MEDIA ADVISORY: MU to Examine the Promise, Possibilities, and Problems of Digital Archives
February 24th, 2011
WHAT: Print for the People, a Mizzou Advantage networking group interested in digital humanities, is hosting “The Future of Archives in a Digital Age”. This symposium will discuss all aspects of archiving valuable historical documents and artwork in a digital form. Panelists and speakers will present successes and solutions to the problems that arise in archiving valuable items such as diaries of 19th century settlers. Berkeley Hudson, an associate professor in the Missouri School of Journalism and a member of Print for the People, says it is vital to preserve this information permanently in digital form.
“These precious, one-of-a-kind documents give us a perspective of who we are as a state and as a nation,” Hudson said. “The past has value for today and tomorrow.”
This symposium is the beginning of a larger Mizzou Advantage digital humanities project called “Gateway to the West”. This project aims to advance expertise in the field of digital humanities and to create new scholarly opportunities on the MU campus, in the state, and nationally.
WHO: Keynote speakers include Robert Darnton, director of the University Library at Harvard University, and William Ferris, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
WHEN: Feb. 24–25, 2011
WHERE: Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, University of Missouri campus
NOTE: Media welcome. Participants are required to register for the event. More information and a complete schedule of events can be found online at: http://www.muconf.missouri.edu/futureofarchives/index.html