FIAT/IFTA World Conference 2026

The National Archives of Singapore (NAS) holds one of Southeast Asia's most significant collections of audiovisual heritage — spanning audio recordings, video, and film, including uniquely Singaporean collections such as the Educational Television Series (ETS), a collection of home movies documenting everyday life, and SoundscapeSG — an irreplaceable record of the nation's sonic environment.

Managing digitisation across three format domains, each with its own technical requirements, presented a considerable challenge: how to establish standardised workflows without losing the specialist expertise each format demands.

A particular focus will be placed on the film workflow, developed in close collaboration with NAS archivists. Their domain expertise shaped workflows that are sensitive to the specific preservation challenges these materials present.

Another challenge is posed by a subset of donated materials that had suffered considerable decay under tropical climate conditions before reaching the archive — requiring workflows flexible enough to accommodate varying states of preservation.

This presentation describes the collaboration between NAS and Cube-Tec, a specialist provider of digitisation workflow software, to implement a unified solution covering audio, video, and film. Speaking from both perspectives — archive and vendor— we trace how the project unfolded: from requirements analysis and workflow design to practical implementation.

We also look ahead: how the workflows at NAS point towards scalable, future-ready approaches and the integration of emerging technologies for sustainable digitisation practice.