Reto Kromer teaching. Photo courtesy of the Film Heritage Foundation
FIAF Commissions’ Thursday Online Workshops
In September 2022, the FIAF Commissions launched a new series of online workshops covering a wide range of topics discussed in FIAF. The basic idea is rooted in what libraries have done for some time now and which is called Library Carpentry. Rather than inviting external experts, trained people from libraries teach each other basic concepts which will also revolve around data literacy (introductions to Open Refine, Python, GitHub etc.). We could expand that format and think of other ones to accompany this very technical focus.
We also want to address current debates revolving around sustainability, long term archiving and online presentation. How can we digitize, archive and present digital media by taking questions of rights, formats and the environment into consideration?
The workshops are planned as virtual events for the moment and might later be extended to in-person events.
Possible formats include presentations plus a panel discussion and hands-on teaching. More can be developed as we gain experience. We don’t aim at experts. Usually, no previous experience is required. Advanced levels are marked as such and will provide knowledge for those who want to explore topics into more depths. The number of participants vary depending on the nature of the specific workshop, but is generally be limited to enhance knowledge transfer and discussion. No fee is charged, but participants have to register and places are limited. Information on how and when to register will be posted below.
Forthcoming Thursday Online Workshops:
26 February 2026
“An Introduction to the description standards ISAD-G and SEDA”
Duration: 1.5 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Sandrine Gill and Martine Sin Blima-Barru (Archives nationales de France, Paris)
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Anyone interested to learn more about cataloguing standards aside from EN 15907.
Content: Not every archive uses the EN 15907 in order to catalogue their film holdings. Sandrine and Martine from the Archives nationales de France present ISAD-G and SEDA in terms of advantages and limitations to describe audiovisual records.
Registrations will open a few weeks before the event.
12 March 2026
“A Person-Centered Approach within Moving Image Archives”
Duration: 1.5 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Michael Marlatt (Film Archivist, Archival Producer, Archival Accessibility Researcher and Consultant based in New Brunswick, Canada)
Limited to 10 participants.
Target group: Anyone who would like to hear more about mental health, disability, neurodiversity and chronic illness in moving image archives and wants to play an active role within their own institutions.
Content: Michael Marlatt is a disabled film archivist and recently completed his PhD within York University’s Communication & Culture programme. His dissertation work focused on accessibility gaps in moving image archival education programmes from the lived experience of students who self-identify as disabled, neurodivergent, or as having a chronic illness. He looked at accessible education from the perspective of the university institution, specific programmes, and archival space itself. He will speak about and discuss with the group, in what ideally will be a collaborative activity, the notion of putting the archivist in the centre of archival work. How do we protect and support the people working in the archive in the best way? How does the moving image archivist's mental health, neurodiversity, disability, and chronic illness come into the discussion?
Registrations will open a few weeks before the event.
16 April 2026
“FIAF Moving Image Cataloguing Manual Version 2.0”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Natasha Fairbairn (BFI, Member of the CDC) and other members from the Revision Task Force.
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Cataloguers already using the FIAF Manual and interested in developments of the ongoing revision of the Manual will benefit most, but the workshop is open to anyone interested in the topic.
Content: The CDC has been working on the revision of the FIAF Manual over the last months. This workshop is dedicated to present some of the major changes, additions and open questions. We are interested in feedback from the community and hearing if our changes are meeting expectations.
Registrations will open a few weeks before the event.
Past workshops:
7 March 2024
“CEN 15907 in practice: Using the Variant in the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Katerina Kampoli (Film Cataloger, CNC), and Tristan Gomez (Database Administrator, CNC).
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Everyone interested in cataloguing using the CEN 15907 and particularly in understanding how to implement the Variant. This workshop will be most beneficial to experienced catalogers/information specialists but might be interesting also to those with an interest in the topic.
Content: The presenters will explain the way the CNC has implemented and adapted the CEN 15907 in “Garance” the institution’s new cataloguing tool. Then, the focus will shift on cataloguing in a 4-tier level using the optional variant level, illustrated by many examples. After the presentation the participants will address questions, share their thoughts and discuss the examples given beforehand.
Presentation slides of this workshops are available HERE.
23 May 2024
"Introducción a los metadatos para la descripción central de recursos de imágenes en movimiento: aplicaciones según FRBR, RDA, EN15907" (en español)
Duración: 3 horas
Organiza/presenta: Adelheid Heftberger (Anfitriona, Directora del CDC), Circe Itzel Sánchez González (miembro FIAF CDC, UNAM, Ciudad de México)
Limitado a 20 participantes.
Dirigido a: personas interesadas en la catalogación de recursos de imágenes en movimiento que deseen actualizar sus conocimientos sobre su descripción normalizada a nivel internacional.
Contenido: La ponente ofrecerá una introducción a las normas descritas a través de la explicación de sus conceptos básicos. Se presentarán ejemplos ilustrativos considerando distintos tipos de recursos de imágenes en movimiento. Al finalizar la presentación se atenderán las preguntas de los participantes.
