Sound Ethics for Data Repositories

Transcription

1 University of California, Davis From the SelectedWorks of Kevin C. Miller October 9, 2009 Sound Ethics for Data Repositories Kevin C. Miller, Pepperdine University Available at:

2 Portfolio Kevin C. Miller Department of Information Studies University of California, Los Angeles October 9, 2009 Table of Contents 50-word Summary of Issue Statement 3 Issue Statement: Sound Ethics for Data Repositories: Case Studies from Ethnomusicology 4 Career Goals Statement 17 Examples of Work: Core Coursework The Role of Information Technology in Sound Archives (IS 270) 23 Music Information Retrieval: Implications for Music Scholar Information- Seeking Behavior (IS 260) 43 Examples of Work: Elective Coursework Web 2.0 Representations of the South Asian Digital Diaspora (IS 275) 59 Metadata Structure Standards: Five Examples (IS 438B) 69 Examples of Work: Major Paper Sound Intentions: The Ethics, Implications, and Execution of Archival Recorded Sound Repatriation (IS 431) 85 Courses Taken 103 Advising History 105 Curricula Vitae 107 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

3 Issue Statement 2

4 50-word Summary of Issue Statement Taking the discipline of ethnomusicology as an example, I contend that data repositories of unedited, digitized field recordings, while invaluable to the scholarly value chain, must develop new conceptual and physical infrastructures to live up to their own ethical standards and accommodate the interests of the source communities they represent. 3

5 Sound Ethics for Data Repositories: Case Studies from Ethnomusicology Across disciplines, modes of scholarly information distribution have traditionally emphasized the products of scholarship the results of analysis or interpretation in secondary information packets rather than the raw primary sources on which they are based. An emergent trend, however, blurs the distinction between primary and secondary sources of information as scholars offer their data as publications and digital data repositories provide unprecedented access to a vast accumulation of unprocessed data. 1 In this paper, I examine the relatively recent appearance of digital data repositories in service of ethnomusicology, the study of music in relation to culture. The data populating such repositories or digital archives are primary sources typically in the form of field recordings made and deposited by researchers. Although these repositories provide an invaluable service to ethnomusicologists and other scholars seeking raw data, I contend that the purveyors of these repositories must sufficiently account for the interests of the (often marginalized) source communities whose voices and sounds compose the ethnographic data in their collections. 2 As such, I critique the digital data repository in its current state through a convergence of the ethical codes of ethnomusicology (often couched in terms of reciprocity) and information studies (often described in terms of access). I focus this critique on two case studies: the EVIA Digital Archive, which serves to illustrate the ethical challenges facing digital repositories, and the PARADISEC project, which demonstrates that founding digital repositories on 1 Borgman, Christine L Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 8. 2 I use the term source-community to encompass the individuals, organizations, or ethnic groups claiming some tie of origin to (or kinship with) particular sound recordings in a repository. This connection is often described in terms of cultural ownership. 4

6 ethical standards similar those that I am espousing is not only possible, but mutually beneficial to both the archive and the source community. Ultimately, through a focus on the details of the ethnomusicological data repository, I hope to comment more broadly on the ethics of data repositories in the humanities and social sciences. Digital Data Repositories and Ethnomusicology A critical feature of ethnomusicology as a discipline is that it bridges the humanities and the social sciences in terms of purview and methodology. With roots in historical musicology and cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology is distinguished by its humanist subject matter (music) and social science-based approach (fieldwork/participant observation). 3 Data in ethnomusicology, like the social sciences in general, fall into two types: that collected by the researcher and that derived from existing sources. At the same time, data in ethnomusicology like the humanities in general demonstrate an eclectic variety of sources made meaningful by their cultural context. 4 A recent research article on the information-seeking behavior of ethnomusicologists by Chern Li Liew and Siong Ngor Ng suggests that these scholars are highly dependent on primary sources, particularly ethnographic field material: sound and video recordings of musical performances and interviews. 5 Therefore, data repositories for ethnomusicology tend to collocate unedited field recordings of musical performances and ethnographic interviews. As with other disciplines, data repositories for ethnomusicology emerged as an alternative to information organization and distribution systems that privileged authored 3 Merriam, Alan P The Anthropology of Music. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, Borgman, Scholarship in the Digital Age, 204, Liew, C. L., and S. N. Ng Beyond the Notes: A Qualitative Study of the Information-Seeking Behavior of Ethnomusicologists. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 32(1), 64. 5

