AskAnArchivist Day and #ArchivistJokes
AskAnArchivist Day – October 2, 2019
According to the Society of American Archivists (SAA), October is Archives Month. And, today, October 2, is AskAnArchivist day.
Time permitting, we will post some of the jokes and other frequently asked questions we have collected related to digital archiving.
Follow us on twitter for the latest updates on #AskAnArchivist Day.
Joke 16
Here is the Joke 1:
It’s #AskAnArchivist day!!
If you have ?s on #archiving or digital archiving, or if you want
to find #jokes about #archives and #Archivists, check back here!
#AskAnArchivist Joke 1
Q: What does an archivist like on scones?
. . .
A: . .. preserves
har har . . .
It’s #AskAnArchivist day! Samples from a collection of jokes curated over years. #archives #archivists
AskAnArchivist Joke 2:
Q: How did they find the #archivist in cold storage? . . . . .
A: . . . shivering
Here’s a question we often answer, even if it’s sometimes unasked. #askanarchivist
Joke 3:
Q: If content is king, what’s metadata?
. . . .
A. . . . Pope
Joke 4:
Q: What are a digital archivist’s favorite tools in the shed?
A: . . . . . . . . Access (axes)
#archivists actively promote open and equitable access to records in their care within the context of … www2.archivists.org/statements/saa
Joke 5:
Q: What TV star do archivists love most?
. . . . . . . A: Love? Nahhh, we RESPECT DA FONZ ! (respect des fonds)
Meme is courtesy of our friends at Archives 101 Zine (PDF) of Los Angeles Archivists Collective.
To learn more about “respect des fonds” and the archival principle of provenance, check out this definition from the Society of American Archivists
Joke 6
Q: Do you have any institutional records?
. . . . . .
. . .. ..
A: yeah, I’ve got some 🌍 Earth, 💨 Wind and 🔥 Fire
Joke 7
Q: What did the #archivist feel when her
shopping cart was cut off in the supermarket?
…. . . . . A: store-rage
Joke 8
Joke 9
Joke 12
Check out our case studies for additional questions that we answered and solutions that we found.
Read More
“The ebooks will stop working.”
“The ebooks will stop working.” I gasped when I first read that.
Last week, I was doing some research and surfing twitter on my cell when I saw a spine-tingling tweet with a sentence that made me stop in my tracks: “The books will stop working.” After re-gaining consciousness, I stewed and mulled and collected my thoughts. Then I wrote my most popular tweet ever. It practically went viral! It got more than 31,000 click-thru engagements and nearly 150 likes and 130 retweets. I’m still recovering. . . .
What a horrifying sentence, I thought. As someone who has worked with digital libraries and archives, I’ve been thinking about ebooks not working and about digital rights for a long time. This disturbing news was gratifying and reminded me of the inspiring science fiction writings and non-fiction articles by Cory Doctorow.
DRM
So here’s the story. In April, Microsoft announced that they will shut down their ebooks store and grant refunds. The FAQ page states “your books will be removed from Microsoft Edge when Microsoft processes the refunds.” In other words, they will refund purchases and then remove their DRM books. They are eliminating their whole e-book ecosystem!
In 2004, science fiction writer Cory Doctorow warned us about ebooks. His speech is still available freely online (through the public domain) in many formats, I can still remember the thrust of his argument:
- DRM systems don’t work.
- DRM is bad for society.
- It is bad for business.
- It is bad for artists.
- DRM is bad business for Microsoft.
Originally intended as an anti-piracy measure, DRM has changed. Now it primarily functions to lock customers into a specific ecosystem. This restricts our ability to read or view or listen to purchases wherever and however we want. This cycle has persisted for decades and it shows no signs of abating.
However, at present we may not have all the information nor terminology to discuss this vexing issue in pragmatic terms. In some ways this shares similarities with technological or format obsolescence issues. DRM is more complex because it represents a time-based and privately-owned security mechanism.
Obsolescence Learned
Technological obsolescence often furthers a carrier format improvement. For example, the sound quality recorded on analog vinyl LPs were improved by digital re-engineering and noise reduction. Digital optical CDs captured recordings that sound cleaner and, some say, more sterile. But the market was built upon persuasive promises that compact discs provide “perfect sound forever.”
In the case of DRM, though, there is a more appropriate example of format obsolescence. This one hits closer to home in the born-digital world. In the late 1990s, Macromedia Flash became the new killer app. It was a frame-by-frame animation tool that simplified vector animation and interactive publishing for the web. The software enabled users to create interactive animations on a timeline and to capture and upload moving images files. This was a huge improvement on static HTML pages of yesteryear!
The ebooks: After-Flash Math
Adobe bought Macromedia and Flash in 2006. Things got rough for Flash when the iPhone was released in 2007 without Flash player support. Then, a few years later, just prior to releasing the iPad, Steve Jobs stuck a dagger when he announced Apple was stopping support for Flash. This exclusion of the Apple ecosystem was deadly for Flash.
