Gra.fo - Laboratorio di Linguistica

BUILDING AN OPEN SOUND ARCHIVE:
THE CASE OF THE
GRA.FO PROJECT
G. SCUOTRI
C. BERTINI – F. BILIOTTI
S. CALAMAI – I. RICCI
Grammo-foni. Le soffitte della voce
SNS - UNISI
PAR FAS Regione Toscana
Linea di Azione 1.1.a.3. 2011-2013
WHY GRA.FO
The Gra.fo project was born with the aim of:
•
•
•
•
Discovering the Tuscan sound archives coming from
scholars and private collectors;
Preserving audio materials which would otherwise
face deterioration and oblivion;
Sharing all these materials not only with the
scientific community, but also with libraries, schools,
museums, and amateurs;
Making available to all scholars a large number of
useful recordings for scientific research.
STAGES
1.
2.
3.
MAPPING:
Gra.fo mapped Tuscan sound archives related to
oral history, anthropology, linguistics,
ethnography, sociology, folklore studies, etc.
MAKING: collect audio materials (magnetic and
optical); preserve audio materials (digitisation,
restoring); analyse oral documents (cataloguing,
ortographic and phonetic transcription);
SHARING:
an on-line archive was created to ensure sharing
oral materials.
STAGE 1: MAPPING
Gra.fo includes:

Archives coming from italian linguistic and
dialectological researches such as Carta dei
Dialetti Italiani and Atlante Lessicale Toscano;

Archives coming from private collections;

Archives coming from public institutions.
STAGE 2: MAKING –
o
COLLECT
Priority list, according to
o relevance and antiquity of the materials,
o geographic representativeness,
o state of preservation of the materials;
o
Contact with sound archives’ owners;
o
Legal agreements between Gra.fo and the sound
archives’ owners;
o
‘Tell something about your archive’ interview, in
order to get the key for interpreting and
cataloguing the archive.
STAGE 2: MAKING - PRESERVE
o
o
o
o
o
Pictures of the original
carrier
Preparation of the original
carrier
Signal transfer (A/D
conversion 96 KHz - 24 bit)
Restoring (if necessary)
Preservation copy creation with
AudioGRAFO PreservationPanel
(open-source software system
developed in Java within the
Gra.fo project).
STAGE 2: MAKING -
ANALYSE
Cataloguing was
carried out by using
AudioGRAFO CataloguingPanel
(open-source software system
developed in Java within
the Gra.fo project).
It includes info about:
o archive (description, owner, location, etc.)
o single oral document (abstract, typology, topics,
genre, language variety, etc.)
o interviewee and interviewer
o related documents (scientific papers, books,
accompanying materials, etc.)
STAGE 2: MAKING
- ANALYSE
Genre
About 40 different
genres, such as:
Typology
Topic
Controlled (e.g.
interviews) / Not
controlled (e.g. hidden
recording);
About 130 different
topics, such as:
• Agriculture
• Biographies
• Cinema
• Emigration
• Environment
• Fascism
• Folk traditions
• Politics
• Racism
• Religion
• Traditional food
• 1st World War
• 2nd World War
•…
Sung (e.g. lullabies,
ottava rima) / Not sung
(e.g. interviews,
riddles);
Formalised (e.g.
lullabies, riddles) / Not
formalised (e.g.
interviews) or
improvised (e.g. ottava
rima).
• Answer to linguistic
questionnaire
• Interview
• Legend
• Lullaby
• Narrative song
• Poem
• Proverb
• Read speech
• Riddle
• Spontaneous speech
• Tale
•…
Language variety
About 30 different varieties:
• Urban varieties (of Arezzo,
Florence, Grosseto, Leghorn,
Lucca, Massa, Pisa, Pistoia,
Prato, Siena);
• Areas of influence or
transition.
STAGE 2: MAKING
AUDIO
ACCESS
UNIT
CATALOGUING
TRASCRIPTION
RELEVANT
DOCUMENTS
STAGE 3: SHARING
Web portal
http://grafo.sns.it
Two different ways for
searching:
A.
geographic research
B.
content research
STAGE 3: SHARING
LEGAL ASPECTS – ITALIAN LEGISLATION
According to the Italian legislation, “With regard to
the processing of oral sources [of information], it
shall be necessary for the interviewees to give
their express consent, whether orally or not, even
based on summary information including at least the
interviewer's identity and activity and the purpose(s)
of the data collection”. [cit. Code of conduct and professional
practice Regarding the processing of personal data For historical
Purposes - Article 8. Oral Sources]
LEGAL ASPECTS – PERSONAL DATA
Personal data = any information which allow to
identify a person (“one's first or last name, address,
Tax ID as well as a picture, the recording of one's
voice or one's fingerprint, or medical, accounting or
financial information”).
They include:
• sensitive data (racial origin or ethnicity,
religious beliefs, political opinions, membership
of parties, trade unions and/or associations,
health, or sex life);
• judicial data (data regarding judicial measures
taken in respect of a person).
LEGAL ASPECTS – ACCESSIBILITY
In order to avoid legal problems, Gra.fo allows three
types of access conditions to its documents:
•
•
•
full online access - for documents which do not
contain personal data (full audio and catalouging);
partial online access - for documents containing
some personal data (partial audio and full catalouging);
no access - for documents which are mainly
constituted of personal data (only catalouging).
TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT
Computers:
• Apple Mac Pro 2.8 GHz
Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• Apple Mac book pro 2.4
GHz Intel Core i5
A/D D/A converters:
• PrismSound ORPHEUS
• APOGEE duet
Magnetophone:
• Revox b77 MK II
• Otari MX5050
Compact Cassette:
• TEAC W-890R
• TASCAM 202 MK V
DAT:
• Sony ZA5ES
Mixer:
• YAMAHA MG 166cx
Audio Monitor:
• Neumann KH 120 A
Incubator:
• Memmert INP400
Camera:
• Canon G15
GRA.FO IN NUMBERS


