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Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
Here’s a simple experiment that involves asking an average person two questions. Question one is: “how do you feel about physical books?” Question two is: “how do you feel about digital data?” The first question almost surely will quickly elicit warm, positive exclamations about a life-long relationship with books, including the joy of using and …
Posted in: Digital Content, Outreach and Events
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
Curiously, most of us in the digital memory business are hesitant to visually document our own work. Possibly this has to do with the perceived nature of the enterprise, which involves tasks that may seem routine. But pictures tell an important story, and I set about finding a few that depicted some of the digital preservation …
Posted in: Outreach and Events, Partners and Collaboration, Personal Archiving
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
The humble bloggers who toil on behalf of The Signal strive to tell stimulating stories about digital stewardship. This is unusual labor. It blends passion for a rapidly evolving subject with exacting choices about what to focus on. Collecting, preserving and making available digital resources is driving enormous change, and the pace is so fast …
Posted in: Inside the Library, Outreach and Events
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
This is a guest post by Meghan Vance, a Public History graduate student at the University of Central Florida. As a Public History graduate student at the University of Central Florida, I had the unique opportunity to participate in an internship with E-Z Photo Scan, a member of the NDSA Outreach Group. This internship evolved from a business-university …
Posted in: NDSA, Outreach and Events
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
This is a guest post by Ingrid Jernudd, a volunteer with NDIIPP. I am a senior at Stanford University who is pursuing a degree in psychology. In the past I have worked for a public relations firm, worked on planning events and with community outreach for Stanford Dining, and been a research assistant in psychology …
Posted in: Education and Training, Outreach and Events
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
My colleague Leslie Johnston blogged last week about computer hardware preservation and declared a change of opinion on the subject. Her motivation came as a result of discussions at a recent Library of Congress invitational meeting, Preserving.exe: Toward a National Strategy for Preserving Software. I attended the same meeting and also changed my opinion–but in the …
Posted in: Inside the Library, Outreach and Events, Tools and Infrastructure
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
The perfect digital preservation system does not exist. It may someday, but I don’t expect to live to see it. Instead, people and organizations are working on iterations of systems, and system components, that are gradually improving how we steward digital content over time. This concept of perpetual beta has been around for a while; …
Posted in: Outreach and Events, Tools and Infrastructure
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
This is a guest post by Kim Schroeder, Wayne State University Lecturer and WSU NDSA Student Group Faculty Advisor. Sometimes a professional conference offers you nothing new. Sometimes it changes your direction. Sometimes and perhaps more critically, it confirms your route. I suppose I look at the NDSA as my professional Global Positioning System. Since …
Posted in: Education and Training, Outreach and Events
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
This is a guest post by Susan Garfinkel, research specialist, Digital Reference Section at the Library of Congress. Electronic literature—past, future and present—is the focus of a free three-day program at the Library of Congress, April 3 to 5. The Electronic Literature Showcase, sponsored by the Library’s Digital Reference Section, includes a variety of events designed …
Posted in: Digital Content, Inside the Library, Outreach and Events