7 documents and secondary sources. Academic incentive systems have traditionally reinforced the latter. In the words of Linda Barwick (ethnomusicologist) and Theodore Thieberger (linguist), Our research institutions tend to see the preservation, indexation and even digitization of ethnographic texts as part of their core business, while the research recordings on which they depend are seen as mere by-products of the research. 6 The availability of data such as field recordings adds a critical link to the value chain of scholarship. Furthermore, the guiding principles of digital data repositories in general tend to strive for interoperability and often demonstrate a willingness to embrace the values of open access. Earlier precedents in ethnomusicology for the digital data repository include the wide usage of hypermedia, such as self-archiving field recordings on websites (often as a complement to print publishing). 7 Commercial and educational sites for distributing digitized field recordings also emerged, including Smithsonian Global Sound 8 and Global Music Archive. 9 Many digital data repositories developed from preexisting brick-andmortar institutions while others were born-digital. In either case, data repositories for ethnomusicology face certain inherent obstacles to unfettered user access, including state or administrative policies, complicated proprietary access rights, and the hesitancy of some researchers to deposit their materials in the first place Barwick, Linda, and Nicholas Thieberger Cybraries in Paradise: New Technologies and Ethnographic Repositories. In Libr@ries: Changing Information Space and Practice, edited by C. Kapitzke and B. C. Bruce. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 135; emphasis in original. 7 Lange, Barbara Rose Hypermedia and Ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology 45(1), Proutskova, Polina Data Infrastructure for Ethnomusicological Archives: Current Situation and Future Perspectives. IASA Journal 31, 49. 6

8 The EVIA Digital Archive serves as a prominent example of the emerging model of a data repository for ethnomusicology. Conceived in 2001, the EVIA (Ethnomusicological Video for Instruction and Analysis) Digital Archive recently completed its implementation phase in June A collaboration between Indiana University and the University of Michigan, the EVIA Digital Archive collects, preserves, and disseminates (through streaming) unedited ethnomusicological field videos for use by scholars and instructors. Critically, the project demands that the depositing researcher closely annotate his or her recordings, creating peer-reviewed metadata intended to preserve the cultural context and meaning of the recorded performance. Using the project s customized software interface, the Annotator s Workbench, contributors create descriptive metadata through a standardized schema that includes controlled vocabularies to improve interoperability. With the ability to add glossary entries, citations, and text transcriptions or translations, the unedited video field recordings in the EVIA Digital Archive are indeed very publication-like. By bringing to bear the conventional mechanisms of peer-reviewed publishing to video annotation, writes one of the project s developers, we are placing greater scholarly value on those annotations, and at the same time, transferring some of the typical academic rewards for peer-reviewed publishing to archival documentation. 12 Hailed as an inherently collaborative initiative, the EVIA Digital Archive draws on the combined strengths of technologists, software developers, academics, publishers, lawyers, and information professionals. Although the data 11 Information in this paragraph derived from EVIA Digital Archive Project: 2008 Call for Depositors, (accessed December 9, 2008) and Burdette, Alan R Thinking Outside the Archive: Collaboration and the EVIA Digital Archive Project. IASA Journal 33: See also the official EVIA Digital Archive site at 12 Burdette, Thinking Outside the Archive, 8. 7

9 repository currently has just eight collections ready for publication, the project has already expanded to attract video deposits from the related disciplines of folklore, anthropology, and dance ethnology. Finally, to ensure compliance with issues of privacy and intellectual property, access to the video collection is restricted to educational use through selected academic institutions. Reciprocity and Access: An Ethical Model for Digital Repositories Bearing in mind their fledgling state, I nevertheless believe that digital data repositories for ethnomusicology either ignore or sideline the ethical issue of disseminating or repatriating field recordings to the source communities from which they originated. The EVIA Digital Archive, for example, has installed safeguards against the misrepresentation and misappropriation of data, including options for depositors to block access to sensitive materials. However, its scholarly oriented mission, while admirable, effectively denies access by the source community. Although the developers of the EVIA Digital Archive express a desire to collaborate with members of source communities to facilitate better documentation and finer control of access and permissions the end goal is still a proprietary, albeit educational, data repository. 13 Input from source communities, when it does occur, is wholly mediated by the researcher who deposits the video collection. The fact that source communities do seek out their recordings in archives and do so in service of particular information needs is well documented. Source communities are often historically marginalized groups or political minorities and access 13 Burdette, Thinking Outside the Archive, 15. 8

