UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2017 - SABC has more than one Archive

SABC Archives

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has more than one archive, safeguarding television and radio broadcast material for preservation, rebroadcasting and research purposes. The upcoming World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October will again highlight the importance of these archives for future generations.

Follow the day with the hashtags #AudiovisualHeritage
                                                      #wdavh2017

Facts about UNESCO, WDAVH and SABC Archives...

2017 World Day for Audiovisual Heritage - SABC will be highlighting their collections

#WDAVH2017

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is coming up on 27 October 2017.
The SABC Television and Radio Archives will be highlighting their collections on national radio and television on the day. They will also create awareness inside the organisation of the importance of the material that is being preserved. The vulnerability of the collections, which is a world-wide issue, will also be highlighted!

This year the theme of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

"Discover, Remember and Share"

Discover: 

Each day hundreds of thousands of  recordings  are captured, preserved and annotated  by archivists to enable search, discovery, new interpretations,  uses and enjoyment of moving image and sound recordings. The day celebrate the voyages of discovery made possible by your archive in your domain.  Showcase and promote  your mission and work.

Share: 

Digital media has created opportunities as never before for archives to connect directly with their publics, sharing and engaging with new audiences across digital  platforms in ever new ways.  Promote  your shared archive events and celebrations with the archive community worldwide .

Remember: 

Audio-visual archives are a  cornerstone of the memory of the world, with recordings that enable recall for future generations and give context to our shared history, culture and humanity for over a century.  Promote a greater understanding of the unique role of audiovisual archives and  the need for it to be safeguarded , preserved and protected as part of our world heritage.  

Related posts:

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015

- World Day for Audiovisual heritage 2015 - plans by the SABC Media Libraries

- It's your story - Don't lose it!- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2016

UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2016 - SABC Radio Archives and Television News archives photos

The SABCRadio Archives and the SABC Television News Archives highlight the rich cultural heritage that they have in their audio and audiovisual collections for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2016.

SABC TRC CD collection – an oral memoir of the truth and reconciliation commission

In anticipation of UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October, the SABC Radio Archives share a product from the Archives. A 6 CD set called  called south africa’s human spirit – an oral memoir of the truth and reconciliation commission.

This six-hour documentary transports the listener through raw sound to the unprecedented public hearings at which survivors - victims, perpetrators and others – testified about gross human rights abuses since 1960.

SABC Truth and Reconcilaition CD

It contains award-winning and brand new radio stories with lots of gripping and contextual sound. Well-known musicians, storytellers, poets, former political prisoners, exiles and most of the Truth Commissioners thread the story of South Africa's past with music, song, poetry and commentary.

This oral record aims to preserve for posterity the rich gamut of viewpoints, memories and emotions of South Africa's history - apartheid and democracy. Another aim is to make it accessible to individuals, schools, centres of higher learning, libraries and human rights organisations world-wide. The production was made possible with a grant by the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (Norad).

Production scripts and sound from the TRC recordings are available on the website, or a CD set can be ordered as well!

"It's your story - Don't lose it!" - World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2016 theme

The annual World Day for Audiovisual Heritage will again be hosted worldwide on 27 October.

Bertram Lyons, IASA Editor and working at AVPreserve, has posted the following:  

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage has become a key initiative for both UNESCO and the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) to honour audiovisual preservation professionals and institutions that help to safeguard this heritage for future generations despite the many technical, political, social, financial, and other factors that threaten its survival. Audiovisual archives around the world join together annually on 27 October to celebrate their work with activities and events that not only highlight the vulnerability of this heritage, but also celebrate the often unheralded work of the heritage institutions that protect it.

The theme of the World Day this year is "It's Your Story - Don't Lose It". 

READ MORE: New CCAAA Website and the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage!

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage - podcast from Radio Sonder Grense on 27 October #wdavh2015

The following package was compiled by the afternoon team of Radio Sonder Grense on Middag op.

Karen du Toit, Afrikaans archivist in the SABC Radio Archive, have selected one of the soundtracks for today. Jan Beukes, one of the first African broadcasters in 1937 on the African service, are relaying anecdotes about the first African broadcasts on radio. It was recorded on October 18, 1955. The soundtrack was originally recorded on acetate record and was digitized on a CD by a sound engineer. Unfortunately, we have many formats in the Archives which are perishing because we are not digitizing fast enough. It is a global problem in all audiovisual archives! "

The podcast translated from Afrikaans:

"The theme for the celebration of this year World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015" Archives in Danger - Protecting the world's identities! "

SABC Media Libraries are part of archives worldwide highlighting the importance of preserving our audiovisual heritage in the SABC Radio archives. Our audiovisual heritage do not only allow us to look and listen with apperciation to our audio-visual collections, but what is more important, it also shows us who we are!

The Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Association (CCAAA) encourage everyone to participate in the campaign to protect man's AV heritage. The world's audiovisual heritage of sound recordings and moving images are extremely vulnerable due to factors ranging from neglect, natural decay due to technological obsolescence, as well as deliberate destruction.

Accordingly, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) made it part of its mission to create public awareness with the the Global Audiovisual Heritage celebrations annually.

All the world's audiovisual heritage is endangered. Therefore, the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage and the Memory of the World program are the two most important actions identified by UNESCO to help preserve this heritage! The task is on professionals in conservation to help preserve this heritage for future generations, despite the many technical, political, social, financial and other factors that threaten AV survival.

UNESCO encourages everyone to share in the celebrations on October 27 by putting the emphasis on their precious collections to ensure that present and future generations will still be able to enjoy our shared audiovisual heritage. "

Interview with SABC archivists on African Dialogue about the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015 #wdavh2015

Two of SABC Radio Archives' archivists were interviewed on the programme African Dialogue on Channel Africa about the World day for Audiovisual Heritage that was celebrated on Tuesday 27 October.
Sipho Hlope is the Springbok Radio archivist; and Namatama Mate is the Channel Africa archivist.

"Today the world acknowledges the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. This is a day, now headed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, aims to raise awareness about the importance of audiovisual documents and the importance of archiving. This year’s theme is “Archives at risk: protecting the world's identities". Today we speak to: • Sipho Hlope, archivist from Springbok-radio • Namatama Mate, journalist and archivist from SABC. • Cecil Nguva-uva – former Southern African Broadcasters Association • Ilse Assman Chairperson of the Southern African Broadcasting Association’s Audiovisual Committee." - iono.fm

Storify of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage at the SABC Media Libraries #WDAVH2015

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 27 Oct - plans by the SABC Media Libraries

#WDAVH2015

The SABC Media Libraries will be joining other archives worldwide to showcase and bring awareness about the heritage that we preserve in the Radio Archives.

The following has planned for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage this year:

- A Video highlighting the departments and the collections of the SABC Media Libraries will be shown in the main foyer of the workplace.

- The personnel of the SABC Media Libraries will be handing out World Day for Audiovisual Heritage cards at the entrances to make people aware of the AV collections that we preserve.

- A musician Sophie Ribstein and friends will be entertaining the early morning personnel arriving at work.

- We will be displaying some QR codes linking up to videos on the Internet showcasing the material that we preserve. See the example below. (What do you do when you see a QR code?)

QR code to: UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2010
(Video by Marius Oosthuizen)

This video displays the vulnerability of tow of the formats that are becoming obsolete in the Archives: the acetate record and the reel-to-reel tape.


Related posts:

- Poster: World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015 on 27 October

Poster: World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015

The UNESCO Coordinator for WDAVH 2015, Belina SB Capul, has released two studies of the proposed official poster to highlight this year's theme:
 "Archives at Risk - Protecting the World's Identities"

The poster designs were developed by the Philippine Information Agency's Creative and Production Services Division.

The other poster can be viewed here: Study for WDAVH Posters Released
It seems likely that the poster shared here will be used, as it is displayed in the side-bar of the official WDAVH website as well.

The official website for this year's WDAVH can be found here: http://archives.pia.gov.ph/wdavh/?m=home&i=home:col2&sm=About_WDAVH

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015 on 27 October

Once again awareness needs to created about the dire situation of the world-wide audiovisual heritage!

The slogan of this year's World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is:

"Archives at Risk: Protecting the World's Identities"

The world’s audiovisual heritage of sound recordings and moving images are extremely vulnerable as a result of factors ranging from neglect, natural decay to technological obsolescence, as well as deliberate destruction. 

Consequently, UNESCO has made it part of its mission to raise public consciousness of the importance of preservation of these recordings through the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. 

In adopting 27 October as the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, UNESCO, in cooperation with the Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) and other institutions, has helped to raise the profile of the issues at stake and focus global attention on the fragility of this heritage. 

                                                          - UNESCO Woprld Day for Audiovisual Heritage 

The countdown has begun!
Today is 19 days away from the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2015!

Archivists of SABC Radio Archives being interviewed about World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2014 #wdavh2014

Three of the archivists of SABC Radio Archives were interviewed by SABC Radio stations about the importance of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage that is celebrated yearly on 27 October 2014.

