What is TAPE
Everyone who grew up in 20th century has experienced much more of the world than their grandparents. Sound, film and video have made us direct witnesses of momentous events in history and taken us to every corner of the globe –and beyond. We have all seen how people live in other continents and heard the song of whales, we have listened to the speeches of political leaders and watched natural disasters as well as microscopic creatures, and images of the first man on the moon and the sound of Callas’ voice have entered our collective memory.

We can relive a whole century not only through millions of disks, films and tapes held in broadcasting companies and dedicated sound and film archives, but also through a myriad of the most diverse recordings held in non-specialist institutions. These collections, created in the context of, for instance, anthropological and linguistic research, are at risk of being irretrievably lost through media decay and evolving technology that forces playback equipment out of use. Digitization would enhance the chances of their survival and unlock these rich resources, but experience with new technology is as yet limited.

	Related links
	PRESTO-Space project FIRST project

Mission of the TAPE project
TAPE aims to contribute to action plans for preservation of the audiovisual heritage by laying the groundwork for a programme for awareness-raising and training of nonspecialists. TAPE will bring together experts from large organizations and those involved in technologically advanced programmes (such as PRESTO-Space and FIRST) to develop a programme for training and supporting materials.

TAPE is primarily concerned with preservation and access issues of AV materials in non-dedicated institutions, i.e. collections not specializing in audiovisual that happen to have AV collections. Work on broadcasting and mainstream (commercial) film materials is done in other European programmes. AV materials in archives and museums or academic institutions are on the whole not easily accessible -perhaps even hidden from view- and do not easily lend themselves for commercial ventures. Providing continued access to such cultural/academic heritage where economic value is no issue provides specific challenges.