Jame Smithies: Strategy, Governance, Ecosystem
Channel: Digital Humanities @ Western Sydney University
Date: 2014-11-14

The UC CEISMIC Canterbury Earthquakes Digital Archive was established to collect, preserve and make publically available content related to the devastating earthquakes that hit Canterbury, New Zealand, following a 7.1 magnitude tremor on September 4th 2010. The earthquakes took 185 lives, and led to damage to the built environment estimated to exceed $40 billion. The archive was developed in the context of an ongoing disaster situation involving over 12,000 aftershocks lasting two years, with a view to providing archiving facilities for researchers, local and central government agencies, business, NGOs, and the general public. By focusing on three key principles – strategy, governance, and ecosystem – the small CEISMIC team have provided New Zealand with a national federated archive system, a Consortium of 12 local and national cultural heritage and research agencies, and hope that the digital cultural heritage materials associated with the earthquakes and rebuild will be available to future generations of communities and researchers.
 
James Smithies is Associate Director of the UC CEISMIC Canterbury Earthquakes Digital Archive and Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is an active member of regional and global digital humanities initiatives and teaches digital humanities, the history of computing, and the history of literature and technology. His scholarly work focuses on digital humanities, the history of literature, technology and ideas, and New Zealand history. He has also worked in the IT industry in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as a technical writer, business analyst, and project manager.