10 to archival sound recordings and related materials contributes to a stronger sense of ethnic identity and solidarity. 14 Furthermore, source community members may perceive that the inclusion, preservation, and dissemination of their recordings in digital archives add prestige and longevity to their localized or indigenous systems of knowledge and culture. As demonstrated by a digitization project at the University of Sydney, the discovery, access, and use of colonial-era archival sound recordings by the descendants of the same community can lead to a new awareness of cultural history and spur the revitalization of endangered traditions. In this case, the digital dissemination of numerous Aboriginal Australian sound recordings, documents, photographs, and films to the remote reaches of northern Arnhem Land generated tremendous excitement and prompted many local leaders to consider the recorded legacy that they themselves will leave for future generations. 15 I argue that such data repository initiatives that serve source communities in addition to scholars require an approach that takes seriously and synthesizes the ethical principles of both ethnomusicology and information studies. Describing an era of digital media that has already passed, Barbara Rose Lange suggests that ethnomusicological data in the digital domain of hypermedia furthers the distance between field recordings and source communities. Additionally, she states, Source musicians lack of access to computers renders them far less able to critique these 14 Kaplan, Elisabeth We Are What We Collect, We Collect What We Are: Archives and the Construction of Identity. American Archivist Corn, Aaron Our Future s Past: Indigenous Archival Discovery as a Catalyst for New Recording Initiatives in Remote Northeast Arnhem Land. IASA Journal 32, 56. See also Gilliland, Anne, Sue McKemmish, Kelvin White, Yang Lu, and Andrew Lau Pluralizing the Archival Paradigm: Can Archival Education in Pacific Rim Communities Address the Challenge? The American Archivist 71(1), 107; and Tjiek, Liuaw Toong Desa Informasi: The Role of Digital Libraries in the Preservation and Dissemination of Indigenous Knowledge. International Information and Library Review 38(3),

11 representations of themselves than those on film, sound recordings, or in books. 16 Issues of cultural representation remain paramount in the reciprocity-based ethical code of ethnomusicology characterized by reflexivity, sensitivity to power relations, shared authority and voice with source musicians, and an active involvement in musical and cultural advocacy. 17 Although the ethical perspectives of the two disciplines overlap in significant ways, those of information studies tend to emphasize issues of access, and this primacy is clearly articulated in professional codes and guidelines. For example, the Society for American Archivists (SAA) Code of Ethics for Archivists 18 calls for open and equitable access, and the recently revised American Library Association/SAA Joint Statement on Access to Research Materials in Archives and Special Collections Libraries begins, It is the responsibility of a repository to make available original research materials in its possession on equal terms of access. 19 Source communities are specifically addressed by guidelines such as the Protocols for Native American Archival Material 20 currently under review by SAA and ALA s draft principles, Librarianship and Traditional Cultural Expressions: Nurturing Understanding and Respect. In her call for feedback on the latter, Carrie Russell states that the goal was to recognize the unique nature of TCEs [Traditional Cultural Expressions] while continuing to support library 16 Lange, Hypermedia and Ethnomusicology, Titon, Jeff Todd Knowing Fieldwork. In Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, Second Edition, edited by Gregory F. Barz and Timothy J. Cooley. New York: Oxford University Press, Accessed June 6, Accessed June 9, Protocols for Native American Archival Material, Accessed June 2,

12 values of open access, freedom of information, diversity of opinion and other values articulated in the Library Bill of Rights. 21 As hinted by Lange above, ethical access to digital data repositories is often couched in terms of the digital divide. 22 Critics of the digital divide, while acknowledging existing socio-economic disparities and disproportionate digital access between social groups and nations, caution that on-the-ground realities are not so simplistic, binary, or limited. For example, Mark Warschauer reveals the technological determinism at the heart of the digital divide discourse, stating that simply throwing technology at a problem is not the answer. He writes, A consideration of how people can use computers and the Internet to further the process of social inclusion is paramount in any effort to install new technology into an environment lacking it. 23 Similarly, Ramesh Srinivasan critiques digital divide discourse, both in terms of cultural representation and access, by offering an alternative that embraces the empowering potentials held by internet-based technologies toward ethnic and indigenous communities that allow such communities to exchange information, preserve histories, generate diasporic identities and share resources. 24 In other words, the digital divide, while a statistical reality, 21 Russell, Carrie Request for Feedback on Library Principles Concerning Traditional Cultural Expressions. Correspondence to ALA Divisions, Offices, Chapters, and Roundtables (June 25), 2. See also: Librarianship and Traditional Cultural Expressions: Nurturing Understanding and Respect. Accessed July 7, The digital divide, defined broadly as the differential access to information and communications technologies between rich and poor countries, is calculated by various metrics. One study illustrated the divide by describing disparities in Internet use in 2005 between three sample countries: United States (six out of every ten people had used the Internet); Indonesia (six out of every 100 people); and Tajikistan (six out of every 10,000 people). See Howard, Philip N., Ken Anderson, Laura Busch, and Dawn Nafus Sizing Up Information Societies: Toward a Better Metric for the Cultures of ICT Adoption. The Information Society 25(3), Warschauer, Mark Demystifying the Digital Divide: Handing Out Computers and Internet Access Is the Wrong Way to Raise Technological Literacy. Scientific American 289(2), Srinivasan, Ramesh Indigenous, Ethnic and Cultural Articulations of New Media. International Journal of Cultural Studies 9(4),

