Category
New studio technology — non-broadcast
Submitted by
Front Porch Digital Design Team
Newseum:
Bud O’Connor, dir./eng.;
Mariel Galvan, mgr./business apps. and tech.;
Frank Ginsburg, broadcast eng.;
Brian Frickert, programmer;
Katie Walker, media assets coordinator Communications Engineering, Inc.
Technology at work
Artesia digital asset
management
Cisco 3750 series
switches
Front Porch Digital
DIVArchive content
storage management
NexSan SATABoy2
nearline storage
QLogic SANbox 5602 fiber channel switch
StorageTek SL50E33 tape
storage system
Telestream Flip Factory
Thomson Grass Valley
GXF partial restore
K2 HD media server
Newseum: The nation’s premier museum dedicated to news and news media past and present
The Newseum is dedicated to news and news media past and present. Originally located in Virginia, the Newseum re-opened April 11, 2008, in a 250,000sq-ft facility across from the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Besides exhibit galleries, the building incorporates two state-of-the-art HD production studios and control rooms used for broadcasts, including ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” five edit suites and 70 HD playbacks.
The Newseum team recognized that advances in technology allowed for improved digital workflow to automate ingest, identification, storage, preservation and retrieval of incoming media assets. Because the Newseum used Artesia digital asset management, the design team sought to implement a flexible system to interoperate with Artesia, making all assets available from a single, familiar screen.
To accomplish the purposes of securing and preserving media assets and physical artifacts, the Newseum developed an unusual digital workflow that relies on Artesia media asset management and Front Porch Digital DIVArchive content storage management. Under the direction of Artesia, content is ingested to Thomson Grass Valley K2 servers and then transferred via DIVArchive to Nexsan SATAboy2 nearline storage or to a Sun StorageTek SL500 digital tape library. The metadata associated with the content must identify the clip’s significance in light of journalistic history or the First Amendment.
Newseum’s new digital workflow affords additional benefits as well. Newseum editors using Avid Adrenaline at remote desktops can use Artesia to review and manipulate proxy copies of clips stored on Newseum servers and then retrieve the essence via DIVArchive with frame accuracy according to timecode. DIVArchive features a partial restore function for retrieval of media with no squandering either of time or bandwidth. The ability to browse proxies enables editors to find assets that might have remained hidden in a videocassette, thus improving the creative quality of Newseum programming.
Newseum’s system also enables editors to browse proxy copies of news clips that belong to third parties once they have been recorded into the system. Automated tracking keeps a record of rights information and ownership to facilitate a producer’s request for the original material. A further benefit of the digital workflow is that it automatically generates backup copies of Newseum programming. Should there be a problem with a program on exhibit, the backup can be up and running easily and quickly.
Currently, the Newseum retains storage of most of its legacy assets on videotape. In time, these assets will be digitized to secure them and make them more readily available for use. The adaptability of DIVArchive will make this possible even as LTO tape and tape libraries continue to evolve toward denser storage.
