New Reflections Blog Post Series:

From August through May 2020 (the end of the FCoP grant), we’ll feature 1-2 blog posts per month from different cohort members. These posts are reflections on their experience so far and will address questions such as:

  • How has my project evolved over the last year? Scope? Objectives? Staff on the project team?
  • What have I learned so far?
  • What have been the surprise accomplishments or major milestones? What have been the challenges?
  • What do you feel have been the major benefits of participation in the cohort so far?
  • What would you like for your organization to contribute back to the broader community of software preservation practice in the form of documentation, workflows, policy drafts or other resources you may have created in the course of your project.

UVA Emulation in the Archives workshop report:


See Kathleen O’Neill’s other Tweets


See Dave Gibson’s other Tweets

The UVA-based FCoP Emulation in the Archives Projects Team (Lauren Work, Elizabeth Wilkinson, Mike Durbin, and Jeremy Bartczak) has been working towards this workshop for the better part of the year, and the preparation paid off with rich topics and detailed questions in the workshop’s discussions. It even included a usability testing session, where attendees created wireframes of emulation interfaces! We hope to have more to report from the workshop in the coming months.

Maintainers Anonymous podcast:

The FCoP cohort is excited to work together on a new series of podcasts with Henry Zhu, creator of the Maintainers Anonymous podcast.

Georgia Tech’s Wendy Hagenmaier was up first with a podcast posted on July 10, and the conversation between the Guggenheim Museum’s Jonathan Farbowitz and Henry Zhu (@left_pad) was published on July 16.

It is important for the information professions to communicate outside of their normal channels, especially for something like software preservation where resources, public policy, and private economies play such a significant role. Huge thanks to Henry for giving Wendy and Jonathan the opportunity, and be sure to go check out the podcasts if you haven’t already.

Happenings at SAA Annual Meeting:

Since our last bi-monthly update, Tracy Popp (University of Illinois) and Lauren Work (University of Virginia) were notified that their pop-up session “How Does It Really Work? Software Preservation and Emulation in the Archives” was accepted!

The one-hour session will take place TODAY, Monday August 5, and will emphasize the organizational contexts in which their preservation and emulation work has taken place. But it won’t be all use cases and best practices — the session will also facilitate discussions about how organizational contexts, software preservation, inclusivity, and representation in the archival record intersect.

If you have ever wondered whether your organization could pursue software preservation and emulation work, this session is for you.

FCoP and EaaSI joined forces for a workshop that took place on Friday August 2 at the Austin Central Library. Tracy, Lauren, and Cynde Moya (Living Computers Museum + Labs) worked with Seth Anderson, Ethan Gates, Michael Olson, and Jessica Meyerson to host “Multithreading Software Preservation: A Software Preservation and Emulation.” If you want to learn more about what was covered check out the Shared Notes Document and scroll the tweets (like the one below) by searching for the #spnatx hashtag!


See Software Preservation Network’s other Tweets

Field Reports by Dr. Amelia Acker

Dr. Amelia Acker has visited 2 FCoP sites during June and July: Living Computer Museum + Labs, and Georgia Tech. During her travels, she’s observed the FCoP participants’ work and amassed hours of interview data. Stay tuned for the upcoming field report on Dr. Acker’s visit to Atlanta!

Preferred citation:

Vowell, Zach. (2019, July 1). FCoP Update June – July 2019. Software Preservation Network. https://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/fcop-update-june-july-2019/