13 evades a simple, one-size-fits-all technological solution, and the culturally specific interpretations and uses of new media in the hands of local communities can be a source of self-identification and self-empowerment. Converging the ethical models of ethnomusicology (oriented toward reciprocity and knowledge sharing) and information studies (oriented toward access) therefore elucidates a range of challenges including proprietary access protocols and the digital divide discussed above but also a lack of archival awareness, underdeveloped archival literacy, and ethnocentric descriptive systems. Encounters with archival material by members of the source community tend to occur in one of three contexts: physical visits to centralized archives (often in urban centers), physical visits to regionally placed archives or listening stations (typically in the geocultural area of the source community), and/or remote online access to digitized audio collections (often with interfaces designed specifically for the source community). Given the statistical realities of the digital divide, in which access to digital media and information is regionally variable, it is clear that ethical access to data repositories often requires an investment in physical infrastructure in addition to digital infrastructure. However, regional archives and listening stations will have little impact if they fail to incorporate educational, outreach, and training programs to foster discovery and develop archival literacy among source community users. Finally, culturally sensitive descriptive terminology (metadata) must be considered an ethical imperative because it is tied so intimately to access. Oppressive descriptors steeped in colonial histories can be excised or revised through ethnographically informed approaches, including direct community collaborations and the search for ontologies of local knowledge. Above all, archivists must cultivate 12

14 relationships with source communities based on dialogue, respect, and a willingness to share the power instilled in us by our position as the custodians of culture. An example of an ethically informed data repository based in Australia illustrates the means by which such a union can be achieved and sustained. The Pacific and Regional Archive of Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a multiinstitutional, multidisciplinary collaborative digital repository established in 2003 with the mission to preserve and make accessible ethnographic field recordings of marginalized and endangered Aboriginal Australian groups. 25 A key part of this initiative has been the collection and digitization of historic and contemporary field recordings, the development of metadata based on newly conducted ethnographic interviews, and the repatriation of these recordings to remote source-communities via digital listening stations in local knowledge centers. Headed by Linda Barwick, an ethnomusicologist, the project has successfully filled gaps in the metadata records of early twentieth-century field recordings through ethnographic interviews with descendents of the Aboriginal singers featured in the recordings. This method is now part of the project s four-stage approach to digital repatriation projects completed in partnership with these communities. 26 Such ethnographically informed projects stand the best chance at successfully interpreting the technological needs of particular communities, thus bridging the digital divide and delivering the cherished holdings of proprietary data repositories to the individuals (and their descendents) whose voices give life to these recordings. 25 For information, see 26 The other stages are digitization for preservation, partnerships with community cultural centers, and authorized outsider access to the collection. Barwick, Linda Turning It All Upside Down... Imagining a Distributed Digital Audiovisual Archive. Literary and Linguistic Computing 19(3),

15 Conclusion In essence, I advocate that the purveyors of emergent digital data repositories that service the value chain of scholarly communities must also take steps to ensure that source communities the invisible bedrock of any ethnographic collection have access to the data as well. Ethical safeguards in information institutions rightly emphasize restrictive access to sensitive ethnographic materials, but the ethics of ethnomusicology demand a reciprocal partnership with source communities, which would include access to digitized recordings and related materials. Digital repositories for ethnomusicology and related disciplines, although still in the initial development phase, have the potential to become invaluable sites of cultural information in audiovisual form, not just for scholars, but also for community members seeking to reclaim or rediscover their own sense of cultural heritage or ethnic identity. As discussed, the challenges facing archivists who strive to meet this ethical imperative include restrictive access protocols on educational or commercial collections, the barrier of the digital divide, a lack of archival awareness and archival literacy, and the persistence of ethnocentric descriptors in the metadata that facilitate access. While the EVIA Digital Archive project demonstrates that ethnographically informed data repositories with robust metadata can achieve the status of respected publications, the PARADISEC project proves that access to digital repositories by even the most remote source communities is not just possible, but would be productive for all parties involved. As digital repositories continue to emerge, providing unprecedented access to raw ethnographic data, it is imperative that source communities the true foundation of any ethnographic discipline not be excluded from the record of their own cultural histories. 14

