14 research outputs found

    Researcher Access to Born-Digital Collections: an Exploratory Study

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    While a small, but growing number of institutions offer access to born-digital collections, there is scant literature documenting researcher interaction with these materials. This paper addresses this gap through documenting and analyzing researcher interactions to portions of born-digital collections at New York University (NYU) Libraries, with the cooperation of NYU’s Fales Library and Special Collection and the Digital Library and Technology Solutions Department, as well as the National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) program. From September 2014-May 2015, NYU Libraries began implementing an “access-driven” born-digital workflow for their 3 archives: Fales Library and Special Collections, NYU University Archives, and the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives, using several model collections as part of a 9 month NDSR project. One goal was to provide access to these collections by the end of the project period. The project concluded with 5 researcher interviews investigating how researchers navigate, understand, and value forms of born-digital access. This paper will focus on these interviews and how new forms of access were interpreted and received

    Responding to obsolescence in Flash-based net art: a case study on migrating Sinae Kim’s Genesis

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    Many internet artworks from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s used Adobe Flash technology for creating animated content. However, in the light of recent web standard developments (HTML5), Adobe has stopped supporting Flash and its related tools. The removal of Flash has made those net artworks non-functional and unviewable, including Sinae Kim’s Genesis (2001), the focus of this study. Recently proposed emulation- and virtualisation-based strategies are not always suitable, particularly if there is a desire to keep the artwork on the ‘live web’. This article outlines an alternative method of migration facilitated by reverse engineering techniques—specifically decompilation—and foregrounds the significance of maintaining online access to the obsolete Adobe Shockwave Flash (SWF) files through the source code. On this premise, the source code is re-imagined as a site for further re-enactment, allowing a departure from its current role as a marker of ‘authenticity’

    Preservation and Access of Born-Digital Architectural Design Records in an OAIS-Type Archive

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    Although libraries, archives, and museums in North America and Europe have collected, preserved, and provided access to architectural design records for more than a century, significant changes in architectural modes of production following the introduction of Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology in the late twentieth century have significantly complicated this mission. This paper, the result of a self-directed independent study undertaken at the Simmons College School of Library and Information Science during the Spring 2015 semester, addresses the issue of how cultural institutions might provide long-term preservation and access of born-digital architectural design records such as CAD models. The first part of this paper provides some background on the development of these technologies, their complicating features, and archival literature and projects addressing this topic to date. In its second part, the paper looks at how these files might be preserved and made accessible in a digital archive through examination and application of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model, an international standard for digital stewardship

    Access to digital materials on research output: Experience of Federal University Libraries users in northern states of Nigeria

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    This study examined access to digital materials on research output in some selected federal university libraries users in northern Nigeria. To achieve the goals, three objectives guided the study. Quantitative method and survey design were adopted to elicit data from lecturers and ICT librarians using close-ended questionnaire. A multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting respondents from each institution. The data collected were analysed descriptively and the results were presented using frequency counts, mean and aggregate mean scores in tables. The findings revealed that access to digital materials influenced research output of library users with particularly to number of journal articles, conference papers presented, books, and chapters in books published. The choice of metadata type is determined by the number of modules such as administrative, technical, and preservation so as to resolve militating technical factors, promote information availability, interactive nature of technology, and portability of digital content. It could be concluded that access to digital materials and use immensely contributed to research output and metadata types, technical factors moderate access, adoption, use and research output in the selected federal universities in northern Nigeria. It is recommended that access and use of digital materials be prioritised for service effectiveness and efficiency on digital platforms supported by the libraries in the zone. Choice of metadata types should be based on possessing modules that support administrative, structural, technical, transformative procedures and preservation. Keywords: Access; Digital materials; Research output; Experience; Federal University ; Library users; Northern Nigeri

    Building information modeling – A game changer for interoperability and a chance for digital preservation of architectural data?

