Try5 Update

A lot has been happening since the Annual Meeting in Atlanta. From this point on, I will be sharing updates on various things now that those activities are underway or ready to start so please do watch this space …

First up, the Try5 initiative I talked about at the Membership Meeting at the Annual Meeting has launched, continued that discussion in the President’s Message in the Sept/Oct issue of Archival Outlook, and we now have a  webpage that walks through the three Try 5 steps.

For Step 1: Try 5 Technical Things (however you define technical) the webpage has some examples and you will be seeing suggestions from guest bloggers and others about what you may try. If you have already started working on your Try5 list, great and keep going! If not, there’s plenty of time to think about what you might do.

For Step 2: Share Your Experience, we now have a webpage with a list of SAA’s communication channels so you can find a good fit for you to share your experience.  Do remember to use #Try5SAA when you share your experience. For example, you might simply send an email to the Archives and Archivists listserv or write a review for the The American Archivist Reviews Portal then also tweet the link to your review – whatever works for you. I know some people are working on Step 1 – be sure to also do step 2 to enhance your own experience (it’s good practice to explain technical things so others can understand) and to encourage others to also participate.

For Step 3: Help Someone Else, pick one of your five technical things or something you already know to help someone else do something technical. You’ll feel great and someone else will feel productive and hopefully continue doing and sharing their own technical things. Think about how you can share your experience of helping someone in a way that whoever you help will be okay with and will helps others, too.

I am working on the first two technical things on my Try5 list – explore Instagram and considering Tableau as one way to visualize data I use for digital preservation management. I’ll share my updates on my Try5 list in subsequent posts.

If you have questions or suggestions, sent them along to president@archivists.org.

Look forward to hearing about your Try5 examples!