Archive for the ‘digitalarchive’ Category
Preserving Our Stories – Caribbean LGBT Histories & Activism
News:
Caribbean Region of the International Resource Network presents “Preserving Our Stories – Caribbean LGBT Histories & Activism” Launch & Discussion The Digital Archive Collection of the Jamaica Gay Freedom Movement 21 June, 2011 at 6PM (USA Eastern Standard Time)
Panelists include: Larry Chang (co-founder of the Jamaica Gay Freedom Movement and Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals & Gays – JFLAG) & Thomas Glave (award-winning author and co-founder of JFLAG); along with co-chairs of the Caribbean IRN Board: Angelique V. Nixon (scholar, writer, community worker) & Rosamond S. King (writer, scholar, artist)
Also featuring the short documentary “Sisters without Misters” by Cynthia Cheeseman http://bandwagonist.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/sisters-without-misters/
The digital archive is hosted by the Digital Library of the Caribbean at: http://dloc.com/icirngfm.
The event will be based at Brooklyn College,Woody Tanger Auditorium in the Library, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11210.
Questions can be posed by emailing to caribbeanirn@gmail.com
The Caribbean IRN Board is looking forward to this important digital launch and discussion of the Jamaica Gay Freedom Movement Archive! Help us spread the word to folks in the region especially and/or anyone you know who is interested in these histories and activism. The Caribbean IRN is a resource for people and organizations inside and outside the region whose work focuses on issues related to diverse genders and sexualities in the Caribbean.
Please visit our website for more information about our work: http://www.irnweb.org/ en/about/region/caribbean. The International Resource Network is supported by the Ford Foundation and housed at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, City University of New York.
The digitization of this archive was made possible through a City University of New York Diversity Grant.
Special thanks to Stephanie Harvey, who organized and digitized the archive, to Marianne LaBatto, and the entire Brooklyn College Division of Archives & Special Collections. This event was made possible through a City University of New York Diversity Grant, with additional support from the Brooklyn College Department of Africana Studies and the Brooklyn College Division of Academic Information Technologies.
Please note: this event has already taken place, but I will update with comments (or others, please do) if I find the video of the event online. Despite my tardiness in posting, I still wanted to share this to promote the important work being done.
Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) Newsletter
The Digital Library of the Caribbean’s diverse partners serve an international community of scholars, students, and citizens by working together to preserve and to provide enhanced electronic access to cultural, historical, legal, governmental, and research materials in a common web space with a multilingual interface.
Please read our latest newsletter to learn about new partners, new content and new technologies available in dLOC.
If it has been a while since you’ve been to www.dloc.com, we encourage you to browse our more than 1.5 million pages of content. Enjoy reading more about dLOC in the newsletter and please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
Also, we encourage you to forward the newsletter to any professional associations or colleagues that are interested in the region!
“Google abandons master-plan to archive the world’s newspapers”
According to a blog story from the Boston Phoenix, “Google abandons master-plan to archive the world’s newspapers“:
Google told partners in its News Archive project that it would cease accepting, scanning, and indexing microfilm and other archival material from newspapers, and was instead focusing its energies on “newer projects that help the industry, such as Google One Pass, a platform that enables publishers to sell content and subscriptions directly from their own sites.”
The deal Google struck with partner newspapers stipulated that, somewhere down the line, a paper could purchase Google’s digital scans of its content for a fee. That fee is now being waived, and Google is not only giving publishers free access to the scanned files, but also the rights to publish them with other partners. In essence, Google just scanned a huge chunk of the newspaper industry’s valuable long-tail content, and then handed it to the publishers.
This frees newspapers to partner with new institutions to develop new features for their historic archives and to ensure the long-term preservation of materials. For instance, the Library of Congress and NEH’s project, Chronicling America, started before the Google News Archive and is an ongoing program to digitize historical newspapers and ensure long-term free access and preservation for all of its contents. The work already done by Google is a great public benefit, made all the more so by allowing newspapers to partner and repurpose their content without restriction for even more impact.
