An Update: What Skills Does a Digital Archivist or Librarian Need?

If you are looking for a job associated in some way with preserving/curating/stewarding digital information for ongoing use into the future, you want the right mix of skill and experience to attract the right attention from an employer. I presented my own ideas on this subject a while back, talking from my practical experience as …

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NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation: Release Candidate One

In software development a release candidate is a beta version with the potential to be the final product.  Welcome to the release candidate for the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation. After some fantastic commentary on the blog, and presentations at a series of conferences to solicit feedback, I’m excited to share this revised version of the levels for further …

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Preserving Digital Archaeological Data

This is a guest post by Leigh Anne Ellison, Sales and Marketing Coordinator, The Center for Digital Antiquity. I am excited for the opportunity to contribute a guest post here at The Signal. I work with The Center for Digital Antiquity, a collaborative non-profit organization devoted to enhancing preservation of and access to irreplaceable archaeological …

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Preserving.exe: A Short List of Readings on Software Preservation

Most of the conversations I end up in about digital preservation are about the digital versions of analog things. Discussions of documents, still and moving images and audio recordings are important, but as difficult as the problems surrounding these kinds of digital objects are, there is a harder problem: preserving executable content, aka software. Software isn’t …

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All In! Embedded Files in PDF/A

Wouldn’t it be great to have a single technical solution that solves all your long-term digital archiving, stewardship and preservation needs? Perhaps a file format with millions of users, widespread adoption across different computing platforms, free viewers and open documentation? A lot of hopes and dreams have been poured into the idea of “one preservation …

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November 2012 Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter

The November 2012 Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now available. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/news/newsletter/201211.pdf In this issue: Activist Archivists preserving content from the Occupy Wall Street movement Mapping the Federal geospatial stewardship efforts Interviews with: Lori Emerson, Director of the Media Archaeology Lab; Peter Van Garderen and Courtney Muma, Archivematica; and Christie Moffatt and Jennifer Marill, …

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Before You Were Born…Museums had Networks

In honor of this week’s Museum Computer Network conference, I want to talk a bit about the early history of museum computing. Most people are not aware that MCN was born out of a cooperative computing project in the New York City area in 1967, under the direction of Dr. Jack Heller. Fifteen New York-area …

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SPRUCE-Up for Digital Preservation Community Engagement: An Interview with Paul Wheatley

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to talk (via email) with Paul Wheatley, of the SPRUCE Project,about an assortment of activities, issues and ideas relating to digital preservation. Leeds University Library is leading the Sustainable PReservation Using Community Engagement project, collaborating with the British Library, the Digital Preservation Coalition, the London School of Economics …

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Be a Joiner! IIPC is Accepting Membership Applications

Learning by doing and benefiting from a community of practitioners are key aspects of our approach to meeting the challenge of digital preservation. The International Internet Preservation Consortium is an organization that must also focus on practical solutions and quick action.  The web is a huge distributed resource and is changing constantly so it takes …

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