Education

  • B.A. in English and Russian, concentration in Film Studies, Amherst College, 2012
  • M.A. in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation, New York University, 2015

Work experience

  • July 2024 - present: Senior Software Preservation and Emulation Technologist, Yale University Library
    • Duties include:
      • Creating user documentation that supports the sustainability and adoption of Emulation-as-a-Service Infrastructure (EaaSI)
      • Leading training initiatives to increase the capacity of cultural heritage and research practitioners to leverage software preservation and emulation infrastructure
      • Leading testing and troubleshooting of new EaaSI platform releases and translating feedback into user stories that guide the development roadmap and maintenance
      • Conducting research and leading initiatives to assess the usability of software preservation and emulation infrastructure
      • Working with the Software Preservation and Emulation unit, building replicable software preservation policies and workflows at Yale
      • Working with EaaSI’s organizational partners, facilitating communication and learning among global EaaSI users
    • Supervisor: Wendy Hagenmaier (July 2024 - present)
  • October 2018 - June 2024: Software Preservation Analyst, Yale University Library
    • Duties included:
      • As User Support Lead for the grant-funded EaaSI (Emulation-as-a-Service Infrastructure) program of work:
        • Coordinating prompt response to issues and bugs reported by EaaSI Network members/users
        • Developing training materials and resources for using EaaSI and emulation for software preservation
        • Guiding new and existing EaaSI Network members on available solutions for their software and digital preservation use cases
        • Providing feedback and synthesis of community response to aid in feature development, design, and prioritization for the EaaSI service
      • Configuring and troubleshooting legacy software within Yale and the EaaSI network’s instances of Emulation as a Service
      • Supervised Yale student team responsible for software configuration, description, and QC
    • Supervisor: Seth Anderson (October 2018 - November 2022), Euan Cochrane (November 2022 - August 2023), Wendy Hagenmaier (August 2023 - June 2024)
  • August 2017 - present: Freelance Workshop Leader
    • Duties include:
      • Designing and leading occasional workshops for library, information and other cultural heritage professionals on topics of digital literacy and audiovisual archiving.
      • Topics have included: using GitHub, using emulators, troubleshooting analog A/V equipment
      • Organizations worked with include: METRO (Metropolitan New York Library Council), the NYU Institute of Fine Arts, Memory Lab Network
  • November 2015 - June 2018: Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Technician, New York University
    • Duties included:
      • Coordinated use of department’s archival labs and equipment
      • Troubleshot archival equipment and workflows, coordinated repairs and purchasing as needed
      • Trained students in proper use and handling of film scanning, audiovisual digitization, and digital forensics equipment
      • Consulted with faculty on utilization of equipment and software in department coursework, as well as implementation of technological developments in professional field
      • Designed and taught a series of technical workshops to supplement program curriculum
    • Supervisors: Ann Harris, Scott Statland
  • Summer 2016: Preservation Consultant, The Jewish Museum
    • Duties included:
      • Surveyed inventories, condition assessments and current catalog system for analog audiovisual holdings
      • Summarized current professional best practices for digitization and digital preservation
      • Presented short- and long-term recommendations for mass digitization and digital repository management
    • Supervisors: Aviva Weintraub, Jaron Gandelman
  • Fall 2015: Preservation Consultant, BB Optics
    • Duties included:
      • Conducted physical assessment of a filmmaker’s Super 8 film collection.
      • Provided the filmmaker with a report on short- and long-term measures for digitization and both physical and digital preservation of the collection’s assets.
    • Supervisors: Bill Brand
  • Fall 2013 - Fall 2015: Audiovisual Assistant, New York University Department of Cinema Studies
    • Duties included:
      • Carried out inspection, repair and digitization of 16mm film and audio cassette collections in the department’s Film Study Center archive.
      • Cataloged new acquisitions, derivative files and preservation actions in FileMaker Pro database.
      • Assisted professors and students with classroom A/V setup and projection (digital and 16mm).
    • Supervisor: Ann Harris
  • Fall 2014: Special Collections Intern, City College of New York Libraries
    • Duties included:
      • Cataloged a collection of over 800 videotapes in Archivist’s Toolkit
      • Submitted proposal for full digitization of the collection, including vendor recommendations and costs
    • Supervisor: Prof. Sydney Van Nort
  • Summer 2014: Archives and Collection Management Intern, Northeast Historic Film
    • Duties included:
      • Vault management
      • Cataloged new acquisitions and access copies in Collective Access database
      • 16mm film inspection and repair
    • Supervisor: David Weiss
  • Spring 2014: Film & Video Archive Intern, Major League Baseball Productions
    • Duties included:
      • Inspected a 16mm film collection for condition and descriptive content
      • Performed audio cassette digitization
    • Supervisor: Nick Trotta
  • Spring 2013: Research Assistant, Department of Political Science, Amherst College
    • Duties included:
      • Compiled bibliography/citations in Zotero
    • Supervisor: Prof. William Taubman
  • Fall 2012 - Spring 2013: Center for Russian Culture Assistant, Department of Russian, Amherst College
    • Duties included:
      • Created finding aids for over a dozen uncataloged paper collections
      • Digitally photographed aging/delicate print materials
      • Coordinated and provided reference assistance for visiting scholars
      • Curated rotating public display of collection holdings
    • Supervisor: Prof. Stanley Rabinowitz

Volunteering

Active

Past

Projects

  • The Cable Bible
    • A visual guide to cables and connectors used for audiovisual preservation
  • Emulation Bibliography
    • A public Zotero collection of academic, professional, and narrative works on the topic of emulation and its utility in digital preservation
  • emulation-resources
    • A public portal of links useful for emulating for software preservation and access (including emulator software, retrocomputing forums and download sites, tutorials, and more)
  • disk-imaging-resources
    • A companion portal to emulation-resources, but for resources and projects related to creating and manipulating disk images
  • The Patch Bay
    • Narrative blog connecting topics of preservation and technology
  • QEMU QED
    • The missing QEMU manual for digital preservation
  • Qiwi
    • an open-source graphical launcher for QEMU, written in Python

Skills

  • Troubleshooting
    • Analog film equipment
    • Analog video equipment
    • Digital hardware/software
  • Writing
    • Technical documentation
    • Academic research
    • Blogging/narrative
  • Communication
    • Written
    • Public speaking and presentations
    • Internal/team collaboration
  • Instruction
    • Workshop and lab design
    • Classroom demonstration and lectures
    • Small group/one-on-one tutoring
  • Community facilitation
    • Group discussion and consensus techniques (e.g. progressive stack)
    • Drafting and enforcing Codes of Conduct
    • Panel organization and moderation
  • Languages
    • English (fluent)
    • Russian (proficient)
  • Programming and markup languages
    • Bash
    • Python
    • HTML/CSS
    • Markdown, reStructured Text
    • SQL
  • Git hosting platforms
    • GitHub, GitLab
  • Static site generators
    • Jekyll
    • Hugo
    • Sphinx
  • Media post-production
    • Adobe Creative Suite
    • Audacity
    • Final Cut Studio
    • Kdenlive
    • ffmpeg
    • DIAMANT Dustbuster+
  • Office productivity suites
    • Microsoft Office suite
    • LibreOffice
    • G Suite (Google)
  • Film handling and repair
  • Audiovisual collection assessment