16 References Cited Barwick, Linda Turning It All Upside Down... Imagining a Distributed Digital Audiovisual Archive. Literary and Linguistic Computing 19(3): Barwick, Linda, and Nicholas Thieberger Cybraries in Paradise: New Technologies and Ethnographic Repositories. In Libr@ries: Changing Information Space and Practice, edited by C. Kapitzke and B. C. Bruce, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Borgman, Christine L Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Burdette, Alan R Thinking Outside the Archive: Collaboration and the EVIA Digital Archive Project. IASA Journal 33: Corn, Aaron Our Future s Past: Indigenous Archival Discovery as a Catalyst for New Recording Initiatives in Remote Northeast Arnhem Land. IASA Journal 32: Gilliland, Anne, Sue McKemmish, Kelvin White, Yang Lu, and Andrew Lau Pluralizing the Archival Paradigm: Can Archival Education in Pacific Rim Communities Address the Challenge? The American Archivist 71(1): Howard, Philip N., Ken Anderson, Laura Busch, and Dawn Nafus Sizing Up Information Societies: Toward a Better Metric for the Cultures of ICT Adoption. The Information Society 25(3): Lange, Barbara Rose Hypermedia and Ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology 45(1): Liew, C. L., and S. N. Ng Beyond the Notes: A Qualitative Study of the Information-Seeking Behavior of Ethnomusicologists. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 32(1): Merriam, Alan P The Anthropology of Music. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. Proutskova, Polina Data Infrastructure for Ethnomusicological Archives: Current Situation and Future Perspectives. IASA Journal 31: Russell, Carrie Request for Feedback on Library Principles Concerning Traditional Cultural Expressions. Correspondence to ALA Divisions, Offices, Chapters, and Roundtables (June 25). 15

17 Srinivasan, Ramesh Indigenous, Ethnic and Cultural Articulations of New Media. International Journal of Cultural Studies 9(4): Titon, Jeff Todd Knowing Fieldwork. In Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, Second Edition, edited by Gregory F. Barz and Timothy J. Cooley, New York: Oxford University Press. Tjiek, Liuaw Toong Desa Informasi: The Role of Digital Libraries in the Preservation and Dissemination of Indigenous Knowledge. International Information and Library Review 38(3): Warschauer, Mark Demystifying the Digital Divide: Handing Out Computers and Internet Access Is the Wrong Way to Raise Technological Literacy. Scientific American 289(2):

18 Career Goals Statement 17

19 From the beginning, I have conceptualized my MA degree in library and information science as a complement to my previous PhD in ethnomusicology, which I received from UCLA in Winter quarter of More precisely, I see the two degrees as a synthesis mutually informative, equal partners in an educational tenure that has prepared me for a career in sound, audiovisual, or media archives. When I entered the MLIS program in Spring quarter of 2008, I was fresh from my degree in ethnomusicology, a theoretically rigorous discipline that straddles the humanities and social sciences. My expectation was that the MLIS archival studies emphasis, as a professional degree, would be dry and rather technical. On the contrary I discovered a deeply engaging program that balanced technical skills and management paradigms with a critique of information institutions from historical, social, cultural, political, and ethical vantage points. The transition from one degree to the other was seamless and I now find myself uniquely qualified for a career in sound archives or special collections, whether they are based in an academic, industry, or professional setting. My introduction to archival studies came in 2004 when, as an ethnomusicology student, I took Audiovisual Archiving in the 21 st Century (ESM 292A) with Dr. Anthony Seeger and John Vallier. Most of the students in the course were in the MLIS program and it was at this time that I started to consider archiving as a career. With the advantage of knowing my career goals from the outset of the MLIS degree, I was able with the help of my advisor Dr. Anne Gilliland to shape the program to fit my particular educational needs. With the exception of The History of Sound Technology (IS 289), none of the courses that I have taken toward the MLIS degree have been specifically about music, sonic information, or sound archiving; however, under the direction of 18

20 various instructors I have applied course objectives to sound information issues through assignments or term papers. For example, I critiqued the limited subject headings for musical works in AACR2 and LCSH through Subject Cataloging (IS 462), I explored the Web 2.0 potentials of video sharing through Information Access (IS 245), and I examined the preservation challenges of cassettes and compact discs through Preservation of Heritage Materials (IS 432). The core courses, particularly IS 200, IS 245, and IS 260, complemented each other through the reiteration of the tenets and theories of information studies, even if the topic purview of each course was not so clear. I found the 400 series in the archival track to be invaluable, especially as taught by Dr. Gilliland, and most quarters provided a choice of several relevant electives. For example, in my final quarter of the program currently underway I am taking Moving Image Archiving (MIAS 200) and Museum Studies (AH C203A) through Moving Image Archiving Studies and Art History respectively. The former speaks directly to my interest in audiovisual archives, while the latter rounds out my education on museum issues in a world where libraries, archives, and museums increasingly converge. I have completed two internships as a part of the degree, both of which I opted to situate on the UCLA campus. The first was with Charlotte Brown at the University Archives, where I reprocessed a digital photography collection. My goal was to broaden my experience with digital preservation and curatorial issues in an academic archival setting, and I learned a lot about the standards used by archival institutions to describe digital photographs with consistent, accurate, and interoperable metadata. The second internship was with Aaron Bittel at the Ethnomusicology Archive, where I digitized and created finding aid entries for ethnographic sound recordings. Here my goal was to get 19

