On June 29, 2021, Appleton Public Library and their local history librarian, Katie Stilp, hosted our first of four summer events. Over 40 fair-goers enjoyed presentations from UW-Madison iSchool faculty Dorothea Salo who shared strategies for A/V preservation, Kitty Werner of the Oconto County Genealogical Society who talked about their newspaper digitization project, and Lawrence University archivist Lina Rosenberg Foley who discussed digitization on demand.
Attendees had opportunities to connect during social times before and after the event. It was exciting to see this community of practice growing even in a virtual space! Questions and suggestions sparked engaging conversations about copyright, metadata strategies and how to start a digitization project. Additional presentations included an introduction to the Wisconsin Historical Society Local History Outreach program, Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA, and the Digital Readiness Community of Practice project and key resources. The only thing missing? Corn dogs, cream puffs, cotton candy…
Information gathered as part of our 2019 planning grant revealed that local history practitioners are eager to connect with and learn from each other, whether in person – or at least, virtually, in real time. Originally, our implementation grant called for in-person events but early in 2021, we shifted our plan to include only virtual gatherings. Despite some limitations inherent to large Zoom-hosted gatherings, we were thrilled to see folks meeting and greeting, and making connections through conversations about digital projects.
Folks who participated in our first Digital Readiness Fair were eager to hear about each others’ projects, their success and lessons learned, and how they might apply this information to their own work. As an extension of this community-building environment, fair-goers were invited to join the community of practice to begin receiving communications and resources to support their digital projects. We’re looking forward to our next three Digital Readiness Fairs and building on this momentum over the summer!
Did you miss the Digital Readiness Fair? No worries. We’ve got you covered!
- Links to all the recorded presentations, the slide deck and the “brag deck” (think of it as a virtual poster session) from the Appleton Fair are now available on our project website.
- Links for recommended resources, tools and equipment were flying FAST AND FURIOUS in chat. After each Digital Readiness Fair, we’ll collect, organize and add these to a list for you. Check back for new content throughout the summer.
- We love feedback! Whether you attended the full event or watched the recorded sessions later, please take a few moments to share your thoughts.
What’s next?
- Join the Community of Practice! Stay informed about our upcoming events and new learning resources to support your digital project work.
- Attend another Digital Readiness Fair on July 16, August 3, and August 18. Each features new sessions so you are welcome to join us again – or send to a colleague you think would be interested.
- SAVE THE DATE! We’ve got one more event lined up for fall 2021 — the Digital Readiness Community of Practice workshop held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Historical Society Local History and Historic Preservation Conference on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. Details forthcoming. Hope to see you there!
This project and the Digital Readiness Fairs are supported by an Archives Collaboratives Implementation Grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the granting arm of the National Archives.