News: JTA Archives Online
The news item below is from the newslib list-serve. I’m posting it because it connects to the work being done at the Price Library of Judaica at the University of Florida to build a Newspaper Digital Collection from the Price Library of Judaica. One of the projects is to build the Price Library of Judaica Anniversary Collection, which represents the first stage of a project to digitize a unique and important collection of over 200 anniversary editions of Jewish newspapers held in the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica. These jubilee issues have never been catalogued by the Library and until now have remained ‘hidden’ from Library users.
News from the newslib list-serve:
The remarkable collection of JTA news reports from 1923 to the present is now available for free at archive.jta.org. Formerly the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, now JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People, the organization is a not-for-profit media company similar to the Associated Press. The tag line is “Writing the first draft of Jewish history”. The archive of original reporting from around the world documents the Jewish experience of the 20th century, much of it not written about in the mainstream media.
There are more than 7,000 contemporaneous articles reported from Europe between 1937-1945 that document the Holocaust on a daily basis, at least that many documenting the experience of Russian Jews throughout entire reign of Communism, coverage of life in then-Palestine before the new state was inaugurated in 1948, and much more.
Cool YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB5I5wiL41A&feature=youtu.be
Projects to Watch: RoSE
On Alan Liu’s website, he provides an overview of RoSE, a research-oriented social environment:
Created as an outcome of the Transliteracies Project, RoSE is a Web-based knowledge-exploration system that fuses a social-computing model to humanities bibliographical resources to allow users to explore the present and past of the human record as one “social network.” Stocked with initial information data-mined from YAGO and Project Gutenberg (with plans for data-mining the SNAC Project), RoSE provides profile pages about persons and documents, keywords and other data, and visualizations that help users see the relationships between people and documents. Uniquely, it also allows users (humanities students, scholars, and research groups) to add “thickly described” metadata on top of standard bibliographical data. This facilitates a social-network-like sense of active, dynamic interrelation with the objects of research. (cite)
This is a very exciting project because it promises to fuse archival and current researcher networks for tracking and studying relations between authors and documents. A such, it will allow users to explore and study the lives and social networks shared by and through both documents and authors. RoSE currently requires a login, so I’ll be anxiously awaiting its opening for general access and play.
Job: Brown University, E-Science Librarian
E-SCIENCE LIBRARIAN
The Brown University Library invites applications for the newly-established position of E-Science Librarian. As the Library’s primary liaison for scientific data management, the E-Science Librarian plays a central role in developing library services and guidelines to support scientific research. Together with other Scholarly Resources Librarians, the Center for Digital Scholarship and relevant library and campus partners, the E-Science Librarian will work to increase the Library’s ability to collect and provide access to scientific data, and will act as a resource for students and faculty grappling with issues of data curation, digital methods for scientific research, and emerging digital resources. The E-Science Librarian will contribute to the development of data management plans for funded projects, and will assist in data extraction, reporting, and monitoring compliance with established data management protocols. S/he will contribute to the work of the Brown Digital Repository by helping to develop the requirements and work flows necessary to support research at Brown; by advising teaching faculty on the management of data and providing technical support for use of analytical tools; and in serving as an agent between researchers and the Library’s repository.
The successful candidate will maintain a strong level of competence in scholarly communications issues such as copyright, open access, repositories, data curation, and licensing of online resources. Similarly, the candidate will also maintain competence with tools and methodologies for computationally centered, data-driven research (data mining, visualization, etc.). S/he will also use his/her knowledge of available print and electronic resources to build appropriate collections and to advocate for the fields to which he/she is assigned. To fulfill these responsibilities successfully, the E-Sciences Librarian will be someone with a strong academic background in the sciences and have significant hands-on experience with relevant technologies and applications.
Qualifications:
- Advanced degree in physical or life sciences, data curation, or related disciplines
- 3-5 years of experience working in the field.
- An understanding of the research process as demonstrated by academic or work experience.
- Demonstrated knowledge of issues and technical challenges related to data management/curation, including format migration, preservation, metadata, data retrieval and use issues.
- Familiarity with one or more current scientific data and metadata conventions.
- Experience with one of the commonly used repository platforms (Fedora used locally).
