Members of the Visioning Access Systems (VAS) subgroup of the Digital Library Federation’s Born-Digital Access Working Group (BDAWG) are pleased to announce the release of Envisioning Together: A Report of Session 803 (SAA 2022). This report–which focuses on the Society of American Archivists 2022 session After the Finding Aid: Visioning Access Systems for Born-Digital Access (Digital Library Federation Born-Digital Access Working Group)–describes several takeaways from the session, including commonly discussed themes like the importance of usability and accessibility when it comes to access systems for born-digital archival materials, scalability and issues related to scalable systems, and the necessity of collaboration.
The report also compares the session’s discussions to the subgroup’s framework, An Exploration of Access Systems: A Framework for Access Systems for Born-Digital Archival Materials, to identify areas of future improvement in the latter. Overall, the report demonstrates that there was significant overlap between the discussions and framework, although session attendees did note some areas where the framework could be enhanced (e.g., relating to accessibility) as well as topics that VAS members felt, at least for now, fell outside of the group’s area of expertise (e.g., such as artificial intelligence, or AI).
The report concludes with a brief description of future work, including the fact that VAS will be holding several remote discussion sessions on the framework and access systems for born-digital archival materials in April. The session, to be held via Zoom, will provide those who could not attend the SAA 2022 session with an opportunity to contribute their input to the framework. It will also enable those who did attend to build on their original feedback. By collecting both kinds of feedback, VAS hopes to enrich their framework and ensure it is a truly collaborative, community-driven resource.
If you are interested in participating in this remote discussion session, please complete this registration form by March 31, 2023. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact Steven Gentry, the VAS chair.