With advances in open standards and exclusion from Apple ecosystem, Flash languished. Its software usage and proprietary formats became less ubiquitous. HTML5, a new open standard, became the go-to replacement. YouTube, the largest provider of Flash video, was one of the first to migrate content to the new standard. In July 2017, Adobe announced they too would end support for Flash player and software in 2020.
Digital Rights Management represents a new structural threat to accessing our content. This example of Microsoft removing ebooks and evidence of books from people’s libraries, is horrifying. This is the tyranny of DRM and it illustrates the grave threat of additional proprietary algorithms.
So next time you’re downloading some music or purchasing an ePub, you may want to ask yourself, “Will the ebooks stop working too?”
Check out the Cory Doctorow speech from 2004 on Craphound: https://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt
Or if you prefer a fancier format, check it out here in glorious PDF.
Brooklyn Animation – History & Future
The Amazing and Incredible History and Future of Brooklyn Animation
One year ago , I hosted and curated an event titled “The Amazing and Incredible History and Future of Brooklyn Animation.” And that event was hosted at Brooklyn Historical Society. Surprisingly, it sold out!
Coincidentally, the event was held on the 150th birthday of the father of American animation, Brooklyn animator Winsor McCay. The evening was both educational and inspiring.
It began with a live performance of McCay’s most famous animated cartoon, Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). He produced it in Sheepshead Bay. As a 150th birthday present, John Canemaker performed the interactive parts and read the inter-titles live. Truly it was incredible. He is an Emmy and Oscar award-winning independent animator. Also, he is an author, professor, and animation historian at NYU. As part of the evening’s festivities, he also showed a powerpoint based on his book Winsor McCay: His Life and Art.
Making History
Film collector and curator Tommy Stathes also provided information and insight on some of the early Brooklyn animators. Throughout the evening, he projected clips focused on innovation and inventions in Brooklyn animation—primarily from Max Fleischer and Fleischer Studios. While Mr. Stathes showed clips utilizizng the rotoscope machines patented by Max Fleischer in Brooklyn in 1917, he also projected films from Fleischer Studio with KoKo the Klown, Betty Boop, and Popeye. There were some eye-popping and risque examples of animation at its best. As a special treat, he screened some of the earliest Fleischer Studios sound cartoons. Those were created in NYC prior to The Jazz Singer.
Max Fleischer with Betty Boop, courtesy of Fleischer Studio Archives
As curator, archivist David Kay also moderated and hosted the Q&A. His first-hand research and interviews helped uncover the pivotal role that Brooklyn played in creating the animation industry. With assistance from Max Fleischer’s granddaughter, he projected the image of the rotoscope patent that Max Fleischer filed in 1917. That patent changed the path of American animation. Years later it even changed video games!
This led to the creation of one of the largest and most productive animation studios in the nation—many years before Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse! Brooklyn’s animated stars include Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye, and even Superman. The evening showed that both the roots and the future of American animation are found in Brooklyn.
The Future
Consequently, the highlight of the event was the appearance of Brooklyn-based animator Jennifer Oxley. She is a multi-Emmy Award winning Producer of many children’s TV shows and a true visionary. She helped invent “photo-puppetry style” created for The Wonder Pets! TV show on Nick Jr. At this event, Ms. Oxley showed new styles and examples. She also spoke about her career and dreams to be an animator. Fortunately, she also shared new clips from Peg + Cat, the Emmy Award winning show she produces that airs on PBS Kids. Oxley also previewed a clip from her new animated series based on an imagined friendship between Amelia Earhart and Josephine Baker.
Afterwards, panelists participated in a brief question and answer period. Reviews were favorable and, at the end of the event, Ms. Oxley answered additional questions and signed books for a very large audience of shy, young aspiring animators.
We commissioned a poster from artist Tommy Yesterday to honor the event. And the writer, cartoon producer and author Jerry Beck even wrote a brief article about the evening.
If you would like more information on the next series, contact dkay@digitalarchivy.com.
MARAC Panel (1 of 3)
MARAC Panel on Digital Archivists and IT Professionals – David Kay, Spring 2017 (part 1 of 3):
Recently I participated in a Mid-Atlantic Region Archives Conference MARAC panel discussion n Newark. The topic was on similarities and differences between IT and digital archivists. I was honored to be on the panel with four professional digital archivists whom I respect deeply. The other panelists were very impressive. They also work in academic, medical, and public libraries. To contextualize my unique experience and knowledge with clients in private and not-for-profit sectors, it was important to discuss three types of archival collections because their unique qualities and distinct users determine the archival methodologies, policies, and deliverables.
Types of Institutional Archives
The two most common types of archives are personal papers (or historical manuscripts), and public archives (or governmental records). Archivists working in these two types of archival institutions constitute two-thirds of the Society of American Archivists’ membership. From my experience working in academic institutions and governmental agencies, I have identified similarities and differences in the needs, uses, and users of business archives compared with the other types.
