ePADD is an open source and freely available software package, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), that supports the ability of individuals and institutions to analyze and evaluate email of potential historical or cultural value. The software primarily accomplishes these tasks by incorporating techniques from computer science, including the fields of natural language processing and named entity recognition. The software also supports the creation and use of customizable lexicons, attachment browsing, regular expression search, and other related features.
This workshop will provide participants with the knowledge and experience to use ePADD to analyze and evaluate personal email archives, including their own email. The workshop will include discussion on overcoming potential implementation challenges, as well as opportunities to participate in ePADD‘s development.
Peter Chan (ePADD Project Manager, Digital Archivist, Stanford University) and Josh Schneider (ePADD Community Manager, Assistant University Archivist, Stanford University) will co-lead the workshop, orienting participants to the software, demoing its capabilities, and taking participants through the steps of using ePADD to analyze and evaluate personal email archives. A reading list and agenda will be distributed to participants in advance of the workshop.
Attendees will need to bring a laptop meeting the following minimum specifications (which may be updated prior to the workshop):
OS: Windows 7 SP1 / 10, Mac OS X 10.10 / 10.11
Memory: 4096 MB minimum (2048 MB RAM allocated to the application by default)
Browser: Chrome 50/51, Firefox 47/48
Windows installations: Java Runtime Environment 8u101 or later required.
Please note that attendees will also need administrative privileges for their machine to be able to run the software. Flash drives containing the latest ePADD release, as well as a test email archive, will be provided by the presenters.
About the Presenters
Peter Chan is Digital Archivist at Stanford University. He is also Project Manager for ePADD, an open-source software package that supports archival processes around the appraisal, processing, discovery, and delivery of email archives.
Josh Schneider is Assistant University Archivist at Stanford University, where he acquires and provides access to Stanford University records, faculty papers, and collections documenting campus and student life. He is also Community Manager for ePADD, an open-source software package that supports archival processes around the appraisal, processing, discovery, and delivery of email archives. He is an advisory board member of BitCurator NLP, and an editorial board member of American Archivist and Journal of Western Archives.
