Paul Duguid and David Rumsey to Speak at SAA 2003 Annual Meeting

Paul Duguid, co-author, of The Social Life of Information, and David Rumsey, of Cartography Associates, are confirmed to speak at the Society of American Archivists (SAA) 2003 Annual Meeting, August 21 - 23, in Los Angeles. Duguid will discuss the value of information context during the opening general session on Thursday, August 21, and Rumsey will demonstrate new technologies in making records come alive during the closing general session on Saturday, August 23.

In his book, The Social Life of Information, Duguid "argues eloquently about the importance of information context and much of his thinking about the nature of digital information has been informed by his experience working in archives," notes SAA president Peter Hirtle. Duguid currently holds positions as part-time visiting professor at Copenhagen Business School, Department of Organisational and Industrial Sociology, and as a research specialist in Social and Cultural Studies in Education at the University of California, Berkeley. In Spring, 2003, he will be a maitre de recherche at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. From 1989 to 2001 he was a consultant at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Prior to that he was a member of the Institute for Research on Learning. More information about Duguid and The Social Life of Information can be found at www.slofi.com.

A private map collector, David Rumsey has concentrated mostly on cartography of the Americas from the 18th and 19th centuries, but also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. His collection, which can be viewed on line at www.davidrumsey.com includes atlases, globes, school geographies, books, maritime charts, and a variety of separate maps, including pocket, wall, children's and manuscript. In addition to digitizing maps and developing new ways to make them accessible and usable in teaching and research, Rumsey has also been adding historical maps to contemporary GIS systems, building 3D interfaces to historic maps, and exploring how geography can be used as a front-end to access systems.

In addition to remarks by Duguid and Rumsey, the SAA 2003 annual meeting will include pre-conference workshops, August 18 and 19, and a variety of sessions addressing a range of archival topics. It is the pre-eminnent event for archives professionals.

The Social Life of Information is available for sale (List $19.95; SAA members $14.95) from the SAA Publications Department. To order, contact servicecenter@archivists.org.