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Digital Asset Symposium on May 4th in NYC
26 April 2016
AVPreserve President, Chris Lacinak has put together a stellar program for the Digital Asset Symposium (DAS) being held at Scandinavia House’s Victor Borge Theatre on May 4th. DAS is a unique international event that brings together an unparalleled cross-section of domain experts in a pragmatic, engaging and educational format to discuss the most current challenges and breakthroughs in managing digital assets today. The lineup of speakers and presentations at DAS was curated to bring about the cross-pollination and convergence of ideas, inspire innovation and invigorate progress. See the speakers and topics below and we look forward to seeing you there!
Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Metadata is nine-tenths of possession.
18 March 2016
For centuries, the verbs to handle, to use, and to wield have been used in reference to physical objects. Today, the handholds created by metadata allow us to employ these same verbs in reference to digital assets. We handle files, use data, and wield information. Text-based digital files, such as Word documents or OCR’d PDF files, provide metadata that make search and discovery as easy as a game of catch with a Velcro ball and mitt. Every word or character within the document serves as another Velcro loop, greatly increasing the chances of connecting with its partner in crime, the Velcro hook, when performing a search. All of the loops and hooks that exist in text-based documents make discovery relatively effortless…almost child’s play.
Applying Digital Preservation Standards For Assessment And Planning
9 March 2016
In this presentation, Bertram Lyons demonstrates a methodology for employing the ISO 16363 standard for Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Repositories as a tool that can be used to help an organization plan for continued improvement of digital preservation services.
What is the chemistry of digital preservation?
18 February 2016
When we develop preservation strategies for paper-based materials an essential consideration is the underlying chemistry of the physical materials themselves. Paper is an organic compound, made of cellulose fibers, or, sometimes, a mix of cellulose and lignin fibers. Cellulose is a polysaccharide of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, C6H10O5.
Amy Rudersdorf Joins the AVPreserve Team as Senior Consultant
8 February 2016
Library of Congress Releases AVPreserve’s New BIBFRAME Report On Technical Metadata For Audiovisual Resources
8 January 2016
AVPreserve is happy to announce the release of the results of our recent study (on behalf of the Library of Congress) of technical metadata for Audiovisual resources in the context of BIBFRAME.
BIBFRAME AV Assessment: Technical, Structural, And Preservation Metadata
8 January 2016
This report presents the findings of a study conducted by Bertram Lyons and Kara Van Malssen of AVPreserve, on behalf of the Library of Congress, to evaluate the existing state of technical, structural, and preservation metadata for audiovisual resources in the bibliographic environment in light of existing standards for audiovisual metadata, and to make recommendations about how BIBFRAME can support the expression of such information. This study follows on our May 2014 report titled, “BIBFRAME AV Modeling Study: Defining a Flexible Model for Description of Audiovisual Resources,” also commissioned by the Library of Congress, which explored and provided high-level recommendations on a flexible data model for audiovisual resources.
The Creator and The Archivist
6 January 2016
A significant portion of certain Archivist’s job is processing collections — the activity of arranging and describing materials that have been deposited with an archive. At times this is simple. For the most part it is difficult. Consider your own paper and digital files, and imagine someone who doesn’t know you personally sifting through those files and computer desktop and download history and et cetera trying to make sense of what is there and what is important.
AVPreserve Brings on Kevin Ford as New Senior Consultant
11 December 2015
We are very excited to announce the addition of our newest team member at AVPreserve, Kevin Ford. Adding to our locations in NYC and Madison, Kevin is the founding member of our Chicago office and brings extensive experience in data management and software development. His work has been highlighted by an impressive track record in the development and application of systems utilizing linked data. This includes his work at the Library of Congress enhancing and greatly expanding id.loc.gov and his deep involvement with the Library’s Bibliographic Framework Initiative (Bibframe). He also brings his experience developing and implementing large scale data management systems, not just at LC, but also for MarkLogic as a Senior Consultant. Aside from adding to a deep bench of talent at AVPreserve, Kevin brings expertise to the team that opens up exciting new possibilities for AVPreserve and our clients. Read more about Kevin here.
My Digitization Vendor Always Sends .md5 Files As Part Of Their Deliverables
5 December 2015
A file’s checksum is a specially generated hash based on a computation of all of the individual bytes that make up the file. A variety of algorithms exist that can be used to perform this computation, e.g., MD5, SHA-1, or SHA-256. For example, an MD5 checksum is a 32-bit string that may look something like this: ff839faf604272ba094741b62c7e4254. Because the computation takes into account every byte of a given file, if any bytes change for a given file, then the outcome of the computation will produce a different hash. Only an identical set of bytes will produce the same hash repeatedly when processed through the checksum algorithm in use.
