This paper was presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication in San Antonio, Texas August 2005.
If you have questions about this paper, please contact the author
directly. If you have questions about the archives, email
rakyat [ at ] eparker.org. For an explanation of the subject line,
send email to
[log in to unmask] with just the four words, "get help info aejmc," in the
body (drop the "").
(Feb 2006)
Thank you.
Elliott Parker
====================================================================
Now You See It, Now You Don't:
The Problems with Newspaper Photo Archives
"This survey has made me think about the way we archive our
digital images. I will make a push to archive every image taken by
our photographers. You never do know when you might need that
particular image. 'Oh, that's right, I deleted that one.'"
-- responding photographer
By
Lucinda D. Davenport, Michigan State University
Quint Randle, Brigham Young University
Howard Bossen, Michigan State University
Contact, please:
Dr. Lucinda Davenport, Professor
School of Journalism
College of Communication Arts and Sciences
287 Communication Arts Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1212
517-355-3410
[log in to unmask]
Paper submitted to the Visual Communication Division, AEJMC, New
York, August 2005.
Now You See It, Now You Don't:
The Problems with Newspaper Photo Archives
"This survey has made me think about the way we archive our
digital images. I will make a push to archive every image taken by
our photographers. You never do know when you might need that
particular image. 'Oh, that's right, I deleted that one.'"
-- responding photographer
-- ABSTRACT --
This study systematically investigates the practices and policies of
archiving and accessing images, now that most newspapers have gone
digital. Findings from NPPA newspaper photographers, responding to
multiple-choice and open-ended questions, show that policies and
practices are in disarray. Photographers also are frustrated and
concerned about digital technology becoming obsolete and what it
means to historical records. Authors offer suggestions to address the
situation, and they briefly consider how McLuhan might have regarded
digital image archives and the technology's effect on our culture.
Now You See It, Now You Don't:
The Problems with Newspaper Photo Archives
Marshall McLuhan theorized, "The medium is the message." The medium
in and of itself embodies culture.[1] Media are extensions of our
senses and contribute to how we interpret our world, and perhaps
older societies. Certainly as we look through the brittle pages of
old newspapers, we are transported to another world. The photographs
and stories tell us many things about a time long ago. They tell us
how people related to one another, how much a dollar was worth and
the important gossip of the day. We learn about the economic,
geographic, legal and societal concerns of bygone eras that had an
effect on today's society. We also learn about the medium itself.
Before the digital revolution, newspaper librarians bound the year's
issues together between hard covers and placed them on a shelf. The
public came into the newspaper's front offices to look through these
volumes to find stories they missed or request copies of photos and
stories of family members. In the back room of the newspaper building
was the morgue where each newspaper story and any accompanying photo
was cut out and placed in various files, waiting to be used as
background for another story.
The morgue also held all the photographers' film negatives, whether
the photo was published or not. History comes alive through these
pictures—street scenes become bustling centers of commerce once more;
daily activities and accomplishments become significant. Photographs
give context to how people in another era lived and thought and achieved.
With the progress of technology, the newspapers—their published
photos and stories that once were saved in volumes or filed in a
morgue—are now archived in computers. The originals are destroyed.
Published issues are electronically scanned to reflect layout and
design, while individual stories and accompanying photos are
digitized for future reference. Many of the original images are
destroyed, as well.
Media historians and new technology researchers Howard Bossen,
Lucinda Davenport and Quint Randle found that the transition from 35
mm film to digital photography has impacted the creation of news
photographs and the preservation of a historical record—a lower
proportion of digital images is saved compared to film. Digital
images are deleted at the scene, in the newsroom and before being
archived.[2] Photojournalists in the study also expressed anxiety
about their news organization's irregular archiving policies and the
obsolescence of archival technology.
One of the objectives of the present study was to follow up with the
concerns of the photographers and investigate the archiving practices
and policies related to digital photographs produced by
newspapers—sometimes the only creator and preservationist of a
community's historic record.
This study also considers a question raised at a digital archiving
conference in 2002: "Are commercialization and digitizing policies
depriving us of access to valuable historic images? Digital files may
have only a limited lifespan of a few years before their format is
obsolete, their equipment platform unobtainable, or their medium corrupted."[3]
LITERATURE REVIEW
If the "medium is the message," then the disappearance of photos and
obsolete archiving technologies reflecting today's world may be
telling about the values of our society to future generations.
