The end of the ASR project is to be marked by the Unlocking Audio 2 conference. This international event presents an exiting opportunity to explore how large audio collections can be made available online.

The rewards for doing a project like ASR are many but there are substantial obstacles to be overcome if one wants to make significant headway. The project has addressed many of these issues head-on and not without success. Those wishing to undertake similar activities will be able to learn much from our endeavours but we equally wish to learn from others who have taken a different approach.

Those involved in using audio in teaching, learning and research should be particularly interested as this is one of the few conferences focused on this topic. Those who are engaged in online delivery of archival audio or those who are planning to make material available on a large (or smaller) scale will undoubtedly benefit from attendance. 

I hope to see you there. A call for papers has just gone out and I advocate a speedy response as the deadline is not far off.

Peter Findlay
Project Manager, Archival Sound Recording 2