ABSTRACT
This study dealt with preservation of multimedia materials as part of modern electronic revolution that is changing the way we exchange information. The Ministry of Information and Media Relations specifically Information Services Department (ISD) was selected for the study. This is because the ISD holds collection of valuable Information resources for Ghana. The preservation of multimedia resources is very vital for safeguarding information for posterity.
The study was necessitated by what the researcher observed at the ISD upon several visits. It was revealed that important pre-colonial and post-colonial and even current multimedia materials have been left to decay or rot and the storage facility was not in proper condition. Accessibility to this historical information by researchers, students and the general public was not easy. As a result, the ISD is actually losing Ghana’s historical heritage and the new generation would have no information about their identity.
The case study method was used for this research. A review of pertinent literature and data obtained through interviews and observation formed the basis of this study.
The study found out that the problems at ISD ranged from funds, space, policy, logistics, and storage conditions.
The study recommended that the ISD with the assistance of PRAAD should formulate a
multimedia material preservation policy as provided under the PRAAD Act of 1997.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In today’s advanced and technology adapted society, the concept of multimedia is ever present in many facets of life. Multimedia is part of modern electronic revolution that is changing the way we give and receive information. Multimedia can be termed as the use of several different type of media (e.g. text, audio, graphics, animation, video and interactivity) to convey information. Furthermore, it is important to recognize that multimedia involves the use of computers to present text, graphics, video, animation and sound in an integrated way (Wright, Miller and Addis,2009).
Multimedia includes a range of formats from a simple PowerPoint to a complex interactive simulation (Learning Circuits) and in most cases is believed to enhance user experience and result in easier and faster understanding of the information presented. The concept of presenting information in various formats is not a new phenomenon, however when reviewing this concept in terms of multimedia it generally implies presenting information in various ‘digital’ formats for preservation access to information (Wright, Miller and Addis,2009).
To Akussah (2011) the introduction of information communication technologies has brought about different formats and media of documentation, storage and two major issues are fundamental in this regard. For the first time, these technologies have also brought to the fore the life-span of most of these media as either too short or hardly known. Secondly, the high turnover of these technologies have made obsolescence of media and equipment one of the headaches for
preservations, especially in ensuring long term access to the intellectual contents of machine dependent-documents. This situation has triggered research into digital preservation of documents stored in multi-media formats.
According to Akussah (2011), preservation of information resources can simply be defined as activities associated with maintaining and keeping documentary materials away from destruction, to sustain their life span or actions taken to ensure the longevity of these materials either in their original physical form or in some other usable way. The process of preservation is very important in the whole operation of information management and its basic objective is to prolong the usable life of information resources whilst ensuring long-term access to them.
Akussah (2003) has observed that, the last quarter of the twentieth century has produced an accumulation of documents generated by computers and stored in electronic form, other than the traditional paper format.These categories of documentation gradually and ultimately find its way into the archives for preservation. The fundamental requirements for archiving multimedia materials are not very different from the requirement for such media as paper and microfilm. However, the multimedia materials are fragile and delicate and for these reasons their preservation demands more stringent attention. The nature of multimedia materials makes it a complex and difficult media to archive. Among others, frequent change of technology makes it easy for multimedia materials to be created, communicated, discussed, revoked and finally deleted within few seconds.
The preservation environment will need to incorporate new types of storage systems, new protocols for accessing data, new data-encoding formats, and new standards for characterizing provenance. Thus a major challenge that confronts preservation is how to incorporate new technology effectively, while conserving preservation properties such as authenticity, integrity, and chain of custody. Technology provides the required ability to incorporate new technology, without compromising the preservation environment properties, through the concept of infrastructure independence (Moore, 2008).