13 June 2024
“Detecting and curating harmful language in cultural heritage collections - the DE-BIAS project in theory and practice”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC and Editor of Treasures), Kerstin Herlt, Julia Welter, (DE-BIAS Project Coordination; DFF - Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum), N.N. (The Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision).
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Everyone who wants to raise archival awareness about language and would like to update descriptions of the archival records.
Content: Partners from the DE-BIAS project will give an input statement and conduct a workshop with practical examples. We will discuss the challenges such as the size of our collections, the complexity of the undertaking, how to involve marginalized communities, and how to overcome lack of knowledge or awareness.
More information about the project can be found here.
Registrations are now closed.
17 October 2024
1pm (CET)
“No database required: Storing and accessing metadata in a common/generic way”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Peter Bubestinger (AV-RD)
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Everyone interested in exploring innovative ways for storing metadata and thinking out of the box when it comes to databases. Experience with cataloguing is beneficial but not required. Just bring your curiosity and questions! May be particularly interesting for archivists with a limited budget and/or no database system yet.
Content: Imagine being able to:
- seamlessly annotate any data. Anywhere. (key/value + relationships)
- basic and interoperable (as moving and renaming files/folders)
- copy/move/merge any data from anywhere (without having to worry about file/folder naming and structure)
Peter will present existing, standard - yet overlooked means for storing key/value metadata on any file - regardless of its data-format - in a common, generic way. As application independent as reading-and-writing a filename or a folder path. In combination with some technologies "borrowed" from Big Data setups, we may be looking at a common blue-print for a metadata+storage system that allows dissolving the typical collection-type- and institution-barriers in a surprisingly simple and elegant way.
Registrations for this workshop are now closed.
14 November 2024
“Workshop/Discussion “Green Archiving” - Eco-Friendly Practices in Use in the Film Archives”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), and Reto Kromer (reto.ch GmbH), Clément Lafite (University of Udine, PhD, SAFE Project), Valentina Rossetto (Cineteca Nazionale), Caroline Figueroa Fuentes (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)
Limited to 20 participants.
Part 1: Presentation by Reto Kromer on how to make your streaming files more eco-friendly.
Part 2: Eco-friendly solutions for cleaning films? Current practices and future challenges (moderated by Clément Lafite, University of Udine / SAFE Project)
- Introduction (5 min)
- Talk 1. “Bio-cleaning alternatives for cellulose-based materials?” Valentina Rossetto (Cineteca Nazionale, Italy) (10 min)
- Talk 2. “Investigations on the effects of essential oils on motion picture films” Caroline Figueroa Fuentes (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany) (10 min)
- Discussion (35 min)
Target group: Digital preservationist, archivists responsible for creating sustainable workflows and basically everyone interested in the topic of how to make our archives “greener” and climate friendly by starting with small steps.
Content: We will look at adjustments which are comparatively easy to apply in archival preservation workflows. We will also discuss sustainable formats for AV material on a very practical level. Furthermore we aim to engage in a discussion and exchange of practices within the group.
The video recording of this workshop is available here.
16 January 2024
4pm (CET)
Workshop/Discussion: “Restoring the Past, Funding the Future: copyright, restorations and approaches to recouping/protecting archival investments”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Matěj Strnad (Host, Head of PACC), and Claudy Op den Kamp (Bournemouth University), Annabelle Shaw (British Film Institute)
Limited to 20 participants.
Part 1: Position statement and opening by Matěj Strnad, Head of PACC
Part 2-3: Position statements by Claudy Op den Kamp and Annabelle Shaw
Part 4: Discussion of some of the examples and case studies provided by the participants
Target group: Curators, restorers, access and legal specialists working in or around film archives.
Content: We will look into ways in which archives are trying to protect their scientific, symbolic and financial investments in restoration projects, without necessarily resorting to copyright and other rights-related protections. We will also discuss the possible definitions and understandings of what might constitute “creative” and therefore, in theory, copyrightable acts within various restoration workflows. The prospects of keeping public domain works in the public
27 February 2025
1pm (CET)
“Contributing to the FIAF Treasures from the Film Archives”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC and Editor of Treasures), Julia Welter (Data Editor and Archive Support Agent), and members of the Treasures Task Force of the CDC.
Limited to 10 participants.
Target group: Everyone interested in providing or updating their data on the FIAF Treasures database. No previous experience with the Treasures upload-function necessary.
Content: The FIAF Treasures from the Film Archives, which provides unique information about over 60,000 silent-era holdings from 110 different film archives, is conceived as a tool to aid the work of preservation, research and film exchange between film archives. The CDC strives to give contributing archives more freedom to update information on their holdings. Thus we would like to introduce our new upload-tool and explain how to use it.
27 March 2025
5.30pm (CET)
"Contributing to the FIAF Directory of Special Collections" and "Collecting born-digital film related materials - an initiative by the BFI"
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Anna Fiaccarini (Cineteca di Bologna, Rapporteur of the Task Force on Special Collections), Grace Johnston (British Film Institute)
Limited to 15 participants.
Target group: Part 1) Everyone interested in providing or updating their data in the Directory of Special Collections. Part 2) Everyone responsible or interested in collecting digital born film related materials. In both cases there is no previous experience necessary.
