In-Person AV Media Preservation Workshop
On May 2, 2026, MNMA and SPNN hosted AV Media Preservation, part two, an all‑day workshop for 12 participants representing educational institutions, media archives, and independent preservationists. The event offered live demonstrations, extended panel discussions, and lively Q&A sessions. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, with many highlighting the value of an in-person workshop with peer discussion.
A Five Step Preservation Process
MNMA and SPNN encourage all participants to view media preservation as a multi‑phase process rather than a single act of digitizing. The preferred five‑step framework guides organizations toward sustainable, cost‑effective preservation:
2. Stabilization: Clean and rehouse media, repair minor damage, and prioritize items at highest risk of loss.
3. Visual Inventory: Photograph and document each item, collecting minimal metadata such as format, date, creator and rights.
4. Digital Conversion: Use appropriate capture settings and workflows to convert analog materials to digital files. Follow best practices for file naming, codecs and quality control.
5. Distribution & Access: Plan for how digital files will be shared—whether through an institutional repository, public archive or streaming platform—and maintain backups in multiple locations.
Agenda and Demonstrations
The workshop ran from 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM and followed the same five‑step framework introduced during the webinar:
Media Prep & Digitization: Introduction to preparing media for digitization, including cleaning, inspection and triage.
In-Person Demos: Participants rotated between stations for lecture and demonstrations with video and audio digitization.
Steve Brunsberg of SPNN demonstrated video encoding principles for both simple DIY workflows—creating access master files on a budget—and professional workflows using signal‑stabilizing hardware to produce long‑term preservation masters.
Mark Stanley from MNMA showcased 2‑D photographic scanning and audio‑cassette digital capture techniques and offered a bonus demonstration of 8mm and Super 8 film scanning.
Afternoon Session
Decision Guidance & Quality Control Fundamentals: The afternoon session covered how to make strategic decisions about formats, resolutions and codecs, and how to perform quality control during and after digitization.
Sharing Your Story: Guidance on choosing streaming platforms and digital repositories to make preserved media accessible to communities and researchers.
Creating a Sustainable Preservation Plan: Participants worked through the process of building a preservation plan tailored to their organization’s resources.
Throughout the day, participants engaged in robust dialogues, asking technical questions, sharing experiences, and brainstorming ways to overcome common challenges.
The event reinforced that community preservation thrives on collaboration and shared knowledge.
Whether you are an educator, artist, historian, archivist or community organizer, you are invited to participate in upcoming workshop training sessions,
To request an invitation to join the next FREE June 17th, 2026 workshop visit our contact form and select the “Webinar/Workshop Registration Form” checkbox to request to join.
Share information about your at‑risk media data via our ongoing 2026 AV Community Media Preservation Survey. (request a survey invite via our website contact form https://mnmediaarts.org/contact.html ) and help spread the word.
Together, we can preserve Minnesota’s diverse stories for future generations.
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