Cost: You must register through SAA to attend this workshop at
https://mysaa.archivists.org/nc__event?id=a0lUV0000024zgTYAQ. A $25 discount off the non-SAA member rate is available for all MAC members (who are not SAA members) who register using the required code. Contact Education Committee co-chair Scott Brouwer at sbrouwer@lacrosselibrary.org for the code
Location: Hilton Minneapolis
Enrollment: 35
The field of digital forensics often evokes imagery of prime-time television crime dramas. But what is it, and how can archivists put digital forensics tools and processes to use in their home institutions? Archivists are more likely than ever to be confronted with collections containing removable storage media (e.g., floppy disks, hard drives, thumb drives, memory sticks, and CDs). These media provide limited accessibility and may endanger the electronic records housed within, due to obsolescence and loss over time. Caring for these records requires archivists to extract whatever useful information resides on the medium while avoiding the accidental alteration of data or metadata. You’ll explore the layers of hardware and software that allow bitstreams on digital media to be read as files, the roles and relationships of these layers, and tools and techniques for ensuring the completeness and evidential value of data.
This course is specifically designed as a precursor and prerequisite to the two-day Digital Forensics for Archivists: Advanced DAS course.
Upon completion of this course, you'll be able to
- Demonstrate an understanding of the principles, tools, and technologies behind the practical field of digital forensics
- Explore how digital forensics tools and techniques can apply to an archival setting
- Consider a range of digital forensics tools, and use some of them to create disk images and analyze their content for different types of information
Who should attend?
Archivists, manuscript curators, librarians, and others who are responsible for acquiring or transferring collections of digital materials—particularly those that are received on removable media.
What should you know already?
Basic computer literacy; you should understand how to install and use software tools listed in the syllabus and be able to read and comprehend basic (though detailed) technical concepts
Instructor
Joshua Kitchens, Director of Archival Services and Digital Initiatives, Georgia Public Library Service
