This session aims to explore what Laura Millar calls the challenge of creating, managing, and preserving digital archives in a dynamic digital environment. In an effort to think about approaches to preservation and access, especially of primary or material source projects, and the life of digital archives in general, this session aims to examine such topics through two lenses.

One, a digital initiative call Digital Archiving Resources (DAR) www.dar.cah.ucf.edu/ and the kinds of general issues its contents raise, for instance, about provenance, access, and best practices for building and long-term sustainability.

A second lens through which to address issues of representation and trends in preservation is an examination of the specific relations between public and private archive practices and the role of memory and user participation in sites like the September 11 www.911memorial.org/ As archivist Barbara Craig observes, the appraisal of records – that which makes something memorable and worth preserving—is complicated by the disparate meanings and functions of the archived objects. Preserving the memories of the donors while also providing the larger social and cultural context requires a broad and ethical understanding of memory that is both challenged and strengthened by user-generated content.