1.7 KiB
Rick Prelinger @footage https://twitter.com/footage/status/1375893247201964032
THREAD: This is an troubling moment for moving image #archives: there's a new, heavily-hyped and market-driven model of digital scarcity (#NFT), which manufactures uniqueness and aura. At the same time AI-driven tools are turning original images into even prettier fiction. (1/5)
Will #archives junk existing access models and mint #NFTs to earn money they desperately need? Or will they use the #blockchain to validate archival provenance? Or will we see known-provenance documents sabotaged by fakes whose "authenticity" is blockchain certified? (2/5)
Today, #copyright trolls claim ownership of many YouTube videos that are either public domain or owned by others. Who's going to prevent them from using the #blockchain to claim the entire moving image heritage as their own? Are we in for a new regime of online policing? (3/5)
And finally, will AI-enhanced archival images kill the market for those that are "realer" but not quite as pretty? In sum, I fear #archives are about to have whatever claims on authenticity and provenance they make yanked out from under them. (4/5)
Welcome to a new world of "fake archives" and speculation in archival collectibles. (5/5)