In 1995, computer scientist Jeff Rothenberg wrote an influential
article on preservation of digital information in Scientific
American, "Digital information lasts forever—or five years, whichever
comes first." He estimated conservatively that common recording
digital storage media such as magnetic tape, videotape and (8-inch,
5-1/4-inch and 3-1/2-inch ) magnetic disk become obsolete in five
years and optical disk, 10 years. The physical lifetime of each one
varies. In essence, should a person pick up a CD in the years to
come, the information it holds may not be readable. The coding
program, the operating system software and the computer hardware
required to run it will have long become obsolete. [4]
Paul Conway, head of the Preservation Department at Yale University
Library, noted that archeologists continue to unearth 6,000-year-old
pictures on sun-dried clay tablets, the earliest known system of
written communication. And, papyrus buried with the ancient Pharaohs
is still readable. Both types of media give context to other
artifacts and an understanding about early societies.[5]
Conway credited Charles Dollar with the following conclusion: "This
is the ultimate irony of recorded history. In order to achieve the
kind of information density that is common today, we must depend on
machines that rapidly reach obsolescence to create information and
then make it readable and intelligible."[6]
Other concerned critics have pointed out additional disadvantages to
storing images digitally: 1) John Newhaugen noted that once an image
has been digitally scanned and stored into a computer, it is no
longer the original, real artifact;[7] 2) and the new version is a
new type of information; 3) Rothenberg pointed out that images and
documents cannot always be transformed into new formats in meaningful
ways;[8] and 4) Victoria McCargar stressed that it is not possible to
preserve an electric record—one can only preserve the ability to
create a new version when it's needed.[9]
As technologies that create, read and store data grow obsolete, the
data need to be "migrated" (transferred) to newer technologies. Yet,
the original information gets lost with each new generation and more
metadata is added to the file.[10] This also causes problems for
preserving the past, according to Gregory Lawrence and his
associates, who have assessed the risks to digital file formats
during migration.[11]
Senior editor in charge of library projects for the Los Angeles Times
Victoria McCargar posed further challenges for preserving digitized
information: maintain good cataloging and indexing systems, consider
who is responsible for managing the data, settle on standards, spread
awareness and change organizational culture.[12]
Preserving is not only about collecting and storing artifacts,
according to Conway. Access and use should be part of the archiving
process. It is not good enough to simply let others know that the
records are available. [13]
The influence of press photography was explained in 1891 by J.
Fortune Nott, a Canadian photographer whose works were commonly
featured in American photographic magazines: "One of the most
noticeable characteristics of the past decade has been the constantly
increasing demand for illustrations that pictorially record events
that have a social or historical importance."[14] Today, some
newspapers, such as the New York Times, are selling prints of
historical significance because they are cheap to produce and provide
a new aftermarket revenue stream.[15] This can help to offset the
high costs of maintaining access to digital files, which can be up to
16 times more expensive than their paper counterparts.[16]
An examination of the mass communication literature showed little
discussion about what the transformation from film to digital and the
preservation of documents mean to the newspaper industry and society
as a whole. Early (1980s-1990s) studies focused on ethical
considerations of manipulating digital photographs.[17] Follow-up
research investigated the newsrooms' transition to digital
photography.[18] Only two studies looked specifically at
photojournalists' move from film to digital.[19] And just three
studies inquired what the digital move means about archiving
practices and the historic record.[20] Furthermore, a review of
professional websites and articles in professional publications
yielded little on digital archiving standards, policies and technologies.[21]
Thus, this study provides a systematic, exploratory examination into
newspapers' preservation of photographs—their archiving practices and
policies. It also investigates access to the archives—policies and
activities. In addition, the authors searched for connections between
newspaper demographics, archiving policies and the number of digital
images archived. Findings identify the state of newspapers' photo
archives and suggestions are offered to improve the situation.
Results should speak directly to photographers, news managers,
academics, librarians, historians and archivists.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The objective of the study was to learn about digital photo
archiving and access policies. Research questions were grouped under
three main headings:
I. Digital Photo Archiving Practices and Policies
RQ 1: What are the motivations to archive digital images?
RQ 2: What are the archiving policies for digital images compared
to film images?
RQ 3: How developed are digital archiving policies?
RQ 4: Who is primarily responsible for archiving digital images?
RQ 5: How and where are digital images stored?
II. Digital Photo Archive Use and Access Practices and Policies
RQ 6: How often are the photo archives accessed?
RQ 7: Who has access to the archives?
RQ 8: Are digital images from the archives available for sale to the public?
III. Demographic Influences
RQ 9: Is there a statistical relationship between the proportion of
digital images archived and newspaper circulation size,
photo staff size, archiving policy or other demographic variables?
METHOD
An online survey was administered to U.S. daily newspaper
photographers to answer the research questions. Since this was an
exploratory study, several opportunities for explanations and
open-ended responses were provided as well. The questionnaire was
tested and pre-tested for internal validity through assessments from
18 daily newspaper photographers as well as a library archivist.
Population and Sampling
The study's population was composed of photographers employed at
U.S. daily newspapers of all sizes. The sampling frame was an e-mail
membership from the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA),
the leading professional organization for news photographers.
