Rediscovering the past at the CBC

I love the CBC! Back in 2007 it made it easier to access its digital archive, although since it is now four years since I started this post, I don't remember how difficult it was before that.

For each audio or video clip, there is accompanying useful textual information and links to other resources, and, most helpful to students who have to figure out the correct way to cite a web page, a 'cite this page' link. Once you copy and paste, all the formatting is done for you.

For instance, I watched a video about Haight-Ashbury. The same page contains text about the clip and the historical context for the film, as well as the above-mentioned resources. The clip is to be cited as:

Haight-Ashbury: The birth of hip.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: June 28, 2005.
http://archives.cbc.ca/society/youth/clips/3156/ [Page consulted on Sept. 24, 2011.]

I added in the links through the titles since the citing mechanism doesn't do that.

I did an advanced search to find the earliest clip and I believe it is this one from 1927. Grating to listen to, but that's how radio sounded in the old days.

Diamond Jubilee broadcast links Canadians.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: June 26, 2008.
http://archives.cbc.ca/society/celebrations/clips/13492/ [Page consulted on Sept. 24, 2011.]

Another feature(?), once I created my own archives, is a personal archives folder. It doesn't seem to work so well, since, while I can save to the folder, it seems to disappear every time I access it. It reappears with saved clips when I create a new folder with the same name, but that is really annoying.

The Archives has its own podcast, Rewind, where you can download whatever clips are listed for the past several months, or subscribe in several different ways. The Archives site is really best experienced, unless you're doing research, by clicking on links and seeing what you find. For instance, I found this television clip from 1955 showing A.Y. Jackson painting. The narration is a bit (okay, a lot) dated but still, it's pretty neat.