Digitalization and Preservation of the RDC's Archives

As a result of the USIP Grant, RDC started the implementation of the “Digitalization and Preservation of the Research and Documentation Center’s Archives” project. This project continues after the utilization of the USIP grant since the goal of the project is to digitalize the entire archives in RDC possession.

reconstruction and adjusting of the space for the storage of documentation, preservation and digitalization process
gathering of the documentation from various locations,
organization and storage of documentation,
classification and preparation for the video archive digitalization,
digitalization of the photographs,
equipment procurement,
training,
setting up and organizing the space,
digitalizing of video recordings, and
transferring the newspapers from microfilms into digital format

After the reconstruction and adjusting of the space for archive storage the goal was to gather all the documentation from the various locations, organize it, and store it. The next step was to classify all the collected documentation and begin with the digitalization process. Since some of the video tapes were in the poor condition, they required additional preparation for the digitalization. After the equipment procurement, and the conduction of the training the digitalization process begun. Since the priority was to digitalize the video archive digitalization was focused on this portion of the Archive.

Out of the all photographs in RDC’s possession, the most relevant ones for the Human Losses in BiH 91-95 project were selected and stored in the database as the integral part of this project. Other photographs are organized in accordance with their content, classified, and stored in the RDC’s Archive for utilization in other RDC’s projects.
The activity regarding digitalization of the microfilms containing war issued newspapers was stopped during second phase of the project since the focus was on the digitalization of the most endangered portion of the Archive meaning video archive and due to the lack of funding for this type of activity. Having in mind the value of the war issued newspapers the RDC will continue with this activity after the video archive digitalization concludes. So far, the microfilms containing Oslobođenje issued in 1992, and Večernje Novine issued in 1992 and 1993 were transferred into the digitalized form.
The equipment necessary for the digitalization and purchased under this grant includes VHS/HDD/DVD recorder Pioneer serial number DVR-RT602H-S with integrated high graphic video conversion accelerator, two monitors, and recorder for Hi8.

The training for the digitalization was conducted in two phases with the assistance of the external expert. The first portion of the training consisted of the introduction with the equipment and the explaining of the procedures to the implementing team. The process of digitalization continued and the expert supervised the work of the implementing team and provided the assistance few more times as needed.

The process of video archive digitalization completed under the USIP grant includes 233 hours and 5 minutes of the video material digitalized. During the experimental phase of the digitalization 107 hours and 55 minutes of the video recordings were successfully transferred in the digital format. Along with the transfer from the VHS to a digital format of the video archive the lists of their content are produced.

Some of the video tapes required additional preparation for the digitalization, which often caused slowing down of the process.

This process will continue after the utilization of this grant in a timeframe depending on the other RDC obligations and projects. Since there are no additional sources specifically for this purpose, the RDC used Institutional support grant to implement this project and will continue to do so until the entire archive is digitalized. Considering staff employed as the implementing team of this project they will continue to perform duties regarding digitalization process but will also work on other RDC project reallocating one portion of the time to other activities.

The implementing team of the project consists of: Coordinator of the project who is responsible for supervision and tracking down the progress of the project, Research Analyzer, Technical Assistant and the Archivist who are working on the transferring of the video material into the digital format and producing lists of the content writing off all the events recorded. Additional team member is the external expert who is available when needed and who provided technical training on the utilization of the equipment for the four persons employed at this project.

Since the project is not completed yet the activities will continue after the utilization of the USIP grant. The goal of this project is to digitalize and preserve all the archives in RDC’s possession. The RDC has an enormous documentation related to the recent war in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also the documentation collected and produced through the implementation of the various projects such are Human Losses in BiH 91-95, Oral History, and Trial Monitoring, which is very valuable documentation that needs to be preserved and available to the public. One of the major concerns of the digitalization and preservation process is to enable scholars, researchers, and students to access the documentation and conduct the research as well as to save the documentation as the cultural and historical heritage for the future generations. Additional activity towards accomplishment of this goal is also recent opening of RDC’s Library and Club with the purpose to facilitate and encourage more research and enable easier and more efficient access to the relevant sources of information.