21 hands-on experience with the hardware and software used in the audio digitization process, although these technologies (particularly the latter) change quickly. Therefore, it was even more valuable for me to consider the intellectual or theoretical issues behind audio digitization, discuss these issues with Mr. Bittel, and apply them through the course of a specific project. Taken together, these internships helped correct what I consider to be a lacuna in the MLIS program: digital preservation (although this perception may be based in part on my accelerated pace through the program). Since I consider a mastery of digitization issues to be a career prerequisite, I have also arranged a directed individual study (IS 596) with Jacob Nadal, UCLA s Preservation Officer (supervised by Dr. Gilliland). Mr. Nadal, an expert in digital preservation, is currently leading me through selected readings, taking me to key meetings, and guiding me through an analysis of UCLA libraries audiovisual digital preservation needs. Seeking the MLIS degree has also giving me the opportunity to find temporary employment in with the UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections, which, like the internships, has giving me invaluable hands-on experience with the issues discussed in the classroom. During the academic year, I worked with PASC through the Center for Primary Research and Training Plus (CFPRT+), where I processed and created an online finding aid for the archival collection of American songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen. Currently, I am working with PASC on a digital photograph collection of motion picture stills. Through the encouragement of Dr. Gilliland and other instructors, I have joined and remain active in several professional societies, including the Society of American Archivists (SAA), Special Libraries Association (SLA), Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), and American Library Association (ALA). I have 20

22 also traveled to the last two national SAA meetings in San Francisco and Austin respectively. The collection of my academic work that follows in this portfolio serves to highlight aspects of my issue statement, but also demonstrates the diversity of ideas that I was exposed to during the course of the program. Among the examples from core courses, Facilitating Sound Information: The Role of Information Technology in Sound Archives (for IS 270) presents a broad survey of current information technology applications in sound archives, while Music Information Retrieval: Implications for Music Scholar Information-Seeking Behavior (for IS 260) examines the role of cuttingedge music information discovery and retrieval technologies in information access by scholars. Meanwhile, I touch on information access by potential source communities in Web 2.0 Representations of the South Asian Digital Diaspora, a paper written for Cultural Information Sources and Digital Media (IS 275). From another elective, Archival Description and Access (IS 438B), I include my paper Metadata Structure Standards: Five Examples, which analyzes metadata schemes employed by five digital repositories of musical material. Finally, my major paper, Sound Intentions: The Ethics, Implications, and Execution of Archival Recorded Sound Repatriation, derives from American Archives and Manuscripts (IS 431). This paper takes up a central aspect of my issue statement archival access for source communities and unpacks it, exploring further the ethical imperative behind the digital distribution of sound recordings using the postcolonial discourse of repatriation. 21

23 Examples of Work: Core Coursework 22

24 The Role of Information Technology in Sound Archives Originally produced for IS 270 Information Technology with Prof. Robert M. Hayes, March 17, 2009 Introduction and Definitions Simply stated, sound is information. Although this fact is often underappreciated even within certain corners of the field of information studies audio recordings capture, preserve, and represent unique forms of information that differ greatly from their text-based counterparts. Beyond the verbal content of, say, oral history recordings, the speech style (accent, inflection, dynamics) reveals a great deal of information about the speaker. Likewise, in recordings of music, the linguistic base of song-forms shares its discourse with the semiotic quality of the music itself, intelligible to the trained or initiated. Recordings of soundscapes convey information as readily and equally as landscape photography by Ansel Adams or Henry David Thoreau s Walden, for that matter. Accepting this premise, it follows that sonic information requires its own particular set of information technologies, applicable at varying points in the lifecycle of the audio record. In this paper, I survey and analyze the role that information technology currently plays in the activities of sound archives, including appraisal, preservation, arrangement, description, and access, in addition to the establishment of an online presence for the archive. To illustrate each point, I offer the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive as a primary case study. 23

