How many of us first developed an understanding of the Indian subcontinent and its peoples from the writings of Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie or Rohinton Mistry? Their stories, A Suitable Boy, Midnight's Children and A Fine Balance, introduced the rest of the world to the socio-political tensions fomenting in India since its independence from Britain in 1947.
The Lighting the Way project team is happy to announce the launch of the Working Meeting, a series of online meetings and facilitated activities held in April and May 2021. The Working Meeting focuses on convening small groups to develop a topic related to improving archival discovery and delivery into a written contribution of 5-10 pages to be published by the project this summer. Building on the work of the Lighting the Way Forum, the four sessions of the Working Meeting leverages the Liberating Structures framework and other proven techniques from human-centered design to provide a welcome and supportive environment for collaboration.
Our first session was held on Monday, April 19, 2021, and we are pleased to introduce you to the groups, participants, and facilitators that will be collaborating over the next six weeks and beyond. We will share more as our work progresses throughout and after the Working Meeting.
We are delighted to join Harvard University and the University of Manchester again on a collaborative venture over the next 18 months (2021-2022) funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, Email Archives: Building Capacity and Community managed by the University of Illinois.
The ePADD development team is excited to announce the release of version 8!
ePADD is free and open source software developed by Stanford Libraries' Special Collections & University Archives that uses natural language processing and machine learning to support archival appraisal, processing, discovery, and delivery for email of historical or cultural value.
Improved Performance for Large Collections
The deadline for submissions has been extended to March 15, 2021.
The Lighting the Way project team requests proposals from groups of around 3 to 6 participants to participate in a series of online meetings and collaborative activities over the course of six weeks, starting the week of April 19, 2021. Each working group will develop a written contribution of 5 to 10 pages, exploring topics related to improving archival discovery and delivery, intended for inclusion in a larger handbook compiled and published by the Lighting the Way project team.
To apply, please complete an application form, including a 250-word abstract of your proposed topic and potential group participants, no later than March 15, 2021. A PDF version of the application form is available for your reference. Participants will be notified by March 29, 2021 if selected to participate.
These contributions are intended to build on the work of Lighting the Way: A National Forum on Archival Discovery and Delivery, held at Stanford University in February 2020, which focused on information sharing and collaborative problem solving to improve discovery and delivery for archives and special collections. The Forum provided rich opportunities for discovering points of convergence, which can be explored in the Preliminary Report on the Forum. Topics generated by Forum participants may provide a starting point for proposals, but applicants are welcome to propose topics that are not represented in the Preliminary Report appendices.
The ePADD development team is excited to announce the release of version 7.3.5 alpha!
ePADD is free and open source software developed by Stanford Libraries' Special Collections & University Archives that uses natural language processing and machine learning to support archival appraisal, processing, discovery, and delivery for email of historical or cultural value.
The Lighting the Way project team is pleased to announce the publication of Lighting the Way: A Preliminary Report on the National Forum on Archival Discovery and Delivery, which summarizes and synthesizes the activities and outcome from the event hosted by Stanford Libraries in February 2020. The Forum focused on information sharing and collaborative problem solving around improving discovery and delivery for archives and special collections, with 71 participants drawn from multiple disciplines and job functions in the archives, library, and technology sectors. Using both plenary presentations and activities drawn from human-centered design principles to highlight opportunities and challenges, as well as potential areas for further work.
The project will host a series of online working meetings and asynchronous activities in Spring 2021 focused on collaborative writing and in-depth exploration of topics and themes raised in the Forum. Further information on the working meeting, including a call for participation, will be made available in January 2021 from the project website.
Contributors to this issue are: Cathy Aster, Peter Chan, Nicole Coleman, Hannah Frost, Dinah Handel, and Annie Schweikert. Thanks to our many collaborators!