The NPPA e-mail list included 2,544 photographers working at U.S.
daily newspapers. (The full membership list was nearly 10,000 and
included broadcast videographers, public relations photographers,
freelancers, etc.) A very high percentage of members list e-mail
addresses in their membership records, according to the NPPA
representative with whom the authors worked. All 2,544 newspaper
photographers were e-mailed, and a second invitation was e-mailed 10
days later. Returned as undeliverable were 97 e-mails, thus the
actual number of potential subjects was 2,447. The eventual number
of subjects who responded to the survey was 832, a response rate of 34 percent.
Because most of the practices associated with archiving are
organization-based, only one survey was selected for data analysis
from any one newspaper, from the 832 respondents. In other words, the
unit of analysis was the newspaper, not the photographer. The
responding photographer acted as a representative of the newspaper.
Thus, if more than one photographer from a particular newspaper
completed the survey, the most completed survey was selected for
inclusion in the analysis. If there were more than two relatively
complete surveys from the same paper, then one was selected randomly.
This sampling method yielded an N of 362 photographers representing
their daily newspapers.
Variables
Due to the exploratory nature of this study, most of the variables
associated with archiving practices and policies were descriptive in
nature, and for the most part self-explanatory. However, the main
dependent variable was the proportion archived. Due to a variety of
archiving methods and systems, this was defined, according to the
photographer, as the overall percentage of the original shots taken
at an event that were eventually archived. This was determined
separately for digital images (present) and 35mm (past). Subjects
were asked to estimate the percentage of their original shots that
were eventually archived. Other demographic variables included
circulation size, publication cycle, staff size, ownership type, etc.
Description of Respondents
The average circulation for represented papers was 112,477 (Median =
50,000).[22] Photo department staff size was 7 (median = 5). About 78
percent (n = 281) were chain-owned, 83 percent (n = 299) were morning
circulation and 17 percent (n = 63) were evening papers.
Most of the respondents were staff photographers, who might have
been consulted about policy, but probably were not the
decision-makers. Although 15 percent of the respondents chose the
"other" category, they were still photographers. Many chose to write
in their specific job titles (e.g., chief photographer, director of
photography, senior photographer) instead of noting a general
category. [23] (See Table 1)
Table 1
Staff Positions of Responding Photographers
Position
Percentage
Staff Photographer
52 percent
Photo Editor
20 percent
Lead Photographer
13 percent
Other
15 percent
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Photographers' responses were organized with their questions, under
one of the three headings. Qualitative responses, such as
photographers' comments, were presented along with the quantitative
responses. These comments gave background and context to the numbers
and percentages.
I. Digital Photo Archiving Practices and Policies
Responses to the questions below provide a framework of
understanding about newspapers' policies and photographers' practices
for archiving digital photos.
RQ 1: What are the motivations to archive digital images?
Images are archived to create a historical record (90 percent) and to
sell prints (58 percent). Photographers wrote that "other" reasons
(37 percent) included "storing for later use" and "internal
purposes." More than one response was possible. (See Chart 1)
Chart 1
Motivations to Archive Images
[--- WMF Graphic Goes Here ---]
After understanding the overall picture that the study's findings
presented about archiving practices (newspapers have official
archives and photographers have unofficial ones), the wording of the
question could have been improved. It asked "Why do you archive?"
which photographers could have interpreted as the individual's and
not the newspaper's reasons. It does not necessarily address the
motivation of publishers in setting up archive systems. Nonetheless,
results indicated the awareness of a historical record is very high.
Also, a little more than half of the newspaper's managers were aware
of the economic opportunities to sell prints.
RQ 2: What are the archiving policies for digital images compared to
film images?
For film images, 62 percent of the photographers reported that every
35mm image was archived (n = 216) and 24 percent said that all
published images and some of the unpublished ones (n = 85) were
archived. For digital images, 40 percent of the photographers said
every digital image was archived (n = 145), but a greater proportion
reported all published images and some of the unpublished ones (48
percent, n = 174) were preserved. In essence, any 35mm film image was
more likely to be archived, while a digital image was likely to be
saved only if it was a published image or among those images
considered for publication. (See Chart 2)
Chart 2
Comparison of Film and Archiving Practices
[--- WMF Graphic Goes Here ---]
The larger percentage of film images being retained may relate to the
difference in media. First, the physical structure of 35 mm film
required it to be saved in strips in order to be handled easily.
Digital images have no such limitation. Second, in the film world,
images that are not of value are retained because of their physical
closeness on the 35 mm piece of film to an image of importance. In
the digital world, only images deemed important can be kept merely by
pointing and clicking.
