Many of us have met long-time computer types who began working with computers long before PCs began appearing in the late 1970s. We recently interviewed a fascinating man who celebrates 50 years of working with computers. He loves explaining how computers moved from being complex, monstrous beasts run by certain “intelligentsia” into practical, analytical tools for everyday people; to how computers today help us communicate and work with each other, within different, newer social frameworks.

His career led him to some fascinating developments in computer science, including early contributions to the beginnings of the Internet, where he now sits at the helm of a strategic team that is braving the most challenging tasks of dealing with Government information in the clouds.

Dr. George O. Strawn is not just another computer/IT official who rose from the ranks – he is one of the most important thought leaders within Federal Government IT circles today. Plus, he loves the National Archives, because he says, “we bring to the table some of the toughest IT problems for all of the federal government that need to be solved in our time.”

Read the first in our series of Applied Research interviews called “At the top of our List: Thought Leaders You Should Know”

In Digitization Services, we’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about quality. What does it mean? How do we measure it? And why should we care about it? After the establishment of the Products and Services (P&S) web portal resource in 2010 (see the http://blogs.archives.gov/online-public-access/?p=5320 blog post), Digitization Services knew we still had more [...]

The Digitization Services or IDS (formerly known as the Special Media Preservation Division) is NARA’s primary source of in-house digitization and analog reformatting of motion picture film, audio, video, photographs, aerial film, textual documents, cartographic documents, microfilm, and microfiche. 2010 was a year of introspection and change for us. Inspired in part by the Open [...]

Last week, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) held its Spring meeting in Alexandria, VA (May 5-7, 2011). If you missed the conference, today’s Tech Tuesday post is a summary of two events related to MARAC Session S5, “New Tools to Address Electronic Records Challenges.”

The following is a guest post from Jane Long, Preservation Officer at the National Archives: Emergencies can happen anytime, but a little preparedness goes a long way to diminish their effects. Every year, NARA participates in MayDay, a national event to raise awareness of the importance of taking simple steps to protect people and records. [...]

The following is a guest post from Aimee Primeaux, Preservation Program Officer at the National Archives: Preservation is at the heart of what we do here at NARA: Preservation Programs has joined forces with SAA’s Preservation Section to create an e-poster in recognition of Preservation Week. This poster outlines basic strategies to preserve your collections, [...]

Being a journalist in this digital and new media age presents challenges and frustrations of tracking down and accessing Federal, State, and Local government information needed to produce responsible and accurate news products. Read today’s blog for an invitation to a free conference co-sponsored by NARA and Duke University on April 12, focusing on ways that journalists and researchers may better discover, access, and use digital government information.

The National Archives’ photostream on Flickr has been a popular place for our users to view, comment, and discuss photos in our collection since June 2009.  We recently hit 2 million views on our photos on Flickr.  As we’ve seen the activity on our photostream grow (especially after joining the Flickr Commons in February 2010), [...]

Today’s post is a Tech Tribute to a NARA pioneer in the field of electronic records preservation.  Dr. Ken Thibodeau, after a distinguished career in the Federal Government, has retired from NARA as of 1.1.11. In 1975, Ken joined NARA’s Machine-Readable Archives Division, where he became part of a team that surveyed federal agencies on [...]

Yesterday, The National Archives (TNA) of the United Kingdom and NARA issued simultaneious press releases about the development and release of a significantly expanded PRONOM registry, which supports digital preservation. The announcement highlights the successful partnership between TNA and NARA’s Center for Advanced Systems and Technologies (NCAST) research partners, at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and the Army Research Lab.