The conference presented sessions on DSpace, Fedora, and Eprints, including user groups for each software. Open source software may be free, but does not mean “no cost”, it brings maintenance costs. Choose the right partners to create a competitive advantage instead of competing with your associates. Fedora allows for complex digital objects. The new Fedora Commons will provide a non-profit organization to support the growing community. The next conference will be held April 1-4, 2008.
Conference addresses archiving and preservation of e-journals. Phillip Pothen. JISC. 28 March 2007.
The uncertainty of long-term access to scholarly journals is a major issue for libraries and others. A recent conference discussed the topic and said that major concerns still remain even though progress has been made. A great deal of content is still at risk. Librarians should press the archiving programs to make sure they meet their archiving needs. Librarians are the custodians of the content. The group of libraries saving the data can do more than individuals alone. LOCKSS and Portico are some methods in use. The e-Depot in The Netherlands is also archiving journals from some publishers. “Old business models are breaking down while long-term archives require highly resilient architectures, long-term funding and a commitment to quality.” Blackwell suggests that 50% of all serials publications will be online by 2016, while 39% of science journals will be online by the end of this year. This means that there are considerable preservation challenges. Preservation, access, and open access are not the same thing. “Digital curation needs to be embedded in institutional strategies.” Responsibilities and requirements must be clear and agreed upon.
History 1980-2000 has disappeared into the ether. Sorry. Ben Macintyre. The Times. March 23, 2007.
This commentary warns of the short life of digital objects, which are “dangerously disposable.” Many do not bother to archive their digital data. Historians may look back at this period as a black hole. The most important real-time histories are written in online forums, which are fleeting. Many items have already been lost. The article ends with a plea for paper, which he feels is the best way to save things.
Tools and Methods for the Digital Historian. AHRC. March 23, 2007.
The Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has created an online forum, ‘Tools and Methods for the Digital Historian’ in order to encourage the exchange of ideas. The Methods Network is a UK initiative which provides a place for discussing digital history and research, but it open to all who want to register and discuss the issues. It also refers to a set of Working Papers.
FastStone Image Viewer 3.1. FastStone Website. April 16, 2007.
Update on the FastStone Image Viewer: This downloadable program is an image browser, converter and editor. The features include viewing, managing, comparing and other adjustments to images. It provides access to EXIF information, lossless JPEG transitions, embedded thumbnails, and image annotation. It supports all major graphic formats, BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA, as well as many RAW formats, such as CRW, CR2, NEF, PEF, RAF, MRW, ORF, SRF and DNG. It also supports saving files in pdf format.
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