Based on several previous studies presented at IASA annual conferences (2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017) this paper intends to summarize long-term outcomes with a focus on the innovation needed in the digital era and the possible human failure in small-scale archives such as those the authors work with in Asia. In this paper, all authors[1] follow their specific question with the purpose of contributing to an analytic view on how technology collides with or creates a sense of community. Our emphasis is on sharing positive experiences and encouraging others by honestly discussing possible failures due to various conditions. Embedding these possible failures into a wider context is part of a mutual learning process. At the same time, each author will address a different clientele of stakeholders such as educational institutions, governmental decision makers, academia, occasional users, and the AV archivists themselves. [1] The authors know each other and have networked through the activities of the panel organizer in all these institutions over the last two decades.

At the 2017 IASA Conference in Berlin, panellists analysed innovation and human failure in small-scale AV archives and asked the question “What do we need to learn from each other?” The many contributions to the discussion helped in overcoming difficulties that were presented. In 2019, the same panellists met again to discuss the outcomes of the learning process and to focus on the future of small-scale audiovisual archives in Asia. What makes small-scale audiovisual archives so special and different from large broadcast and national archives? What types of support networks will the future bring, and how can technical staff, archive users, administrators, and the larger community work towards an effective implementation of standards that will help to make knowledge available to all? The discussion took us to institutions in China, Laos, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and laid the groundwork to establish continuity in dedicating professional efforts to support audiovisual archive organizations in emerging and developing countries. The panel members intend to engage in further discussion and to draw attention to the weak connections between archival goals and the general understanding of continuity in some Asian institutions. This is also a creative report of the panel organizer’s work as IASA Ambassador in this region.