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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Law - More on: An incredible resource coming Wednesday via C-SPAN

Updating this ILB entry from March 15th, which did mention that the C-Span archive is located in West Lafayette, Eric Weddle of the Lafayette Journal Courier reports today:

The archives of the Purdue Research Park-based C-SPAN Archive are now online. So far, 160,000 hours that span 23 years of history are available for free viewing.

Robert X. Browning, C-SPAN Archive director and an associate professor of political science at Purdue, said the site is a political candy store that promotes the democratic process.

"Some people are looking for the 'gotcha moments,' and I guess that is another way it expands the C-SPAN vision in that it makes people accountable," Browning said. "When C-SPAN put the Congress on television, it meant they were in the public eye. So now, each speech, every debate is not only seen the first time but can be seen and researched multiple times. There is no deniability anymore that you didn't say it -- because it is right there in the video."

The C-SPAN Video Library Web site makes Presidents Bill Clinton's "I did not have sex ..." remarks or Ronald Reagan's farewell address accessible in seconds.

The Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, or C-SPAN, was founded in 1979 by Brian Lamb, a Purdue alumnus and Lafayette native. * * *

The archive was established in 1987 on the Purdue campus and later moved to the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette. C-SPAN operates the facility independently of the university.

Moving to a Web-based archive has been in the works for more than two years, Browning said. People can still purchase DVDs of the broadcasts.

"It wasn't feasible to research it all or buy it all," Browning said. "This makes it immediate and more accessible to anyone."

The new Web site lets anyone access video through searching by speaker names, titles, sponsors, committees, categories and other keywords.

A search for Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, and "health care" brings up every occurrence, including an almost 10-hour, Dec. 11 session about spending. Through indexing, a user can simply click on a timeline of speakers to hear Bayh's comments on the floor.

Sessions also contain transcripts from the Congressional Record.

There is a lag time between the live broadcast and when it is available to view on the Web.

"It is like a DVR or TiVo concept, you can watch about 10 minutes behind," Browning said. * * *

The archive's next task will be digitizing fragile tapes that remain from the early 1980 to 1987 years. The 10,000 hours were recorded on now-outdated formats. Browning said used film machines will be refurbished for the transferring. The process is expected to take more than a year.

Offering downloading of current material is also being worked out. And this summer additional file indexing is planned for events including the hearings on the Iran-Contra affair, so particular speeches can be easily found.

Some ILB thoughts:

1. The next to last paragraph above indicates how the medium relied upon in the best-planned archives can quickly become obsolete. Here the contents on old, now brittle videotapes must be digitized and transferred to a new medium before they are lost. And the first step is to find and locate machines capable of playing the old tapes.

2. I'm looking forward to watching some of the old SCOTUS confirmation hearings, particularly the Bork hearing.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 24, 2010 10:15 AM
Posted to General Law Related