[SPG_Active_Members] International Blue Ribbon Task Force to Address Critical Challenge of the Information Age

[Randall Neff]

from:
ACM TechNews
September 21, 2007

 International Blue Ribbon Task Force to Address Critical Challenge of
the Information Age
UCSD News (09/19/07) Froelich, Warren R.

A new international Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital
Preservation and Access, funded by the National Science Foundation and
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will work to preserve society's most
important digital data. The task force will be assisted by the Library
of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the
Council of Library and Information Resources, and the Joint
Information Systems Committee of the United Kingdom. "It is impossible
to imagine success in the Information Age without the availability of
our most valuable digital information when we want it now and in the
future," says Fran Berman, director of the San Diego Supercomputer
Center and UC San Diego and co-chair of the Task Force. "It's critical
for our society to have a long-term strategic plan for sustaining
digital data and we are excited about the potential for the task force
to help form that plan." Berman and co-chair Brain Lavoie, a research
scientist and economist with the Online Computer Library Center, will
assemble an international group of leaders to develop recommendations
for the economic sustainability of digital information. Over the next
two years the task force will listen to a broad set of international
experts from the academic, public, and private sectors. After two
years, the task force will develop a comprehensive analysis of current
issues and actionable recommendations to create sustainable strategies
for data preservation. "In addition to developing sound technical
processes for preserving digital information, we must also ensure that
our preservation strategies are economically sustainable," Lavoie
says. "The work of the panel will be an important step toward
achieving that goal."

full article:
http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/09-07BlueRibbonTaskForceWF-.asp