Beyond Theory. The interview series by PAAG

Lourdes Roca y Ortíz holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the National Institute of Anthropology and History, a Master's degree in History (with a focus on History Dissemination) from the Ibero-American University, and a Bachelor's degree in Communication Sciences. She is a researcher at the Mora Institute and the Head of the Audiovisual Laboratory for Social Research. Her multidisciplinary background in communication, history, and anthropology led her to focus her early research on audiovisual historical dissemination and documentary production. After being awarded a project for young researchers by CONACyT (2001) on "The uses of the visual in social research" she promoted the creation of a collective research space in this field: the Audiovisual Laboratory for Social Research, founded in 2002 at the Institute. She has dedicated herself to social research with images and the development of methodological proposals for their incorporation as research sources. She teaches image studies and qualitative research techniques at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the Mora Institute and has conducted specialization courses on the subject in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. She has received support from CONACYT for the establishment of the Audiovisual Laboratory for Social Research (2002-2006) and for the development of an Information System for Image Archives, El Pescador, which has facilitated the online access to several digital photo libraries, promoting free access to images and fostering their knowledge and research (2007-2012). She received the Ducit et Docet Award and the ATENALCYT Award for the best graduate average in 1990, and honorable mention for her doctoral thesis in anthropology in 2000. Among her publications are the documentary that was part of her doctoral thesis “Km. C-62 Un nómada del rilel” (2000), the books “Imágenes e investigación social (2005) and Investigación con imágenes. Usos y retos metodológicos” (2012), the online site “Huellas de luz" (2012), and the recent publication of “Tejedores de imágenes. Propuestas metodológicas de investigación y gestión del patrimonio fotográfico audiovisual” (2014), co-authored with Felipe Morales, Carlos Hernández, and Andrew Green.

Dr. Costanza Caraffa has been Head of the Photothek at the Kunsthistorisches Institut (KHI) in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut since 2006. She holds a PhD in art history and before taking up her role as Head of the Photo Archive at the KHI of Florence she has been collaborating as a researcher with various academic institutions such as the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Rome), the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture (CH) and the University of Lugano (CH). In 2009 Caraffa initiated the “Photo Archives” conference series and authored the Florence Declaration – Recommendations for the Preservation of Analogue Photo Archives.

Dr. Ute Dercks, an accomplished art historian, earned her Ph.D. in 2002 from Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf. With diverse roles in research and curation, including at Schloß Benrath and the Kunsthalle Hamburg, she has been a Scientific collaborator in the Photothek of the Art Historical Institute in Florence since October 2004. Dr. Dercks currently serves as the Deputy Head of the Photothek, contributing to the advancement of art history.

Conducted by Juan Alonso and Giulia Martini, members of the ICA/PAAG Working Group.

As the Senior Program Manager of Archives at WITNESS, Yvonne Ng is dedicated to supporting people to create and use archives for human rights change and accountability. She assists and trains grassroots partners, produces sharable learning materials, and advocates on issues related to human rights archives.

La Digitizadora, a "citizen platform" created in 2019 with the aim of accompanying social groups and individuals in digitising, describing and disseminating their audiovisual memory, which is preserved in analog supports (video-recordings and films) at risk of decay. The group consists of archival, audiovisual, arts, community engagement and computer professionals. They define themselves as "A non-profit collective wishing to contribute to preserving the audiovisual memory of social movements through a participatory process, and recognising Collective Memory as part of a plural perspective of History".

Randi Cecchine has a background in documentary filmmaking, media education, and educational film distribution. She is passionate about the potential of Artificial Intelligence in A/V archives. In the context of a Master’s programme in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image at the University of Amsterdam, her academic interest focussed on how institutions are implementing the use of AI systems. She was also intern at the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision. As part of her academic research, she recently wrote an interesting and highly recommended series of blog posts offering examples of how AI is being used for search and discovery, creative reuse, education, audience engagement, and collections as data. During the interview, Randi addresses technological innovations in the management of audiovisual archives very attentively, while taking into account profound ethical, philosophical, environmental and human rights issues.

Brecht Declercq is the current President of FIAT/IFTA and Digitisation and Acquisition Manager at meemoo, the Flemish Institute for Archives. He worked as a radio archivist for the Flemish public broadcaster VRT from 2004 until 2008 and as a policy researcher for FARO in 2008. From 2008 until 2013, he was in charge of the digitisation of VRT’s radio archives. Since June 2013 he is responsible for the digitisation of the Flemish audiovisual heritage preserved at Flemish broadcasters, cultural heritage institutions, city archives, government agencies and performing arts organisations. Also the acquisition of born digital heritage collections is part of his responsibilities.