∼ 2200 Digitised audio (hours)
24 Archives

639 Open reel tapes

1124 Compact cassettes

2208 Access unit

297 Interviewees
GRA.FO GROUP
Pier Marco Bertinetto – project coordinator, head of the SNS unit
Chiara Bertini – technical coordinator
Cristina Bertoncin – cataloguing - transcription
Francesca Biliotti – cataloguing - transcription
Federica Bressan – audio lab
Silvia Calamai – head of the UniSi unit
Nadia Nocchi – cataloguing - transcription
Luca Pesini - cataloguing
Irene Ricci – technical coordinator
Gianfranco Scuotri – audio lab
Valentina Zingari – cataloguing
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Van Bogart, John “Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling Guide for Libraries and Archives”
Published by The Commission on Preservation and Access & National Media Laboratory - 1995
Camras M. “Magnetic Recording Handbook” Kluwer Academic Pub, 1988
Canazza S., Calamai S., Bertinetto P.M., De Dominicis A. “A protocol for the preservation of speech
documents archives: towards the digital curation of the Carta dei Dialetti Italiani”, in Proc. of 5th
International Congress "Science and Technology for the Safeguard of Cultural Heritage in the
Mediterranean Basin", Istanbul, Turkey, 22-25.XI.2011, Vol. IV, 2012: 84-93.
Friedrich Engel and Peter Hammar “A Selected History of Magnetic Recording” additional editing
by Richard L. Hess
IASA-TC 03 “Safeguarding the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy”, 2005
IASA-TC 04 “Guidelines on the production and preservation of the digital audio objects” ISBN 97891-976192-3-3
“Code of conduct and professional practice Regarding the processing of personal data For historical
purposes” http://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/export/1565819 Published in the Official Journal no. 80 of April 5, 2001
THANKS!
http://grafo.sns.it