At the Nexus of Analog and Digital

Abstract

In June 2011, the University of Michigan School of Information in Ann Arbor hosted a symposium on preservation education. This special double issue of Preservation, Digital Technology, & Culture presents the four plenary addresses and the associated formal commentaries from the invitational symposium that brought together full-time academic faculty who have a significant research and teaching commitment to preservation and doctoral students who are developing dissertations related to preservation issues. The symposium explored how to teach preservation in ways that acknowledge the heritage of analog preservation techniques and perspectives while pointing toward research and development initiatives in the digital sphere. The four plenary sessions explored debates over the definition of the preservation field (Michèle Cloonan); challenges and opportunities of education for audiovisual preservation (Caroline Frick); concrete mechanisms to integrate research and teaching into digital preservation (Elizabeth Yakel); and the agenda for high-impact research in the university (Anne Gilliland).