NZ leader in community based archiving projects
The consensus among audiovisual archives internationally is that material recorded on magnetic tape during the 20th century is in danger of being lost within the next few years. This is due to unavoidable deterioration of video and audio tape over time, as well as a lack of playback equipment and the retirement of the last generation of technicians. It’s a massive problem; one that many archives, including Ngā Taonga, are racing to address by way of digital preservation.
One of several projects the archive has worked on to save endangered media is ‘Rokirokitia’, a reo Māori word that can be translated as ‘to preserve or care for’. Rokirokitia took a unique approach to the problem of audiovisual preservation at a community level. Māori community groups across Aotearoa have been provided with kits to digitise, store and catalogue their own magnetic tape recordings locally, rather than relying on professional archivists.
The primary goal was to prevent knowledge from being lost by transferring it from analogue to digital formats.
This way, invaluable recordings that contain mātauranga Māori are preserved and can be more easily accessed by future generations.
The funding for this project came from Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s Te Awe Kōtuku Fund. This Covid-19 recovery funding was specifically put aside during the pandemic for stimulating local industries and conserving mātauranga Māori.
The concept was developed and pitched by Ngā Taonga and a small team worked on Rokirokitia for two years, from 2021 to 2023. During this time, they built and distributed 50 mobile digitisation field kits to selected community groups nationwide at no cost to them.
Each kit contained a mix of new or refurbished audiovisual hardware, digitisation software, cleaning materials and instructions for use. Digitisation equipment in the kits was housed in an 84kg racked road case on castors, like those used for stage productions or films.
The kits were designed in Wellington, constructed in Cambridge and equipped with a combination of new and refurbished video and cassette players, many sourced via TradeMe.
Community ‘super users’ were trained to use the field kits, including guidance on handling, cleaning and storing physical media, converting recordings to .wav and MP4, and creating technical metadata.
The project team also created a comprehensive 30-page training handbook, and a matching set of instructional videos. All digitised material will be stored locally by the original owners, not at the archive. Preservation priorities are set by communities, who are also able to upgrade and replace worn out parts of their field kits themselves.
Initial results have been really positive. Groups have reported back to us that the kits are working well and they’ve been able to save hundreds of recordings without further help from the Archive. One iwi has already digitised more than 400 videos that would otherwise have been lost to history.
The Rokirokitia project finished in mid2023, after building and distributing 50 kits and delivering about 40 training workshops.
While Ngā Taonga has no immediate plans to distribute any more kits, the model is there if further funding becomes available. Community-based digitisation offers one potential solution to the urgent problem of magnetic media obsolescence. The archive is now sharing what it learned from this unprecedented initiative with international colleagues.