Last week I attended Metro's Digitization Special Interests Group meeting. The discussion panel included John Mignault from The New York Botanical Garden, Andrea Buchner from the Gruss Lipper Digital Laboratory at the Center for Jewish History, and Jennifer Vinopal from New York University.
It was a very informative meeting and there are some take away thoughts posted on Metro's tech blog.
Jennifer Vinopal mentioned that at NYU they make a distinction between archive and preservation and I find the distinction to be helpful. The archive guarantees bits. You put bits in, you get the same bits out in the same bit order. There is no guarantee of the viability of the file format. Preservation, she said, is an institutional commitment that requires human vigilance.
I like that. It makes me feel brave.
No comments:
Post a Comment