
meetings. Training policy of the media librarians working for the Baltic
archives is a topic to report on.
THE RESULT OF A CRITICAL EVALUATING OF THE CONTENT OF THE
PROGRAMMES OF THE SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES.
The web site of BAAC is a good source for an evaluation of
the programmes whether BAAC has succeed in fulfilment of the status and the
aims of the association?
The selection of the content of the programmes and the main
themes to be presented might raise some questions about the reason to repeat the same issues and
subjects year by year? The correct answer to the question is that the
presenters are dealing with the same issue year by year with an up-dated
version of the former paper presented. The main issue is digitalization of any
archival collections: old tapes, old films, photos, written documents, sound
recordings, music recordings – any archival material which meet a final storage
within a library or an archive. Any professional lecturer can give a speech and
present a paper for any audience but not for the same audience year by year.
This means that you might find the same published documents on internet
presented at different conferences worldwide by the same person. The
professional speakers will only let you publish a short version of the paper or
no paper at all. Web site of BAAC does not give you a complite picture of the
information given at the conferences because some presenters have not permitted
the publishing of their papers. BAAC has published on the web site 144 papers
presented at the conferences and seminars of BAAC from year 2004 to 2014 . To
get a real impression of the content of the different seminars and conferences,
the study of both the published programme and the list of presentations left
after the meetings are a must.
THE LIST OF OTHER TOPICAL THEMES WORTH TO MENTION
Even if the talk about new technology has dominated the
programmes for years, bylaws related subjects like content description of radio
programmes, television programmes, movies, untransmitted archival films,
amateur recordings of sound and moving images and above all: Media archaeology
for academics , journalists and professional researchers have been presented
too.
THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM EMBODIED IN ARTICLE 19 OF THE
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The BAAC bylaw, 2.10 deals with the matter. Few
international associations want to add the question of human rights to the
guidelines of the association. The main reason for not dealing with the matter
is the official policy of the very country where they live. Human rights are
not an issue for considerations for the government of the country. What is at
stake for the content of the audiovisual archives if censurship is the official
policy of the country? The content of the archives is limited to documents
selected. The standard of the archive for future researchers is restricted to a
limited number of papers. What about an active access policy for people when
they are denied access to information due to lack of essential sources of information?
The introduction of the policy of digitalization is an
important change for the citizens who want to take part in democratic work of
the country. Easy access to information is the practical result of the
digitalization of archival materials which means more exchange of facts and
opinions among people.
CULTURAL HERITAGE –NATIONAL LIBRARY AND NATIONAL
ARCHIVES-LEGAL DEPOSIT LAW
BAAC has not made use of key note speakers at every
conference only four have been reported. When keynote speakers have been
selected for the opening of the conference the subject chosen is cutural
heritage, the importance of digitalization and culture values of the archives.
Official reports of national archives or libraries are
subjects for evaluation at most of the seminars and conferences due to the fact
that the national bodies have to take care of different old materials made by
television companies, radio corporations and the movie industry. The cultural
heritage of any country is connected to the philosophy and the introduction of
legal deposit law of all transmitted and published materials. The main question
asked about how to preserve the cultural heritage of a country is answered by making legal deposit law a
reality. The selection policy of the materials made by professional librarians
for years is history. No selections of published archival materias anymore.
INFORMATION ABOUT NEW PROJECTS AND DIGITAL SYSTEMS MENT FOR
SALE
BAAC: A NEW SALES DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMERICAL
INTERESTS?
”… BAAC is a non profit organization of juridical and
natural persons, founded as a voluntary association…”. Quotation taken from the
Bylaw I.General of BAAC. Non profit association and not an association for a
sale market for commercial companies in different fields. Anyway BAAC has to
invite companies who are producing new tools for the libraries. Presentations
of new projects initiated by independent and commerical companies have been on
the agenda at every seminar. The challenge for the programme committee is to
make a clear distincion between business and fact information of the products
presented. A close study of the programmes shows that the programme committee
has succeeded in keeping up a balance between important facts searching and
commercial interests of the companies.
