Macquarie University appeals to industry to share data
Sydney’s Macquarie University has appealed to media and advertising companies to share their content and data to help researchers chart Australia’s media history.
The university’s Centre for Media History wants to build a central database listing media and advertising archives, and needs support from communications companies and private collectors to supply inventories of the data they store, such as ad reels, audio tapes, scripts and even annual reports.
The idea is for the database to be compatible with the search tools of the National Library of Australia.
“There’s a lot of information out there, but it’s really difficult to find,” said Dr Nathalie Apouchtine, project officer of the Media Archives Project.
“There is a lot of valuable data that gets deleted or discarded. We want to create an inventory for where this information can be found.”
The centre would not be collecting data themselves, but would hook up companies wanting to discard archives with collecting institutions.
“Those that hold the archives would be the ones to grant access to the information,” she added.
So far, Foxtel has been among the companies to agree to aid the project.
If you want to help, contact the university at map@mq.edu.au.
