Samuel’s Persiflage #5
May 16th, 2006 at 11:33pm
Samuel’s Persiflage Episode Number Five is now online. There is also a low quality version for the bandwidth impaired here.
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This month’s Persiflage Puzzle has five words of four, five, three, three and six letters respectively.
After welcoming everybody and getting the Persiflage Puzzle underway, it is time to bring in the guest for this episode, Margaret Phillips, Director of Digital Archiving at the National Library of Australia. We spend some time talking about the National Library’s role and some of the varied and interesting functions it performs, as well as debunking a few minor myths about it.
We take a break from the interview for the feedback segment. All listeners are invited to send in more feedback, both in written and audio format. As per usual feedback can be sent to podcast@samuelgordonstewart.com (text, MP3, Wave or Ogg Vorbis), spoken feedback by clicking here or on the button below would be great, or leave a comment below.
We have another quick look at the Persiflage Puzzle, and then it is back to Margaret Phillips, and we spend most of the rest of the interview talking about PANDORA, the National Library’s Australian Internet archive project. There is quite an interesting story behind it, and Margaret is more than qualified to discuss it.
Then we have another look at the Persiflage Puzzle, and then move on to some odd news stories, and a thought for the month.
Then the closing music starts playing, so I give you the answer to the Persiflage Puzzle and wrap up Samuel’s Persiflage #5 (Well, there wasn’t really anything else to do).
The Samuel’s Persiflage #5 file itself is available here, and is 1:10:36 in length (64.6MB) at 128kbps stereo. The 128kbps format was decided upon because it produces a very good sound quality, and doesn’t “flatten” any music used in the podcast. (You’ve heard it all before, right?) I do, however, acknowledge that this is just unreasonable for dial-up, so a 16kbps mono file is also available here. The sound quality isn’t as good, but some people like it. The low quality version is 8.08MB
For those of you who are using podcast software to receive your podcasts, the feed can be found here and if you are using iTunes you can subscribe to Samuel’s Persiflage by clicking here.
Podcast related questions and comments can be sent to podcast@samuelgordonstewart.com or left in the comments section of this post. Spoken feedback is preferred (but not mandated) and can be sent either in MP3, Wave or Ogg Vorbis format, or sent even more easily by clicking the button below and following the prompts.
Samuel
Entry Filed under: Samuel's Persiflage
7 Comments
1. Chuck A. Spear | May 17th, 2006 at 5:05 am
Do comments appear in Pandora too?
2. John B1_B5 | May 17th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Samuel’s Persiflage comes to you from the lovely city of Canberra .
3. John B1_B5 | May 17th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Interesting to hear that “Screensound Australia” has gone back to calling itself the “National Film and Sound Archive”.
I can remember when the National Library used to keep film in the Library itself, and in 1988 I went there and watched the FULL version of “Triumph Of The Will” (1934) on a small console viewer in the “viewing room” . It cost me nothing .
That film is no longer held at the Library , and I would have to go to the National Film & Sound Archive to watch it — problem is , it would now cost me $21.50 per hour viewing , PLUS a $21.50 ‘retrieval’ fee to get it out of storage at Mitchell — a total of $43 !
Oh well , I guess it’s a “User Pays” environment these days .
4. Samuel | May 17th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Yes Chuck,the commens appear as well. This site is only indexed once per year, but when it is, it is pretty much a carbon copy of what you see here (although you won’t be able to login or add comments to the PANDORA copy).
John, you would think that we (as a nation) could afford to run the National Film and Sound archives without having to pay to watch the collection. That being said, I could understand if they were to charge for people who pass a certain threshold of annual viewings.
Alternatively, if they didn’t change their name they would save on various fees associated with such things. (That being said, I do prefer the “National Film and Sound Archive” name).
5. John B1_B5 | May 17th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Yes, I didn’t think much of the name “Screensound” .
As for the Persiflage, I think it’s the best one so far, and found the interview with Margaret Phillips extremely interesting . ( I’ve sent some audio feedback ) .
6. Chuck A. Spear | May 18th, 2006 at 8:46 am
I would like to open PANDORA’S box.
7. Samuel | May 18th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
Well Chuck you can open PANDORA’s box…just visit http://pandora.nla.gov.au and take a look inside.
In related news, I met Margaret Phillips in person for the first time today. As part of my travels today I had to go past the National Library so I thought I would present her with her Audio CD of her appearance and the customary thankyou letter in person, rather than posting it. Margaret informed me that she will be retiring in about 4 weeks, so I wished her all the best for her retirement.