Analog carriers are not suitable for preserving audiovisual content indefinitely. They are all at risk of decay and the number of suitable playback devices is decreasing. This can result in valuable content becoming inaccessible. Hi8 magnetic tapes are at risk, as are Super 8 cine films in the long term.
The Digital Network Collections is supporting the Historical Archive on Tourism (HAT) in a pilot project to digitize its audiovisual media. An external service provider is digitizing a sample of Hi8 tapes, as well as a selection of Super 8 films from the same collection. A total of 239 data carriers are involved.
The films were shot by Georg Thielmann (1930–2012), who taught law at FU Berlin from 1972 to 1996. From the 1960s onward, he traveled extensively in Germany and abroad. One of Thielmann’s main interests was transportation infrastructure, especially railroad lines.
The aim of the project is to digitize, index, and publish Thielmann’s films and associated travel diaries. These can later be supplemented by other relevant items from the HAT, such as travel guides, historical postcards, and railroad literature. The results of the pilot digitization campaign will be presented to the public and made accessible in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