25 Given the twin focus of this paper information technology and sound archives it is crucial to define my use of these terms clearly from the beginning. According to the Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science, information technology (IT) is: A very broad term encompassing all aspects of the management and processing of information by computer, including the hardware and software required to access it. 27 The key terms here are computer, hardware, and software, which are typically echoed in other definitions of information technology. Staying within information studies, the concept of information technology is often conflated with or reduced to issues of digital preservation, particularly during the last decade. For example, a recent survey on the impact of information technology on academic archives by Helen Tibbo focuses on three points: collecting and preserving digital materials, anticipating user expectations regarding digital materials, and developing digital curation projects. 28 While digitization is an important aspect of IT in libraries and archives, a broader concept of IT may be gleaned from areas of study outside of the information studies domain. To take one example, NASA s Glenn Research Center offers the following definition of information technology: Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or 27 Reitz, J. M Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited. Accessed: January 20, Tibbo, Helen R The Impact of Information Technology on Academic Archives in the Twentyfirst Century. In College and University Archives: Readings in Theory and Practice, edited by Christopher J. Prom and Ellen D. Swain. Chicago: Society of American Archivists,

26 information. Here the mechanism is expanded to any equipment capable of interfacing with information, albeit in an automated fashion. 29 The context of sound archives requires a similarly broad definition of information technology. As discussed below, the computerized management and processing of information is a central component to IT in sound archives, but the mediated nature of sonic information begs a broader concept of the term. Information technology for our purposes goes back to Thomas Edison, states Aaron Bittel, archivist and head of digital projects at the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive. He continues, Information technology is central to what we do because, unlike printed media, the information that we have is encoded it has to be mediated by a playback machine. 30 From this perspective, couched in the belief that sound is information, IT in the archive includes a list of equipment ranging from the phonograph to mp3 players. In terms of the discussion below, this point is largely rhetorical, but it serves to illustrate that concepts of IT differ between repositories with differing media needs and format purviews. By sound archives I am referring to repositories that specialize in the collection and preservation of recorded sound media, typically for purposes of research. Sound archives may also include audiovisual material, but remain conceptually distinct from audiovisual or moving image archives. Historically, many sound archives trace their origins to the recording industry, broadcasting, or government archival activities, with the 29 Glenn Research Center Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility. Cleveland, OH: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, slide 4. centersearch.jsp?centername=glenn&nasainclude=definitions+information+technology. Accessed: January 20, A definition of IT produced by Robert M. Hayes is similarly inclusive: [H]ardware and software for telecommunications, computers, and a variety of other technologies that acquire, communicate, and process data. Robert M. Hayes IS 270 Information Technology. Los Angeles, CA: Academic Publishing Service, Bittel, Aaron Personal communication with author, February

27 earliest sound archive (Phonogrammarchiv) founded in Vienna in Sound archives typically serve a particular disciplinary approach and reflect the principles of that discipline. Examples include oral history, folklore, and ethnomusicology archives, the latter of which is the case study pursued in this paper. 32 Apart from the UCLA archive, a selection of important ethnomusicology archives includes the Phonogrammarchiv in Berlin, the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University, the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology in New Delhi, and the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives. I have designed this inquiry into the use of information technology in sound archives around the fundamental activities of archival practice: appraisal, preservation, description, arrangement, and access. I precede this discussion with a brief history of IT in sound archives and conclude with an examination of sound archives presence on the Internet. I begin, however, with an introduction to my primary case study, the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive. Case study: UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive The UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive (hereafter, the Ethno Archive) developed out of the Institute of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1961 and is currently a part of the Department of Ethnomusicology at that university. As such, the Ethno Archive has an intimate and longstanding relationship with ethnomusicological research and pedagogy (i.e. the study of music in the context of 31 Chaudhuri, Shubha Preservation of the World s Music. In Ethnomusicology: An Introduction, edited by Helen Myers. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Swanson, Dwight Moving Image and Sound Archives. In Archival Information: How to Find It, How to Use It, edited by Steven Fisher. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,

28 culture) centered at UCLA. This history has shaped not only the Ethno Archive s collections, but its mission as well. As outlined in a seven-point mission statement on the archive s website, the mission of the Ethno Archive is to acquire, preserve, and make accessible sound and audiovisual recordings in the field of ethnomusicology in greater service to research and the UCLA community. 33 The core of the archive s substantial holdings is composed of non-commercial ethnographic field recordings made, in most cases, by researchers associated with UCLA. Materials held include sound recordings (wax cylinders, 78, 33 1/3, and 45 rpm sound discs, wire recordings, reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes, DATs, and compact discs), audiovisual recordings (film, videotape, and DVDs), visual material (slides and photographs), and print materials (scores, manuscripts, books, theses, and dissertations). All material is non-circulating and accessible to users during the archive s limited and frequently changing access hours. A small staff oversees the daily operations and long-term development of the Archive, which encompasses a seven-room suite in the center of the Schoenberg Music Building. I chose this archive as a case study for its diverse holdings, technological issues, and historical importance. History of IT in Sound Archives Bracketing for the moment a discussion of playback technologies in sound archives a topic that easily warrants its own term paper the historical implementation of information technologies in such archives has typically been in pursuit of automation. The modern period of automation began in the 1960s as computer-mediated systems for 33 Accessed February 22,

