The digital providers unlocking Australia's film history

Content management system vendor Acquia and its local partner, digital agency Razorfish, have transformed the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) archives.

NFSA wanted to let Australians engage with its collection of 2.3 million audio-visual assets.

The first part of the project was to redesign and relaunch the NFSA website. The organisation was looking for modern web platform to let audiences explore more than 100 years of film, television, radio, music and more.

NFSA utilised govCMS: a Drupal-based open source web content management system targeted at government users. The whole-of-government CMS was built on Acquia's Cloud Site Factory Platform and is hosted on Amazon Web Services.

Graham Sowden, general manager for Acquia Asia-Pacific & Japan, said: "NFSA’s new site demonstrates the versatility of govCMS for building elegant, media-rich, and highly intuitive sites, and the archive gains the benefits of an accessible, scalable platform from which to develop creative, digital leadership.

"Working with Razorfish, we’ve developed a platform where the public may begin exploring the history contained in the archive and discover how it relates to today."

The new website is mobile responsive and navigation has been simplified, facilitating the search of films and sounds from as early as 1896. NFSA calls it "Australia's largest audio-visual collection online".

More than 50 curated collections can be accessed. Australian classics such as Crocodile Dundee, Storm Boy and Gallipoli are part of the archive.

NFSA chief executive Michael Loebenstein said: "The NFSA is Australia's 'living archive'. We are here to collect, preserve and share our priceless collection. Our new website is a key element to share this content, which belongs to all Australians.

"Working with Razorfish and Acquia has allowed us to create a world-class experience that we hope will be enjoyed by our audience and stakeholders," Loebenstein added.

As part of the transformation, NFSA also refreshed its logo, bringing back a kookaburra, present in its first logo back in 1984.

The govCMS project was led by the Department of Finance and declared ready for production in March 2015.