"What Are You Working On, Mark Conrad?"

Ever wonder what exciting new projects the many employees at NARA are working on? The “What are You Working On?” blog feature aims to introduce a variety of NARA employees and highlight some of the exciting projects we are working on around the agency. Check for this blog series on Wednesdays! This week, we introduce … Continue reading "What Are You Working On, Mark Conrad?"

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).

"What Are You Working On, Arian Ravanbakhsh?"

Ever wonder what exciting new projects the many employees at NARA are working on? The “What are You Working On?” blog feature aims to introduce a variety of NARA employees and highlight some of the exciting projects we are working on around the agency. Check for this blog series on Wednesdays! This week, we introduce … Continue reading "What Are You Working On, Arian Ravanbakhsh?"

Getting from Format A to Format B: Mapping out conversions of your digital documents and files

Have you ever seen the signs on the side of the road offering services for converting videotapes to DVD?  Do you worry that the digital pictures you take today might not be viewable 10 years from now? As we move forward in a digital age, there will always be older formats that need to be … Continue reading Getting from Format A to Format B: Mapping out conversions of your digital documents and files

The Return of Tech Tuesdays!

If you can think all the way back to January, you may remember NARAtions starting a new weekly blog series called Tech Tuesdays that would highlight exciting new developments and cutting edge technologies being introduced into the archives field.  While NARA is traditionally concerned with history, we must look to these new ideas and tools … Continue reading The Return of Tech Tuesdays!

"What Are You Working On, Hilary Parkinson?"

Ever wonder what exciting new projects the many employees at NARA are working on? The “What are You Working On?” blog feature aims to introduce a variety of NARA employees and highlight some of the exciting projects we are working on around the agency. Check for this blog series on Wednesdays! This week, we introduce … Continue reading "What Are You Working On, Hilary Parkinson?"

Tech Tuesday: Machine Tags on Our Flickr Images

We joined Flickr last summer as a new way to share our photos with the public. These photos are also available via our online catalog, the Archival Research Catalog (ARC). From the iconic Mathew Brady Civil War photographs to the stirring images from the Environmental Protection Agency's DOCUMERICA endeavor in the 1970s, thousands of people … Continue reading Tech Tuesday: Machine Tags on Our Flickr Images

Question: What are some good examples of interactive historical timelines on the Web?

The internet provides lots of great tools and services to help genealogists and historians understand the evolution of relationships and events over time. From teachers to big corporations, researchers at all levels can benefit from these innovative new tools, one of the most effective of which is the interactive map or timeline. One example of … Continue reading Question: What are some good examples of interactive historical timelines on the Web?

Question: How should NARA use Twitter?

Cultural organizations sometimes get a bad rap for adopting “technology for technology’s sake.” This tends to happen when observers feel that the excitement and widespread appeal of a new product has eclipsed its actual usefulness within the scope of the organization’s existing mission and strategic plan. On the other hand, with the proper research, planning … Continue reading Question: How should NARA use Twitter?