Learning from Recorded Memory mini-conference

Wednesday, August 24 2011, 4-6pm

Place: New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway, 6th Floor, Michelson Theater, New York

A New York City firefighter looks up at what remains of the World Trade Center Sept. 13, 2001, after its collapse following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Jim Watson, USN A New York City firefighter looks up at what remains of the World Trade Center Sept. 13, 2001, after its collapse following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Photo: Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Jim Watson, USN.

Television news coverage of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath not only documented one of the most important events in mass memory, but structured its public perception. “Learning From Recorded Memory,” a mini-conference, highlights work by scholars using these materials to help us understand how TV news presented the 9/11 events and the international response. The conference will feature a demonstration of Internet Archive’s newly relaunched 9/11 TV News Archive, plus short presentations, followed by a reception.

Our collective recollection of 9/11 and the days that followed is inseparable from the TV news coverage we have all seen. But while television news is inarguably the most vivid and pervasive information medium of our time, it has not been a medium of record. As the number of news outlets increases, research and scholarly access to the thousands of hours of TV news aired each day grows increasingly difficult. Scholars face great challenges in identifying, locating, and adequately citing television news broadcasts in their research.

The 9/11 Television News Archive contains national and international news coverage of 9/11 and its aftermath, and is designed to assist scholars and journalists researching relationships between news events and coverage, engaging in comparative and longitudinal studies, and investigating “who said what when.” What kinds of research and scholarship will be enabled by access to an online database of TV news broadcasts? How will emerging TV news studies make use of this service? This conference, co-presented by Internet Archive and NYU’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program, will offer contemporary insights and predictions on new directions in television news studies.

Confirmed speakers include Marshall Breeding, Vanderbilt Television News Archive; Carolyn Brown, American University; Deborah Jaramillo, Boston University; Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive; Mark J. Williams, Dartmouth College; Michael Lesk, Rutgers University; Beatrice Choi, NYU; Brian A. Monahan, Iowa State University; and Scott Blake, artist.

Anyone interested in attending should contact the organizers at rsvp@archive.org.