- The ability to acquire new technological skills and resolve problems in a resourceful and timely manner.
- Demonstrated capacity to work effectively and collegially with staff at all levels as well as with faculty and students.
- Evidence of the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing; strong analytical and organizational skills; ability to manage time and multiple projects in a complex, changing environment with a positive, flexible, creative and innovative attitude.
- Grant writing experience and familiarity with federal funding requirements.
Preferred:
- Experience working with relational databases and XML
- Two to three years relevant data management experience in academic or corporate setting
To apply for this position (JOB#B01291), please visit Brown’s Online Employment website (https://careers.brown.edu), complete an application online, attach documents, and submit for immediate consideration. Documents should include cover letter, resume, and the names and e-mail addresses of three references. Review of applications will continue until the position is filled; applications received by April 18, 2011 will receive first consideration. Brown University is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer.
Data Documentation Initiative 3 (DDI 3) Data Extraction Tools from Colectica Awarded an NIH Grant
The Data Documentation Initiative 3 (DDI 3) standard is a simply fabulous and full standard for metadata (data about data) as well as for the data contents, making it a full payload standard.
DDI 3 is such an exciting standard because it allows for the possibility of true and full computational support for data harmonization and for really working with longitudinal data. It’s the type of data standard I’d been waiting for because it gets it. Data standards need to be able to support documenting, containing, expressing, and computing (analysis, harmonization, limitations on disclosure, everything we now do with less than ideal systems and methods). DDI 3 does this and that’s why groups like ICPSR are already using it. DDI 3 is already on its way to becoming ubiquitous, but more tools for it are needed.
News of others using and supporting DDI 3 is always good. Thus, it’s wonderful news that Colectica has been awarded an NIH Grant for DDI 3-based data extraction tools. From the Colectica website:
The award is a Phase I grant that provides supplemental support of Algenta’s research on an “Open Standards-Based Data Extraction Web Tool for Complex Longitudinal Datasets”. This Phase I feasibility study aims to analyze to data preparation and metadata creation workflow needed to prepare a study for online data extraction, to validate the use of the Data Documentation Initiative’s DDI 3 standard for the basis of such a tool, and to create prototype web-based data extraction software. While the focus is on longitudinal surveys, the proposed system would also handle cross-sectional, time-series, and non-repeated studies. The aim is to improve research methodologies through a simplification of the process used for discovering, retrieving, and analyzing data relevant to a researcher’s investigation and to improve data citations, aiding in reproducible research. The research includes consultation with researchers from ICPSR at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the Mid-Life in the United States Longitudinal Study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
News: centerNet and DLF Alliance
The Council on Library and Information Resources’ Digital Library Federation program and centerNet are delighted to announce today their formal alliance. Established in 1995, the Digital Library Federation is a community of library practitioners engaged and committed to building and sustaining digital libraries through collaborative effort and establishing best practices. The DLF community includes project managers, code developers, and digital curators.
The affiliation will focus on areas where digital libraries and digital humanities converge and need further exploration and understanding of each community’s roles and responsibilities. Areas of likely collaboration include the following:
- Data Curation–examining options for the preservation of digital scholarship objects and workflows, and digital products of research and instruction;
- Cyberinfrastructure–exploring interoperability, data mining, shared infrastructure, and linked open data;
- Internationalization–sharing work with international networks to increase awareness and cooperation; improving communities’ awareness of and influence on international initiatives;
- Scaling up and scaling down–working with Google books, HATHI Trust, and the Digital Public Library of America to explore the meaning of aggregating data, and the new types of research questions that can be asked using huge digital libraries; also examining how to leverage smaller scoped work, and understanding the unique preservation challenges this scholarship presents;
- Career paths–highlighting career opportunities in fields of digital humanities and digital libraries to better understand changing professional roles;
- Publication and distribution—exploring how we share research efforts to better inform practice.
News Release: Digital Library Federation Launches New Web Site
News Release: Digital Library Federation Launches New Web Site
March 7, 2011—The Digital Library Federation (DLF), a program of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), today launched its new Web site at http://www.diglib.org.
