Technology

The Smithsonian Will Restore Hundreds of the World’s Oldest Sound Recordings

The Smithsonian Will Restore Hundreds of the World’s Oldest Sound Recordings
They were made by Alexander Graham Bell and his fellow researchers between 1881 and 1892

“Over the three-year duration of this remarkable project, ‘Hearing History: Recovering Sound from Alexander Graham Bell’s Experimental Records,’ we will preserve and make accessible for the first time about 300 recordings that have been in the museum’s collections for over a century, unheard by anyone,” says Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s Elizabeth MacMillan director, in a statement. The new initiative will begin in the fall.

It Really Does Take a Village – Learn About It Takes a Village and How Samvera and Fedora Are Using It In Their Sustainability Planning

Long-term sustainability planning is something that poses a unique challenge for many open source programs. These programs are often funded and supported in ways that do not give appropriate consideration to the long-term sustainability of the applications and their communities. The It Takes a Village (ITAV) framework was created to give OSS communities, like Samvera and Fedora, the tools and information needed to begin the planning process for their futures. Through a series of guided activities, ITAV presents program participants with the opportunity to look both inward and outward to evaluate what is working and what is not and how to take actionable steps forward.
This panel will outline the ITAV framework and explain the process for using the tools from within the toolkit. Megan Forbes will provide background and process. Panelists include Heather Greer Klein, Community Manager at Samvera and Arran Griffith, Program Manager at Fedora. Heather and Arran will share their experiences participating in ITAV and showcase some of the activities they have used. They will highlight and share the lessons learned while undergoing the process for each of their own program%u2019s sustainability planning.

It Really Does Take a Village – Learn About It Takes a Village and How Samvera and Fedora Are Using It In Their Sustainability Planning

Musicians Wage War Against Evil Robots

Musicians Wage War Against Evil Robots

After the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, all bets were off for live musicians who played in movie theaters. Thanks to synchronized sound, the use of live musicians was unnecessary — and perhaps a larger sin, old-fashioned. In 1930 the American Federation of Musicians formed a new organization called the Music Defense League and launched a scathing ad campaign to fight the advance of this terrible menace known as recorded sound.