Content: The FIAF Directory for Special Collections provides information about special collections and film related material in the FIAF-related archives. The CDC strives to give contributing archives more freedom to update information on their holdings. Thus we would like to show institutions how they can update their information and also introduce the directory to interested archives and institutions which have not used it before. In our second part Grace Johnston will talk about a recent initiative by the British Film Institute to establish an international network to connect archives that are currently working with, or have a future interest in working with, born-digital film related content.
22 May 2025
1pm (CET)
“Cataloguing with limited resources”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Anne Gant (Host, Head of the TC), Murchana Borah (Film Heritage Foundation, CDC member), Camille Blot-Wellens (FIAF, TC member), Caroline Fournier (Cinémathèque suisse, TC member).
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Anyone who would like to hear more about cataloguing according to standards even when resources are limited. It will be useful if you have experience in attempts to solve this issue, but will be beneficial to everyone who would like help starting the process.
Content: Cataloguing is carried out in Excel spreadsheets (or other tools) in many archives (especially in the Global South, but not limited to) because of a lack of resources. We invite everyone who is interested or affected to hear how you can still follow the EN 15907. Murchana Borah from the Cataloguing & Documentation Commission will present ways of cataloguing when resources are limited. Her work has also been integrated in the recent activities of the FIAF Technical Commission on the fundamental archiving resources toolkit (FAR), which will be presented in the second part of the workshop by Camille Blot-Wellens and Caroline Fournier, two members of the Technical Commission.
9 October 2025
1 pm (CET)
"Search and Findability using AI in archival collections: 1) How INA uses AI for subject indexing: from speech-to-text to semantic search; 2) Using Archive databases - insights and prospective from Archive Researchers"
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Eleonore Alquier (Head of Data department at INA and Deputy Head of Data & Technology Direction), Monika Preischl, archival researcher and Archive Producer at bildfinderin.com and founding member of GRAP.
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Anyone interested in recent activities by institutions to make use of AI (in the broader sense) in order to increase search and findability, as well as archivists interested in hearing search needs from archival researchers. Basically anyone interested in discussing chances and limitations of using AI in the current moment.
Content: INA has invested a lot of resources over the last years to increase search and findability. We will hear about how INA uses AI and can then discuss advantages and limits. This presentation will focus on the first experiments of semantic search led by INA on radio and TV contents, based on systematic speech-to-text treatments. How to combine them with “traditional” data? How to appraise the result's accuracy?
Monika Preischl has been working as an archival researcher for many years and will present her experiences and needs when searching audiovisual archival collections.
“Restoration Documentation - The Universe of Technical Metadata which we don’t talk enough about”
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Ela Wysocka (FINA, member of CDC)
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Anyone who would like to hear more about restoration documentation or participate in a discussion around technica metadata created in the restoration process. Some experience in restoration and/or technical metadata certainly will help to understand the presentation better, but everyone is welcome to learn and take part.
Content: Ela Wysocka has led a working group for 3 years, in which an important new resource has been created. In our workshop we would like to present the results in more detail, discuss technical metadata for restoration and digitisation and collect feedback from the participants.
11 December 2025
5pm (CET)
“Workshop/Discussion “Green Archiving” - Part 2
Duration: 2 hrs
Organized/presented by: Adelheid Heftberger (Host, Head of the CDC), Clément Lafite (Host, University of Udine, PhD, SAFE Project), Linda Tadic (Founder and CEO of Digital Bedrock), Julia Mettenleiter, Rémi Gualino (Swedish Film Institute), Annike Kross, Anne Gant (Eye Filmmuseum).
- Part one: “The Materiality and Environmental Impact of Digital Preservation” (Linda Tadic)
Linda will share her extensive research on the impact of digital preservation on the environment. We are looking forward to having a conversation with her and the participants about ways of a more environment friendly way of storing digitally.
Link to her website where she posts the annual updates to her larger presentation for download. The presentation has a lot of resources for further reading: https://www.digitalbedrock.com/environmentalimpact
- Part 2: " Status report about mechanical film cleaning practice"
Which film cleaning machines and solvents are (still) available, what are the risks for health and environment?
A brief status report about the numerous pros and cons of mechanical film cleaning practices will be given by Rémi Gualino, Analogue Technical Supervisor, and Julia Mettenleiter, Film Archivist, both from the Swedish Film Institute.
- Part 3: "Flooding in the storage at the EYE Filmmuseum - a case study"
In 2023, one of Eye Filmmuseum’s nitrate vaults had a flood. In this case study, Annike Kross, Film Restorer and Interim Head of Film Conservation and Digital Access, will discuss the circumstances of the event, the response taken, and Eye’s decision to immediately communicate the emergency, and the aftermath.
Limited to 20 participants.
Target group: Digital preservationist, archivists responsible for creating sustainable workflows and basically everyone interested in the topic of how to make our archives “greener” and climate friendly by starting with small steps.
Content: We will look at adjustments which are comparatively easy to apply in archival (digital) preservation workflows. Furthermore we aim to engage in a discussion and exchange of practices within the group.
