You're invited to contribute to a new series on bloggERS!, the blog of the Society of American Archivists Electronic Records Section.

bloggERS! loves to publish success stories. But we also believe in celebrating failure–the insights that emerge out of challenges, conundrums, and projects that didn’t quite work out as planned. All of us have failed and grown into wiser digital archives professionals as a result. We believe that failures don’t get enough airtime, and we’re starting a new series to change that: #digitalarchivesfail: A Celebration of Failure.

So, tell us: when have you experienced failure when dealing with digital records, what did the experience reveal, and why is the wisdom gleaned worth celebrating? Tell us the story of your #digitalarchivesfail.

A few topics and themes to get you thinking (but we’re open to all ideas!):

    Failed projects (What factors and complexities caused the project to fail? What’s the best way to pull the plug on a project? Are there workflows, tools, best practices, etc. that could be developed to help prevent similar failures?)
    Experiences with troubleshooting and assessment (to identify or prevent points of failure)
    Times when you’ve tried to make things work when they’ve failed or aren’t perfect
    Murphy’s law
    Areas where you think the archives profession might be “failing” and should focus its attention

In the spirit of celebrating failure, we encourage all authors to take pride in their #digitalarchivesfails, but if there is a story you really want to tell and you prefer to remain anonymous, we will accept unsigned posts.

Posts for this series will start soon, so let us know ASAP if you are interested in contributing by sending an email to [log in to unmask]!

-Rachel Appel, bloggERS! Series Guest Editor