In February 2013, the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, part of Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, received a $300,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop PAFDAO (Preservation and Access Frameworks for Complex Digital Media Art Objects). PAFDAO’s test collection includes more than 300 interactive born-digital artworks created for CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and web distribution, many of which date back to the early 1990s. Though vitally important to understanding the development of media art and aesthetics over the past two decades, these materials are at serious risk of degradation and are unreadable without obsolete computers and software. This talk will reference the larger workflow of the project and how metadata decisions were made in order to ensure long-term preservation and use of these complex digital media art objects, most of which contain many elaborate interdependencies.

We hope to see you there!