Photographers' written comments for the "other" category for digital
images suggested many could have selected "every image" or "every
published image and some unpublished," but instead, wanted to clarify
their response. For example, one photographer wrote: "Every published
image and a select few additional images." The delineation of
responses merits more investigation.
An interesting revelation from the comments was that there seemed to
be two types of archives: 1) a formal or official computer system
with searchable tags and keywords and 2) a local and informal format
such as CD or DVD. Importantly, newspapers could have one or the
other or both types of archives. One photographer summed the
situation this way: "Every digital image is archived on CD, but only
a portion of the photos are archived in a readily searchable
database." At some newspapers where only published photographs are
archived in a searchable database, the photographer took it upon
himself or herself to save all of the shots to a basic format (CD or
DVD) as more of a backup than an archive. "The [news]paper archives
published [photographs], I archive all the rest on my own," wrote
another photographer. Thus, the searchable archive is a dynamic
information technology tool for storage and retrieval, while the
backup is simply an insurance policy against data loss.
Policies at some newspapers further varied as to the number and type
of unpublished photos archived for several reasons. Some
photographers lamented that unqualified personnel based archiving
decisions on how "good" or "useable" the photo was. Archiving
decisions also were complicated by legal concerns—photos not archived
were spot news images that could be subpoenaed. In addition, there
were budget considerations. One photographer wrote: "All published,
some unpublished. Then images are narrowed down by editors due to
'space constraints,' which is ultimately a monetary decision."
Furthermore, those who decided on images for archiving ranged from
clerks to editors to photographers to librarians to archivists.
RQ 3: How developed are digital archiving policies?
While 49 percent of the photographers responded that the newspaper
had a "good policy that works," the frequencies of the other
categories (51 percent total) and comments suggested a certain degree
of disarray. (See Chart 3) A number of photographers highlighted
conflicts of cost, technology and time. Others expressed concern over
the definition and application of the criteria determining which
images were archived and how the archiving was done—even when a
"working" policy was in place.
Chart 3
Level of Policy Development
[--- WMF Graphic Goes Here ---]
Photographers' comments touched on several issues related to the
definition of archiving as well as budgetary and policy concerns. One
comment was: "We save everything. CDs are cheap." This may address
the question of storing data, but not the issue of a robust system
for search and retrieval of information. Information saved on a CD
may be compared to tossing the family photographs in a shoebox rather
than being an organized archiving system with keywords and metatags
that a librarian and researcher would find useful.
Another photographer stated: "We have a policy that seems to work;
however, sometimes finding the raw files can be difficult."
Apparently, some news organizations have a policy structure to save
images, but have not figured out the next step of creating a system
for efficient searching and retrieving of images.
"We have a poorly designed policy that is followed," expressed a
photographer. Perhaps, while the policy leads to some set of images
being archived, the policy doesn't cover everything this respondent
feels is important. Managers may not fully understand how best to
craft an archive system that is functional and useful.
And, yet another photographer said, "We have a policy, but it does
not work. Money is the issue." So, photos at this organization might
not become archived because of a non-productive policy. This comment
suggests that the cost of hardware, software and/or personnel may be
an inhibiting factor in achieving a fully functional system.
Clearly the response, "good policy that works," told only told
part of the story, but did not adequately probe what "works" really
meant in different environments. A newspaper could have a great
policy that no one follows because of various constraints or a bad
policy that is followed extremely well. Also, some confusion existed
between an archive system that has a fully searchable and retrievable
database function and one that simply acts as a backup storage system.
RQ 4: Who is primarily responsible for archiving digital images?
The photographer was cited as being the person responsible for
archiving images half the time, while a combination of other
personnel was cited for the other half. (See Chart 4) The
photographers' comments indicated that many could not identify a
primary individual because several people share the responsibility of
archiving photographs. "It is the photographer's responsibility to
archive their digital photos. It is known that because each
photographer does not come into the office daily, that a large number
of photos never are archived. The photos that appear in the paper are
archived by a clerk in the library," wrote a respondent.
Chart 4
Who is Responsible for Archiving?
[--- WMF Graphic Goes Here ---]
Other comments reflected other problems within newspapers and across
newspapers: 1) The person (news manager to clerk) who decided which
photos to archive was not necessarily the same person who did the
archiving. 2) The people and positions varied who decided what to
archive. 3) The people and positions varied who archived the images.
4) The criteria varied for archiving. As another photographer
indicated, "Those files often depend on how the librarian feels on
any particular day. If he/she likes baseball then all baseball
pictures were saved. If they hate baseball, then few get saved."
RQ 5: How and where are digital images stored?
Images are stored mostly on CDs or DVDs (83 percent, n = 301).
Respondents could select more than one storage technology, and the
sum of responses to the other items was 90 percent. (See Chart 5)
These percentages and the photographers' comments indicated that
photos are being saved on optical disks (CDs and DVDs) as well as in
other digital formats, such as file servers.
