Projects in the Works

This week's post is a little different. After careful consideration, I have decided to change the format slightly. From this point forward this blog will chronicle projects and activities that SCSAA is undertaking. This decision was made due to an estimated low readership of this blog.

There are two projects that are in the works one of which concerns our website. There will be a further update coming, this time to the Information Resources section. Our goal is to provide academic and professional resources that are current and informative. The coming update will reflect that goal. If there is anything you would like to see in this section, feel free to leave a comment saying so.

The second project is a bit more ambitious. After careful consideration with SCSAA officers past and present, the decision has been made to create a wiki. It will serve as a continuously update-able resource for future officers as well as a way to pass on the knowledge and experience gained to those who follow after us. This project is still in the planning phase. A decision has been reached to use a system known as PB Works. Stay tuned for further developments and feel free to leave comments or thoughts on these projects.

Rare Prints Return to New York

For those of you who went to Yale, recall that we passed by a copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America that was on display at the Beinecke Rare Books Library. According to the Times Union, several prints from a copy of that book are being returned to the State Museum. These prints were thought to have been destroyed in the Capitol fire in 1911, but were rescued from a trash heap. This is an interesting example of how documents often have long and complex custodial histories. It is particularly noteworthy because this book was not produced in large numbers and many of the copies were cut up so that each page could be sold individually. Click on the link to read the full article.

200 Year Old Report Declassified

Everyone knows about government secrecy so it should come as no surprise that reports on such topics as cryptography are classified. Sometimes they remain that way for centuries. A recent article reported that the NSA is declassifying a report on the subject from 1809. The act was done to comply with Obama's memorandum about Open Government. However it begs the question, if something such as this is classified what else does the government hold behind closed doors?

National Archives Appoints Liason to Wikipedia

According to the Huffington Post, the National Archives has appointed a student at Simmons College as liason to Wikipedia. The article is tad vague about what exactly this means. However the quotes from David Ferriero seems to indicate that the new appointee will edit article having to do with American History and the National Archives with the goal of increasing the visibility of the Archives' holdings. This is an interesting example of the use of Web 2.0 technology to enhance archives. It seems that NARA intends to use Wikipedia as a form of free publicity. How exactly this plays out will be interesting. Click on the link for the full article.

New website changes

A new design and layout for the SCSAA website is now up! The navigation bar has moved from the side to the top and some of the background colors have changed. The biggest changes, however, are that some of the pages have been consolidated and some information has been moved around. News as well as information about upcoming trips is now available directly on our home page. Contact information and a list of current officers is now on the about page. There is also a new archives page which contains links to past meeting minutes as well as trip recaps. Finally the academic and professional resources pages have been consolidated into one section.

The changes are designed to combine pages with similar functions as well as to make information easier to find. For example, if you want to find out when the date for an upcoming trip is, you do not need to navigate away from the home page. These changes will also pave the way for the addition of further information at some point in the future. In general, I envision the site as a repository of information pertaining to SCSAA and the new layout reflects that. Be on the look out for additional changes throughout the summer. Comments are encouraged! I very much appreciate feedback on the new design.

The Environmental Impact of Electronc Records

There was an interesting article in the New York Times examining the potential environmental impact of using electronic medical records. Basically they could be either positive or negative depending on how they are implemented. The article does not address archives, but it raises the question of what the impact of digital records will be on them. Will they reduce trips to the archives and therefore reduce gas consumption? It is difficult to tell for certain since making records available digitally allows for access by users who might not have set foot in the archives in the first place. Clearly more research is needed.

Have a Great Summer

We here at SCSAA would like to wish you a great summer. For those of you who are taking summer classes or have internships, good luck. Likewise we wish the best of luck to anybody graduating this semester. We hope to see everyone else in the fall.