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    Digital data associated with the architectural design-andconstruction process is an essential resource alongside -and even past- the lifecycle of the construction object it describes. Despite this, digital architectural data remains to be largely neglected in digital preservation research – and vice versa, digital preservation is so far neglected in the design-and-construction process. In the last 5 years, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has seen a growing adoption in the architecture and construction domains, marking a large step towards much needed interoperability. The open standard IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is one way in which data is exchanged in BIM processes. This paper presents a first digital preservation based look at BIM processes, highlighting the history and adoption of the methods as well as the open file format standard IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) as one way to store and preserve BIM data

    Hochleistungsrechnen in Baden-WĂŒrttemberg - AusgewĂ€hlte AktivitĂ€ten im bwGRiD 2012 : BeitrĂ€ge zu Anwenderprojekten und Infrastruktur im bwGRiD im Jahr 2012

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    bwGRiD bezeichnet eine einzigartige Kooperation zwischen den Hochschulen des Landes Baden-WĂŒrtttemberg, die Wissenschaftlern aller Disziplinenen Ressourcen im Bereich des HPCs effizient und hochverfĂŒgbar zur VerfĂŒgung zu stellt. Der prĂ€sentierte 8. bwGRiD-Workshop in Freiburg bot die Chance, einen breiten Überblick zum Stand des Projektes zu verschaffen, Anwender und Administratoren gleichsam zu Wort kommen zu lassen und den Austausch zwischen den Fach-Communities zu befördern

    From Bitstreams to Heritage: Putting Digital Forensics into Practice in Collecting Institutions

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    This paper examines the application of digital forensics methods to materials in collecting institutions – particularly libraries, archives and museums. It discusses motivations, challenges, and emerging strategies for the use of these technologies and workflows. It is a product of the BitCurator project. The BitCurator project began on October 1, 2011, through funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. BitCurator is an effort to build, test, and analyze systems and software for incorporating digital forensics methods into the workflows of a variety of collecting institutions. It is led by the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland, and involves contributors from several other institutions. Two groups of external partners are contributing to this process: a Professional Expert Panel (PEP) of individuals who are at various levels of implementing digital forensics tools and methods in their collecting institution contexts, and a Development Advisory Group (DAG) of individuals who have significant experience with software development.2 This paper is a product of phase one of BitCurator (October 1, 2011 – September 30, 2013). The second phase of the project (October 1, 2013 – September 29, 2014) continues the development of the BitCurator environment, along with expanded professional engagement and community outreach activities

    Through A Glass, Darkly Technical, Policy, and Financial Actions to Avert the Coming Digital Dark Ages

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    Through A Glass, Darkly Technical, Policy, and Financial Actions to Avert the Coming Digital Dark Age

    Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Knowledge

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    The intersection of scholarly communication librarianship and open education offers a unique opportunity to expand knowledge of scholarly communication topics in both education and practice. Open resources can address the gap in teaching timely and critical scholarly communication topics—copyright in teaching and research environments, academic publishing, emerging modes of scholarship, impact measurement—while increasing access to resources and equitable participation in education and scholarly communication. Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Knowledge is an open textbook and practitioner’s guide that collects theory, practice, and case studies from nearly 80 experts in scholarly communication and open education. Divided into three parts: *What is Scholarly Communication? *Scholarly Communication and Open Culture *Voices from the Field: Perspectives, Intersections, and Case Studies The book delves into the economic, social, policy, and legal aspects of scholarly communication as well as open access, open data, open education, and open science and infrastructure. Practitioners provide insight into the relationship between university presses and academic libraries, defining collection development as operational scholarly communication, and promotion and tenure and the challenge for open access. Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Knowledge is a thorough guide meant to increase instruction on scholarly communication and open education issues and practices so library workers can continue to meet the changing needs of students and faculty. It is also a political statement about the future to which we aspire and a challenge to the industrial, commercial, capitalistic tendencies encroaching on higher education. Students, readers, educators, and adaptors of this resource can find and embrace these themes throughout the text and embody them in their work
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