Save the date: The Many Lives of Europe’s Audiovisual Heritage Online

It may not be until next May, but diaries fill up fast, so put this event in yours today! Thanks to Moys Schuttert at EUscreen for this event information.

Prof. Dr. Sonja de Leeuw, EUscreen.

Date: 16 May 2018
Time: Symposium starts at 11:00, Farewell Lecture at 16:15.
Location Symposium: Utrecht University, Sweelinckzaal, Drift 21, Utrecht
Location Farewell Lecture: Aula Academy Building, Domplein 4, Utrecht

During the past decade, a massive body of European audiovisual heritage has become accessible online: on video sharing sites and websites of archives, or through initiatives such as EUscreen and Europeana. Once online, audiovisual heritage circulates in diverse ways: people watch, share, like, or dislike it; they comment, appropriate, and download videos for remix and recirculation. It thus becomes part of the popular consumption of history, potentially creating new interpretations of heritage materials, challenging authorized perspectives. Heritage institutions perceive the consequences of the recent technological transformations of the sector as a major challenge and opportunity. Nevertheless, urgent questions regarding the circulation of audiovisual heritage online remain unanswered:

• How do strategies of curation shape the appropriation of digitized heritage?
• How does digitization and online circulation of audiovisual heritage affect the mission, role, and structure heritage institutions, as well as their relationships with media producers and publics?
• How can audiovisual archives better foster the reuse of Europe’s audiovisual heritage?
• (How) do digital curation and other appropriations of audiovisual heritage create new perspectives on European history and identity?
• How does online circulation of audiovisual heritage alter the power relationships between amateur and professional historians in a public history environment, potentially blurring the boundaries between authorized and popular visions of European history?
• What new tools and methods do we need to analyse the circulation of audiovisual heritage online, and how do traditional methods have to be adapted for this aim?

To discuss these challenges, Utrecht University’s Centre of Television in Transition in collaboration with The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision and CLARIAH will organize a one-day symposium.

The symposium is held on the occasion of the Farewell Lecture by Prof. Dr. Sonja de Leeuw, Professor of Dutch Television History in the European Context at Utrecht University, the driving force behind the EUscreen projects and pioneer in the field of digital audiovisual heritage in Europe. Confirmed participants include Jerome Bourdon, Professor at the Department of Communication, Tel Aviv University; Andreas Fickers, Professor for Contemporary and Digital History and Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History; Johan Oomen, Head of Research and Development at Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision; Julia Noordegraaf, Professor of Digital Heritage at the University of Amsterdam; and Pelle Snickars, Professor of Media and Communication Studies and affiliated to the HUMlab Research Centre of Umeå University, Sweden.

For more information, keep an eye on the EUscreen blog.