Sometime during this past spring I received an email from a colleague of mine suggesting that I write a paper for an upcoming conference on Digital Curation. I was fairly intrigued because as a software engineer building products in the trenches it sounded like it would be a refreshing change from the day to day. So I looked into it.
I found that the fourth annual Digital Curation Conference would be held in Edinburgh, Scotland on December 1-3, 2008.
Edinburgh is a really, really cool place to go. So I decided to give it a try.
What happened next was a good news, bad news situation.
The good news was that quite a bit of progress had been made in the industry on XAM technology. In essence it is becoming ready for prime time, and I believe it is a perfect technology for Digital Curators.
The bad news is that the Digital Curation Centre at large seemed fairly unaware of this. I gathered as much from perusing their resource center.
The good news is that I wrote a draft paper about XAM and circulated it internally.
The bad news is that my peers told me “Steve, this is a research community. Give them some tools and topics to research”.
The good news is that I took this advice and submitted a six page paper.
The bad news is that the reviewers for the conference rejected my paper.
The good news is that the reviewers asked me if I would consider resubmitting a 12 page paper because the topic of XAM was so intriguing.
The bad news is that I only had a few weeks to squeeze in the extra work (but I did).
The good news is that the paper was accepted.
The bad news is that the I can’t go: end of quarter travel budget. No bagpipes for me.
The good news is that two of the most experienced XAM SDK guys that I know (Graham and Paul) live in Scotland. They have registered for the conference in my place.
All’s Well that Ends Well
The bottom line for me is that I would like this community to understand the value of XAM. In particular I want to communicate that XAM supports a canonical export/import paradigm which allows for mobility of digital assets to new technology platforms over time. These “data longevity” and “vendor independent” features of XAM are obviously important subjects for this community.
Graham and Paul will be manning a demonstration booth, Paul will be giving the presentation.
My hope is that interested members from the DCC can connect with SNIA and begin to brainstorm ways that XAM can be part of the Digital Curation Lifecycle. I also hope that members from the DCC can get involved with SNIA and influence the standard. It’s the perfect time to get involved with the technology given the recent appearance of shipping XAM code.
Once I receive a full report I’ll pass it along sometime during December.
Steve
The good news is that I’d have shown up if you had gone.
And you don’t want that to happen now do you?
‘Zilla,
You are 100% correct, having you heckle me in person once per year is enough!
So, will your paper be available after the conference?
Good question Ben. I know it will be published, I’ll find out if it will (or can) be posted electronically.
Steve