The School of Information and Library Science (SILS) and School of Government (SOG) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC at CH) held a day-long seminar called, "Curation of Social Media as a Public Asset" on Jan. 21, 2011. Video of a portion of the seminar that looked at social media in government is now available on the SILS Vimeo page at: http://vimeo.com/19799369 

Those featured in the video include:

* Ken Thibodeau, director of the Center for Advanced Systems and Technologies, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

* Anne Klinefelter, associate professor and director of the Law Library, School of Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

* Javier Velasco-Martin, doctoral student and expert on Self-Disclosure Over Social Media, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The seminar was part of Educating Stewards of Public Information in the 21st Century (ESOPI-21), which is a three-year collaboration between SILS and the SOG at UNC at CH, sponsored by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Dr. Helen Tibbo, alumni Distinguished Professor at SILS, is the principal investigator of the project; Dr. Cal Lee, assistant professor, is co-PI and Lori Richards, SILS doctoral student, is the project manager of ESOPI-21, which is based on the belief that the stewardship of public information is a fundamental responsibility of a democratic society. Public information (e.g. agency records, government publications, datasets) serves as evidence of governmental activities, decisions, and responsibilities at the local, county, state, and federal levels. Providing appropriate access to public information promotes accountability, rights of citizens, effective administration of policy and social memory.

ESOPI-21 is developing educational and professional engagement opportunities to prepare for the stewardship of public information and the integration of policy with information technology solutions and workflows. It funds graduate-level Fellows, who are pursuing dual degrees at SILS and the SOG. The project provides internships for the Fellows at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Archives and Records Section (NC-ARS), UNC at CH's University Archives, and UNC at CH's Environmental Finance Center. The project builds on the work and accomplishments of the Digital Curation Curriculum (DigCCurr I & II) projects, which were also funded by the IMLS. ESOPI-21 is benefiting from the extensive knowledge of experts who compose its Advisory Board. Further information on ESOPI-21 can be found at: http://ils.unc.edu/esopi21/index.html

Photos of Ken Thibodeau and the fellows can be viewed at: http://sils.unc.edu/news/2011/social_media
**********************************
Wanda Monroe
Director of Communications
School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 Manning Hall, CB 3360
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-3360
Phone: 919-843-8337
Web: sils.unc.edu
Follow us on Twitter at: UNC SILS