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National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

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Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#91

Post by cvoss »

londons_explore wrote: post #57
Molitor5901 wrote: post #46

I have a researcher card, it's not an arduous process. The staff are very kind. When you show up to the National Archives in Washington, DC., prepare to encounter a general group of 2 dozen pros carrying scanners, laptops, etc. It's quite the experience. I don't see this is that big of a deal. It's open, you can access it, but they are controlling more. Given the propensity for the theft and destruction of archives d…

I want more lockdown of the original documents (put them in a cave somewhere), but more openness of digital scans. Please just make a huge torrent and let everyone take a look.

Indeed, the archive has cavernous branches, in the literal sense you desire.

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/spring/h...

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#93

Post by hotep99 »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #78
jonstewart wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It means if you are a crazy person, you can no longer waltz in off your motorcycle and demand all documents related to alien spacecraft held at Area 51 or the real unedited Zapruder film that clearly shows Walt Disney was the triggerman, etc. My guess is anyone could still pursue whatever crazy theories they wanted, so long as they conducted their research legitimately, i.e., as a legitimate _process_ of research, wi…

How do you estimate they will judge process legitimacy?

Probably by if you're cooperative and lucid enough to file the papers ahead of time and schedule your visit.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#94

Post by almosthere »

mandevil wrote: post #76
almosthere wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds like a business purpose to me, and also, how much do you want to bet if you were to do that today, you'd find all the naval damage control information on chatgpt.

So you think that ChatGPT is a substitute for primary source research?

no, but you have two avenues - you have a business purpose and for what you were building, a video game, could probably be best approximated through chatgpt.

If you're a historian writing a non-fiction book, then visit the fucking archives.

the point I'm making is that everyone is making this a thing, when it is not.

This is classic TDS. Everyone is attributing everything wrong with anything to Trump, his administration. And it's just insane.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#96

Post by londons_explore »

thadt wrote: post #62
londons_explore wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want more lockdown of the original documents (put them in a cave somewhere), but more openness of digital scans. Please just make a huge torrent and let everyone take a look.

There are a significant number of digital scans available online. The problem is that they're only a tip of the iceberg of the available material, and digitizing records costs time and money (that apparently they don't have much of right now).

The smart move is to downsize the reading rooms and use the money for a high speed scanning team.

The scanning should focus on volume not accuracy or quality. If anyone needed that sort of thing, they could always go back to the original documents.

So many digitisation projects spend half their time perfecting metadata etc - which IMO is of far lower value than just getting the paper scanned and sorting the rest later.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#97

Post by slantaclaus »

Cheer2171 wrote: post #55
gardnr wrote: post #29

Looks like NARA are underfunded [1] and trying to grapple with how to prioritize digital transformation while still meeting KTLO demands. They closed three facilities last year. [2] The goal was/is to digitize everything to increase access to the archives for everyone. The current administration reduced NARA funding and, in February, dismissed Shogan as "Archivist of the United States" but it appears a plan for a str…

> KTLO Keep The Lights On?

Seriously? James Joyce everyone

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#98

Post by exe34 »

IvyMike wrote: post #30

From the site: > All researchers must apply and present a researcher card, which may be obtained in Room 1000. This ensures that proper identification is on file for all individuals accessing the building to establish a legitimate business purpose. Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities.…

> Also, "Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities" seems like a very poorly constructed sentence.

It means you'll be banned if you write anything negative about the dear leader and his eternal administration.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#100

Post by bdbenton5255 »

exe34 wrote: post #98
IvyMike wrote: post #30

From the site: > All researchers must apply and present a researcher card, which may be obtained in Room 1000. This ensures that proper identification is on file for all individuals accessing the building to establish a legitimate business purpose. Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities.…

> Also, "Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities" seems like a very poorly constructed sentence. It means you'll be banned if you write anything negative about the dear leader and his eternal administration.

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