Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Introducing: The New Zealand Media Archives

David Ricquish

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:37:08 +1200

This is a long overdue discussion. At the Radio Heritage Foundation, we grapple with these issues as part of the media landscape.
Some of the reasons [amongst many] we were established was because of our belief that our broadcasting heritage should be available to the community and should not locked…

Paul Ward

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 09:52:56 +1200

I still have difficulty though with the problem of some contextual material being cobbled together from uncredited print sources.
Hi Geraldene. What content are you referring to specifically on NZ On Screen? The issue of attributing sources for the long profiles is something we have been addressing since it was…

Geoff Lealand

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:26:55 +1200

Slightly off topic,but given we are talking about the future of media institutions, there is a Forum on the Future of Public Television in NZ at Victoria Uni next Wednesday (Council Chamber, 8.30-5.10). Sessions on policy developments, alternative funding strategies, sustaining local content, FTA into the future etc... Features politicos…

Russell C

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:22:49 +1200

To be fair, the bulk of the damage to that document occurred before it ever reached Archives New Zealand.

In my informed opinion, the main issue with Archives being part of DIA earlier was being a small cog inside a large wheel, and not a very squeaky one. Being a…

Sacha

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:13:21 +1200

I am in the process of preparing an overview report on archival music collections and their current activities in NZ which I would be more than happy to send you a copy when completed.

Can I respectfully suggest that communicating with Simon *before* your report is done might help shape…

Simon Grigg

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:31:26 +1200

Rather it was an attempt to flag the importance of communication, co-operation and hopefully collaboration on these projects; to help them be a success.

Thanks, Matthew. Maximising the resources and integration of these are crucial, especially in a small nation such as ours (we have, after all, largely built a…

Simon Grigg

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:24:23 +1200

if it didn't seem to be all about funding.

I also think that it's perhaps worth mentioning that, if the DB is done as it should be, a digital front end for New Zealand music and musical culture has the potential to play a major part in the generation of…

Matthew Steindl

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:16:46 +1200

Thanks for your reply Simon

My apologies, I thought Mike's initiative and yours were the same.

I agree that this isn't perhaps the correct forum, but I would just like to clarify that (at least in my case) it isn't opposition to your plans at all, quite the opposite in…

Russell Brown

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:44:10 +1200

Archive collection, storage and preservation is a hugely expensive activity and involves a high level of expertise and training. For this reason it is crucial that every little piece of the tiny pie that is allocated to the heritage sector be used as wisely as possible.

Matthew, I think I'd…

Simon Grigg

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:36:41 +1200

Likewise Simon, I am immensely grateful that private collectors such as yourself exist

With respect, Matthew, nothing I've written above has anything to do with my or anyone else's collections. Edit: I see the reference earlier: no-one has contacted me or others. That was an aside to the main topic,…

Russell Brown

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:35:49 +1200

NZ On Screen does some immensely useful work on what I’ve been told, and can well believe, is a tiny budget. I still have difficulty though with the problem of some contextual material being cobbled together from uncredited print sources.

Do you have examples? Feel free to email me (click…

Geraldene

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:11:46 +1200

NZ On Screen does some immensely useful work on what I've been told, and can well believe, is a tiny budget. I still have difficulty though with the problem of some contextual material being cobbled together from uncredited print sources. It goes against the grain of the organisation's own Creative…

nzlemming

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:28:24 +1200

And that, ladies and gents, concludes the case of why people avoid dealing with the ATL unless they have to.

Matthew Steindl

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:17:38 +1200

In response to the debate over a/the Archive of NZ music (and I apologise for coming late to the discussion):

I think we are all in favour of collecting, archiving and making accessible as much of our heritage as possible. That is not in doubt, but what perhaps is of…

Sacha

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:21:08 +1200

If NZ was only going to collect stuff strictly relevant to their communities, we would all be poorer for it.

Seems commonsense to start with what is from and of this place though, if budgets are limited. I guess if there's any unique NZ spin on Gregorian chanting I could…

Russell Brown

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:19:28 +1200

Subsequent to an offline discussion, I do feel the need to make more clear that some of the problems identified by Roger Horrocks at the NZFA, particularly with respect to preservation, are wholly the consequence of a lack of funds. Others – the governance problems and the archive’s bad relationship…

Russell Brown

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:52:35 +1200

I’m really sorry that I came across as patronising. I am not that great at expressing myself in this kind of medium (right back to Usenet days, so you’d think I’d have improved, sadly, no.)

