On the 27th of October 2005, UNESCO proclaimed the commemoration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage to raise awareness of the importance of audiovisual documents that help preserve our history and national identity. At VSN we join to this celebration and take this opportunity to highlight once again the importance of preserving audiovisual content at all Broadcast and Media companies not only for commercial purposes, but also to keep the memory of all humanity alive.
As we can read on UNESCO’s official website for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, ‘audiovisual documents, such as movies, television programs and video or sound recordings, contain the main records of the XX and XXI centuries’. That is, we have saved a unique and live testimony of our most recent history thanks to them, by using a universal tool that is able to transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries in the world.
Thanks to the moving image we have been able to leave a real, permanent and “tangible” legacy for future generations’ analysis and evaluation. Therefore, we have created a new way of knowledge undeniably attractive, which is the perfect complement to the traditional written records.
However, UNESCO states on its website, audiovisual content is extremely sensitive and difficult to preserve. In fact, “it is estimated that we have no more than ten or fifteen years to digitise them, in order to to prevent their loss“, a data that provides us with a clear reference of how sensitivity this material can be.
Nowadays, a great majority of the world’s audiovisual heritage already has been inevitably lost because of negligence, destruction, deterioration or lack of resources and competences to carry out its proper preservation. The result is no other than a impoverishment of the memory of mankind that, on experts opinion, could be even worse if we do not take urgent measures for its care and maintenance.
At VSN we have helped TV channels and media companies from all around the world to digitise their files and preserve all their content in a safe physical or online environment. Even since our early days, we became one of the very first technological companies to change tapes for digital formats. We have always stated that the audiovisual archive is the most valuable asset of any given company and aware of this, we have always offered our clients state-of-the-art technology solutions for keeping safe that “piece of history” that professionals have recorded over the years.
In addition to the clear economic reasons related to content monetisation, preserving audiovisual content provides also a great competitive advantage nowadays: offering our audiences a unique content of unbeatable value and wealth. Thus, we also join today to the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage celebration: because caring for our audiovisual content contributes to keep alive our history.
