Page History

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I'd be interested in hearing more about how different curatorial areas or departments within institutions (e.g., literature, film, photography, art) are communicating about born-digital materials. When digital media arrives, are accessioning, capture, and preservation the responsibility of the department to which the materials belong? Or is there a central person or department that handles everything related to born-digital? What is the current reality and the ideal future?

Failure and absence

Gabriela Redwine, Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Failure is central to the work of a digital archivist. Most workflows, procedures, policies, and other sorts of documentation are created with success as the final goal and presence (rather than absence) as the primary representation. In reality, failure is more prevalent than success, especially for digital archivists working across the legacy - modern media divide. How should we be documenting failure and absence? Which stakeholders might find this type of information valuable? When does failure become success, and when should an absence be described so as to become a presence?