WDAH2024 – ICA/PAAG Webinar / AI Innovations in Small Audiovisual Archives: Challenges and Opportunities

Expert at the Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents, specializing in the description of audiovisual collections. Natālija has played important role in developing strategies for integrating AI tools into archival processes. Her responsibilities include compiling archive fonds’ histories, maintaining databases, and improving archival systems. Additionally, she has experience working in museums and as a teacher, enriching her expertise in both educational and cultural sectors. Natālija holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Latvia, complementing her professional skills in digital and AI-driven solutions.

As a member of the International Council on Archives, Natālija contributes to the global archival community. Her current research focuses on promoting sustainable archiving practices and enhancing the use of AI in small archive systems.

Aap Tepper works as the head of Digitization department at Film Archives of the National Archives of Estonia, where he oversees the digitization process of films, photo, sound, and audiovisual documents. Aap has a background in photography, and prior to leading the digitization department, he managed large-scale photo digitization projects that involved numerous Estonian institutions. He is a graduate of the Estonian Academy of Arts Master’s program in Photography and is also a visual artist. His artistic work explores the intersections of memory, space, and photographic representation. Utilizing personal images as well as pictures sourced from social media or archives, his work often takes the form of site-specific installations.

Jolė Stimbirytė studied sociology at the Vilnius University and received her master’s degree in 1999. From 1995 till 1999 she worked as an Archivist of Sound and Video Documents Department at the Lithuanian Archive of Image and Sound (later – Lithuanian Central State Archive). From 1999 till February 2023, she was the institution's Head of the Audiovisual Documents Preservation Department. Since February 2023 she has been the Head of the Film Department. She was also responsible for management of different national and international projects (MIDAS, EFG, EUScreenXL, E-kinas, etc.). Jolė Stimbirytė is a Chair of Lithuanian Archivists Association as well as a Board member of Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council and a member of Cinema Culture Association.

Dr. Mila Oiva, Adjunct Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku, Finland, is an expert of Russian and Polish cultural history and digital research methods. Her research interests focus on the circulation of knowledge and changing perceptions of the world. She has explored these themes through a variety of case studies, ranging from 19th-century global news flows, Cold War-era transnational information circulation between Poland, the Soviet Union, and France, as well as contemporary Finnish and Russian internet forum discussions on medieval history. Her current research focuses on computational analysis of Soviet and Estonian newsreels.

Matthias Priem is the manager of archiving at Meemoo, the Flemish Institute for the Archives. He has been active for over 10 years in digital preservation which recently included several projects regarding the use of artificial intelligence to create descriptive metadata on audiovisual and photo documents.

Senior Archivist at the National Archives of Latvia – Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents, Sanita has studied film history and theory at the Latvian Academy of Culture and social and cultural anthropology at the University of Latvia. Before joining the archive in 2020, she has worked as a film development and production assistant for several small independent Latvian film studios, as well as in the Latvian Television and local film festivals. Currently, Sanita’s interests lies in amateur film heritage and developing creative solutions for popularizing, contextualizing, and making Latvian film heritage more accessible.