Archivematica and the Open Source Mindset for Digital Preservation Systems

I  had the distinct pleasure of hearing about the on-going development of the free and open-source Archivematica digital preservation system twice this year. First, from Peter Van Garderen at the CurateGear conference and second from Courtney Mumma at a recent briefing on the project for staff at The Library of Congress. Peter and Courtney both …

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Media Archaeology and Digital Stewardship: An interview with Lori Emerson

In what we hope will become a regular feature here on The Signal I am excited to have a chance to chat with Lori Emerson, a representative from the newest member of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance. Lori is the Director of the Media Archaeology Lab and an Assistant Professor in the Department of English …

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Mapping Federal Geospatial Stewardship Efforts

I’m obsessed with maps, especially digital maps. I’m continually amazed by the tools being developed to use location data to make our lives easier. Luckily, this interest dovetails with NDIIPP’s concerns about ensuring that digital mapping survives for the long-term, so I’m regularly scanning the landscape to figure out ways we can engage the wider …

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The October 2012 Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now available

The October 2012 Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now available. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/news/newsletter/201210.pdf In this issue: *Find out how you can help define levels of digital preservation *Reflections on CurateCamp processing *Read about three individuals who are working on the preservation of video games *Learn about the difference between domains and subdomains in web archiving …

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The Cultural Heritage and Data Storage Communities Come Together

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Designing Storage Architectures for Digital Collections meeting, or the storage meeting for short. Why is this annual meeting a highlight for many of my colleagues here at the Library? Because it zeros in on the critical data storage challenge cultural heritage organizations face …

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Communities of Practice Make it Possible: Digital Preservation at Smaller Institutions

The following is a guest post by Jennifer Gunter King, Director, Harold F. Johnson Library, Hampshire College. In July, scholars, entrepreneurs and digital preservation practitioners gathered in Arlington, Va., for the annual meeting of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program and the National Digital Stewardship Alliance, DigitalPreservation 2012. NDIIPP program management director Martha …

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New Web Archiving Resources

The launch of a new web site is the perfect opportunity for an organization to revamp itself. Information is refreshed and updated, new initiatives are touted while old content and projects get shuffled out of plain sight. Graphics and architectures change to better meet user needs and underlying technologies allow for easier management. Even an …

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Sharing, Theft, and Creativity: deviantART’s Share Wars and How an Online Arts Community Thinks About Their Work

Dan Perkel is a Design Researcher at IDEO. Last year, he finished is doctoral work at Berkley’s iSchool. His dissertation, Making Art, Creating Infrastructure: deviantART and the Production of the Web, involved an extensive ethnographic study of deviantART, a massive online community site built around sharing digital art. As part of our on going Insights …

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The AIMS Project and the Stewardship of Born-Digital Archival Materials: An interview with Bradley Daigle

The five recipients of the inaugural NDSA innovation awards are exemplars of the creativity, diversity, and collaboration essential to supporting the digital preservation community as it works to preserve and make available digital materials. In an effort to learn more and share the work of the individuals, projects and institutions who won these awards I …

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