I would like to propose a session in honor of Michael Mizell-Nelson, my late mentor and regional digital humanities pioneer, in conjunction with a memorial panel Kevin McQueeney and I are involved with at LHA.
Kevin and I would like to discuss the challenges of maintaining digital projects in light of Michael’s passing. Some points of interest might be future maintenance (money and man power), developing clear mission statements, training and institutional support, forming useful collaborations, and general continuity when interest wanes, participants move on, or other radical changes. I would be interested to hear about challenges and solutions others have come across through their digital projects, and share some of the struggles we are having trying to maintain the projects Michael left behind.
I look forward to meeting everyone, and broadening my network of digital humanists in Louisiana!
I think this is a great proposal. We are all struggling with sustainability. In my case, I am trying to make student projects sustainable, but this is not easy. I look forward to discussing format (wiki, CMS like Omeka and WordPress), storage and other issues. Chris from the Center for Louisiana Studies would like to do something on digitizing and storage, I can see some connections here.
I agree with Jessica and Thomas. This is most likely an important issue for all unconference attendees. It is an issue that we at the Center for Louisiana Studies deal with on a daily basis.