SPN and the Coordinating Committee
The Software Preservation Network launched as a sustained member-funded organization in 2021, after building as a volunteer network since 2017 and accelerating our instantiation through a seed-funded period in 2019-2020. The Coordinating Committee is the primary governing body of SPN. You can read the Committee’s charge here.
Meet the Candidates!
Talya Cooper
Talya Cooper is a Research Curation Librarian at New York University, where she works on curating data and software for the institution’s repository, UltraViolet. At NYU, she has also worked on a grant project focused on research software preservation. Her background is in digital archives and preservation, and prior to coming to NYU, she worked at a diverse range of smaller organizations. She earned her MLIS from Pratt Institute.
As an active member of the Data Curation Network, Talya is particularly interested in furthering the collaboration between that organization and SPN when it comes to research software preservation, and to improve SPN’s support for organizations working to preserve their researchers’ code and software. She hopes to continue to think about best practices for making the software that’s being created now maximally preservable, in tandem with the work SPN is currently doing to ensure the preservation of legacy software. In her own work and scholarship, Talya focuses on the environmental and ethical implications of digital preservation, particularly as digital archives intersect with “big data,” and she also hopes to collaborate with others across SPN in thinking about how these issues affect our work in software preservation.
Brenna Edwards
Brenna Edwards is currently Manager for Digital Archives at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, where she manages all the born digital material including preservation, workflows, and access methods. She also co-leads a campus-wide digital preservation community and is a participant in SPN’s EaaSI Hosted Pilot. She earned her MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Since being involved in SPN’s EaaSI Hosted Pilot, and attending various SPN webinars and presentations over her career, Brenna has become more interested in software preservation and policies. Using EaaSI as a teaching tool further enthused this work, and supports her belief that students should be exposed to hands-on learning as much as possible. Learning from the Software Preservation Network community has been invaluable and she hopes to reciprocate with her knowledge to help build the Software Preservation Network’s resources and community, while bringing in new voices.
Eric Kaltman
Dr. Eric Kaltman is an Assistant Professor in the Media and Technology Studies Department at the University of Alberta where he runs the Software History Futures and Technologies Group. Kaltman researches tools and methodologies for the recovery of software and computer game histories, primarily through solutions to technical access. He previously sat on SPN’s CC, and is currently a co-coordinator of SPN’s Technological Infrastructure Group, which is working on emulation training resources.
I have worked extensively with SPN since 2017 on a range of working groups, projects, and within the Coordinating Committee, and believe deeply in SPN’s core goals and objectives. Access to and understanding of the history of software is necessary to make sense of the modern world, and I cannot think of a better place to spend my time than with all the fine folks working on solutions for software preservation. Due to a recent change in position, I again have the time to hopefully contribute more thoroughly to SPN and help with outreach.
Scott McCoy
Scott McCoy is the Digital Media Manager of Collection Digital Services, a small team responsible for Digital Preservation processes relating to the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) Digital Collection and Games and Software Preservation. The NFSAs’ collection comprises more than 504,626 digital objects, ~10 petabytes and growing. NFSA actively maintains three copies of its’ Digital Collection totalling more than ~30 petabytes. Scott started his career within Broadcast Television, spanning 20+ years, experiencing all aspects of the audiovisual industry as a Cinematographer, Studio Manager, Online Editor to Live Broadcast Director and involved in one of the largest digital transformations affecting an entire industry, transition of analogue to digital broadcast television. The foundational and professional knowledge gained from analogue television provided a natural progression into digital. As an active professional member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Scott continues to evolve his audiovisual and digital media knowledge and experience.
Scott is a new member of the Software Preservation Network, however preservation of software and hardware has been a long term, 15+ year personal pursuit as an early adopter of emulation and preservation of retro arcade machines and computing to modern day systems. Scott’s personal practical and professional knowledge and experience of games and software preservation is gained from the world of “enthusiasts” who continue to provide the foundations of preserving software and hardware and solving their inherent challenges. Scott’s practical knowledge and experience has provided the NFSA with the foundational processes and long-term preservation of obsolete and contemporary games and software. To date, he has preserved over 100 game titles across 32 systems (Consoles, Handhelds, Personal Computers), interactive media and virtual reality experiences and software supplied by modern digital delivery platforms. Systems preserved cover a range of media formats, Cassette Tape, Floppy Disc, Optical Disc, Cartridges, Early Data Tape formats. Scott’s goal is to be an active member of the Software Preservation Network, build global relationships, engage community, collaborate and solve technical and ethical aspects of software preservation.
Lorena Ramirez-Lopez
Lorena Ramírez-López is the community developer for webrecorder while transitioning into becoming one of the developers for the team. An alum from the National Digital Stewardship Residency of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a member of both XFR Collective and Archivistas in Espanglish, and part of the Open-Source Hardware community, Lorena is actively involved in open-source projects, community workshops, and international collaborations.
As a curriculum coordinator for the Association of Moving Image Archivist’s Pathways fellowship and freelancer for museums, archives, and libraries, Lorena is no stranger to the needs, wants, and limitations our colleagues face in the world of software preservation. She’s adamant in maintaining projects that have been started, while continuing the documentation and investigation of resources so that not only the SPN community can refer to them when they need it, but also for new users to find them and contribute.