Abstract: Digital archiving and long-term preservation is a rich area for digital library and information science research. Typically, long-term preservation entails techniques to overcome dependencies on obsolete hardware and software and methods to present digital information meaningfully to future users who may not possess the same knowledgebase as the original creators or users. No single approach to digital preservation will suffice given the wide variety of both data types and contexts of reuse. At the same time, some generic solutions are needed in order to build a scalable and affordable infrastructure to support long-term preservation of digital information. Research challenges include developing new repository models for software, formats, and technical documentation; redesign and formal modeling of curatorial processes to enable automation; metadata standards that are rigorous enough to support reuse; and economic models for sustaining digital archives over many generations.

About the Speaker: Margaret Hedstrom is an Associate Professor at the School of Information, University of Michigan where she teaches in the areas of archives, electronic records management, and digital preservation. She is project director for the CAMiLEON Project, an international research project to investigate the feasibility of emulation as a digital preservation strategy. She is a member of the National Research Council study committee that is evaluating the digital archiving strategies of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, the National Digital Strategy Advisory Board to the Library of Congress, and the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, U.S. Department of State. She holds a M.A. (Library Science) and PhD (History) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1995, she was Chief of State Records Advisory Services and Director of the Center for Electronic Records at the New York State Archives and Records Administration. She is a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists.

For more information, visit http://www.informedia.cs.cmu.edu/colloquia/