The Digital Network for Collections is supporting the digitization of audiovisual material from the video strike newspaper created during the 1980s and 1990s student protests. This project is part of the research focus, “Student History of Freie Universität after 1968,” at the Center for University History (Arbeitsstelle für Universitätsgeschichte).
The material primarily focuses on the winter semester of 1988/89, during which one of the largest student strikes in West Berlin occurred. During that time, students produced nearly daily editions of the audiovisual “video strike newspaper,” which aimed to disseminate news and plans. It supplemented paper strike couriers and circulated more quickly across disciplines and universities, including TU Berlin and HdK (now UdK).
Student materials like these are rarely part of genuine university archive collections. Research by the Arbeitsstelle für Universitätsgeschichte revealed an extensive collection of videotapes in the AStA archive at TU Berlin. It is assumed that the approximately 160 U-matic and U-matic-S tapes are master copies of the video strike newspaper.
Due to the age and media specificity of the tapes, they require urgent transfer to archival storage and digitization. Therefore, the FU University Archive is taking over the physical tapes. Digitization of the U-matic-S tapes must be carried out by an external service provider. The Digital Network for Collections is taking the necessary steps and covering the expenses.
This project is a collaboration between the FU’s Arbeitsstelle für Universitätsgeschichte, the University Archive, the Media Archive at the FU’s Institute for Theater Studies, and the AStA Archive of the TU Berlin.