This class will generally be run like a seminar, with discussions focusing on the assigned readings, assigned student presentations on recent technology items, and tasks carried out outside of class. There will be lectures and discussion in class on key areas of interest in digital records throughout the course. Course requirements consist of class attendance and participation, including active contributions to class discussions, a recent technology presentation, the preparation of a personal digital records management plan, and the preparation of a digital records business plan as a member of a small team.

Class participation (15% of grade)

Class attendance is expected for all students barring illness or religious holy days; multiple absences will affect a student's final grade for the course. Each student is expected to complete the required readings on a weekly basis and be able to discuss them in class, to demonstrate that the reading has been done and understood. This is a serious requirement and can make a letter grade's difference (do the math if you are concerned about grades). We have fourteen class meetings; the first class meeting will be taken up with a preliminary discussion of the topic of the course, while the last will include presentations of the team business plans; during the remaining classes we will discuss readings, current developments in the information realm that affect the creation and management of digital objects, and, once the semester has begun, progress (and questions) on both your digital preservation business case and your personal digital archive management plan.

Create an exercise for class (15% of grade)

For most of our discussion classes, we will begin the class with an exercise devised by one or more students. Students will be required to look through the syllabus and think about something we all need to know and which you may be familiar with (say, for example, how to download and preserve one's Twitter feed). You will need to test it out if you have never done it and then figure out how to march students through it in class. All students assigned to each exercise will present in class. You will talk about the subject for ten minutes (ppt presentations are not required [though you can use them], but you do need to present the technology in some way--talk, call up pages from the Internet, and/or stage demonstrations if appropriate) and then you will lead the class in carrying out the exercise. Students will also provide a "documentary package" to be added to the Resources page for other students to have access to (for example, a copy of the ppt presentation you gave, a set of URLs linking to websites relating to the topic, relevant readings you have found, etc.).

Possible exercises that can be of use when inventorying your own files:
    List files in a folder
    Add properties to a Word file
    Using Tropy for organizing photographs
    

Your proposed exercise will be due on September 6, to begin on September 20.

Personal Digital Archive Management Plan (35% of grade):

Each student will write a report outlining a personal digital archive management plan for themselves developed during the semester. The framework for this plan will be discussed in class and a handout will be provided early on. We will also discuss your progress and we will workshop some of the elements of the plan in class as the semester progresses.

Personal Digital Management Plans are due November 15 (before Thanksgiving holiday).

Digital Preservation Use Case Project (35% of grade)

Each student will be part of a team working on a business plan for a project of digital preservation. You will use a modified version of the questionnaire that will guide you in your own personal management plan (see below) and there will be some assigned readings about business plans for preservation to go along with this project. The projects for this semester will be announced at the first class. Potential projects include a plan for the arrangement and description of documentation and digital media from the defunct Goodwill Computer Museum for the UT Libraries (we worked on this in spring of 2018, so the new plan will need to look at how that turned out and modify the plan for this time). I have also talked with Liberal Arts ITS Development Studio about a plan for the preservation of the multiple terabytes of film that they produce every year; as well as a plan for how to make a dark archive for the Guatemalan Police Archive for which the Benson has provided a place for the digitized materials to repose.

Digital Preservation Use Case Reports are due December 6.