Keynote speaker: Edwin van Huis

Thu, 24 Jan 2007 2:36:21, Posted by SIGIR 2007

We are pleased to announce that Edwin van Huis will give a keynote speech at SIGIR 2007. Edwin J.F.B. van Huis (1958) is the Director General of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid) since 1996. Before that he was Managing Director of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and worked for the Ministry of Culture in the Netherlands.

Edwin van Huis is a Master of Science in Business Administration from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a Master of Science in Biology from the University of Florida (USA) and the University of Utrecht. He is also the president of FIAT\IFTA, the world organization of broadcast- and national AV-archives.

The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision was established in 1997 as the result of a merger between three large audiovisual archives and the Broadcast Museum. Substantial collections of radio and television programmes, documentaries, commercials, amateur films, photographs and music are all to be found at this institute. The (total) archival holdings include materials dating from the earliest days of cinema right up to current news broadcasts. The size of the archive is estimated at 700,000 hours worth of viewing and listening. The major collection currently held is that of the (Dutch) public broadcasters, the magnitude of which increases daily.

The institute is a private foundation and has almost 200 employees. Based in Hilversum, the heart of the Dutch media landscape, its primary function is to service the Dutch public and commercial broadcasters. Together with them, we aim to shape the future of producing programmes (on TV, internet and radio) in the digital age. However, the actual user base of this institute's (rich) archival holdings is much broader, including all levels of researchers, documentary programme makers, and the visiting public at the integral (state of the art) museum. These various user groups all have their own specific requirements regarding audiovisual programme content, and in order to meet these the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision provides a wide, efficient and professional, range of services.

On December 1st, 2006, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision opened a futuristic building which houses the Beeld en Geluid Experience. It is a hands on exhibition for the general public and for schools to experience the position and the power the media hold in our society.

Read more on: The Beeld en Geluid Portal.

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