The site provides a dedicated space for the DLF community, while also serving as a resource and communication hub around important ideas and trends developing in the broader digital library community.
“The new DLF site will facilitate conversations, raise awareness, and provide a space for collaboration,” said DLF Program Director Rachel Frick. “It is where you learn not only what is being done, but also how to actively contribute to the effort. The site is a dynamic resource, and we welcome input, ideas, and suggestions for content.”
“This is an exciting step in expanding communication between DLF and the broader digital library community,” said CLIR President Chuck Henry. “Engaging this community will be essential as we explore models of collaboration that increase efficiency while also enhancing the infrastructure and services for scholarship and teaching.”
News Posting: Berkman Center Announces Digital Public Library Planning Initiative
News posting from here.
Berkman Center Announces Digital Public Library Planning Initiative
December 13, 2010 – The Berkman Center for Internet and Society today announced that it will host a research and planning initiative for a “Digital Public Library of America.” With funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Berkman will convene a large and diverse group of stakeholders in a planning program to define the scope, architecture, costs and administration for a proposed Digital Public Library of America.
“We’re grateful to Berkman for coordinating this historic effort to create a Digital Public Library of America and to fulfill the vision of an open, distributed network of comprehensive online resources that draws on the nation’s living heritage to educate, inform and empower everyone in this and future generations,” said Doron Weber, Vice President at the Sloan Foundation. “The Berkman Center’s impressive depth of research on the Internet makes it an ideal leader for the planning program. We hope to emerge with a concrete workplan and a governance structure that represents the consensus of the country’s libraries, universities, archives and museums for moving forward together with a shared vision.”
Planning activities will be guided by a Steering Committee of library and foundation leaders, which promises to announce a full slate of activities in early 2011. The Committee plans to bring together representatives from the educational community, public and research libraries, cultural organizations, state and local government, publishers, authors, and private industry in a series of meetings and workshops to examine strategies for improving public access to comprehensive online resources.
One meeting is already in the works: David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States of America, has offered to host a plenary meeting that will assemble stakeholders in early summer 2011. Ferriero said, “It is exciting to contemplate a future where the cultural heritage of our country is available at your fingertips. It is, therefore, important to bring together all interested parties to create a vision of that future.“ Three major federal cultural institutions — Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution — are already discussing a collaborative effort to build and make accessible a digital collection of materials from their collections.
In addition to the plenary meeting, an intensive slate of workshops will be held, running in five parallel tracks — legal, content, technical, financial and governance — to build consensus for next steps in each area.
Steering Committee members include:
Paul Courant, Harold T. Shapiro Professor of Public Policy and Dean of Libraries at the University of Michigan
Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the Harvard University Library
Charles Henry, President of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
Brewster Kahle, Founder of the Internet Archive
Michael A. Keller, Ida M. Green University Librarian, Director of Academic Information Resources at Stanford University
Carl Malamud, President, Public.Resource.Org
Deanna Marcum, Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress
Maura Marx, Berkman Center Fellow and Executive Director, Knowledge Commons
Jerome McGann, John Stewart Bryan University Professor at the University of Virginia
Donald Waters, Program Officer for Scholarly Communications and Information Technology at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
John Palfrey, Faculty Co-Director at the Berkman Center; Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean of Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School, will lead the Steering Committee.
Palfrey commented, “There is great promise in the digital future for libraries, but we need to work in coordinated fashion across many institutions to shape it in a way that is in the public interest. We are excited about creating a big tent in which many leaders can work together to create the design for a Digital Public Library of America.”
About the Berkman Center for Internet & Society
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is a research program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. Founded in 1997, through a generous gift from Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman, the Center is home to an ever-growing community of faculty, fellows, staff, and affiliates working on projects that span the broad range of intersections between cyberspace, technology, and society. More information can be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu.
About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants for research and education in science, technology and economic performance. A major goal of Sloan’s program in digital information technology and the dissemination of knowledge is to foster public access to information and knowledge for the benefit of all. More information can be found at http://sloan.org
Contact
Amar Ashar
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu