Digitising the RTÉ audio archive
Raidió Teilifís Éireann: Transforming Ireland's Linguistic Heritage from Analogue to Digital
A Vast Linguistic Heritage
Drawing from extensive audio recordings originally broadcast on Radio Éireann and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, this project encapsulates a vast linguistic and cultural heritage that spans nearly a century - from the 1920s to 2000 - capturing significant social, cultural, and political events. These recordings, once stored on fragile and now-obsolete formats such as reel-to-reel tapes and compact discs, have been digitised in accordance with international best practices to ensure their long-term preservation.
Extensive Archival Recovery
Through the framework of media archaeology, this project has successfully recovered over 230,000 hours of archival content from 83,000 physical recordings. This comprehensive digitisation effort ensures the high-fidelity preservation of the original recordings while enhancing their accessibility.
The process commenced with the centralisation and relocation of approximately 80 tonnes of archival material from RTÉ vaults across multiple regions, which then underwent conservation, identification, and packing as part of a meticulously coordinated logistical effort. The digitisation project concluded with rigorous quality assurance measures and the implementation of digital preservation workflows, ensuring bit-level integrity in the newly digitised formats.
Enhancing Research Through Metadata Standardisation
Digitisation included the standardisation of handwritten information into metadata, significantly improving the precision and efficiency of content retrieval for researchers engaging with this invaluable repository. This methodical approach allows for deeper exploration and analysis of Ireland’s diverse linguistic landscape.
A Resource for Future Generations
RTÉ marks a significant milestone in the digitisation and accessibility of historical audio recordings, ensuring the preservation of Ireland’s linguistic heritage for future generations. DCU Fiontar and Scoil na Gaeilge’s Canúint.ie project serves as a pioneering case study, showcasing the potential of rich contextualisation when identifying a rich set of Irish language dialects and their connections to specific locations and time periods.