IASA 2017 Annual Conference

Oral histories are accessed in diverse ways in the digital ecosystem. In the fragmented and increasingly global digital environment, how can archives provide meaningful and equal access to content recorded in multiple languages? The technical and ethical challenges of accurate transcription, translation and subtitling impact our ability to provide access.

Since 2013 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ oral history initiative has conducted over 140 born-digital oral histories with filmmakers internationally. 20% of the collection is in non-English languages. Keeping pace with user search needs, the initiative has developed workflows for cross-cultural and multi-language collaboration in the production, post production and description of oral histories.

The Oral History Metadata Synchronizer (OHMS) is an open source, web-based system designed to enhance access to oral history. OHMS connects the textual search term in a transcript or index to the corresponding moment in the interview. In 2016, OHMS released updates that included capability for bilingual indexes as well as to include a transcript and a translation, all of which are searchable and synchronized to correlating timecode in the online interview.

This paper explores the multi-dimensional process working with various languages, challenges, user expectations, and suggests solutions for archives seeking to provide descriptive metadata of multiple language content in the context of our increasingly interconnected audiences. Speakers will discuss innovative tools and workflows to reduce barriers to accessibility and foster a more inclusive media ecosystem.