The conflict between business values and the values of national cultural information were
highlighted by the Norwegian Professor Hans Fredrik Dahl in his paper presented
at the first BAAC seminar in Riga in 2004. He asked the question: ” … Are we
facing a future where national cultural information will be dominated by global
firms?...”. The title of his lecture is: ” History of the Digital Mode ”. Only
a limited abstract of his paper is accessable for public viewing.
THE VENUES FOR THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES
The head office of the Council is located in Tartu, Estonia.
The Council is registered under the laws of the Republic of Estonia and
functions according to these laws.
Nevertheless the desicion to set up meetings and conferences
in the capitals of all three Baltic countries was introduced as a rule at an early
stage of the association. This means that Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius have hosted
the conferencs apart from one where Helsinki, Finland (2012) was chosen for the
annual conference. The record of the conferences and annual seminars shows that
the city of Riga has been chosen seven times while Tallinn has been the venue
two times and Tartu one time. The city of Vilnius has welcomed BAAC one time
but the city has hosted local seminars too. The annual event of BAAC will take
place in Tallinn in year 2015.
AN EVAUATION OF THE THEMES PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL EVENTS
WITH REFERENCE TO THE TITLE OF THE MEETINGS
The list of the titles of the annual seminars and
conferences of BAAC:
Riga Seminar 2004 Programme (2004), Pan-Baltic Images:
Reading out to the world Pan-Baltic Imges :Reaching out to the world, Riga
(2005), Audiovisual Archives: Access and Service in the Public Interest, Riga
(2006), IASA-BAAC Conference 2007.Building an Archive for the Future, Riga
(2007),Transformation as Stability: Audiovisual Archives in the Era of New
Media, Tartu, Estonia (2008), Aggregation and Management of Audiovisual Content
in the Digital Space, Riga (2009), Back to Analogue: Preserving audiovisual
resources for digitisation and Posterity, Riga (2010), Digital Access and
Research, Tallinn (2011), From
digitization to access and research, Helsinki, Finland (2012), Open Doors: New
Ideas, New Technologies, Vilnius (2013). Joint IASA-BAAC Conference 2013., Safe
and reusable: Ideals versus real life, Riga (2014).
Keywords like: Access, reuse, digitalization, public
service, research, content and new technology show that the topical themes are
repeated year by year contenting up-dated information in the fields of common
interest for the Baltic members of BAAC.
WORKSHOP REPORT
Tallinn was the venue for the workshop dealing with issues
of conservation of photography. The year for the workshop was 2012.
THE PRESIDENTS
The founders of BAAC viewed bylaws and guidelines set up by
different international associations like IASA ,AMIA and FIAT/IFTA. Agreement
among the founders was made about the election of the President: The President
had to be elected from one of the Baltic countries because the goal of BAAC was
to make the members of the Baltic countries the dominated part of the members
of BAAC.
The present President of BAAC is Zane Grosa. She was elected
in year 2011. From 2012 she is the head of Audiovisual Reading Room at the
National Library of Latvia. Zane Grosa holds Masters of Music from SUNY at
Stony Brook, USA , a Bachelor of Music from the Music Academy of Latvia and
Information Management at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Since 2009
she is a board member of BAAC.
Zane Grosa succeeded
Juozas Markauskas from Vilnius, Lithuania who hold the office from 2007 to
2011. Juozas Markauskas made the first web site of BAAC. He is editing and
improving the web site because he graduated in the field of digital preservation
and archival systems from the University of Vilnius.
Juozas Markuskas is working as the Head of Digitalisation
Department, DIZI Heritage, Lithuania.
Juozas Markauskas was elected President after Piret Noorhani
decided to resign the office in 2007. Piret Noorhani was one of the founders of
BAAC. She was elected President in 2005 as the first President of BAAC. She has
studied Estonian language and literature at the University of Tartu, Estonia.
