This year’s Digital Preservation meeting hosted by the Library of Congress included a familiar OIT face; Helen Hockx-Yu. Not only was this Helen’s first time at the conference, but the first time any Notre Dame OIT member has been invited to this prestigious event. This annual, invitation-only conference brings together individuals who all work within the realm of digital preservation to connect and discuss different areas within the field.
Helen’s invitation spanned beyond that of a guest, as she was asked to speak on the topic of digital storage dependency. Based on a paper that she previously co-authored, her presentation, “Understanding Storage Intermediaries,” examined the pitfalls of digital storage intermediaries and inspired conversation around the level of control these middlemen may have in the future. This presentation asked a question that is becoming ever-present in the digital preservation world and spurred an important conversation about what the future may look like with this level of dependency.
Beyond examining the current state of digital preservation, the conference also looked to the future with exciting data on new initiatives such as “Project Silica” by Microsoft and the University of Southampton and “Optical Data Transfer” technology which will revolutionize the speeds at which data is transferred. Although the annual conference serves to examine the current state of affairs, it is also an opportunity to look to the future. We would like to congratulate Helen on her invitation to speak and for a successful presentation on a topic whose importance will only continue to grow.