29 description and cataloging provided an alternative to punched card systems. With the advent of the Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) format in 1968, Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs) greatly expanded the discovery and access of bibliographic materials. The pioneering Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) emerged as the standard bearer for the retrospective conversion of library catalogs. 34 Meanwhile, archives, traditionally concerned with the preservation of unique materials rather than the facilitated access of published materials, were slow to embrace the intellectual and technological standards developed for bibliographic records. Nonetheless, the 1980s was a period of automation for sound archives. For example, Indiana University s Archives of Traditional Music made all of their records searchable through OCLC, choosing this database for its national and later international reach. 35 The UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive sought and received a grant in 1983 to develop Computer Aided Archive Access, an OPAC, marking an electronic departure from the card catalog, discography, and paper finding aid access system in place at the time. Archivists have generally been early adopters of IT, particularly in terms of Internet technologies. Paper finding aids went online early through the Gopher protocol, later HTML, and more recently XML specifically Encoded Archival Description (EAD). 36 As Richard Cox notes, the IT-driven automation of archival practices coincided with a renewed interest in standardization. He writes: Many archivists have turned their attention from a document s uniqueness to the common issues of information exchange 34 Hayes, Information Technology, Seeger, Anthony The Role of Sound Archives in Ethnomusicology Today. Ethnomusicology 30(2): Yakel, Elizabeth, Seth Shaw, and Polly Reynolds Creating the Next Generation of Archival Finding Aids. D-Lib Magazine 13(5/6). Accessed: February 12,

30 about archival holdings, the preservation of recorded information, and the control of electronic archival records. 37 As discussed below, many of these standardized practices and technologies have shaped contemporary sound archive practice, particularly in terms of preservation, description, and access. IT and Appraisal and Preservation The issues of appraisal and preservation bear a natural pairing due to the definition of the former in archival studies: appraisal is the process of selecting materials for long-term, enduring, or permanent retention in the archives. Accessioning an item or collection into the archive is often contingent on the institution s ability to preserve those materials over time. In the case of sound archives, information technology enters the equation in terms of hardware (playback technologies and analog to digital converters) and software (applications for digital sound migration and preservation). According to Aaron Bittel, the hardware and software capabilities of the UCLA Ethno Archive both in terms of preservation and access impact heavily on decisions regarding the appraisal of items and collections donated to the archive. If the material is highly unique or ethnographically relevant, the archive will have the item processed off-site, although there is very little money in the archive s budget for this scenario. 38 Software programs designed to guide archivists or collection managers through the assessment process, both in terms of appraisal and preservation, have begun to emerge in recent years. These include Columbia University s Preservation Survey Tool for Audio and Moving Image Collections and New York University s Visual and 37 Cox, Richard J The American Archival Profession and Information Technology Standards. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 43(8): Bittel, personal communication. 29

31 Playback Inspection Rating System (ViPIRS). A third software program, Field Audio Collection Evaluation Tool (FACET) developed in partnership between Harvard University and Indiana University, targets ethnographic field recordings and evaluates their particular preservation needs. 39 The Ethno Archive has not employed any of these software tools in part because they are often bound to proprietary applications (Microsoft Access) and are more designed for non-audio specialist repositories that need help prioritizing recordings for preservation. If preservation is tied to appraisal, it is also equally tied to access in sound archives, as discussed below. Preservation is access, states Bittel, adding, Preservation is future access, and in some ways, preservation is access now. 40 Many audio and audiovisual items in the archives are simply too fragile or too historically precious to bear repeated playback. Producing preservation copies and access copies becomes a synonymous process, a process today dominated by digitization. In terms of software, the Ethno Archive has recently shifted from Pro Tools (a digital audio editing application run on Apple Macintosh operating systems) to Wave Lab (a digital audio editing application proprietary to Microsoft Windows). The key piece of IT hardware remains the analog to digital (A/D) converter, in this case Apogee Electronics Mini-Me. Along with the technology comes the need for staff expertise in technical support, training, and 39 Preservation Survey Tool for Audio and Moving Image Collections, services/preservation/audiosurvey.html. See also: Bal, Marcos S Choosing Your Favorite Children: A Prioritizing Tool for AV Collections ARSC Conference. Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Accessed: January 20, Visual and Playback Inspection Rating System (ViPIRS), /movingimage/vipirshome.html. Accessed: February 3, Field Audio Collection Evaluation Tool (FACET), See also: Casey, Mike Using the Field Audio Collection Evaluation Tool (FACET) to Aid Selection for Preservation ARSC Conference. Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Accessed: January 20, Bittel, personal communication. 30