The Apparatus Criticus in the Digital Age
The focus of this article is to help eliminate several of the limitations that a traditional print has by providing a new model that suits the digital age. All the while giving readers the chance to participate in an active role regarding their own texts. Not only that, discussions on possibilities as well as prospects for the apparatus criticus regarding text editing and ways to easily access some of the benefits digital scholarships provides. That said, the author starts off by explaining an apparatus criticus and how most don’t even read them by comparing it to how people (usually college students when doing research papers) don’t check let alone read footnotes. So, to change that and get more readers engaged, the author proposes a way to fix that by outlining “what editors and readers can gain from a fundamentally new approach to the apparatus criticus.” In other words, the author wants to “somehow to record every little detail but only to confront the reader with the most important points.” The only problem with that is not every (print) editor does things the same way, some might put only what’s considered important while the rest is in the appendix. As a result, the author will show how he is able to go around that through an explained model throughout the rest of the article.
Classical Association of the Middle West & South, Inc.
The Archive Strikes Back: Effects of Online Digital Language Archiving on Research Relations and Property Rights
This chapter examines the complications that are present when attempting to digitally archive spoken languages, focusing on how researchers and archivists must act to minimize or avoid property right violations. Widlok first explains why researchers find it necessary to digitize their archives, believing that non-digitized collections risk becoming “data cemeteries” that are more prone to data loss. By placing their research into these archives and with the efficient use of metadata, these collections become more effective in data preservation. However, the digitization of this data brings new concerns for archivists. These issues often center around matters of access to collections. Many archivists attempt to solve these problems by providing layered access to these collections, with different groups being allowed to view different levels of content. However, Widlok notes that this solution does not solve the problem when working with the property rights of the spoken languages of different communities. Some members involved, such as funding agencies and researchers, may attempt to have this information more freely available, while members of these communities may desire more restrictions. Widlok also notes that there may be different opinions among members of the same community. He instructs researchers to take these varying attitudes into account and work to avoid instigating conflicts between opposing parties.
The Audiovisual Unconscious: Media and Trauma in the Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Video testimonies of Holocaust survivor stories are, in themselves, an archival medium. The conventions of shooting and distributing video convey an immediacy and an absence of cinematic artifice that reveal rather than obscure the unconscious and unintended effects. Like the archive, the video testimony gathers and presents the “noise” as well as the subject matter of its content. Details from gestures, eyes, expression, etc. are recorded and these visual registers of the psyche amplify the sound recording of the video. Pinchevski posits that the video testimony extends the voice and narrative of the testimony, providing viewers a greater sense of the survivor’s experience—one that may be inexpressible in mere written form or may belie the narration. Citing the investigative work of psychoanalysts and scholars of the Holocaust, Pinchevski believes both the archive and video are mediums of transmission providing society deep memory; that is, memories which cannot be immediately recalled without some type of mediation. Although it is arguable that either the archive and documentary video is more authentic than film or text, they each record the event as it occurred in real time and thereby enable the user/viewer to become witnesses to the historic event. More than words or symbols, the video archive, like the video testimony, disseminates and transmits the inexpressible.
The article presents information on an October 2013 meeting on the state of the field of database research which took place at the Beckman Center on the University of California-Irvine campus. Topics covered at the meeting included big data, scalability in big/fast data infrastructures, cloud computing, and data management. The role of human beings in the data life cycle was also discussed.
Abdai, Daniel; Agrawal, Rakesh;Ailamaki, Anastasia; Balazinska, Magdalena;Bernstein, Phillip A.; Carey, Michael J.; Chaudhuri, Surajit; Dean, Jeffrey; Doan, Anhai; Franklin, Michael J.; Gehrke, Johannes; Haas, Laura M.; Halevy, Alon Y.; Hellerstein, Joseph M.; Ioannidis, Yannis E.; Jagadish, H. V.; Kossmann, Donald; Madden, Samuel; Mehrotra, Sharad; Milo, Tova
The Born Digital in the Archives: One Curator's Experience
The documents and files created and stored in composer Jonathan Larson’s computer were donated to the Music Division of the Library of Congress upon Jonathan’s death. Doug Reside, digital curator for the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts applied digital forensics to recover some of Larson’s born digital files—an increasingly common phenomenon as obsolescence of technology coupled with computer-based creation alters the work flow of receiving, cataloging and storing collections deposited into the archive. In this article, Susan Manus of the LOC Music Division, relates two interviews held with Reside that reveal the successful collaboration between digital forensics, librarians, and researchers. Reside describes the meticulous process of extracting data from obsolete technologies using disk imaging and emulators but adds that the process does not end with ingesting files. The significance of the data— its relevance for researchers and performers—must also be interpreted and Reside worked with music specialists and researchers to provide intellectual as well as physical access to Larson’s collection. Unexpectedly, Reside also discovered material useful for performers recreating Larson’s musical, “Rent,” underscoring the potential for the larger public to access and use the Larson collection. Manus points out, however, that the combination of cloud computing, proprietary software, and rights to privacy may result in unrecovered files, potentially eliminating much of the creative work currently being produced. Increased collaboration between libraries, archives, and creators during the course of their work may offset these losses.