Aw, sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that. Robust discussion and all. I’m enjoying and…

Leopold

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:27:13 +1200

OTOH, at least someone is collecting Gregorian cghants and early church music. If NZ was onlty going to collect stuff strictly relevant to their communities, we would all be poorer for it. At least some medieval monasteries thought that copying collecting non-church classical material was worth it for its own…

Tamsin6

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:22:50 +1200

I know and respect some funky librarians. However they seem to have little influence over the priorities of their institutions’ collections and engaging the public in those.

I have also worked with librarians who seemed to spend their careers reinforcing their own particular, ahem, style over collections. For a time…

Tamsin6

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:16:32 +1200

In that context, allowing that he and others in the industry could “extend” something done by proper librarians is patronising. The fact is, most of the moves on documenting and preserving recent popular music culture are being made outside the institutional sector.

I'm really sorry that I came across as…

paynter

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:25:27 +1200

Actually Gordon, do you think you or someone else could do us a guest blog explaining some of those acronyms – and, more particularly, what’s available digitally and how to get at it? I think there’d be a lot of interest in that.

It might be fun, though I think…

nzlemming

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:19:36 +1200

True. I was meaning accessibility checkers.

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:42:09 +1200

Don't want to distract further from the substantive issue of this thread. #asyouwere

bmk

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:25:02 +1200

What about the automatic checkers looking for 404 errors on a page so the site administrator can remove/modify the link? I had heard that they were very useful but never used one personally.

nzlemming

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:18:08 +1200

Automated checkers are crap, and I say this with bitter experience. Also, stuff doesn't get fixed unless they know about it. Just saying.

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:53:28 +1200

Talked informally with developers years ago. No improvement since – easily verified by running any automated checker on their site. Personally over doing free work for multi-million-dollar projects.

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:23:36 +1200

I found them very receptive to issues, so send any problems in to them and see what their response is.

+1. I think the culture there is to be responsive. try 'em.

nzlemming

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:55:27 +1200

oh, yeah, thoroughly agree. I only raised Te Ara because that seemed to me closest to what Simon was talking about, not because I wanted them to take it on. The technology is the easy bit ;-)

Also, because the Te Ara programme is heavily multi-disciplinary and that's what Simon's…

nzlemming

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:50:50 +1200

but it would be nice for the nation's formal memory to be available to all its citizens, not just the non-disabled ones.

Actually, I did consult with them in my official capacity up until 2005, while they were building and bedding down, and they weren't doing too bad a job.…

Hilary Stace

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:29:33 +1200

Thanks for that link to the 1954 Mazengarb Report, Russell. It includes the following thoughtful comments:

"Just when, how long, and how often, children, adolescents, and even parents listen to the radio is something that has never been accurately determined in New Zealand. It is well known that young children…

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:13:43 +1200

I've lost track of how many times this factor has been overlooked by the designers of public archives, especially digital ones.

Broader than that area, sadly. Often all the effort goes into some software or associated organisational functions without enough attention to the way real humans will interact with them.…

Simon Grigg

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:06:30 +1200

...humbled – but thank you.

giovanni tiso

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:59:15 +1200

People will, however, queue up to tell their stories, and give their discographies and histories to Simon. Because he’s Simon, and he has the mana.

I've lost track of how many times this factor has been overlooked by the designers of public archives, especially digital ones.

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:52:55 +1200

Oh hell, one more. The Chills performing Martin Phillipps’ much-loved bFM jingle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUYDpaRdI1s

Notable for the quality of the annotation. The question for me isn’t how and when NatLib or Te Ara would do the job at some future date when it is deemed important, but how people already doing…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:37:01 +1200

And before I STFU and let someone else have a word, something really exciting that’s been happening this year – William Daymond digitising and uploading live performance videos originally shot by Bob Sutton.

I confess to having been particularly delighted to see this clip of Tall Dwarfs performing ‘Crush’ at…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:10:52 +1200

Yes, we are struggling with and working through these issues within ATL and NatLib. We hope to update our access policies to cover (verbatim) reproduction and reuse soon (in line with NZGOAL).

Actually Gordon, do you think you or someone else could do us a guest blog explaining some of…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:03:31 +1200

Just a word for whoever’s doing the good work at Christchurch City Libraries.

The online collection of 1980s music posters is simply fabulous.

And the same libraries’ Advert Music is a really good idea – providing information, some of it crowdsourced, on what the music in well-known TV ads is.…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:49:03 +1200

I believe the reason most libraries (and NatLib especially) are not working in this space to the level you would like is that no-one paying the bills regards it as core business and therefore worth funding.