Chart 5
Where are Images Stored?
[--- WMF Graphic Goes Here ---]
The distinction of the storage technology is important because the
physical medium influences the usability and functional quality of
the archive. For example, file servers usually have a search
function built into them. Optical disks (CDs and DVDs) might not be
part of a searchable database system and function simply like a
contact sheet in the older film processing technology.
CD and DVD platforms represent an inexpensive system where records
can be easily lost or damaged. Judging from photographers' comments,
the optical disk format is the main form of archiving—searchable or
not—for newspapers. It is also the primary format that photographers
use to store all raw images because of the personal commitment of the
photographer to "back up all my work."
While convenient and transportable, CDs and DVDs might be considered
by some to be the least safe or effective medium for archiving
because they are individual items not inherently tied to a large,
centralized data storage system. And, they can easily be lost or
damaged. However, using optical disks in conjunction with cataloging
software or with a jukebox, might be temporarily efficient,
especially for smaller newspapers, if the archiving system includes
keyword tagging or caption information (more than just the date and
photographer) for searchability. The desirability of this archiving
method would probably decrease over time as costs for file servers
and database software become more affordable. Meanwhile, the
inexpensiveness of the optical disk as a storage medium is probably
why CDs and DVDs are so popular.
The high use of CDs and DVDs as the archive medium by news
organizations portrayed a lack of sophisticated systems being in
place. Newspapers need to carefully look at how archiving images
digitally changes the value of an archive, how it can be accessed
more readily and managed efficiently to serve both the on-going needs
of the newspaper as well as perhaps harnessing the economic potential
of the digital library for an increased revenue stream.
Photographers' comments reflected they are concerned with losing the
historical record because the functional lifetime of the digital
archiving technology may be short. One news photographer emphasized:
"All newspapers need to address the longevity of the photo file type.
Years from now the current file type could be obsolete. There needs
to be a thread of responsibility, with archiving, for keeping up with
the technology, otherwise millions of images could be lost."
Photographers quantitative and qualitative responses to the
questions on archiving practices and policies formed an overall
picture of the situation concerning archiving images: 1) Newspapers
use mostly CDs or DVDs or another technology to archive images. 2)
Photographers, themselves, use CDs and DVDs to back up the
newspapers' system. 3) Complete, descriptive information often is not
archived with the images. 4) Images on CDs and DVDs often are not
easily searchable and retrievable. 5) These digital archival and
backup systems, holding all of the newspapers' and photographers'
images, will become obsolete in a relatively short time.
II. Digital Photo Archive Use and Access Practices and Policies
Responses to the following questions provide a greater understanding
about what happens to digital photos once they are archived.
RQ 6: How often are the photo archives accessed?
The photo archives are used "several times a month" (39 percent),
followed by "once a day" (29 percent), "twice a week" (23 percent)
and rarely (9 percent). This question tells us something about the
actual use of the digital archive, but not the how or why of the
purposes behind its use.
RQ 7: Who has access to the archives?
The archives can be accessed mostly by photographers (97 percent),
editors (79 percent) and reporters (37 percent). The public trailed
with 4 percent. These responses suggested that most digital archive
systems are for internal use and that newspapers have not determined
if it is in their interest to allow public access to their photo
archives for social or historic purposes.
RQ 8: Are digital images from the archive available for sale to the public?
Photographers responded that images were not available for sale to
the public (58 percent) while others indicated they were (37
percent). Five percent did not know if the images were for sale.
It is interesting to note that 37 percent of newspapers offer their
images for sale to the public while only 4 percent of these
organizations allow public access to the archives. This suggested
that news organizations should look more carefully at how to make the
archives accessible to the public in order to more effectively use
the digital archive as not just an internal library, but also as an
external revenue source. Furthermore, allowing the public to search
for the images might free up newspaper personnel's time used for
deciphering the public's wants and looking up the desired images.
In RQ1, a motivation to archive images was to sell prints (58
percent); yet, only 37 percent of the photographers said their
newspaper was doing this. Perhaps this was a goal that is not yet in
existence at some newspapers.
Responses to this section on using and accessing archives show that
the archives are used largely for internal purposes and they are an
untapped resource for economic gain. If archives became organized and
searchable, then an employee would not need to carry out the public's
desire to find images; the public would search and pay for easily
accessible prints.
III. Demographic Influences
RQ 9: Is there a statistical relationship between the proportion of
digital images archived and newspaper circulation size, photo staff
size, archiving policy or other demographic variables?
No significant relationship was found between the proportion of
digital images archived and any of the demographic variables.
CONCLUSIONS
The objective of this study was to find out about the practices and
policies of archiving and accessing images, now that most newspapers
have gone digital.
