President's Report October 2002

Dear Colleagues,

Finally Antalya is just around the corner and the 25th FIAT General Assembly and World Conference has a very present day topic: archives as bridge constructors between continents and various technological standards. I hope that the constructive bridge engineers of world peace politics allow a turn out of our conference the way we hope it to be. Because one thing can already be said: together with our hosts from TRT the splendid venue and obvious reactions to an especially attractive program - the number of participants registered for Antalya carries on the big FIAT events of Paris, Florence or Vienna. Two weeks before the opening session we have 170 participants (without accompanying persons) and whoever reads the program will see that we can offer lecturers from all points of the compass!

If there's a difference to Paris, Florence or Vienna, then it's something that FIAT cannot influence: the number of AV-industry representatives has drastically decreased. But you only have to open the newspapers to understand why even the big players have to battle great economical problems. Nevertheless, we have sponsors for our Awards and the support of our host is more than generous! Therefore I already now want to express our gratitude to the General Secretary of TRT, Mr. Ayhan Karapars and his Manager for International Relations, Ms. Alev Bilingen and have them take curtain bows for all involved in the organization of this event. In times when one can expect less support from the IT industry, FIAT has to more than ever depend on a host that can actively step into our conference planning.

For me personally Antalya also symbolizes a hopefully through and through positive final chord after 4 exciting, busy and in its development unpredictable years as FIAT President. In the last third of my presidency it was really hard to keep up my policy, but in total I believe we can be satisfied with our umbrella organization. We have steadily developed our targeted direction: On the one hand the technological revolution - keyword "digital newsroom" - is ever more catching up in our daily archive work. On the other hand we have to preserve yesterday's heritage, i.e. the long term preservation of films, tapes, etc. and to repair yesterday's mistakes. This applies to every one of our members, no matter how far they have or have not been confronted with advanced technologies. I truly believe that we have become a world organization. We have lecturers and delegates from Africa, The Caribbean, Latin America and Asia in our participants list and I hope that this development will continue in the coming years!

Finally, I also want to mention that it appears that we will have at least 2 candidates running for President. As in Florence, it will be a matter of concept and projects. Therefore this reminder: According to the valid FIAT Statutes, if you are a full member (and only these can vote) and cannot come to the conference, you can delegate your ballot to a colleague going to Antalya who will represent you at the election. Fundamentally: 1 delegate can only submit 1 proxy vote.

In this sense let's cross our fingers that the world's constructive peace makers will succeed and the 25th FIAT General Assembly and World Conference - the silver anniversary of our organization - will have the desired success: a mega event in a fantastic country with an especially attractive program. Because, in the end, that's what really matters!

yours Peter Dusek
FIAT/IFTA President