“Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” – Thomas Jefferson In my last post I raised the question of the role of museums in a digital world.  There are some obvious answers.  No one standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon would believe that a picture or [...]

Phillip Dick’s 1974 novel with this title is one of best treatments of the blurring line between man and machine. You may know it from the film based on the novel, Blade Runner. When machines are indistinguishable from humans, Dick asks, what does it mean to be a machine or a human. I have always [...]

Maybe it was Memphis (with apologies to Pam Tillis) Recently in Nashville, Tennessee, the Council of State Archivists and the National Association of Government Records Administrators and Archives came together to share new ideas and renew old acquaintances.  About 175 archivists and records administrators were in attendance.  That’s down from last year both because of [...]

I invite you to join me on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 for the Media Access to Government Information Conference (MAGIC) at the National Archives downtown.  The goal of the conference is to discuss how technology might improve access to government information for journalists and citizens alike.  The conference is free, open to the public, and [...]

Conventional wisdom is that the appraisal process for electronic records is the same as for paper. Richard Pearce-Moses made that statement in his 2006 Presidential Address to the joint meeting of Archivists in DC. Randall Jimerson quoted him in Archives Power. However, conventional wisdom isn’t always all we need to know. Buried under Richard’s statement [...]

The following post comes from David McMillen, External Affairs Liaison at the National Archives. I want to invite you to join me in Alexandria, VA in May to hear Randall Jimerson speak.  He is the keynote speaker at the spring Mid-American Regional Archives Conference (MARAC), and he is a voice to be heard.  Let me [...]