During the peak of the classical age, Alexandria was the cultural lighthouse of the Western world. The Egyptian city led the science and art trends thanks to its cultural and scientific agora. This frenetic activity gravitated towards a building, a place where archivists glossed the papyrus shelves containing all the knowledge of the time. We are talking about the Library of Alexandria.
If this building were still standing nowadays (several fires destroyed it after decades of abandonment), digital audiovisual content files would be included. Since its invention, video has become an essential knowledge and cultural transfer format. Therefore, in 2005 UNESCO proclaimed the commemoration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on October 27th. With this celebration, the organization pointed to the relevance of Media Preservation of this cultural, social and historical material.
Nowadays, video is key for education, public institutions and our daily activities, as well as essential to document our history. We can visit any WWII battle or historical events from the 20th century thanks to the video files that were recorded and filed. Furthermore, anyone can film any historical event nowadays thanks to smartphones. It is fundamental to preserve and catalog this Media for future generations to have reliable testimonies of history.
But that is not all video has achieved during this past century. It climbed to the Olympus of Art thanks to Cinema and Series. We can all recall masterpieces that are part of our cultural legacy. The film libraries and video archives work to preserve this art and give their best to save them from the tragic fate of the papyrus from the Library of Alexandria.
To avoid this disaster, documentalists worldwide work day by day to improve their archives. Digitalization of old files, a better catalog, and innovating with new metadata tools using AI are some of the actual trends. Each year, the top profiles of Media Asset Management gather together in the FIAT/IFTA Annual Conference to discuss and share the current advances.
Capitalizing on the audiovisual heritage
RTVE and BBC are two good examples of how a broadcaster can benefit from its archive, as they are public companies with a long history. The efforts of their documentalists allow their archives to witness the advances of British and Spanish society and the main historical events from both countries. This is an ongoing work, as both corporations are constantly trying to improve their archive with the latest technologies. For example, RTVE has been recently working with VSN on the application of Artificial Intelligent for automated content segmentation.
RTVE and BBC programs and professionals benefit from this effort. Both networks include a lot of content from their archive on their news and magazines to revisit their history. Recently, the BBC has gone a step further with the BBC Archives project. During the digitalization process of the network's broadcasting history, some of these collections were uploaded to the BBC's website. Viewers from all over the world can now enjoy any piece of an archive with over 15 million items available.
It is essential to have a well-preserved archive with a state-of-the-art MAM system like VSNExplorer MAM to facilitate access to this collection. Such a software solution allows us to catalog, search, locate, publish, distribute, preview and archive any kind of audiovisual content.
Thanks to MAM systems and thousands of documentalists, we can say that our audiovisual heritage is safe from disaster, but not completely. Therefore, it is necessary to remark the importance of Media Preservation every October 27th. We do not have a Library of Alexandria to host all the world's knowledge, but we can confidently rely on audiovisual archives all over the planet.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
During the peak of the classical age, Alexandria was the cultural lighthouse of the Western world. The Egyptian city led the science and art trends thanks to its cultural and scientific agora. This frenetic activity gravitated towards a building, a place where archivists glossed the papyrus shelves containing all the knowledge of the time. We are talking about the Library of Alexandria.
