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Posted by: Susan Manus
Note: We will occasionally post material to The Signal, with updates, that was previously published only on our website. The following is an article from our “Meeting the Challenge” series, October, 2010. Behind every digital object, there is usually metadata with descriptive information about the object. But the library world is all too aware that …
Posted in: Digital Content, Publications and Resources
Posted by: Butch Lazorchak
Like many of you, I’ve got hundreds (thousands?) of photos. This is one of my favorites: It’s not the most flattering photo in my collection, but it was taken by a good friend back when I was still a crazy grad student, and I crack up every time I see it. Of course, the photo …
Posted in: Digital Content, Personal Archiving, Publications and Resources
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
From a preservation standpoint, some digital file formats are better than others. The basic issue is how readable a format remains over the course of time and successive waves of technological change. The ideal format will convey its content accurately regardless of advances in hardware, software and other aspects of information technology. Over the last …
Posted in: Publications and Resources, Tools and Infrastructure
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
In truth, every day is digital archives day here at the Library. But, in honor of the official Digital Archives Day, I thought it would be useful to mention some of the pertinent resources the Library has or helps support. There are two basic categories: 1) digital content collections, and 2) information about digital projects …
Posted in: Digital Content, Inside the Library, Personal Archiving, Publications and Resources
Posted by: Martha Anderson
Part of a continuing series of alphabetically chosen digital preservation topics. I believe a “picture is worth a thousand words” especially when masses of digits form a new shape that presents fresh insights. The Library and National Endowment for the Humanities have been working with partners for several years to build a digital archive of historic …
Posted in: Digital Content, Publications and Resources
Posted by: Susan Manus
A couple of weeks ago I attended a talk by Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy for the Smithsonian Institution. The talk, entitled “Let Us Go Boldly Into the Present” (similar to his presentation at our Partners Meeting this past summer), touched on a lot that we think about, deal with or just …
Posted in: Digital Content, Publications and Resources
Posted by: Butch Lazorchak
The following is a guest post by Barrie Howard, Program Management Coordinator, NDIIPP. This post is the third in a short series about U.S. government grant programs that have funded digital preservation since the beginning of the new millennium. This series focuses on federal agencies other than The Library of Congress, such as the National …
Posted in: Partners and Collaboration, Publications and Resources
Posted by: Butch Lazorchak
The following is a guest post by Carl Fleischhauer, a Digital Initiatives Project Manager in NDIIPP. I am attending the annual conference of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) in Frankfurt, Germany, hosted by the Hessischer Rundfunk (the public broadcasting unit for the German state of Hesse), the German public broadcasting archive, …
Posted in: Digital Content, Partners and Collaboration, Publications and Resources
Posted by: Martha Anderson
Continuing the alphabetical series of digital preservation topics. Recently one of our California partners commented on the irony of the earthquakes occurring in Colorado and Maryland, two partner sites in areas not prone to earthquakes. This practice of keeping copies of digital collections in geographically diverse areas is one technique employed for bit preservation. Fortunately …
Posted in: Partners and Collaboration, Publications and Resources, Tools and Infrastructure