Kristin MacDonough

Three Mastodon posts: 1: Unfortunately there are no good choices for long term data storage, but flash is a particular bad choice. 2, a reply to 1: what is the best currently available option? 3, my reply to 2: Institutional stewardship. Asking what medium to use is the wrong question. If you want to save something digital for 100 years, you can't leave it on a shelf untouched. It needs periodic refreshment by humans caretakers. The issue isn't the storage technique. The issue is the infrastructure of labor and funding.

Bringing this one over from Mastodon because A) I really do believe it, and B) it was hard to explain the context

#Digipres

BREAKING NEWS: there is no breaking news. Rarely is something truly "breaking news." I just want all of us to acknowledge the anxiety that email subject line creates.

🧵DISMANTLING DEMOCRACY

I've been keeping track of Trump actions - now up to 192. Here, I dig into 69 actions specifically targeted at undermining democracy, rule of law & suppressing dissent.

It's been 12 weeks of assaults on democracy.

based on
christinapagel.substack.com/p/a-republic...
1/18

Fur is firmly back in fashion - and even more divisive than ever It's having a moment with celebrities and Gen Z. But wearing any kind of fur, from vintage to faux, poses some difficult questions. Could a new plant-based variety be the way forward?

I'm not up on the Gen Z fashions, but is this for real? People want fur again? I know that, as a society, we're going backwards, but seriously get your sh*t together. This is disgusting. I don't care if it's vintage or fake. It's the skin of another animal or trying to look like it.

I... huh? what? There's a crisis in masculinity? good heavens! Call your reps! Alert the rest of the media tout suite! 🙄

NYT update on tariff increases. Chipotle will absorb higher prices for now.

my takeaway: Chipotle sounds delicious today.

VDB TV promo

In January, I interviewed the wonderful Wendy Clarke about her ongoing art project "Love Tapes", video recordings of >2,500 folks from diverse backgrounds sharing personal feelings about love for 3 mins. The interview is part of a Video Data Bank program of excerpts, free to view! www.vdb.org/vdb-tv

Brilliant #Ephemera !

The Library of Congress has literally one gazillion public domain photos and illustrations that are free to use for your projects!
www.loc.gov/free-to-use

View of a skylight in a hotel

If you’re heading to #amia24 in Milwaukee, see you soon! Maybe.

Merry Christmas from Nick and Nora, Junior and ASTA!

That’s everyone’s loss.

I wish I was a musician so I could release a Christmas album. It wouldn’t have any Christmas songs, but at the end of every track, I would aggressively yell “Merry Christmas!” Ta-da! Christmas album.

Excellent point. It’s also true for “newer” tape formats that may be of bad stock or lived in poor storage conditions for a long time. We might only get one good enough play out of them.

Great post! Still a popular question and always will be. I’m inspired to write something about the process of digitizing video and preparing files for viewing.

It's #dpc #digitalpreservation #ff Follow Friday. Am finding lots of friendly and familiar faces over here this week so am very happy. I made an (incomplete) list of some of the #digipres and related people and accounts that I followed in the old place. Help yourself. go.bsky.app/7GdMRS3

Uhg. Perfect example of when “disrupt”=put many creatives out of work, not just writers. From an editorial consultant: “We want AI to do the washing up for us, not to paint the Sistine Chapel.“ There’s a magic in nuance that AI isn’t mature enough to understand.

Two cats sleeping head to head.

I’m not always sure they like each other but then they nap like this. The heated blanket they’re sleeping on probably helps.

Great metaphor. I think of that book whenever I feel like I’m living in two realities: the world is crazy and horrible vs. it’s kinda crazy but not so bad… my cats are cool.

An etching by Rembrandt of a goldweigher.

‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ views of money can differ widely, and this contrast is often reflected in art.

⚖️ Portrait of Jan Uytenbogaert, ‘The Goldweigher’, 1639, by Rembrandt (1606–69). WA1855.422

We get the same question for video archives. Digital storage for preservation-quality video is $$$$.

Facing Cuts Likely to Worsen Under Trump, Academic Librarians Urgently Organize As the war on higher education looks to heat up, academic libraries will likely be the first on the chopping block.

“Academic libraries make soft targets for administrators who too often look at the library and see only a cost center that can be replaced by free online sources and artificial intelligence.”

Not In Our Name: Cisgender Women Against Trans Bathroom Bans House Representative Nancy Mace and the Congressional GOP have launched a campaign of harassment not just against newly-elected trans Democrat Rep Sarah McBride of Delaware, but against all trans and ...

*extremely Shania Twain voice* let's go girls

actionnetwork.org/petitions/no...

All - Bluesky Directory A curated collection of all things relating to the Blue Sky social media platform.

To find all Starter Packs go here:
blueskydirectory.com/starter-pack...

Huzzah for Archives and Archivists!

Let me know if you want to be added, if I missed anyone, or if you'd like to nominate anyone!

go.bsky.app/N1ZB3eT

I’d also like to nominate @danerdman.bsky.social - another AV archivist. 🙂

I heard the 📌 feature was down/not updated due to the influx of new users, myself included, so sharing this to save it and also Yay zines!!

Yessss…. 💯

Add me please! AV Archivist and Collection manager in Chicago, IL, US. I’ll think of some nominations too.

A group of school children sit in front of an orange truck which is a plow/sander. They are holding up a hand-drawn sign which I can't read but I think it says THANK YOU

New names for Vermont snow plows 2024, selected by Vermont schoolchildren. Some selections...

Skibidi Scooper
No More Mr. Ice Guy
The Snowy Pl-Owl
Clearopathra
Snoah Kahan
Salt-O-Saurus

vtrans.vermont.gov/name-a-plow