No. 58 - Enrique Uribe-Jongbloed, Carlos Gutiérrez-González: Restoring audiovisual products sustainably: innovative approaches to work with audiovisual archives

The paper explores evolving definitions and practices surrounding archives and repositories in the digital era. It highlights the challenges of distinguishing between these terms and the political complexities inherent in defining archives. The discussion draws from critical archival theory and its emphasis on appraisal, preservation, and description, and analyses the influence of digital platforms, like YouTube, on archiving practices. It addresses materiality and sustainability, underlining the environmental and financial costs of digital archives, and the uneven global access to audiovisual cultural memory. Two innovative case studies are presented: the reconstruction of Colombian television archives through human and AI-powered metadata extraction, and a Welsh postproduction company’s workflow optimisation to reduce energy consumption. Both cases exemplify creative solutions to digital archiving challenges, such as improving context and access, on the one hand, and minimising environmental impact, on the other. The discussion extends to broader issues, including the archiving of video games and social media, copyright, and the risks of private ownership and algorithmic control. The text concludes by advocating for “critical digital archives” that are ethically, materially, and environmentally sustainable, suggesting that ongoing innovation and nuanced debate are essential for the future of digital audiovisual archiving.

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About the authors:

Enrique Uribe-Jongbloed

Enrique Uribe-Jongbloed is a research fellow with Media Cymru at the Centre for the Creative Economy, Cardiff University. He is also docente investigador at the School of Social Communication and Journalism, Universidad Externado de Colombia. He was a ZeMKI visiting research fellow in 2024. His current research focuses on innovations in the media sector, television history and minority language media. Some of his recent works include the book “The travels of media and cultural products: Cultural transduction” (Routledge, 2023).

Carlos Gutiérrez-González

Ph.D. in Communication and associate professor in the School of Communication at the Universidad de La Sabana. He is recognized as an associate researcher by the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. His research focuses on innovation in the audiovisual industries, the analysis of fiction and non-fiction content on public and online television, and edutainment as a pedagogical strategy for social change.