Which is fair enough, so far as it goes. There's never enough funding. But…

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:03:59 +1200

the Encyclopedia of NZ

Side issue, but a classic example of major investment of public funds in producing a site that fails official accessibility standards, and not fixed since. Not that I'm saying you need any reminding, Mark, but it would be nice for the nation's formal memory to be…

nzlemming

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 11:49:22 +1200

I thought it was pretty widely publicised. Surely media archives can help you verify? :)

To be fair, the bulk of the damage to that document occurred before it ever reached Archives New Zealand.

In my informed opinion, the main issue with Archives being part of DIA earlier was being…

nzlemming

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 11:35:13 +1200

It has no exact parallel in New Zealand to date but has elements of NZ on Screen, Wikipedia, Facebook, the All Music Guide, the work of people like Chris Bourke, John Dix & Andrew Schmidt, and Rock’s Back Pages mixed in. I’m very uncomfortable using the word archive for this, as…

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 11:14:41 +1200

Is there any evidence this actually happened?

I thought it was pretty widely publicised. Surely media archives can help you verify? :)

paynter

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 11:11:49 +1200

preventing disasters like last time’s damage to the nation’s founding document

Is there any evidence this actually happened?

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:14:02 +1200

History shows us what occurred when last ANZ was part of DIA (and NatLib even longer before that)

Worth remembering that preventing disasters like last time's damage to the nation's founding document has to be a higher priority from slashed public sector budgets than adding a new service.

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:08:07 +1200

That's exactly what I've been trying to say.

There's a relief. I added the word 'mana' too. Libraries and archives have that as well, no question.

paynter

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:06:26 +1200

Perhaps better to think of it as certain relationships rather than skills. People don’t trust others with their taonga only because of skills.

That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say.

It cuts both ways though. Publishers simply wont trust us with their stuff unless they believe we'll do the…

Russell C

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:01:21 +1200

Yes, I certainly recognise that NatLib already had a big change programme underway long before the merger was announced. My point is that in the absence of any measurable criteria for the success or otherwise of the merger and the Minister’s own acknowledgement that there was nothing wrong – that…

paynter

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:00:58 +1200

David actually raised the issue by suggesting that Simon’s idea might be “a further waste of resources” when the Turnbull already had its own music archive. It really seems evident to me than an independent archive, within in a structure that facilitates best practice, will do things the Turnbull couldn’t.…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:00:41 +1200

Perhaps better to think of it as certain relationships rather than skills. People don’t trust others with their taonga only because of skills.

That's exactly what I've been trying to say.

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:59:00 +1200

You've made the argument that libraries / archives can't do this work (or a large part of it) because they lack certain skills

Perhaps better to think of it as certain relationships and mana with key stakeholders, rather than skills. People don't trust others with their taonga only because of…

Sacha

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:56:30 +1200

librarians and archivists are just people, you think we don’t listen to music, engage with music, have mates who are in bands, in the recording industry, have ourselves been in the recording industry in a previous career etc etc etc? So yes, experience with and expertise in all kinds of…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:47:09 +1200

To be, fair, what I’m saying is also informed by my own experiences.

When I was doing the Great New Zealand Argument project, I met and got on very well with Philip Rainer at the Turnbull. Seeing the thousands of pamphlets held as part of the original Turnbull bequest was…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:14:49 +1200

Agreed, but I think you brought it on yourself. You’ve made the argument that libraries / archives can’t do this work (or a large part of it) because they lack certain skills; but these skills are actually part and parcel of the profession. I venture that many who work in…

paynter

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:53:46 +1200

Arrgh – how did this get to be librarians vs others? It’s not a very productive way to go.

Agreed, but I think you brought it on yourself. You've made the argument that libraries / archives can't do this work (or a large part of it) because they lack certain…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:42:05 +1200

It sounds fantastic – but don’t underestimate the uses and talents of a good archivist – you may be surprised to find that they are already dying to do something like this, but haven’t had the opportunity.

I guess the difference is that Simon is going out and working hard…

Russell Brown

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:34:01 +1200

With all due respect Russell, I don’t think that you understand completely what library and archive professionals do, and also what they would like to be able to do. You say that libraries don’t tend to go to commercial services like You Tube etc – but actually, we do.

Arrgh…

Tamsin6

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:54:24 +1200

At the risk of repeating myself again, and repeating what Russell has said too, we – as in those who have and are closely involved in the local music industry – are not looking for a filing, collating or collecting process as an archive, nor a way of making recordings…

Simon Grigg

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 03:47:14 +1200

I'm with Paynter and Tamsin6 in that there's nothing to prevent librarians from doing this. In my previous job I used to have to get copyright and other clearances for artworks, cartoons, pieces of text.

