Extending the Archive: Promises and Perils of Information Standards

Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm

Location: Drexel University, University City, Philadelphia (contact conveners to register and for further information)

The History Department of Drexel University is pleased to announce an evening of dinner and discussion on “Extending the Archive: Promises and Perils of Information Standards” (6:00-8:00pm, July 20, 2015, on Drexel’s University City Campus).

As part of our 2015 Summer Institute on Standards in Society, supported by NIST and Drexel University, we will welcome a group of speakers to consider with us how institutions and communities are engaging with the dissemination of knowledge in the “newly digital" world, including challenges and opportunities surrounding data management and curation. Together we will ask: Who may become involved in the resourcing, production and use of archived data, and who remains marginalized? Are science and/or society well served by global flows of standardized information, and who shall make this judgment? And finally: Why do we in 2015 so readily label this a novel moment in the history of human engagements with information?

This event is organized by Amy Slaton, Tiago Saraiva, and Sharon Ku of Drexel University. Among our discussants will be Jane Greenberg (Director, Metadata Research Center, Drexel University); Darin Hayton (Associate Professor, History of Science, Haverford College); Babak Ashrafi (Executive Director, Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine); and Danuta Nitecki (Dean of Libraries, Drexel University). A limited number of seats for this event are available to members of the public free of charge. Pre-registration is required; please contact Amy Slaton (slatonae@drexel.edu).