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University of Georgia's Peabody Archive Selects SAMMA for Videotape Migration Project; Media Matters' Automated System to Preserve and Digitize Priceless CollectionATHENS, Ga. --(Business Wire)-- Nov. 2, 2005 -- The University of Georgia's Peabody Archives has signed with Media Matters to use their System for the Automated Migration of Media Archives, or SAMMA, to migrate over 2,000 recordings submitted by local television stations around the United States for consideration in the annual Peabody Awards competition between 1973 and 1990. The project, funded by the National Park Service's "Save America's Treasures" program, will employ SAMMA to make multiple high and low resolution digital files and a tape copy of the recordings simultaneously. "With limited funds available for media preservation it is important to use a solution that will allow us to preserve and migrate as many recordings as possible," explains Ruta Abolins, director of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives at the University of Georgia's main library. "SAMMA will permit us do this at the high level of quality required for preservation while creating files that will make the material available for the web." SAMMA combines robotic tape handling systems with proprietary tape cleaning and signal analysis technologies. From a thorough examination of the physical tape for damage, to real-time monitoring of video and audio signal parameters during migration, SAMMA ensures that magnetic media is migrated with the highest degree of confidence and the least amount of human intervention. SAMMA uses specially-designed components to gather technical metadata throughout the entire migration process. The final product for the Peabody Archives will be one high resolution and two low resolution digital files plus a Beta SP copy of each master tape, and the technical metadata describing the condition of the media item and the migration process. The Peabody Awards Collection, the cornerstone of the Walter J. Brown Media Archives at the University of Georgia Libraries, holds over 40,000 titles, with radio programs dating from 1940 and television programs from 1948. About Media Matters LLC Media Matters LLC has extensive expertise with magnetic media migration, and is dedicated to taking traditional migration strategies into the 21st century by researching, developing, and deploying cutting-edge digital media technology. As the exclusive American partner in the EU's PrestoSPACE consortium, and through involvement in other international organizations, Media Matters is developing next-generation processes and standards for automated media migration. |
