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Stewards of Culture Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age Gregory Colati, University of Connecticut May, 2014

Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

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A presentation for the Connecticut League of History Organizations in May 2014 about the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA) and its services

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Page 1: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

Stewards of CulturePreserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

Gregory Colati, University of ConnecticutMay, 2014

Page 2: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

?

Preserving cultural heritage in the digital age is just like preserving culture in the analog age…

…except when it is different.

Page 3: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

The Dilemma of Modern Stewardship, 1814

How do we insure that resources that support cultural activities that exist

today will reliably exist and be discoverable in the future?

1814 2???

?

May 2014

Page 4: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Dilemma of Modern Media, 1912

May 2014

Page 5: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Cultural Armageddon, 1980s

May 2014

Page 6: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

The Dilemma of Media, 1990s

May 2014

Page 7: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

The Dilemma of Modern Media, 1996 BEFORE YouTube, Facebook, and Smartphones

May 2014

Page 8: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Cultural Armageddon, 2000s

May 2014

Page 9: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Cultural Armageddon, 2011Source: University of Southern CaliforniaCredit: Todd Lindeman and Brian Vastag/ The Washington Post

May 2014

Page 10: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Cultural Armageddon, 2012

May 2014

Page 11: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Cultural Armageddon, 2013

“You may not incorporate the information… in any …archive”

May 2014

Page 12: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

The Dilemma of Modern Media Files

May 2014

Page 13: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

The Dilemma of Modern Documentation

May 2014

Page 14: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Cultural Armageddon, 2014?

May 2014

Page 15: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

What Has Value?

May 2014

Page 16: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

What is Noise?

May 2014

Page 17: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Everything can be data…

“When it was made simple, counted in bits, Information was found to be everywhere”

-James Gleick, The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood (2011)

“It is not just about the data, it is about the story”

-Arianna Huffington (2012)

…and used to tell a story. May 2014

Page 18: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

5 Equations of the Cultural Record, 2014

Analog=Non-existentUnconnect

ed=Invisible

Reusable =ValuableStorytelling =VisualizationCollections=Data

May 2014

Page 19: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

The Dilemma of Modern Stewardship, 2014

How do we insure that resources that support cultural activities that exist in

digital form today will reliably exist and be discoverable in the future?

2014 2???

?

May 2014

Page 20: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Four “–ity”s of the Digital Cultural Record• Sustainability

• The digital object can be maintained and accessed over time

• Authenticity• The digital object is reliably true to the

original• Interoperability

• The ability of one standards-based object to be used in any other standards-based system

• Reusability• Objects can be used in ways not related to

original purposeMay 2014

Page 21: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

The Bad NewsThe solution to the dilemma of modern stewardship:

• Is expensive to build and maintain;• Requires a large investment in technology

infrastructure;• Requires a standards-based management

system;• Can’t be purchased as a “complete

solution,” even if you could afford it.

Page 22: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

The Good NewsCollaborative programs can make it possible for everyone to share the cost and the benefits of:

Consortial management systems; Large-scale repositories; Negotiated connections to national and

international aggregators;

While retaining local ownership and control.

Page 23: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

Connecticut History

Content Owners Discovery & AccessInfrastructure

Aggregators

PreservationInfrastructure

Deposit Agreements & MOUs I l l u s t r a t e d

Organization Sites

Connecticut Digital Archive

Page 24: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Greg ColatiSr. Director

Archives, Special Collections and Digital Curation

University of Connecticut

[email protected]

Slides and text available at: http://www.slideshare.net/Gcolati/

May 2014

Page 25: Stewards of Culture: Preserving Cultural Records in the Digital Age

CLHO

Credits (In order of appearance) Certificate of membership in Windham County Agricultural Society, Archives and

Special Collections, University of Connecticut, http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:20110263

Wax Cylinder: Flickr image from the National Film and Sound Archive Australia Brittle page: http://chla.library.cornell.edu/c/chla/about2.html Paul Conway, Preservation in the Digital World http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/conway2 Washington Post: http

://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2011/02/11/GR2011021100614.html

Digital Universe: http://www.emc.com/leadership/programs/digital-universe.htm Singularity Hub:

http://singularityhub.com/2010/07/20/your-entire-life-recorded-lifelogging-goes-mainstream/

Justin TV: http://justin.tv Google glass: http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/ Iris: http://www.lowes.com/cd_Iris_239939199_ Locomotive: Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut

May 2014