The library at NYU is no longer going to be stocking or checking out VHS in a normal way - you will have to request it special.
It makes sense - technology is advancing, we no longer need to worry about rewinding tapes, fast forwarding them to a specific point - DVD's, and more recently, Blu-Rays, have taken care of those problems.
But it poses a sad dilemma - this library has over 50,000 VHS tapes. They now need to decide which of those to digitize.
What artistic endeavors will be destroyed by the advent of new technology? Unlike theater, in which work is inherently temporary, I have always believed mediums like film and photography to be more permanent - but they too, fall prey to being transitory arts.
The library cannot digitize all of their collection - they need to decide what is worthy of being saved.
How is that worth decided? Most educational value? Most beautiful? Most historic?
No matter how the worth is decided, it is still a fact that thousands of films are going to fade away from history and access.
And this is only one small example - how many VHS's are already in landfills? How many cassettes?
Technology is making life more convenient, but it comes at a price of loss of history, and of memory.
<3
It makes sense - technology is advancing, we no longer need to worry about rewinding tapes, fast forwarding them to a specific point - DVD's, and more recently, Blu-Rays, have taken care of those problems.
But it poses a sad dilemma - this library has over 50,000 VHS tapes. They now need to decide which of those to digitize.
What artistic endeavors will be destroyed by the advent of new technology? Unlike theater, in which work is inherently temporary, I have always believed mediums like film and photography to be more permanent - but they too, fall prey to being transitory arts.
The library cannot digitize all of their collection - they need to decide what is worthy of being saved.
How is that worth decided? Most educational value? Most beautiful? Most historic?
No matter how the worth is decided, it is still a fact that thousands of films are going to fade away from history and access.
And this is only one small example - how many VHS's are already in landfills? How many cassettes?
Technology is making life more convenient, but it comes at a price of loss of history, and of memory.
<3
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