“ Fifteen years of largely non-commercialized voices of everyday people, discussing issues as varied as business, the Internet, government, hobbies, science, education, and so forth.”
Source: http://ianmilligan.ca/
It is now clear that the proposed Canadian Museum of History is being designed to use history to support the government’s political agenda — that is, the evocation of particular features of our past as worthy of official endorsement and promotion. This is highly inappropriate for our national cultural institutions, which should stand apart from any particular government agenda and should be run instead according to sound professional and scholarly standards. Our past should not be a political plaything.
-James L. Turk
Full article here.
Source: Toronto Star, December 09, 2012
A photo, a film or a poem that is covered by a copyright, but whose right holder cannot be found, could be made publicly available across the EU, under draft legislation informally agreed by Parliament and Council representatives on Wednesday. This legislation would allow everyone to access such “orphan works” and take forward the project of making Europe’s cultural heritage available online.
Of all national assets, archives are the most precious. They are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilization.
Sir Arthur Doughty, Dominion Archivist, 1924
As a new archivist, starting my career, the cutting the National Archival Development Program, which creates contract positions for new archivists, is pretty devastating.
As archivists, we say “Enough!” We will not allow the federal government and senior management of LAC to compromise, assault, and destroy the Canadian archival network and the heritage that it preserves and makes available. We will not allow ideologues to tear apart the work of generations of archivists. We will not allow archives to fall prey to one-sided cultural wars. We will fight back.
http://archiviststrek2012.tumblr.com/statement
This is the project that I worked on all last summer during my internship at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. Seeing it go live is an amazing feeling!
Mandela Archive Goes Live on the Web
Google Launches Nelson Mandela Digital Archive
Nelson Mandela Archive Launches Digital Treasure Trove
Nelson Mandela Archive Gets Lavish Online Treatment from Google
Inside the Nelson Mandela Digital Archive – In Pictures
Photograph: Nelson Mandela Digital Archive Project
“Episodes will showcase treasures from our vaults; guide you through our many services; and introduce you to the people who acquire, safeguard and make known Canada’s documentary heritage.”
German Computer Re-pieces Destroyed Stasi Files
“Germany’s “puzzle people” will soon be able to count on a new tool in their Herculean task of re-piecing together thousands of ripped-up former Stasi secret police files.”
Via: Dawn.com
Working on this would be amazing!
“Just as he dreamed, his vast archive — some 5,000 hours of sound recordings, 400,000 feet of film, 3,000 videotapes, 5,000 photographs and piles of manuscripts, much of it tucked away in forgotten or inaccessible corners — is being digitized so that the collection can be accessed online.”
via: The New York Times