Tech Tuesday: The Internet, Diapers, and Access to the 1940 Census (What they have in common)

It wasn’t so intimidating after all. We ended our last blog, announcing the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program Symposium held on February 17 at the Newseum in Washington, DC. The purpose of the symposium was to reflect on what the NITRD Program has accomplished over the past 20 years. I wasn’t sure what to expect, wandering into the Knight Conference Center, an humble archivist – a fish-out-of-water, feeling lost in a sea of black suits and aging baby-boomers. Every now and then, I’d spot an important face or two, people whom I’d recognized from huge posters of computer pioneers at the Microcenter computer store in Rockville. In fact, it was kind of like a red carpet event for science, academic, and computer geeks, or probably more appropriately, spotting rock stars of the computer world. My first thoughts were, “Oh, no, what if the panels were way over my head?” Should I take a seat by the door for a quick escape just in case?” then suddenly, “Is that who I think it is sitting across from our table? Would I embarrass myself if I asked for an autograph?” Here’s why I’m glad I stayed…

Do you speak Volkswriter? MultiMate? Visicalc? Making Steps Toward a Universal File Format Reader

All file formats become obsolete over time. There are tens of thousands of formats in use today. How will we make sense of information stored in these formats over time? This week's Tech Tuesday entry talks about one line of research that is attempting to address this issue - the Data Format Descriptive Language (DFDL).

Tech Tuesday: NARA @ NITRD

This week's Tech Tuesday post comes from NCAST blogger, Mark Conrad. Who wouldn’t want to sit at the table where important decisions are made?  Who would turn down an invitation from the White House? Who would turn down an opportunity to leverage billions of dollars of other agencies’ Research and Development (R&D) funds? Not NCAST, … Continue reading Tech Tuesday: NARA @ NITRD