We’re lucky in the digital stewardship community that our challenges tend to be non life-threatening. Still, when we get fired up about something there is guaranteed to be spirited debate and passionate advocacy on all sides. Such was the case with the release of the PDF/A-3 file format specification in October 2012. We wrote about …
I’m cleaning out my office in preparation for retiring on March 7. I’ve accumulated a few mementos during my career, and moving them out stirs up memories. One of my favorite keepsakes is a framed 1986 poster from the National Archives and Records Administration that proclaims “Our Records, Your Responsibilities.” It offers little in the …
The following is a guest post by Nicole Scalessa, IT manager at The Library Company of Philadelphia, an NDSA member. Digital stewardship is a prime topic for small institutions trying to keep pace with the increasing demands for digital content. The Library Company of Philadelphia, a special collections library founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, …
The following is a guest post by Maureen McCormick Harlow, a National Digital Stewardship Resident at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. She is working on a project to build a thematic web collection. Greetings from the National Library of Medicine! It’s hard to believe it, but I’m heading into the fourth quarter …
Every two years there is a fresh opportunity for excitement in following the Olympic games – not only for the thrill of the sports themselves, and rooting for hometown heroes, but for the fascination and variety of all the international culture in one place. And now, there is an effort going on behind the scenes …
There was a week in January 2014 where I participated in three meetings/events where emulation came up as a digital preservation solution. Emulation has really hit its stride, 20 years after I first heard about it. An emulator is an environment that imitates the behavior of a computer or other electronic system. In recent years, …
The beginning is a very fine place to start indeed for the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative Born Digital Video subgroup of the Audio-Visual Working Group. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the FADGI Born Digital Video subgroup is taking a close look at the range of decisions to be made throughout the lifecycle …
How do I know if a digital file/object has been corrupted, changed or altered? Further how can I prove that I know what I have? How can I be confident that the content I am providing is in good condition, complete, or reasonably complete? How do I verify that a file/object has not changed over …
My two young teenage daughters spend hours playing Minecraft, building elaborate virtual landscapes and structures. They are far from alone; the game has millions of fans around the world. Teachers are seizing on Minecraft’s popularity with kids as a tool to teach both abstract and concrete subjects. What’s unique about this situation is not so much …
