Instructors:  Brendan Coates

When: Thursday, July 16th, 1pm – 4pm (EDT)

RSVP deadline: July 10th

Notify by: June 14th

Workshop Description: 

With the ever-increasing scale and complexity of digital archival collections, archivists need to adapt their tools, workflows, and processes to match. Command line tools offer a customizable and cost-effective way to meet some of these challenges.

This 3-hour workshop will cover the basics of the command line interface (CLI) with a focus on its use in audiovisual archival workflows and digital preservation. The command line software discussed will help archivists navigate their terminals, understand checksums and CRCs, create Bags per the BagIt specification, and introduce principles of scripting and automation for handling file data at scale.

This is an introductory course and users with no programming or command line experience are welcome; any archivist who routinely moves files, verifies metadata across systems, or works with audiovisual materials will learn techniques to improve their efficiency and gain familiarity with tools and workflows which take advantage of CLI capabilities. Users don’t need to have administrative privileges or the ability to install software on their local machines in order to participate. For users who can install software on their machines, there will be office hours prior to the workshop to go over any questions that arise during setup.

Instructor Bios:

Brendan Coates is a preservationist and native plant enthusiast living in Los Angeles, CA. He has been working to ensure the long-term stability and relevance of archival audiovisual materials since 2011, with a particular focus on oral histories, for which he’s contributed to programs at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The History Makers, and the Computer History Museum. He’s also designed digital preservation workflows and software integrations for The Smithsonian Library and Archives Audiovisual Media Preservation Initiative and worked on data migrations of hundreds of thousands of files. He’s a graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Information, a winner of the James A. Lindner Prize, and contributed music and code to Black Room, by Cassie McQuater, the winner of the 2019 Independent Game Festival’s Nuovo Award.

Instructors:  Sarah Middleton and Anna Perricci

When: Monday, June 22nd and Tuesday, June 23rd at 12pm – 2pm (EDT)

RSVP deadline: June 17th

Notify by: June 19th

Workshop Description: 

This instructor-led and interactive training begins by exploring the fundamentals of digital preservation as a starting place – fluency in digital preservation is the first step in advocating for it. (Estimated time: up to 45 minutes, then 15 minutes for Q&A + a short break). The remainder of the first session will be about advocacy for digital preservation (including what it is, why it matters, and how it can drive change). Participants will engage in short exercises (mainly throughout the second half of the first 2-hour session and the first half of second 2-hour session) to help them examine and identify effective communication strategies before moving on to practical steps. Through this course, students will be identifying key audiences and stakeholders, understanding their priorities and motivators, and crafting messages that resonate. The second session will conclude with a summary of tips and techniques for creating and structuring compelling, persuasive messages that not only capture attention but lead to the desired action.

Instructor Bios:

Anna Perricci is the Head of DPC Americas at the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), which is an organization that supports community, advocacy, workforce development, good practice and good governance in digital preservation. Her professional focus is extending the beneficial impact of the DPC’s resources, assets and team members throughout both North and South America. During her 16 years of experience in the field before joining the DPC, she provided extensive, expert guidance and strategy to projects in libraries, archives, museums, academic institutions as well as to funding organizations that support them.

Sarah Middleton is Chief Community Officer at the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), where she leads the organisation’s work on advocacy for digital preservation. She is particularly interested in helping people make sense of complex technical challenges and communicate them in ways that resonate with different audiences. In her role, she has recently coordinated the development of the DPC’s new Advocacy Toolkit, as well as leading initiatives such as the Global Bit List of Endangered Digital Materials, World Digital Preservation Day and the Digital Preservation Awards. Her work focuses on bringing people together, drawing on shared experience and developing practical approaches that help organisations build understanding, support and momentum for digital preservation as part of their wider goals.