Workshop description:

Digital preservation is often presented as a technical responsibility involving systems, storage, metadata, and workflows. For Indigenous collections, however, preservation also requires institutions to examine how they build relationships, share authority, and understand their responsibilities to Tribal Nations. Smash the Silos, Build the Circle! approaches digital preservation as a collaborative and social justice practice grounded in Indigenous sovereignty, reciprocity, trust, and long-term relationship building.

This three-hour webinar examines how institutions and federally recognized Tribes can move beyond one-time consultations, institutional press releases, and passive “reasonable efforts” toward active and sustained partnerships. Drawing from twenty years of experience as an archivist and Cherokee Nation citizen working with Indigenous language and cultural collections, the session will address institutional assumptions, prejudices, communication failures, fragmented responsibilities, and other barriers to meaningful collaboration.

The webinar will examine institutional responsibilities when approaching Tribes and considerations Tribes may use when evaluating institutional partnerships. Participants will engage with current digital-preservation and Indigenous-governance practices, including OAIS, FADGI, the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation, CARE Principles, OCAP, and the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials.

A practical “Helpful Hints from Jerrid Lee” segment will translate experience into actions institutions can take to avoid extractive practices and build lasting relationships with Tribal communities.

Scope and Audience:

This webinar is intended for archivists, librarians, records and information professionals, digital-preservation specialists, cultural-heritage professionals, information-technology staff, administrators, and institutional leaders working with Indigenous collections, developing relationships with Tribal Nations, or representing Tribal Nations engaged in institutional partnerships. The scope includes institutional preparation, relationship building, shared authority, culturally responsive access, digital-preservation planning, and long-term accountability.

Although the discussion centers on collaborations between institutions and federally recognized Tribes, the principles may also apply to museums, universities, libraries, archives, cultural organizations, and other organizations responsible for Indigenous digital materials. The webinar will focus on practical relationship-building strategies and professional conduct rather than presenting digital preservation as a purely technical or systems-based activity.

Instructor Bio:

Jerrid Lee Miller is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, a U.S. Army veteran, and the current language archivist for the Cherokee Nation Language Department, with over twenty years of experience in the archives profession. He is a contributor to the books Truly Tribal and the forthcoming, Artificial Intelligence and Social Justice Intersections in Library and Information Studies: Challenges and Opportunities.

His archival work centers on indigenized digital preservation strategies and addresses digital sovereignty at the intersection of library and information science, data, and artificial intelligence, including the localization of metadata standards and controlled vocabularies for polysynthetic languages.

If you are an archivist with a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, Jerrid Lee Miller is always willing to help his fellow practitioners out!

Disclaimer:

This webinar is grounded in the presenter’s professional experience as an archivist and Cherokee Nation citizen and does not represent the positions, protocols, or authority of every Tribal Nation. Indigenous communities are sovereign nations with distinct histories, governance structures, cultural practices, and preservation priorities. 

The examples and recommendations presented are intended to support respectful institutional preparation and relationship building; they should not be treated as a substitute for direct consultation with the appropriate Tribal authorities. References to digital-preservation standards, governance frameworks, and partnership practices are provided for educational purposes and do not constitute legal advice.

This webinar is not sanctioned, sponsored, or authorized by the Cherokee Nation, the Cherokee Nation Language Department, or Jerrid Lee Miller’s employer. The views, opinions, examples, and recommendations presented are the instructor’s and do not represent the official position, policy, or perspective of the Cherokee Nation, or any other Tribal Nation. Jerrid Lee Miller is participating in his personal and professional capacity as an archival practitioner and Cherokee Nation citizen only, not as a representative, spokesperson, or official delegate of the Cherokee Nation.

Workshop Description:

Cloud storage and computing offer powerful capabilities for digital preservation—scalability, redundancy, and access to tools that would be difficult to maintain on-premises. But they also introduce new complexities: unpredictable costs, vendor lock-in, questions of trust and integrity, and workflows that don’t always translate from local environments.

This two-session virtual workshop helps cultural heritage professionals make informed decisions about using the cloud for digital preservation. Whether you’re evaluating cloud options for the first time or refining an existing program, you’ll leave with practical vocabulary, assessment tools, and a concrete action plan.

Format:

Two 2-hour sessions via Zoom Webinar, scheduled 1–2 weeks apart, with a guided self-assessment worksheet completed between sessions.

Intended Audience:

Archivists, librarians, curators, IT professionals, and administrators working in cultural heritage organizations of any size. No prior cloud experience is required. The workshop is designed to be accessible to newcomers while offering substantive content for experienced practitioners.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish between cloud service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and storage tiers (hot, cold, frozen) and explain how they relate to preservation workflows.
• Identify the primary cost drivers in cloud-based preservation and apply basic FinOps strategies to manage them.
• Describe good practices for fixity checking, independence of copies, and format identification in cloud environments.
• Use foundational DevOps and automation vocabulary to communicate effectively with IT and finance colleagues.
• Assess their organization’s digital preservation readiness using the NDSA Levels and DPC Rapid Assessment Model.
• Draft a preliminary action plan with concrete next steps for their organization.