http://dablog.ulcc.ac.uk/2008/10/23/all-the-news-thats-fit-to-download/
Friday October 3rd saw the launch of Newsfilm Online, the output of one of JISC’s largest and most ambitious digitisation projects. About 100 people were present in the intimate surroundings of the Soho Hotel’s screening room to see and hear Malcolm Read (JISC’s chief executive), Mark Wood (ITN Chief Executive) and Jon Snow (on video only, to the disappointment of some) describe why all the partners felt this to be a particular success story – bringing thousands of hours of commercial video archive content onto the desks of hundreds of thousands of students and researchers across the UK.
We also heard from Murray Weston of BUFVC, whose self-evident enthusiasm and passion for his subject was clearly key to the project’s success. Murray made a strong case that video content is the poor relation in national collections (I think recorded sound runs it a close second, but they are both worthy of more attention.) Many millions are spent on the copyright libraries and they work as part of a system which allows us to use our local library as a portal to a vast resource of printed publications via inter-library loan. For film and video, by contrast, there is no system of legal deposit for material, hence no guarantee that material will be preserved for the nation. Even for the material that does exist, loan agreements are generally absent, and we must visit places such as the NFTVA to view material.
The collection itself is impressive and we were given a good grasp of the breadth and depth of the material 
available. But the part of the day that made a lasting impression on me was the presentation from Kevin Burden of the University of Hull. They were funded by JISC in what’s known as an assisted takeup project – one which helps the community to exploit the results of another project, be it software, guidelines or digital resources such as NFO. Their work in developing examples of teaching and learning using the Newsfilm Online archive was inspiring, all the more so because they were doing this before the service was fully populated with material. Kevin’s presentation used clips from workshops in a way which illustrated the very techniques he was promoting, and the matrix of use cases – although still only partially populated – is a simple and effective tool which will help others to make use of this resource. I understand that JISC are interested in using this model for other collections, and this can only be a good thing.
And finally… The memory that many may take away is not only of the wealth of material, but of the impact it will have on Malcolm Read, who confessed at the opening to not having owned or watched a television ‘since Bamber Gascoigne looked young.‘ Scholars have generally dated this period to the early 1970s.