That rather misses the point of what many of us think is needed, and being…

Sacha

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:54:05 +1200

expertise and experience in music fields

Like Kiwi pop/rock/indie/hiphop/electronica?

Kyle Matthews

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:26:15 +1200

No slight intended. Library and archive professionals have different training, different priorities and different personal networks to people who have worked in or around, say, the music business.

I'm with Paynter and Tamsin6 in that there's nothing to prevent librarians from doing this. In my previous job I used to…

paynter

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:23:08 +1200

Any detail on how you envisage doing that? Seems to be the area where contextualising adds value.

Nothing official, but we admire the British Library's UK Web Archive, and we use many of the same web archiving tools as BL (we have jointly developed the Web Curator Tool).

The UK…

Sacha

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 22:53:38 +1200

making what we have publicly accessible

Any detail on how you envisage doing that? Seems to be the area where contextualising adds value.

paynter

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:51:48 +1200

With all due respect Russell, I don’t think that you understand completely what library and archive professionals do

Thanks Tamsin, I was going to make this point too.

Russel:

…means being plugged in to commercial services like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, where people and resources are. There are places libraries…

Tamsin6

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:10:19 +1200

I really must emphasise that I have only the highest respect for what library and archive professionals do – I’m close to announcing a sweet little get-together with Digital NZ, in fact. But music has always been a business as well as an art, and there’s a case for have…

Simon Grigg

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 17:40:10 +1200

I think all those three would have a lot to contribute to a music archive.

The contribution of what we're calling Genre or Style Curators – very much people like the above three, plus many others with the necessary expertise in their fields – is central to the detail of…

Russell Brown

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:08:48 +1200

But having said that, Russell has a point: the Turnbull music people have different priorities (and limited resources). So if they haven’t been in touch with Simon since the last time this we discussed this project, it seems reasonable to assume that they are not likely to undertake anything like…

paynter

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 13:42:57 +1200

But having said that, Russell has a point: the Turnbull music people have different priorities (and limited resources). So if they haven't been in touch with Simon since the last time this we discussed this project, it seems reasonable to assume that they are not likely to undertake anything like…

paynter

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 13:13:23 +1200

The project that Simon proposes is going to require a lot of interaction and winning of trust with music people – especially when it gets to the physical archive phase and you’re talking about master tapes getting handed over, or rights being granted for works to be made available online.…

Russell Brown

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 09:00:54 +1200

Also Russell, I am interested to know – what kind of people are library people? I think you need to clarify what your thinking is on this.

No slight intended. Library and archive professionals have different training, different priorities and different personal networks to people who have worked in or…

Tamsin6

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 08:49:59 +1200

For anyone who is interested, you can find the LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) submissions on the merger here:

http://www.lianza.org.nz/resources/lianza-documents/submissions/submissions-integration-national-library-archives-and-dia

The kind of people who'd make it tick aren't really library people.

Also Russell, I am interested to know – what kind of people are library…

paynter

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:30:54 +1200

The government has already brought the two big heritage archives – the National Library collection and Archives New Zealand – together by moving the library, previously its own government department, into the Department of Internal Affairs. I don’t know enough about the issues there to comment, but I haven’t really…

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:53:59 +1200

Thanks buddy. Genuinely appreciated.

Sacha

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:15:49 +1200

Understood

Simon Grigg

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:09:05 +1200

NZ On Screen, of course, only does the digitisation and access part, not the preservation, but I strongly suspect something similar would apply to Simon's project.

Indeed, for the reasons you mentioned in the post, I think it's wise right now to separate the – both vital – functions, as…

Russell C

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:58:25 +1200

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:55:29 +1200

I want this thread to be civil, in the hope that people in the archives sector will feel comfortable coming in and contributing. That was a bit snipey.

Sacha

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:27:49 +1200

If commenting about public culture funding priorities is now out of order, consider me out of this conversation. Enjoy.

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:23:13 +1200

I deleted your comment, Sacha. Ease up.

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:00:03 +1200

One thing I think has been important at NZ On Screen is having people, employed or contracted, who are well integrated in the screen production industry and can build trust.

Commercial producers have generally been happy to allow programmes from their catalogues to be freely available for the public good,…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:33:13 +1200

focusing on the papers and sounds of NZ musicians of all forms

David, I own, control or have been involved with some fairly large parts of what we call our musical past – much of it very important.

