What happens when “the front page of the Internet” meets the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB)? We found out recently when our AAPB team, responsible for the preservation of historic and at-risk public media programs from across the country, opened themselves up to questions on the r/AskHistorians subreddit for an AMA, or “Ask Me Anything.”
Karen Cariani, the David O. Ives Executive Director of the WGBH Media Library and Archives and WGBH Project Director for the AAPB, Casey Davis Kaufman, Associate Director of the WGBH Media Library and Archives and Project Manager for the AAPB and Ryn Marchese, Engagement and Use Manager for the AAPB at WGBH cleared their schedules to answer redditors’ questions, from requests for programs like NOVA and Sesame Street to technical questions about the digitization of fragile tape.
An impressive 10,500 history fans viewed the exchange, fueling impassioned discussions about favorite public media from the past and the importance of preserving the vast cultural resources contained in the AAPB. As a token of appreciation, the AAPB team received some sweet r/AskHistorians swag, featured above.
Want to try your hand at preserving public media for all? Help to fix computer-generated transcripts from thousands of historic public broadcasting programs from across the country with the AAPB's FixIt+ game. Your corrections will be made available in public media's largest digital archive at americanarchive.org.