Prior research showed that although news photographers shot more
images with digital cameras than film ones, they were saving fewer.
Photographers deleted images at the scene and in the newsroom.
Findings of the present study showed that a significant number of
images also are deleted at the point of archiving. More newspapers
tended to archive only the published images and some of the
unpublished ones. Photographers expressed frustration that people
from other departments—ranging from news managers to clerks—in
addition to photographers, decided on the images to archive. And,
some of their judgments were based on legal, monetary or space
criteria and varied with the time of day.
Many of the photographers said their newspaper had a policy that
worked, but their practice was not to follow it because it was not a
good policy. Others followed their policy even if it was less than
satisfactory. "We haven't purchased a good archiving system. We all
look forward to the day when it will be easy to store all images shot
at an assignment. We would do this to preserve history," wrote a photographer.
A particularly important finding was that at least two systems were
in effect at most newspapers. One system was the newspaper's official
archives with published and other images, while the second system was
the photographer's personal backup of all images shot. As one
respondent put it: " I also keep a personal archive of 100 percent of
my work because of a belief to delete nothing; you never know what
will be relevant in 10 years." Other photographers took it upon
themselves to archive all the staff's photos on a backup disk.
An unsettling finding was that most of the images in either or both
of the formal archive and informal backup systems were stored on
inexpensive, transportable optical disks—CDs and DVDs—that may become
obsolete in 10 years because the coding, software and hardware
running it would be replaced with newer technology. And,
photographers were concerned about this phenomenon. "I have used negs
and slides for 20 years," scrawled a photographer. "My concern is
that digital may erase future historical images and rob generations
of important images not felt as important now."
Further complicating the situation is that images stored on CDs and
DVDs alone are like photos tossed in shoeboxes. To be searchable and
retrievable, these optical disks need to be used in conjunction with
cataloging software or jukeboxes. Otherwise, the effort to locate an
image can ponderous, as illustrated by another respondent: "We have a
great resource in our digital archive but a lousy system for finding
the work within it. It is easier for an editor to grab a photo off
the wire than look for staff produced images in our archives to use
instead." Whereas only the date accompanied most images, more
identifying information is needed, such as the cutline, keywords,
event and photographer to make searching efficient.
In the future, perhaps the term "archive" should be distinct from
"storage" and "preservation." To store or preserve images might
simply mean to collect and keep them with little opportunity for
access and retrieval. True archival systems would have quality and
searchability. Quality includes the search tool itself—the hardware
and software technology on which it is stored. Searchability includes
the organization of the images and the information that has been
saved with the images. Thus, "archives" hold images and information
that are complete, easy to find and retrieve (searchable).
Also, in the future, new language might appear. When a new technology
replaces an older one, then new terms often replace the older ones.
For example, with the introduction of video came the term
"videographer." As photographers in newspapers work less with photos
and more with images, they might become "imographers."
The motivation for newspapers to archive was contradictory to their
policy and practice for two reasons. First, whereas a reason to
archive was for historical record (90 percent), they stored their
historical images on cheap, corruptible technology that soon may
become obsolete—CDs and DVDs (83 percent). Furthermore, if the images
are not catalogued and retrievable, then the historical record is of
litle use. If no one (the public) is allowed to see or have access to
the records, then, again, they are of little use.
Second, a reason to archive was to sell reprints of photos (58
percent); yet, images from the archives were available for sale at
only 37 percent of the newspapers and not for sale at 58 percent.
Perhaps if more than just four percent of the public had access to
archives, then newspapers would realize significant aftermarket
rewards that would greatly compensate for expensive archiving systems.
Newspapers need to carefully look at how archiving images digitally
changes the value of an archive, how it can be accessed more readily
and managed efficiently to serve both the needs of the newspaper as
well as harnessing the economic potential of the digital library for
an increased revenue stream. Major libraries, universities and
museums, such as the Library of Congress, the New York Public
Library, and the University of Pittsburgh with Carnegie Museum of Art
and the Heinz Museum Center have recognized the value of creating
online digital libraries and websites of historical photographs. The
New York Times has taken advantage of both the historical and
economic value of picture archives by selling beautifully printed
modern copies of historical photographs online.[24]
As archiving and accessing methods mature, the jobs of creating
images and creating archives should be distinct. Photographers create
the raw record; information technology managers or librarians create
the obvious and finer attributes of a usable archiving system. It is
too complicated and time-consuming for field photographers to also be
responsible for these important second-level functions that may
provide a profitable outlet for newspapers.
