The Digital Archive
It's worth reflecting on the evolution of archives after 20 years of work with quickly changing technologies. The experience is invaluable as I make decisions and gives context to why I make specific recommendations. It’s impossible to be precisely correct, given the unknowns of emerging systems. It is, however, possible to analyze based on the needs of a digital archive at a given time. It’s important to contextualize any system in the broader role it plays in a for-profit or non-profit environment.
The switch to digital imaging in the 90's and early-2000's was a ground-shaking shift. The original obstacle I encountered was in 2001 when it required an agency about six months to digitize 30 of my black and white prints. Scanners were slower at the time and desktop computers were much slower in opening and processing large files. The distribution channels also weren’t clear or defined, probably due to being both analogue and digital, and included the emergence of FTP and email. This was a journalistic context so timeliness was critical and photographers and agencies were trying to innovate and adapt.
The next major churn I experienced was working at an agency a couple years later, around 2004. This was when the archives were shifting to locally-hosted but web-accessible databases. The scanning technology had improved but the servers were prone to crashing and storage space was constantly an issue. We developed triage plans that helped deliver the images.
After that, once the databases were all online and beginning to grow in scale, acquisitions of companies became more common. I was tasked with migrating content from one major database to another with a combination of queries and a backend interface sometimes referred to as a digital asset management system. The integration of the companies proved more than engineers could handle and the business was sold to a bigger and more agile company.
Then, as the agencies consolidated and closed, a breed of cloud-based digital asset management systems began hitting the market. I began working with these systems, keenly aware of the pitfalls of their predecessors. The efficiency grew in leaps and bounds but cumbersome marketing workflows, requirements, and a diversity of media types caused confusing priorities in a fiercely competitive technical environment.
I don’t know what’s next. I believe in innovation for building knowledge and communicating concepts and ideas, but the volatility of technology remains a looming cloud on the horizon. Concepts and ideas are critically important as the world faces adversity in new ways at major scales. It will take an expeditious and innovative approach to cross into, and through, the digital unknown.
