Around 6,500 hours of historic news film is to be digitised and delivered online free to colleges and universities in a pound;2.2 million deal with ITN. Some 12 million still images recently created from the British Pathe newsreel are also included in the deal.
The ITN archive, holding films and newsreel dating back to 1896, covers defining moments of 20th century history, including the release of Nelson Mandela, the fall of the Berlin Wall and D-Day.
Forty hours of news film has already been made available and further content from ITN Archive is scheduled to be released from early 2004. Mark Wood, ITN chief executive, said: “This project will make a tremendous contribution to the learning and teaching resources available to further and higher education establishments.
“The project, called Newsfilm Online, has been funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee with partners ITN and the British Universities Film and Video Council.
“The JISC is a joint committee of the further and higher education funding bodies. It aims to provide librarians, teachers, lecturers and students with a vast digital resource with learning potential across almost every subject.”
Film already digitised is at: www.bufvc.ac.ukitnstudyFor British Path newsreel stills: www.britishpathe.combppress.cfm
