To demonstrate how the transformative, new pathways around the work of software preservation and emulation has been tested and implemented in two archives via two cohort members of the Fostering a Community of Practice (FCOP) project.
Our intended audience is anyone who is curious about the work of software preservation and emulation in an archival context, whether they are new to the topic or have started to investigate this approach within their own archives. Concepts will be presented and discussed in a way that will encourage audience participation, but will be framed in a structured way around use case examples and archival best practice. Discussion of how this work is tied to inclusivity and representation in the archival record will also be highlighted and centered in our session.
The session will proceed as follows:
- Brief introduction of speakers and the goals and structure of the session
- Use case: University of Illinois software preservation and emulation
- Use case: University of Virginia software preservation and emulation
- Compare use cases to frame with the audience where our shared gaps or strengths may have emerged institutionally in the archives, how we sought to document and implement our use cases to address issues of scale, technical and administrative knowledge and decision making, collection processing and topics of inclusivity as reflected in this type of work, resourcing realities, etc.
- Further engage audience with questions that emerge as they think about their own collections and the topics discussed via the use cases and gaps discussions.
Collaborative software preservation and emulation services as exemplified through the Scaling Emulation and Software Preservation Infrastructure (EaaSI) enable broader access and use of preserved software and software-dependent digital objects. This collaborative model may lower access barriers to emulated environments which require significant resource investment that many smaller or under-resourced organizations may not have. Through the FCoP Cohort model, documentation and example workflows representing a wide range of collections and communities may also encourage and support archivists and records managers working in under-resourced institutions to undertake access through emulation and surface digital collections which may otherwise remain inaccessible.