In all scenarios, like Janus, the two-faced Roman God of Beginnings and Endings, archivists benefit from our own subjectivity and objectivity. By understanding archival theory and practice, digital archivists can build on lessons learned and shared in the past. Our familiarity with content and context is critical regardless of archives type.
Marac Panel – An overview of IT and Digital Archivists
Technological infrastructure and their ecosystem of network servers concerns all IT professionals. While computers, operating systems and software compatibility, they are aware of the risks and challenges they face. For example, many have faced problems with external portable drives for media storage. Depending on the type of archives, IT may enforce strict information security policies. Their expertise lies in familiarity with firewalls, email systems, servers, network access, and security protocols, as well as information governance. Some IT departments have automated system backups as part of their disaster planning and emergency preparedness programs. In many cases, though, IT professionals will say, “Yes, we archive everything. We do daily backups.” In other words, IT professionals are like digital archivists. They are also concerned with big issues such as access, control, and storage of information and data.
But while IT departments focus on similar objectives, digital archivists see technology as a system and an infrastructure, not simply as a tool. Digital archivists know that the work depends on people, process and technology. As archivists, we often help other select data and interpret information. From experience, we become experts in pattern recognition, data validation and verification, and in quality control. In addition, digital archivists help shape the institutional memory, and their familiarity with practical and cost-effective methods helps improve workflows and increases intellectual control.
So role-based permissions, version control, technological needs assessments are critical for establishing functional requirements. Reviews of business processes and technical specifications are also important. This is true in selecting and implementing metadata schemas, controlled vocabularies, and taxonomies. As Joan Schwartz wrote years ago” “We make our tools and our tools make us.”
An Assessment of Technological and Evidential Environment
Every institution has an ecosystem that creates and uses digital records. People use the technology they have at hand to create and process content used and needed by businesses and departments. The records document activities, serve functions, and support purposes. In this Venn Diagram, you see that content lives at the intersection of People, Technology, and Process.
copyright AHA Media Group
Professor Richard Cox wrote that evidential value of a record exists if content, structure, and context are preserved. The interconnectedness and interplay between components is significant. People create content, but a technological infrastructure is critical. It is often overseen on a network by IT. Context links records and record creators, record users, asset consumers, and digital archivists by the processes and their functions. A record’s contextual information informs the business functions and purposes they serve.
Part 2 on “How Is a Digital Archivist Different from an IT Professional” MARAC panel presentation at MARAC Spring 2017 continues here:
Check out Mid-Atlantic Region Archives Conference for additional details.
Successful Digitization
Our ability to identify risks and challenges related to successful digitization projects is built on a familiarity with archival practices. In addition, it also draws from our experience managing digital collections. We have learned, for example, that short-term solutions may not provide the best long-term benefits.
Digitization Projects
Every project benefits from collaboration between stakeholders familiar with collections, procedures, network architecture, and mission. By drawing on this internal knowledge, a multi-step phased approach can be implemented so digitization projects are successful, an appropriate content management system is selected and installed, and efficient processes and workflows can be established. These steps include:
- creating effective use cases
- determining technical specifications
- outlining functional requirements
- working with IT and Legal Counsel to recognize information security requirements.
To be useful, digital assets must be captured uncompressed and at high-resolution, arranged and described accurately and consistently, managed reliably and made accessible to end-users. Decisions made in today’s technological infrastructure, however, may need to be revisited.
Successful Digitization Programs
There are many points to consider to mitigate risk while preparing for a mass digitization project. For example:
- Digital surrogates are a representation, but not a replacement for originals.
- Mass digitization may increase an institution’s exposure to loss of control and risk of unlicensed or accidental usage.
- Digitization does not necessarily make documents text-searchable.
- Metadata describes and simplifies finding assets, and embedded metadata embedded in files offers protection against unauthorized usage or access.
- Access is not preservation, though it can serve many functions.
- Many of yesterday’s and today’s file formats are at risk of format obsolescence.
- Archival masters must accommodate future migrations and technological innovations.
- Failure rates of magnetic and optical storage media increase significantly over time.
In an ideal world, institutions would create digital masters from hard copy and analog sources. This would enable them to provide immediate access to digital assets, and preserve digital resources in stable formats forever. However, formats evolve and technologies change. As a result, technical requirements, standards, and goals change. And there are significant risks and high-costs associated with mass digitization.
Lessons on Success
We have learned that any strategy, good or bad, will provide measurable results. However, it may not offer scalable solutions. Without a practical plan it is difficult to addressing clearly-defined use cases and functional requirements. Further, institutions may not benefit directly from a mass digitization project. In fact, many institutions recognize that projects fail and many turn out to be be a waste. If you are pragmatic and realistic, you can create a strategy with well-defined and effective solutions. Also you can implement a plan to ensure that your digital content add value, context, and meaning to the institution itself.
For a complete list of clients with whom we have worked, please see our Clients List.