I also work closely with many of the most important label owners,…

Sacha

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:30:02 +1200

I do think there may be irreconcilable differences in respects of commercial objectives vs open access in any new set-up.

Particularly when NZ's copyright law has such weak provisions for fair use compared with other nations.

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:25:05 +1200

Can only hope this new "entrepeneurial" approach to collecting is better informed about what already exists than those on that thread!

Fair enough, David. I'd be very happy for you to critique those comments, and explain more about what the Turnbull NZ Music Archive does. Seriously.

But just to be…

David

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:50:06 +1200

Thanks Russell – just read it. Some rather alarming misconceptions there about what the Library does. Sure, the National Library trys to collect everything published, including music, and legal deposit is part of that. But the collecting work of the Turnbull NZ Music Archive is much more active than that…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:31:39 +1200

But, further to the note about the existing NZ Music Archive some recent interesting accessions have included audio archives of Radio Active live music, audio archives of Happy alternative music venue, further additions of audio to the Huggard Jazz archive, further papers of Richard Nunns.

All of which is valuable,…

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:26:02 +1200

which thread is that Simon? – some of us are new to this site, so it is good to catch up.

This one, I think.

But, further to the note about the existing NZ Music Archive some recent interesting accessions have included audio archives of Radio Active live music, audio…

Lyndon Hood

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:21:16 +1200

If whoever wrote the minister's press release gets their hands on the idea it might end up called the New Zealand Mediums Archive:
National Library documenting quake and recovery

... though it does also have a link to Ross Becker's photos from the Red Zone

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:15:02 +1200

I agree that we shouldn't hand over our archives to a non-public organisation, but think its a bit rough to be dismissing the Film Archive when they have been surviving for years on excruciatingly small amounts of funding.

I'm honestly not trying to dismiss them, but Roger Horrocks' review did…

David

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:07:13 +1200

which thread is that Simon? – some of us are new to this site, so it is good to catch up. But, further to the note about the existing NZ Music Archive some recent interesting accessions have included audio archives of Radio Active live music, audio archives of Happy alternative…

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:01:03 +1200

As another trustee of NZ ON Screen, I will also avoid that part of the territory.

I know, from colleague's experiences, that the TVNZ archive sometimes charges hideous amounts for access to historical footage for academic purposes. I do think there may be irreconcilable differences in respects of commercial objectives…

Claire

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:00:00 +1200

Simon Grigg

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:58:15 +1200

Are we risking a further waste of resources?

Hasn't this already been covered in a previous thread?

The problem is – partially – it shares a potential name but little of the functionality of what the wider industry feels is required of an archive.

David

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:37:49 +1200

I am a bit puzzled. There already IS a New Zealand Music Archive. It is part of the Alexander Turnbull Library – check the National Library website. Originally its emphasis was on non-popular music. It has branched out and has an active Music Librarian. Are we risking a further waste…

Sacha

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:22:57 +1200

The songs that people remember and love get digitised. It's the weird little bands that have faded from our digital memory.

I love weird lil bands

Simon Grigg

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:16:00 +1200

It's sound, and there is even a brief paper in circulation.

The paper has grown. The proposal that is doing the rounds now is some 70 pages and has formal support from all of the above groupings, plus major players in the industry, NZ's musical historians and many more. Many…

Russell Brown

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:26:08 +1200

It’s a shame be cause there are hundreds of those old videos that aren’t available online. The songs that people remember and love get digitised. It’s the weird little bands that have faded from our digital memory.

At every board meeting, I try and make a point of asking Brenda…

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:05:57 +1200

I figured that was the case, though NZ On Air's Kiwi Hits website seems to have a column in its catalogue search results page for displaying music videos (but even so, NZ On Screen does it better).

It's a shame be cause there are hundreds of those old videos that…

peter mclennan

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:04:04 +1200

Robyn – its my understanding that music video funding from NZ On Air has not/does not require the music video maker or band to give NZ On Air a copy of the finished video. So they don't have copies of them.

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:44:06 +1200

I really like the idea of NZ On Screen being the accessible side of New Zealand's film, television and sound archives.While the archive bodies look after the footage, NZ On Screen are the ones who curate the works, displaying them on online and providing some context and behind-the-scenes info. The…

Kate Hannah

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:16:21 +1200

Thanks Russell; a really necessary conversation. The Archives NZ/National Library merger was viewed with some suspicion within history circles – largely, I think because the National Library is a trope for how we as a nation view and access our past – I'm loathe to lose that symbolic nature, myself.…

Public Address

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:16:21 +1200

Discussion from blog post.