In past conversations and presentations, we’ve talked about the origins of this project and how it relates to other Recollection Wisconsin endeavors. Digital readiness and community building work is in our program DNA and, really, provides the foundation for so much of our work to digitize, share and preserve Wisconsin local history. Through our Digital Readiness case studies, we’ve introduced you to several organizations and individuals who also participated in Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC). CCDC was instrumental and inspirational in the evolution of this digital readiness and community of practice concepts. CCDC participants learned and implemented many of the same principles we’re evolving and sharing as part of this project. They are without a doubt some of our most ardent supporters and core community of practice members. We value their continued support and participation!
We recently surveyed students and supervisors who participated in our first CCDC cohort, way back in 2018. Their responses were inspiring and validate much of our current digital readiness community building and educational materials and experiences:
“It’s always helpful to learn what kinds of tools and processes other smaller institutions with limited staffing and budgets are using.”
“What’s been most helpful to me in my work has been knowing where to start when getting a digital preservation project up and running. Having access to workflows and practices that other participants created makes that process less overwhelming.”
“I just found out that I’ll be presenting one of my digital archive projects at MAC this spring, so thank you CCDC for helping me get there!”
We’re thrilled to hear about their continued progress and success – it’s a strong testimonial to the importance of this work!
What else is going on? This month, we continue to plan our upcoming Digital Readiness Fairs. We’ll also be sharing our project at the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) in May.
We’re also excited to present our latest case study focused on Chippewa Valley Museum in Eau Claire. Check out all the Digital Readiness case studies gathered into one page for your reading enjoyment!
Finally, take a look at our most recent Digital Projects Toolkit post, Four Simple Metadata Improvements. We’ve pulled together a short list of metadata enhancements you might consider to improve discovery. Even if you don’t have time to go back and update old records, keep these in mind as you add new ones!
Digital Readiness Fairs – Save the Date!
Join us at one of this summer’s Digital Readiness Fairs to see what digital readiness and communities of practice are about! Registration opens May 10! Join the @digistew newsletter (below) to stay in the loop.
Digital Readiness is coming to the Midwest Archives Conference!
Session description: Robin Untz, Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society; Janean Mollet-Van Beckum, Washington County Historical Society; Vicki Tobias, WiLS / Recollection Wisconsin; Kristen Whitson, Recollection Wisconsin will relate their experiences launching this initiative, highlight real-life examples of post-custodial practice, and facilitate audience discussion around strategies to empower small organizations to steward their own cultural heritage. See full session description for details.
Are you interested in learning more about digital readiness and connecting with other local history practitioners engaged in digital work? Join our listserv! Visit digistew and click “Ask to join group” at the top of the page to be added to this listserv. Visit Digital Readiness Community of Practice for more information about this project.
Building a Community of Practice for Digital Readiness in Wisconsin is supported by an Archives Collaboratives Implementation Grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the granting arm of the National Archives. Read the full implementation grant narrative submitted to NHPRC.