Worked as researcher and archivist at the Estonian Cultural History Archives of
he Estonian Literary Museum from about 1991 to 1996. Since 2007 she has been
Estonian Deaspora project manager in the Estonia National Museum and The
President of the Baltic Heritage Network since 2008.
Piret Noorhani, Estonia, Juozas Markauskas, Lithuania and
Zane Grosa, Latvia have worked hard to improve the standard of the work and
international reputation of BAAC during 12 years of business.
HONORARY MEMBERS
”…Honorary member is any person
whose great contribution and merit to the advancement of AV archives has been
recognized by the Board of the Council, and who is nominated by the general
meeting as a recipient of this status…”. Quotation: The bylaw of BAAC, 3.2.3.
In 2009 at the BAAC conference in
Vilnius, four dedicated members of BAAC were nominated and elected as Honorary
members of BAAC: Lasse Nilsson, Lars-Gunnar Bengtsson, Andris Kesteris and Tedd
Urnes.
For those of you who have joined
BAAC after 2009, you may ask questions about who are the persons elected as
Honorary member?
None of the persons are working
or living in any of the Baltic countries. Two of them have Swedish nationality,
one is working and living in Canada and one is Norwegian.
A short presentations of the
persons mentioned is necessary.
Andris Kesteris
He is a founding member of the
BAAC and a member of the Board of BAAC. Andris Kesteris is Canadian. He is
President of the Baltic Federation in Canada(BFC). Over a period of ten years
he has organized and developed the Baltic Film Festival in Canada, presenting
films from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Canadian audiences. He has a diverse film and broadcasting
experience in various divisions of the Library and Archives Canada(LAC-
formerly National Library and National Archives). Andris Kesteris is an independent
producer/ Director.
Tedd Urnes (formerly Johansen)
He is a founding member of BAAC. Former
Head of Film and Videotape Library of the Norwegian Broadcasting
Corporation(NRK), former Senior Adviser of NRK. Tedd Urnes was President,
Vice-President and Secretary General of FIAT/IFTA. He has chaired the Latin
American Regional Working Group(LARG), the Technical Commission and a member of
Television Studies Commission of FIAT/IFTA. Consultant at ” Teddview
Audiovisual Archival Management (TAAM).
LARS-GUNNAR BENGTSSON
Control room manager and archives
coordinator at Newsroom, Swedish Television at the city of Malmø, Sweden. He is
a founding member of BAAC. He was member of the Board of BAAC from 2005 to
2010. From 2014 Lars- Gunnar Bengtsson is working freelance.
LASSE NILSSON
Lasse Nilsson is a founding
member of BAAC. He been working with SVT archives as archivist, manager of
Documentation and Research Department and project manager. He is a former Secretary
General of FIAT/IFTA, former chair of
Programming Commission and a member of FIAT/IFTA Television Studies Commission.
Lasse Nilsson is retired from SVT.
The members of the
founding working group of BAAC asked
some crucial questions before the final signing of the official
documents of BAAC at the Estonian Embassy in Stockholm in year 2006. An
important question asked was: What are the values of the work? A critical
evaluation of the ten years of archival business pluss some prehistorian years
of the work ,has been done while writing the report. The goals of the work have
been evaluated with reference to the Bylaws of BAAC. The result of the evaluation
is that BAAC has managed to satisfy the dreams , the hopes and the ambitions of the founding members .BAAC
is proud to have increased professional standards in audiovisual archives
situated in the three Baltic countries.Professional contact between members
have been stimulated. The challenge for the future is to understand the need
for development and education of the different audiovisual archives within the
three countries. The founders of BAAC have finished the work. The members who
are working in television archives, libraries, radio archives, national
archives and document archives in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have to make
the programme for the future by scouting for new ideas , technology and tools
to improve the work.
Oslo, September 30, 2015
Tedd Urnes
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