Researchers from MIT and other institutions have used algorithms and an X-ray scanner to decipher the secrets inside a letter that has been sealed since 1697, reports Sara Castellanos for The Wall Street Journal. “This is a dream come true in the field of conservation,” said Jana Dambrogio, the Thomas F. Peterson Conservator at MIT Libraries.
Inside Higher Ed reporter Lindsay McKenzie writes that MIT’s Ad Hoc Task Force on Open Access has released a draft set of recommendations aimed at increasing the open sharing of MIT publications, data, software, and educational materials.
Writing for Atlas Obscura, Abigail Cain spotlights how Jana Dambrogio, a conservator at MIT Libraries, is building a dictionary cataloging the historical practice of letterlocking. Dambrogio explains that to accurately recreate some of the more intricate locks requires “looking at thousands of artifacts and having the ability to remember them.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Micah Altman, director of research at the MIT Libraries, points to the safeguarding of sensitive information in scientific research as proof that it is possible to protect online privacy. With institutional review boards and informed consent practices, academia demonstrates “that you don’t have to choose between privacy and valuable data,” explains Altman.
Chris Bourg, director of the MIT Libraries, speaks with Lindsay McKenzie of Inside Higher Ed about how libraries can help foster interdisciplinary discussions about artificial intelligence. McKenzie writes that Bourg notes MIT’s, “long history of interdisciplinary research at its AI labs, the earliest of which was founded in 1959.”
Chris Bourg, director of the MIT Libraries, speaks with Carl Straumsheim of Inside Higher Ed about the MIT report on the future of libraries, which presents a “vision of the library as an ‘open global platform’.” Bourg notes that “providing access to credible information and the tools to assess, use, understand and exploit it…is more important than ever now.”
Barbara Fister writes for Inside Higher Ed about the task force report examining the future of MIT’s libraries. “The library it envisions is so much more than information rented annually for the use of a single community. It’s a place that values its local community and provides a physical space in which to learn and ask questions.”
Boston Globe reporter Kevin Hartnett speaks with MIT conservator Jana Dambrogio about a collection of letters from 1689-1707. “It’s not like when you fold a letter three times and stick it in an envelope,” says Dambrogio. “When these things are folded, some areas of the rectangle could have 8 or 10 folds in one spot.”
LiveScience reporter Megan Gannon writes that MIT conservator Jana Dambrogio will virtually unfold a trove of unopened letterlocked notes from the 17th century. The researchers will use techniques like “3D X-ray microtomography to scan the letters and reconstruct the letterlocking strategies,” Gannon explains. “They'll also use scans to detect the ink and reconstruct the text inside.”
New York Times reporter Eve Kahn writes about how Jana Dambrogio, a conservator at the MIT Libraries, is researching how letter writers kept their correspondence sealed and private, a process she refers to as “letterlocking.” “This is such a brand-new field of study,” Dambrogio relates.