This study's findings show that practices and policies for archiving
digital images at newspapers is still in developmental flux, slowly
traipsing after image-making technology (digital cameras, scanning),
which is moving toward maturity. Just as it took several years for
the image-making technology to reach a critical mass for industry
standards to be developed, it will take time for archiving technology
to develop. When this happens, divergent practices and policies might
merge to become a news industry standard. As one photographer put
it: "It's going to be interesting to see, isn't it, as technological
advances make our present system obsolete, how easy or difficult it
will be to access the images from this nascent stage of digital imaging."
We are beginning to think about the effects of digitally archiving
images of our society, and what this process means to future
generations. Marshall McLuhan dedicated himself to studying the
influence of new technologies on society and culture.[25] He believed
that as a new technology extended human capabilities, it amputated
others. (For example, the telephone extends the voice and amputates
printed correspondence.) He warned about mankind's blinding
enthusiasm for extensions and disregard for resulting amputations and
their indirect, sometime long-term consequences to culture. McLuhan
developed a theory for his observation—that he called tetrad—to which
he applied four standard questions that we can address to digital
archives: 1) "What does it (digital archives) extend?" Perhaps the
answer is, "our memory." 2) "What does it (digital archives) make
obsolete?" – perhaps, "original artifacts, such as photographs and
newspapers." 3) "What does it (digital archives) retrieve?" –
possibly, "more knowledge about past generations." 4) "What does it
(digital archives) reverse into if it is over-extended?" – maybe,
"the need for a (tactile) connection to the past" or "a loss of
opportunity to appreciate and learn from our parents' parents."
[1] Denis McQuail, McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, 4th ed.
(Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2000): 107.
[2] Howard Bossen, Lucinda D. Davenport and Quint Randle, "Digital
News Photography: Is the Historic Record a Blimp on the Screen?"
Paper presented to the Visual Communication Division, AEJMC, Toronto,
August 2004.
[3] Announcement of Digital Archiving Conference in the U.K., April, 2002.
[4] Jeff Rothenberg, "Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Documents,"
Scientific American, January 1995:42-47. Rothenberg has written on
the problem of preserving digital information before and after this
seminal article. For example, see Jeff Rothenberg, address to New
England Library and Information Network (NELINET), Conference on
Digital Preservation, June 8, 2000; Jeff Rothenberg, Avoiding
Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for
Digital Preservation, XXX.
[5] Paul Conway, Preservation in a Digital World, by the Council of
Library and Information Resources (CLIR), 1996 or see
www.clir.org/pubs/reports/Conway2/index.html; See also, Conway, Paul.
"Digital Preservation: Paper and Microfilm Go Electronic." Library
Journal 119 (February 1, 1994): 42-45; Conway, Paul. "The
Implications of Digital Imaging for Preservation." In Preservation of
Library and Archival Materials, 2nd ed. Edited by Sherelyn Ogden.
Andover, MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, 1994; Conway,
Paul. "Selecting Microfilm for Digital Preservation: A Case Study
from Project Open Book." Library Resources & Technical Services 40,
(January 1996): 67-77.
[6] Charles M. Dollar, Archival Theory and Information Technologies:
The Impact of Information Technologies on Archival Principles and
Methods. Macerata: University of Macerata Press, 1992.
[7] John E. Newhagen, "The Implications of Micro-Preservation to the
Analysis of Content Importance in Newspapers," Paper presented to the
Newspaper Division of AJEMC, Miami, FL, August 2001.
[8] Jeff Rothenberg, "Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Documents."
[9] Victoria McCargar, "Losing the First Draft of History: Newspaper
Archives in a Digital World" (paper presented at AEJMC, Miami, FL,
August 2001 and also to the SLA News Division annual conference, 2002).
[10] Newhagen, "The Implications of Micro-Preservation"; Conway,
"Preservation in a Digital World,"
[11] Gregory W. Lawrence, William R. Kehoe, Oya Y. Rieger, William
H. Walters, and Anne R. Kenney, Risk Management of Digital
Information: A File Format Investigation, Pub93 by the Council of
Library and Information Resources (CLIR), June 2000.
[12] Victoria McCargar, "Losing the First Draft of History."
[13] Conway XXX; Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, Preserving Archives and
Manuscripts. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1993.
[14] Michael C. Carlebach, American Photojournalism Comes of Age,
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1997, p. 2.
[15] Tom Hubbard, "Archived Images Valuable Asset," News
Photographer, 54, no.11 (November 1999):1-7.
[16] Victoria McCargar, "Losing the First Draft of History."
[17]
Howard Bossen, "Zone V: Photojournalism, Ethics, and the electronic
Age," Studies in Visual Communication, II, no. 3 (Summer 1985);
Sheila Reaves, "What's Wrong with this Picture? Daily Newspaper Photo
Editors' Attitudes and Their Tolerance Toward Digital Manipulation,"
Newspaper Research Journa1 13/14 (fall 1992/winter 1993); James Kelly
and Diiona Nace, "Digital Imaging and Believing Photos," Visual
Communication Quarterly, 1, no. 1 (1994): 18; Tom Wheeler and Tim
Gleason, "Photography or Photofiction: An Ethical Protocol for the
Digital Age," Visual Communication Quarterly 2 (January 1995): 8-12.