The Canadian Disease: The Ethics of Library, Archives, and Museum Convergence
The convergence of libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) into monolithic organizations has been framed as a retreat from isolated, hierarchical institutions that are increasingly irrelevant in a networked age. The emerging prevalence of digital technology and mass digitization are also identified as primary motivators behind convergence. However, much of the literature on convergence is couched in business terminology that favors top-down management approaches and works to create nondemocratic structures with more power in fewer hands, with many of the pro-convergence arguments having little to no evidential support. This paper looks at LAM convergence from the perspective of working librarians, archivists, curators, and related staff and offers a reevaluation and critique of convergence practices in Canada and abroad.
The Changing Landscape of American Studies in a Global Era
In this white paper, Levander discusses opportunities for interdisciplinary scholarship that are unique to digital archives. Unlike the interdisciplinary regional studies prior to the mass digitization of primary sources and the Internet, current regional studies can truly adopt a global perspective, accessing data from several national archives and digital libraries—no longer limited to strictly U.S. American-created sources. Levander notes how the digital archive is transforming scholarly research in essentially four ways: (1) the volume of available transnational data from an international array of archives and libraries is too vast for traditional methods of culling data, (2) that data recording geographic places and changes over time are represented in “spatialtemporal” databases that also provide new tools of analysis for researching cross-national and cross-cultural trends, (3) that creation of an international, hemispheric or transnational research community fosters collaboration across national, time and disciplinary boundaries, and (4) geographical and temporal databases can reshape traditional genres of literature and regional studies. Levander states, “Digital archives can offer new opportunities for rethinking the nation-state as the organizing rubric for literary and cultural history of the Americas,” and she reminds the reader of the correspondence between the history of print and the development of nation-states (30). The digital archive provides tools for representing and visualizing data from phenomena including environmental, archaeological, and technological changes over time.
The Complete Guide to Personal Digital Archiving
The Complete Guide to Personal Archiving bridges the gap between scholars and scrapbookers with professional archivists. It can be difficult to bridge the gap in professionalism with people who know little of a subject. In this guide, the professional knowledge of librarians and archivists is translated into practical skills that can be used by novices for their very own projects. Through unique techniques you could also be someone who is actively able to translate your knowledge to those who are not fluent. Breaking down archival concepts and practices into more understandable solutions is the main goal. By doing this you will be able to either understand or teach the subject of personal archiving to anyone who might hold interest. You might be a researcher trying to cull their highest priority email correspondent or someone needing to transfer their extensive home movie collection. This is a skill that will forever come in handy to anyone who works in or has interest in the field of archiving. This is the guide that will show you how. Instead of using advanced terms, this guide breaks the most complex terms into plain language so that anyone can understand. This guide will catch you up on some of the most popular archival concepts like a pro.
The Converging Histories and Futures of Libraries, Archives, and Museums as Seen through the Case of the Curious Collector Myron Eells
Michael J. Paulus, Jr., librarian and professor at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington, compares Myron Eells’ 19th century eclectic library and his method of recordkeeping to postmodern trends in contemporary libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs). These trends include establishing special collections of rare and unpublished materials in libraries, and developing selection policies and designing informative interfaces for public access in museums. Such activities were once considered institutionally specific, and following the implementation of standardized practices and principles for LAMs in the early 20th century, would not have occurred outside their respective institutions. Myron Eells, minister, educator, and collector of “curiosities,” created an extensive record of the history of our country’s northwest. He accompanied his array of materials with careful documentation, adopting an ethnographic approach to indexing his materials, based in part on his many visits to museums. In addition to his collections (cabinets), he wrote books and articles describing the history of the NW territories and its people. Paulus observes while Eells was constructing his collections and writing diaries and manuscripts, the late 19th and early 20th century libraries and museums were establishing modernist principles and standards. Libraries, museums, and archives focused on highly specialized roles and kept collections and standards separate from each other. Paulus says Eells was largely oblivious of the emerging fields of library science and museum curation, and combined his artefacts with historical and fictional literature. When his library and personal papers were donated to Whitman College, the collection was dispersed between the library and museum, without regard to provenance. With the advent of digital technology, the content, mission, and tasks of librarians, archivists, and museum curators are merging. Paulus hopes the blurring boundaries between these institutions will foster greater sharing of their collections as each adopts the other’s philosophy—to collect, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information for the public. He recognizes the potential for aggregating the widely scattered collection of Myron Eells into a digital space that could recreate his desire to capture a past for future use
The Copyright Handbook: What Every Writer Needs to Know
Fishman's book offers a guide on how to register a work with the copyright office, what works can be copyrighted, and how to avoid copyright infringement, along with other important information.