The interviews are uploaded on SoundCloud.

Morongwa Mokwena, English Archivist, on 26 October on Media@SAFM on SAFM




Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist, on 27 October on Loslip, on RSG. (interview in Afrikaans)




Peter Raseroka, Ikwekwezi Archivist, on 27 October on Ikwekwezi FM (interview in isiNdebele)





Related posts:

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2014 today

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2014 on 27 October

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2014 today

"Archives at risk: Much more to do"
WDAVH posters

"What if you wake up one day and all the memories of the world are gone?
What then of the future?"

All audiovisual archives worldwide are in trouble.
The formats and the play-out machines are obsolescent.

If we don't start today, will we be able to safeguard our memories and our history for future generations? The need for digitization are more pressing than ever!

The Swiss National Archives put this on YouTube.
The clock is ticking!




Read more: 

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2014

- World Day for Audiovisial Heritage - UNESCO

World Day for Audio Visual Heritage 2014 on 27 October

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is held again on 27 October.

The theme for this year's celebration of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2014 is "Archives at Risk - Much More to Do!"

 Our AV heritage allows us not only to appreciate watching and listening to our AV collections but more importantly, it tells us about who we are.

The Coordinating Council of AV Archives Association (CCAAA) encourages all to join in the campaign for the need to safeguard man's AV heritage." - WDAVH

Read more about the campaign: World Day for Audio Visual Heritage 2014 

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2013 - Eventifier created #wdavh2013

The most recent World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is archived at Eventifier.
The photos that are shared on Instagram about the SABC Radio Archives are also included in this archive of social media interactions about audiovisual heritage.

Eventifier is a great way to archive all the social media stories and to keeping it together. Social media stories get "lost" or it becomes inaccessible as time goes by. This is a great way to archive a social media event that was categorised by a hashtag.

Unfortunately only the first request is free for an Eventifier to be created. Posts can also only be deleted, and nothing can be added after the Eventifier has been created. This option could have added to the quality of the archive of a hashtag.

A screen print of the Eventifier for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage looks like this:

Related posts:

- SABC Media Libraries' Instagram photos for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2013 #wdavh

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October #wdavh2013


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

SABC Media Libraries' Instagram photos for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2013 #wdavh2013

The SABC Media Libraries share on Instagram some of the formats and play back equipment that are part of  the collections of the SABC Radio Archives.
The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2013 on 27 October inspired the most recent photographs on the photography social media sharing site.

The SABC Media Libraries account on Instagram can be found here: SABCMediaLib on Instagram, with more photos from the archives. It can be located under the hashtag #wdavh2013



Related posts:

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2013 on 27 October #wdavh2013

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October 2012


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October #wdavh2013

The yearly World Day for Audiovisual Heritage highlights the vulnerability of the world's audiovisual records.

The Instagram photo is from a photo taken in the SABC Radio Archives, which collects and stores audio material from SABC Public Broadcast Services (PBS) Radio Services. The SABC Radio Archives store a vast collection of audio material in different audio formats, some of which are also subject to disintegration if not being digitised before it is too late.

More information about the day can be found here: About the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.

27 October 2013
Theme: Saving Our Heritage for the Next Generation

"Audiovisual documents, such as films, radio and television programmes, audio and video recordings, contain the primary records of the 20th and 21st centuries.

 Transcending language and cultural boundaries, appealing immediately to the eye and the ear, to the literate and illiterate, audiovisual documents have transformed society by becoming a permanent complement to the traditional written record.

However, they are extremely vulnerable and it is estimated that we have no more than 10 to 15 years to transfer audiovisual records to digital to prevent their loss. Much of the world's audiovisual heritage has already been irrevocably lost through neglect, destruction, decay and the lack of resources, skills, and structures, thus impoverishing the memory of mankind. Much more will be lost if stronger and concerted international action is not taken. 

It was in this context, that the UNESCO General Conference in 2005 approved the commemoration of a World Day for Audiovisual Heritage as a mechanism to raise general awareness of the need for urgent measures to be taken and to acknowledge the importance of audiovisual documents as an integral part of national identity."

                          Source: UNESCO

Posts from previous years: 

- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October 2012

- Storify: World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2011 at the SABC 

- Springbok Radio #1 - The History

- Unesco World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2012 - Awareness by SABC Media Libraries in South Africa 

- Unesco World Day for Audiovisial Heritage 27-28 October 2010

Blog post by Karen du Toit, archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2012 - awareness by SABC Media Libraries in South Africa

Picasa Photo album of  SABC Media Libraries exhibition for UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2012.

UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is an annual event on the 27th of October.

This year IASA (International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives) coordinated the event worldwide with the theme:
"Audiovisual heritage memory? the clock is ticking"

The link is here with all the participating countries and organisations listed:
World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

This year the day fell on a Saturday, and the exhibition was set up on the 29th of October 2012 at the SABC.
The exhibition will be open in the foyer of the SABC for the rest of the week.

The official poster for SABC participation in
UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 

The SABC News Archives also participated in creating awareness about their audiovisual heritage of SABC news on AV formats that are threatened with obsolescence.

A Picasa photo album of their exhibit is uploaded here: Unesco World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2012 - SABC Television News Archives exhibit at SABC


Related post:

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October 2012


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

World day for AudioVisual Heritage on 27 October 2012

It is again on 27 October 2012 the World Day for AudioVisual Heritage that has been declared by UNESCO as the official day to highlight the dire state of our AV collections worldwide.

The theme for 2012 is: “Audiovisual heritage memory? the clock is ticking”

"Audiovisual documents, such as films, radio and television programmes, audio and video recordings, contain the primary records of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Transcending language and cultural boundaries, appealing immediately to the eye and the ear, to the literate and illiterate, audiovisual documents have transformed society by becoming a permanent complement to the traditional written record.  

However, they are extremely vulnerable and it is estimated that we have no more than 10 to 15 years to transfer audiovisual records to digital to prevent their loss. 

Much of the world's audiovisual heritage has already been irrevocably lost through neglect, destruction, decay and the lack of resources, skills, and structures, thus impoverishing the memory of mankind. Much more will be lost if stronger and concerted international action is not taken." - UNESCO 

IASA, the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, is hosting the day at 
World Day for AudioVisual Heritage.

They undertake to post any relevant content: Tell us how your organisation is celebrating World Day for Audiovisual Heritage? 



The SABC Media Libraries will also be taking part. 


This year we will focus especially on our Springbok Radio Revisited collection, the radio material of the former SABC radio station Springbok Radio, that was handed back earlier this year to the SABC. 

Springbok Radio Revisited

The official hand over of Springbok Radio archive material to SABC took place on 8 May 2012 this year.  

Hand over of Springbok Radio material by Frans Erasmus to
Thami ka Plaatjie of the SABC

Springbok Radio can still be heard digitally in 6-hour loops that is being refreshed on a two-weekly basis by our Springbok Radio custodian, Retha Buys. 
The Springbok Radio Audio stream is here: http://www.springbokradio.com/AudioStream.html

How will you highlight your audiovisual heritage?


Related posts: 

- Storify: World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2011 at the SABC

- SABC Platfontein celebrated World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

- SABC Bloemfontein exhibition for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

- UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage  27-28 October 2010

- The story of  Springbok radio via Storify

- Frans Erasmus, an inspiration!

- Springbok Radio Revisited


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

Storify: World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2011 at the SABC

Storify: World Day for Audiovisual Heritage at the SABC

The SABC celebrated World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27th Oct 2011 by hosting a traveling exhibition from ILAM called “For Future Generations – Hugh Tracey and the International Library of African Music". The exhibition was up from 5 - 28th October in Auckland Park. 


The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage culminated in a lunch-time concert on 27 October  by Pops Mohamed. Pops Mohamed is a South African musician who promotes our cultural African music tradition by promoting African music with the traditional musical instruments on a modern platform. He says he is on a "mystical African music journey". 


The SABC participation in World Day for Audiovisual heritage was compiled in a Storify with all the relevant posts, updates and tweets about the day, and to highlight the importance of our audiovisual heritage.

Quote from Unesco World Day for Audiovisual heritage:

Sound recordings and moving images are extremely vulnerable as they can be quickly and deliberately destroyed. Essentially emblematic of the 20th century, audiovisual heritage can be irretrievably lost as a result of neglect, natural decay and technological obsolescence. Public consciousness of the importance of preservation of these recordings must be engaged and the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is intended to be the platform for building global awareness.

Some cellphone photos of the Pops Mohamed concert on the 27th Oct.

Pops Mohamed at the lunch-time concert at SABC

Pops Mohamed serenading Florence Moshatana on the mbira

Pops Mohamed playing the kora

Related posts:

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage - 27/10/2011
ILAM Travelling exhibition at the SABC 
SABC Platfontein celebrated World Day for Audiovisual Heritage


Blog post & Storify by Karen du Toit, Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.