Catching up: mid-summer edition

Sorry for the light blogging as of late. Between work, helping to plan the 2009 Best Practices Exchange, and getting some stuff done around the house, I've been spending more time than usual away from the computer (which isn't always a bad thing!)

Here are a few things that have caught my eye recently:

• The New York Times' City Room blog posted a fascinating piece on federal Standard Form 152, which federal agencies use when creating, modifying, or doing away with "standard" or "optional" federal forms (and, yes, there are other types of federal forms not covered by Standard Form 152). Archivists and records managers should ponder the fact that the electronic era has witnessed an increase, not a decrease, in the number of forms in use.
  

• Some scholars believe that the National Archives of the United Kingdom's sweeping digitization program, plans to store digitized materials offsite, and budget-induced layoffs and reductions in operating hours constitute a "dumbing down" of the archives.
  

• A group of attorneys who have defended prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay are working with archivists and scholars from New York University's Tamiment Library and Seton Hall University's School of Law to preserve records documenting their work. The Web-at-Risk Project will help to preserve related materials.
  

• Finally, on a lighter note, the City of Vancouver Archives and the Florida State Library and Archives have recently placed digitized moving images on the Web. If you're interested in seeing how Vancouverites amused themselves in the 1920s, World War I flying aces soar over British Columbia, a young Jim Morrison (yes, the Jim Morrison) learn about Florida's public university system, or on-the-job training of Weekee Watchee Mermaids, you're in luck! Seriously, these clips are enough to make any archivist question why s/he opted against specializing in moving image materials.