If you listen to music, go to gigs or are at all interested in Vancouver's thriving indie-music scene, you’ll have most likely picked up an issue of Discorder, CiTR’s monthly magazine which focuses on Vancouver and B.C.-based bands and concerts.
With the future of print media continuously up for debate, more and more mediums are transferring to, or adapting themselves to the online world -- and Discorder is keeping up to date with this trend. Every issue since the magazine’s inception in 1983 was digitized over the past eight months.
Cecilia Rose, a grad student in the school of library, archival and information studies was in charge of the digitization process, as part of a work-learn.
"We started from the very first issue over 20 years ago," said Rose. "You can see materials from the comfort of your own home, you can browse pages, you can even search for information."
Now, rather than searching through physical archives, music fanatics can use the complete stored archives online to access their favourite bands, concert reviews from years past and even photographs from gigs (the ones from the 80s are pure gold.)
"It’s documenting the history of the independent music scene in Vancouver," noted Rose.
For Rose, the process of digitization disclosed hints of nostalgia. Currently in three-man band, The Flinettes, Rose was featured on the June 2014 cover of Discorder, which can be accessed online due to her role of digitizing.
Issues include articles, reviews, photos, features, interviews and advertisements, all of which can be downloaded in PDF format and saved for future use. Although the physical archives are still produced and available, Rose specifies the importance of these online editions, particularly when looking further into the future.
"It helps to protect the originals so people don’t have to access the original material to actually handle it, as they might be fragile."
Although the magazine is digitizing all of its future issues, print readers will not be disappointed.
"I think that Discorder’s print existence will always be a top priority for the publication," said Alex de Boer, editor-in-chief of Discorder.
The entire process of 20 years worth of magazines took just eight months, and are all available on the digital collections website of the UBC Library. Not only is Discorder your one-stop-shop for all things musical, cutting edge and current, now it can be an insight into the past music scene in Vancouver.
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