Another effort towards the improvement of the accessibility of information is through the development of the new and improved Information System which is the project we started last year and finalized in April of this year. This system is containing improved database and facilitates the access to the information.

The lists of content and inventory lists of the digitalized material will enable easier browsing through the video archive and facilitation of the access to the needed information. Upon the completion of the digitalization process those lists will be posted on the web and available to the public. All the lists will be combined into the inventory list based on which the material will be selected and downloaded into the database based on the relevance of the material.

The work on the microfilms as well as the continuation of the digitalization process with the focus on the written archive will be completed under the Institutional support grant provided by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

The RDC is also expecting to expand our documentation through the transfer of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) documentation to our archive or at least the portion of it. This is the regional initiative we started in cooperation with our regional partners Humanitarian Law Centre from Belgrade and Documenta-Centre for dealing with the past from Zagreb. The ICTY documentation represent some sort of national treasure and significant cultural heritage to the countries in the region involved in the recent conflict and the initiative believe that the place for storage of these documents should be in the region where those terrible crimes happened.

The focus of this project was on the preservation of some rare documentation related to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as some historical documentation with aim to prevent it from disintegration and destruction but to make it available for the research and future use. Since the main focus of the RDC is collection of documentation on war atrocities in order to prevent historical revisions and contribute to the process of dealing with the past the archive grew through out the years of work and implementation of our various projects.

The RDC is constantly receiving numerous requests from domestic and international students, researchers, and scholars who wish to visit the centre and obtain relevant information for their research. The digitalization process enabled integration of digitalized video archive into the RDC’s Information system and database therefore facilitating the access to various sources of information at once. Once the entire archive is transferred into the digital format the entire system will be accessible and very valuable for the research. The browsing of the content of our archive will be available on the website. This means that all the documentation RDC has, starting with the victims and witnesses statements (having in mind the protection of their identity and privacy policy), military orders, and other war documentation, as well as the documentation produced throughout the years of the RDC work will be available in digital format.

The progress and monitoring of the project is conducted by the Steering Board which discuss each project RDC is implementing. There is no written evaluation forms used in assessment of this project but the internal verbal evaluation. This project is assessed as extremely important, and Steering Board decided to continue with its implementation and provide resources from other grants.

The project was planned originally to last at least two years due to the enormous amount of collected documentation. Since this grant supported the digitalization of the video archive, and no additional sources were provided solely for this purpose, the RDC will continue on a slower rate to complete digitalization of the video archive and then start with the digitalization of the other portions of the archive supporting it through the Institutional support grant as mentioned in section A and Institutional support grant provided by Charles Stewart Mott Foundation which continuation is expected before the end of this year. In the past year during the implementation of this project the RDC had to allocate at least another $35.000 from the Institutional grant support in order to implement this project. These additional resources contributed significantly to the reconstruction and preparation of the space for the storage and preservation of the archive material. We are also planning to try to find potential donor who will provide sources solely for the purpose of the digitalization that will take at least one more year considering the amount of documentation RDC possesses.

Products available to scholars, students, or the general public and demands from them

All of our documentation is available to the Prosecutor’s Office and Courts with which we have developed cooperation. Scholars, students, researchers, and general public can access the documentation after writing of the request due to the protection of the identities of the victims and witnesses and this project enabled easier access. TV reporters, journalists, and other media actors often are visiting our centre in search for information. Recently we had a visit of the Italian TV station requesting video recordings of shelling of Sarajevo. We recorded some of the digitalized video materials for their use. The number of demands and requests for documentation or access to our archive is constantly increasing and we are expecting even higher increase after the inventory lists with the content of our archive are posted on the website.

The archive content combined in the Inventory lists of each portion of the RDC's archive will be posted on our website upon the completion of the digitalization project. Therefore the results of the project will be disseminating to the public through the website with all the information on the documentation and materials RDC possesses.