The Performance Poetry Preservation Project

University of ChicagoApril 18, 2011

Our Mission and Goal“To create, collect, preserve, protect and provide access to the recorded history of the poetry slam movement.”

A Growing Need• The end of analog media recording• The impermanence of digital

recording• Venues with backlogged recordings,

wondering what to do with them• Recording is now within reach for most venues and poets• Webcasting is becoming increasingly more common,

with archivable recordings as a byproduct

Key Elements• The collection and preservation of physical

materials and records• The collection and preservation of analog and

digital audio and video recordings• The promotion of digital recording

technology to poetry venues• Practical access to the collected

materials, at the poem level

Development of a Sustainable Infrastructure!

• Creation• Collection• Cataloging• Preservation• Promotion• Access

• Enabled through…• A central repository• Technical assistance• Capture standards• User-friendly

submission tools• Standardized

cataloging• Search and access

tools

Methodology• Collaboration building• Micro-grants for recording

equipment• Site visits to promote the project

and collect records and recordings• Provide training on submission tools and processes• Poet outreach for rights management and permissions• Technical assistance for venues and individuals

Building a “culture of collection and preservation”

Collaborative Structure

• The Venues• Poetry Slam Incorporated• Chicago SlamWorks• Individual Poets• IndieFeed Performance Poetry• Librarians and Scholars• The P4 Non-Profit Corporation• The Repository Institution• Professional Service Partners• The Public

Early Collaborators

Poetry Slam Incorporated

Chicago SlamWorks

The Bowery Poetry Club

The Urbana Poetry SlamBob Holman

Marc Smith

Gary Mex Glazner

Scott Woods

New Jersey LoserSlam

Lars Ruppel

Louder Arts, NYC

Mahogany Browne

Lynne Procope

Providence Poetry Slam

The Encyclopedia Show

Phil West

Megan Thoma

Write Bloody Publishing

Derrick BrownMark Eleveld

Alix OlsonTaylor Mali

Big Poppa E

Buddy Wakefield

Jason Carney

Marty McConnell

Susan B.A. Somers-Willet

Nick Fox

Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

Chad Anderson Carlos Andres Gomez

Kurt Heinzelman

LEADING POETSSLAM ORGANIZERS AND VENUESPUBLISHERS AND ACADEMICS

Michael Frisch

Key First Year Initiatives

Initial promotion and outreachIncorporation of P4 Secure non-profit status• Identify the Repository Institution• Development of a sustainable funding plan• Development of Deed of Gift and Digital Rights

Management (DRM) policies and processes• Development of cataloging and metadata standards• Creation of initial website and tools for submission

Stage 2 Initiatives• Accelerated outreach and promotion• The P4 Slam Tour

• Venues, organizations and slammasters and poets• The public and academia

• The Performance Poetry Portal website

• Fundraising and grant writing

• Pilot Sites and Collections

The Collection Building Process• Collection workflows including

collection and metadata development• A four stage workflow:• The Venue & Poets• The P4• The Repository

Institution• The Public

• Collection(paper and digital)

• Recording events• Capturing basic

information (initial metadata)

• Sending file(s) to P4 using a web form, Dropbox, FTP, mailed CD

• Participating in P4 planning and governance

• Date• Time• Venue• Event• Poet Names• Poem Titles• Contact

Information• Other???

2.P4

3.RepositoryInstitution

4.The Public

1.The Venue

& Poets

TASKS: METADATA:

Send to the P4:The Venue sends their file or files to the P4 via either an FTP gateway, Dropbox, a web form, or via CD.

• Quality Control• Audio / video

processing• Reformatting to

media standards• Contacting poets to

get releases secured• Processing large

event files to identify individual pieces

• Major metadata development

• Unique IDs• Location Details

(country, region, state, city, etc.)

• Poet Bios• Poet URLs• Event description• Slammasters• Poem form• Poem topics• Additional poets

(for multi-voice work)

• Explicitness• Other???

2.P4

3.RepositoryInstitution

4.The Public

1.The Venue

& Poets

TASKS: METADATA:

Upload to the Repository:The P4 uploads processed files to the repository via a FTP, Dropbox or other mechanism.

• Ingestion• Quality Control• Cataloging into

institutional data systems

• Preservation planning

• Deed of Gift and Digital Rights Management

• Exhibits• Scholarly access• Public Access

• Technical metadata

• Cataloging metadata

• Creation of Permalinks

2.P4

3.RepositoryInstitution

4.The Public

1.The Venue

& Poets

TASKS: METADATA:

Public access:The repository releases tracks, per obtained rights, and as available, to the public via an access portal.

• Consumption• Searching• Tagging• Discussing• Crowdsourcing• Linking• Forwarding URLs

to friends lists• Connecting to

other networks (Facebook, etc.)

• Going Viral!

• Tags• Themes• Styles• Keywords• Content

descriptions• Ratings

2.P4

3.RepositoryInstitution

4.The Public

1.The Venue

& Poets

TASKS: METADATA:

Two of ourPartners…• Randforce Associates

Audio/Video content management and indexing. (Buffalo, NY)http://randforce.com

• The Tasty BrainsPlug and Play webcast service provider for venues. (Philadelphia, PA)http://thetastybrains.com

Randforce Associates:Indexing Tools

• Douglas Lambert and Michael Frisch at Randforce Associates

• Experience grounded in oral history recordings• Specializing in metadata for searching within

and across extended recordings of events

“Having an innovative and proactive sub-tape metadata strategy in gear from the start makes a better sell than the argument of digitization alone– which everybody is making.”

Creating ACCESS through annotation and indexing

Indexing Tools• Avoid “the digital shoebox” - indexing is essential to access!• Commit to exploring the challenge of metadata from the outset• Key concept: Use the poem as the prime navigable unit• Objective vs. Subjective

metadata• Develop grassroots and

innovative metadata approaches• Having poets and slammasters

assist with metadata markup • Crowdsourcing• Curated metadata

Webcasting• Ray Garman at The Tasty Brains• The “Mothercast” webcast appliance• A “Box of Tools” for Artists, Venues &

Promoters to archive and broadcast live performances

• Provides easy access and controls for bulk content downloads into content management systems and databases• Cross-promotional opportunities:

• P4 as a “value added feature” to venues that want to webcast• Webcasting as a marketing tool for P4: It provides a tangible, real-

world benefit to venues, with capture and preserve as an added feature

Rights Management

• Store, Preserve & Protect• Scholarly access• On site use• Poet and Slammaster

access

• Public Access• The P4 Portal• Off site access• Promotion

• Develop DRM polices• Copyright remains w/the poets

ProvideAccess

Uses and Access• Research• Digital humanities• Culture and ethnography• Literature and performance

• Education• Teaching resource for educators• Integration into lesson plans

• Promotion• Poets and venues• Slam as an art form• PSI events and activities

Funding• Grant writing• Funders interested in the Humanities, Technology,

History, Social Sciences, Arts and Performance• Interdisciplinary opportunities, such as Digital

Humanities• Endowments

• Donations and community support

• Crowdsource funding(e.g., http://kickstarter.com)

Next Steps• Selection of the Repository InstitutionP4 non-profit status• Appointments to the

Board of Trustees• Development of a

promotional website:http://poetrypreservation.com

• Fundraising and grant writing plan

Questions & Discussion

• Photos Courtesy of Mary Cae Vignolini, from various NPS events

• Special Thanks to…• RandForce Associates:

http://randforce.com• Tasty Brains:

http://tastybrains.com