Samantha DeWitt became especially interested in digital preservation, open access and repository management while earning her Master’s degree from Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science (May, 2014). She is concerned with the question of how digital material will be accessible for future users; dilemmas such as software/hardware obsolescence, managing metadata and considering long-term maintenance costs. She believes in unrestricted access to peer-reviewed scholarly research, whenever possible and hopes to continue investigating good practices for its preservation. While interning with the office for scholarly communication at Harvard, Sam was tasked with researching policies used by other academic institutions for managing their own open access repositories. She was especially glad to spend some time examining DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard), Harvard’s service for sharing and preserving work. She completed her residency at Tufts University.
Rebecca Fraimow graduated from the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program at NYU in 2013 and subsequently joined the Dance Heritage Coalition as the Preservation Hub Manager for New York City, performing audiovisual conservation and preservation services and outreach for the Dance Heritage Coalition’s Secure Media Network project. In addition to her work with the DHC, she has worked as an archival consultant for Seahorse Films and Deep Dish Television and a technician at Mercer Media and New Museum’s NDSA Award-Winning XFR STN exhibit on media preservation. After the close of the XFR STN exhibit, Rebecca and her fellow technicians went on to found XFR Collective, a developing nonprofit membership organization providing preservation services for independent media, of which she is currently a co-director. Rebecca carried her residency out with WGBH.
Joey Heinen is an emerging digital archivist and media art conservator. After working in Art Museum Administration he discovered his passion for time-based art objects and the challenges in continually presenting these works to new audiences. His archival work with video, live imaging processing tools, interactive, and computer-based artwork through the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program at New York University focused on the intersections between conserving said objects and providing scholarly access to technical and historical documentation around the work. He carried his residency out with Harvard Library. Joey also relishes in disconnecting from technology by getting lost in nature.
Jen LaBarbera recently graduated with an MLIS from the University of Denver, with a concentration in archives and special collections. During her time at DU, Jen worked in the university’s Special Collections and Archives department and trekked east to her alma mater for a summer internship at the Sophia Smith Collection. Where possible, she tailored her work and coursework to two seemingly divergent topics: digital archives/digital preservation and building more inclusive archives/archival records. Jen intends to eventually expand her master’s thesis (using feminist theory, critical race theory, and queer theory to build more inclusive archives) into a doctoral dissertation, but is looking forward to gaining a firm foundation in the practical work of digital and physical archives for at least a few years before diving back into academia. Jen carried out her residency at Northeastern University.
Tricia Patterson is a recent MSLIS graduate from Simmons College. She began her archival career at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission before moving to Boston for school. While at Simmons, she focused on digital preservation, digitizing textual collections at the John F. Kennedy presidential archive and working as an editorial assistant for Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture and a program facilitator for the Simmons’ Digital Stewardship Certificate. She has worked at several other Boston-area institutions such as Harvard University and the Boston Athenæum, honing her interests in digital stewardship and archival outreach in educational settings. Tricia currently lives in Somerville, where she spends much of her time cooking, DIY crafting, and consuming massive amounts of Star Trek at an ill-advised pace. Tricia carried out her residency at MIT Libraries.
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