On November 15, 2012, Dumbarton Oaks staff attended the Digital Cultural Heritage DC meetup organized by staff from the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) in the Office of Strategic Initiatives (http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation) at the Library of Congress.
The meetups occur the third Thursday of every month and consist of lightning talks followed by discussion among the attendees, who are all involved in acquiring, preserving, stewarding, providing access to, exhibiting, and interpreting digital cultural heritage. Dumbarton Oaks staff made a strong showing during the September and October events, outnumbering attendees from larger institutions in the DC-area. This led to an invitation from the organizers for Dumbarton Oaks to present a lightning talk at the November meetup. Shalimar Fojas White, Manager of ICFA, gave a short presentation entitled “Connecting the Home of the Humanities to the Internet: Digital Initiatives at Dumbarton Oaks.” For background, Fojas White provided a brief overview of Dumbarton Oaks to the 45 attendees, many of whom had visited the Gardens and Museum, but were unaware of DO’s digital initiatives. She also shared highlights of the current digital projects in the Library, Museum, ICFA, DO Archives, and Publications, both those already completed and those still in development. Based on the questions received during the ensuing discussion, the audience was interested in learning more about Dumbarton Oaks as an institution, as well as specific digital projects such as the Byzantine seals online catalog and ICFA’s online inventory. The DO lightning talk was followed by a presentation on the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) by Bob Horton, Associate Deputy Director for Library Services, Institute of Museum and Library Services, a recent visitor to Dumbarton Oaks. In addition to Fojas White, DO staff and interns in attendance included: Beth Bayley, Deborah Brown, Jessica Hollingshead, Alison Miner and Anne-Marie Viola.