Visitors to the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) website will find a new option sure to attract interest among both the academic community as well as the general public. The Samoan Studies Institute (SSI) has published its Media Directory on the College's site, and now offers copies of the many programs produced at ASCC for purchase or loan. Having documented Samoan cultural events on video for more than 10 years, the SSI has more than 600 hours of edited and unedited footage which it wishes to make available to students, researchers, archivists, and anyone with an interest.

SSI Director Okenaisa Fauolo-Manila traces the beginning of the College's video collection back to 1998, when the Samoan cultural studies division at ASCC was known as SAMPAC (Samoan-Pacific Studies Program), and under the leadership of Pulefaasisina Palauni Tuiasosopo. "A grant from the National Park Service Cultural Resource Training Initiative fund enabled Pulefaasisina and his staff to begin making videos of cultural events," said Fauolo-Manila, "and they basically never stopped. Over the past eleven years, the College's media collection has grown to include raw footage of over 500 events on digital video. From this footage has come more than 100 finished programs, but due to the lengthy process it takes to produce work of broadcast quality, much of the collected footage still remains unedited."

By browsing the SSI Media Directory, viewers will find a wealth of programs covering topics related to Samoan and Pacific history, culture, environment, health, politics, and social issues. The directory consists of two main sections, one listing final edited video programs and the other listing unedited raw footage. Much of the video material focuses on oral history and ethnography of American Samoa and Samoa, but also includes substantial documentation of ASCC programs and activities, documentaries about other Pacific islands and cultures from Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia , and stories from and about Samoan diaspora. SSI or SAMPAC produced most of the finished programs "in-house", and some in collaboration with other ASCC divisions such as Community & Natural Resources Division or the Art Department , or in partnership with KVZK-TV. Some material was acquired or donated from other organizations, such as Pacific Islanders in Communications, a consortium of The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Finished programs can be viewed on the SSI premises, borrowed for a refundable fee, or purchased. At this time, unedited footage from the media collection can only be viewed on the SSI premises by prior arrangement. "We want to retain control over what form our unedited footage takes before it goes out to the public," said Fauolo-Manila. "However, for the purposes of study or research, we will allow for the footage to be watched here at our facility." Anyone interested can make arrangements to watch unedited footage by contacting the SSI in advance.

ASCC President Dr. Seth Galea'i expressed his commendation to the SSI staff, and reflected, "Part of the ASCC mission is to promote an awareness of Samoa and the Pacific. SSI fulfils this through the various academic programs and outreach activities it offers. One component activity of SSI is the production, collection and archival of audio-visual media that may be used as a resource for teaching, research, and public appreciation. This is only the beginning, and as Samoan Studies Institute research and production develops, we will continue to update this valuable resource for students, researchers, educators and the community at large to learn about the cultural values and knowledge, ways of life, customs, social structures, histories, and environments of Samoa and the Pacific."

The SSI has two full time videographers on its staff, Micah Van Der Ryn and Lavinia Sefuiva, now familiar faces at ASCC cultural events as they continue to add to the media collection. The SSI Media Directory can be viewed on the ASCC website at www.amsamoa.edu . To contact the SSI, call ASCC at (684) 699-9155 and ask for the Samoan Studies Institute.