Riccardo Ferrante

I direct the Smithsonian Institution Archives's Electronic Records Program, overseeing its digital preservation and curation, digitization, and electronic records management activities. We run a tight ship here, so everything I oversee I also do. That includes researching and developing solutions to tough digital preservation challenges, like e-mail and websites. When I can get someone to think through the implications of keeping historic digital objects around permanently without losing usability and authenticity, I've had a stellar day.

An example of the things we do is to archive (different from back-up) the public websites of the Smithsonian because they represent a historic record of how the Institution is fulfilling James Smithson's mandate to 'increase and diffuse knowledge.'

Comments

[Simone Strozzi]

Hi Riccardo,
I am an Italian graduate that has the passion of the web 2.0.

Particularly, I take care of a blog that speaks of Museums and Web 2.0.

I cared to make you the compliments for your job.

Kindest regards, Simone