See also Edgar Shaohua Huang, "Readers' Perceptions of Digital
Alteration in Photojournalism," Journalism & Communication Monographs
3, no. 3 (2001): 149-182.
[18]
Byron Hindman, "Bridging the Photographic Past and Future," PSA
Journal 65, no. 8 (August 1999): 8-9; Susan Zavoina and Tom Reichert,
"Media Convergence/Management Change: The Evolving Work flow for
Visual Journalists," The Journal of Media Economics 13, no. 2 (2000):
143-151; John Russial, "How Digital Imaging Changes Work of
Photojournalists," Newspaper Research Journal 21, no. 2 (Spring
2000): 67-83; Shahira Fahmy and C. Zoe Smith, "Photographers Note
Digital's Advantages, Disadvantages," Newspaper Research Journal 24,
no. 2 (Spring 2003): 82-96.
[19] John Russial and Wayne Wanta, "Digital Imaging Skills and the
Hiring and Training of Photojournalists," Journalism and Mass
Communication Quarterly 75, no. 3 (Autumn 1998): 593-605; Bossen,
Davenport and Randle, "Digital News Photography."
[20] Bossen, Davenport and Randle, " Digital News Photography: Is
the Historic Record a Blip on the Page"; John E. Newhagen, "The
Implications of Micro-Preservation to the Analysis of Content
Importance in Newspapers"; Victoria McCargar, "Losing the First Draft
of History."
[21] See for example, Helene Cohen Smith, "Electronic Photo
Archiving," Editor & Publisher, 5 March 1994; Peter Howe,
"Photojournalism at a Crossroads: Technology, Culture and Economics
will Determine Its Future," Nieman Reports, Fall 2001: 25-26. Several
articles reviewed Jeff Rothenberg's discussions and book. See for
example,"Preserving Files on Minds of Researchers, MilwaukeeJournal
Sentinel, Oct. 1, 2002: 3E; Stephen Manes, "Time and Technology
Threaten Digital Archives," New York Times, 147, issue 51120: F4.
Websites included the National Press Photographers Association,
Poynter, Pew, American Press Institute and Editor & Publisher. Key
words included digital cameras, digital archives, photo archives,
archiving policies, etc.
[22] Both the mean and median were somewhat larger than those found
by Quint Randle, Lucinda Davenport and Howard Bossen. "Newspapers
Slow To Use Web Sites for 9/11 Coverage," Newspaper Research Journal
(Winter 2003) 24, no.1: 58-17.
[23] Respondents who responded with "other," wrote in the following
specific titles or position descriptions. Several of these titles
appeared multiple times: Bureau Photo Chief, Assistant Managing
Editor/ Photos, Photo Lab Manager, Managing Editor Visuals, Associate
Editor, former AME for photography--now responsible for all
permissions for reuse as well as library and reprint operations,
Chief Photographer, Photo Editor, Visuals Editor, Photo Systems
Editor, Photographic archivist (former Librarian), Director of
Photography, Photo stringer for Reuters, Senior Photographer, Photo
Systems Manager/Editor, Chief photographer.
[24] In the last few years the Library of Congress has put online
hundreds of thousands of images including the entire 160,000 plus
photographic collection of the Farm Security Administration that
presents documentation of the Great Depression,
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/052_fsa.html. The University of
Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Heinz History Center
have collaborated to produce the Historic Pittsburgh website that
includes photographic images ranging from conventional industrial
photographs to a substantial and continually increasing portion of
the Carnegie Museum of Art's photographic collection,
http://www.images.library.pitt.edu/pghphotos. The New York Public
Library, the most recent of the three, also has put online hundreds
of thousands of images including their complete collection of Bernice
Abbott's photographs and Lewis Hine's photographs, which include his
images of immigrant life in New York City shortly after the turn of
the 20th century, many of his photographs of child labor from 1908 to
1918 and many of his images of the building of the Empire State
Building in 1930–1931,
http://www.digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm. Large ads
in the New York Times and on its website publicize the sale of
beautifully printed modern copies of historical photographs.
[25] Marshall McLuhan and P.R. Powers, The Global Village:
Transformation in World, Life and Media, New York: Oxford University
Press, 1989; Marshal McLuhan, The mechanical Bride: Folklore of
Industrial Man, New York, Vanguard Press, 1951; Eric McLuhan and
Frank Zingrone (ed), New York: Basic Books, 1995; see also, Todd
Kappelman, "Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Message,"
www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html.
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