SAA Annual Meeting Session 402 Archivist 2.0: Policies, Partnerships, Predictions and Possibilities

SAA Annual Meeting

S.402 Archivist 2.0: Policies, Partnerships, Predictions and Possibilities

Disclaimer (borrowed from David Weinberger): Live-blogging. Getting things wrong. Missing points. Omitting key information. Introducing artificial choppiness. Over-emphasizing small matters. Paraphrasing badly. Not running a spellpchecker. Mangling other people’s ideas and words.

1. Nan Rubin, Preserving Digital Public Television
2. Lisa Schmidt, It’s Different with Digital: Influencing Curation Policy When There is No Mandate to Curate
3. Joanne Kaczmarek, From Here to Infinity! The Future of Archives

Nan Rubin, Preserving Digital Public Television

[I had laptop issues and didn’t take notes.  Here’s the link to the site she discussed]

www.thirteen.org/ptvdigitalarchive

Lisa Schmidt, It’s Different with Digital: Influencing Curation Policy When There is No Mandate to Curate

Archivist as policy maker:  “Stop disciplining data and start herding it” (Bailey?)

Archivist as policy maker: take responsibility, speak IT language, and play consulting role

At MSU, the Archives offers guidance and creates policy on a number of projects

1. Digital Curation Planning Project: Assess digital assets, tech infrastructure and state of digital curation needs and practices
   1. Began with questionnaire, followed up with in-depth interviews to assess current state and offer recommendations
   2. Identified 4 types of content:
      1. i.      Publications
      2. ii.      MSU records of historic interest
      3. iii.      Research data
   3. Archives can provide advice for all content types, and has policy enforcement authority for some types (such as publications)
   4. Archives assists University Relations office, which has servers bursting at the seams with digital photos and video
   5. Spartan Archive Project: NHPRC-funded (3 year grant) to develop a permanent electronic records archives; beginning with three electronic records series from the Office of the Registrar, then will extend to other university records of enduring value
      1. MSUA does have a mandate to collect this
      2. Records Management Training: University Archivists makes presentations and leads workshops on best practices for managing electronic records
      3. Tiered Storage Initiative at MSU: Archivists provides guidance, ensure trusted digital repository space not just cheap storage. Will connect with records retention schedules, so folks can throw whatever they want into storage

Conclusion: we have traditionally been stewards of records of enduring value, so we can do this for digital records too!  We can be effective consultants because we are part of the institution but not invested in processes at the unit level.  Get to know your records managers.  By taking on this policy making role, the archivist becomes more of a strategic asset to her/his institution.

Joanne Kaczmarek, From Here to Infinity! The Future of Archives

JK’s motivation: to break out of her own world view and freely imagine future possibilities.  Hasn’t had a lot of opportunity to work with physical records, but has a growing appreciation of them.

JK worldview: technology will continue to influence how we manage information.  The temperament of archivists is (rightly) difference from that of technologist.  All archivists do not need to become technologist; we just need to be able to speak with them; it’s OK to be who we are.

To get an idea of what the future will be like, JK talked to young people (the 20 and under crowd) because the future is theirs.  A lot of people under the age of 20 don’t have a concept of “the wet signature,” don’t rely on paper documents as evidence/representation of past events.

What are their views on technology and on archives?  JK conducted a survey of 10-25 year olds.  Used Survey Monkey and her 15 year old niece, who said, “Don’t ask a lot of questions Aunt Joanne. They aren’t going to answer them.”  43 respondents, most of whom where friends or knew Jennifer, JK’s niece – mostly from the Midwest, but a few from around nation and world.

Which technologies do you use daily or weekly?  Facebook, phone use is high; Twitter, letter-writing low.  How do you store your digital media?  40% said “personal computer.” Only a few used print or web.

How do respondents see technology in their grandchildren’s time: One said that technology will impair their grandkids’ social skills.  They expect digital content, representations of their lives, to endure for grandkids.  Automation will require us to leave our homes less and less.  “A chip in people’s brains that allows them to project whatever they want to a computer”

What is an archives?  “A place for old stuff, old historical stuff, maybe on a particular topic.”

In summary, technology is not going away; people will be doing more to keep stuff themselves, but will rely on “safe” places; archivists shouldn’t lost sight of our foundational perspectives, but we don’t have to do it alone.

[JK then showed a video she'd made, highlighting some of the themes of her talk]

Q&A

[Didn't hear the first question. ]

Discsussion between NR and JK about rights and whether the sounds and images in JK’s video were infringing or protected by fair use.

Question for Lisa: could you give an example of paper-sparse office?

MSU business offices are looking to use less paper, not go fully paperless.

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