The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland and the National Digital Information Infrastructure Program at the Library of Congress are pleased to announce that they will serve as co-hosts of the 2013 Personal Digital Archiving Conference in conjunction with the University of Maryland Libraries.
To be held February 21st and 22nd, 2013, PDA provides a two-day-long opportunity for researchers and practitioners in the field of personal archiving to convene for presentations and networking. The conference supports a broad community of practitioners working to ensure long term access for various personal collections and archives. “We were thrilled to be approached by Jeff Ubois and NDIIPP to co-host the 2013 conference. The mix of academic, commercial, and independent researchers at PDA forms a unique and engaged community devoted to curating and preserving the rich record of contemporary life in digital form,” noted Trevor Muñoz, Associate Director of MITH and Assistant Dean for Digital Humanities Research at the University of Maryland Libraries.
“Everything is lining up for a great conference,” said Bill LeFurgy, Digital Initiative Projects Manager with NDIIPP. “Interest in personal digital archiving is growing fast in our culture and we are looking forward to a stimulating exchange of ideas among different communities.”
Through projects on preserving virtual worlds and born-digital literary materials as well as the application of digital forensics to cultural heritage collections, MITH has demonstrated a sustained engagement with digital preservation and data curation. NDIIPP is leading a national strategy to build the capacity for public and private organizations across the United States to save digital content of current and future value to the nation. The University of Maryland Libraries have committed to a focus on digital stewardship and e-research with new staff and new initiatives aimed at complementing the libraries physical collections with new services that help define the role of a 21st-century land grant university. Bringing PDA to the Washington, D.C., area has great potential to expand and enrich the interactions of conference participants by drawing individual attendees not just from the strong community that has developed over the past three years but also from academic community, cultural heritage institutions located in the region.
A call for proposals will be released in late August and submissions will be accepted until early November 2012. All submissions to Personal Digital Archiving 2013 will be peer-reviewed by an international program committee. Registration for PDA 2013 will open in early December.
PDA 2013 will be held on the University of Maryland campus in College Park on February 21st and 22nd, 2013. For more information, please visit www.pda2013.info or follow us on twitter @pda2013.