[ChimeText] 3 Nov (tomorrow! 3-4pm, SoC MR1) Cal Lee (UNC Chapel Hill) / Curation of Digital Information at Multiple Levels of Representation: Implications and Approaches

[Min-Yen Kan]

Hi all:

Tomorrow (yes tomorrow!) we have a speaker from UNC Chapel Hill's
School of Information and Library Sciences that will be addressing the
topic of curating digital archives.  Hope to see you there!

Speaker: Dr Christopher (Cal) Lee / UNC Chapel Hill, School of
Information and Library Sciences

Title: Curation of Digital Information at Multiple Levels of
Representation: Implications and Approaches

Venue: MR1 (COM1-03-19)

Date and Time: Thursday 3 November 2011, 3-4pm

Chaired by : A/P Kan Min-Yen

Abstract: The literature on digital archives tends to place a great emphasis on
the "virtual" (i.e. intangible) nature of electronic resources.
However, digital objects are created and perpetuated through physical
things (e.g. charged magnetic particles, pulses of light, holes in
disks). This materiality brings challenges, because data must be read
from specific artifacts, which can become damaged or obsolete. The
materiality of digital objects also brings unprecedented opportunities
for description, interpretation and use.  There is a substantial body
of information within the underlying data structures of computer
systems that can often be discovered or recovered.  Because of the
possibility of interacting with digital information at different
levels, there is no single, canonical representation of digital data.
To ensure integrity and future use, archivists and other information
professionals must make decisions regarding treatment of materials at
multiple levels of representation.  In this talk, I will report on
several projects that involve treatment of data - both computational
methods and decision making processes - at multiple levels of
representation.

Bio: Christopher (Cal) Lee is Assistant Professor at the School of
Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill.  He teaches archival administration, records management,
digital curation, and information technology for managing digital
collections.  His research focuses on long-term curation of digital
collections and stewardship (by individuals and information
professionals) of personal digital archives.   He is particularly
interested in the practical and ethical implications of diffusing tools
and methods into professional practice.  Two major streams of his
current research are personal digital archives and the application of
digital forensics methods to the curation of digital collections.
http://www.ils.unc.edu/callee/

Upcoming Talks:
14 Nov / Mamoru Komachi / Graph-based Approaches to Bootstrapping Algorithms
17 Nov / Yee Fan Tan / Cost-Sensitive Web-Based Information
Acquisition for Record Matching (PhD defense)