Regardless of where we live, we are all seeking to professionally navigate a world under immense pressure.
For those interested in documenting society, this calls us assess digital archives opportunities and trends in the light of our current institutional, community, state, and global context.


To be a steward of community memories and archives in 2023 means that we should engage with:
• Shared services such as repository software developed in national context or provided by vendors having specific archives focus.

• Technologies such as social media archiving, email archiving, and other emergent technologies be integrated to digital archives practice

• Tools and practices such as cloud storage and services, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and named-entity recognition.

• Partnerships with individuals, community groups, and non-profits working to preserve records outside of formal libraries, archives, and museums

By the end of this webinar, attendees will be able to:
• Name and discuss three current opportunities or issues related to the broader social value of digital Archives

• Describe ways in which new computing technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning open opportunities and pose challenges for cultural heritage institutions
• Investigate specific technical solutions for preserving materials such as social media records, documents in cloud services, email, and others.
• Engage with colleagues in community organizations to describe the value of digital archives partnerships.
Christopher Prom is Acting Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation – Arts, Humanities and Related Fields. In addition, he is:
• Associate Dean for Digital Strategies and Academic Affairs, University of Illinois Library
• Fellow of the Society of American Archivists and previously served as its Publications Editor
• Currently directing two grant projects: Email Archives: Building Capacity and Community and Email Archiving in PDF: From Initial Specification to Community of Practice
• Advisory board member, COVID Tracking Project Archives (https://covidtracking.com/ ).
• An archivist with 20+ years’ experience working with digital records and systems