Events Event Speaker Dean Smith

Dean Smith has been working in libraries in various capacities for more than half his life, most recently as the Digital Preservation Lead at The Frick Collection. 

His primary responsibilities are to coordinate the ingest of digitized materials into archival storage, and to integrate the institutional DAMS into The Frick’s preservation ecosystem. Dean’s academic background is in music history with a focus on the intersection of modern technologies and musical practice, especially the use of recording devices as compositional tools.

Events Digital Preservation Summit 2026 - Securing Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age How Digital Asset Management Helps Indigenous People

Preserving and Perpetuating Who We Are Through Our Own Voices

How DAM supports Indigenous communities, specifically the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), in preserving and sharing cultural knowledge through Indigenous-led digital stewardship.

How centering data sovereignty in DAM enables communities to control how Cherokee materials are stored, described, accessed, and protected.

Events Digital Preservation Summit 2026 - Securing Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age Centralizing Digital Assets at the National Geographic Society

Achievement and context:

The National Geographic Society’s Special Collections team reached a significant milestone in its DAM centralization efforts by successfully migrating 1.5 million media assets – including imagery from the full run of National Geographic magazine – from a decommissioned legacy system into its enterprise DAM.

Our focus for the Society’s digital archives is now firmly on the cross-divisional “Systems Unification Project”.

The goals:

Events Digital Preservation Summit 2026 - Securing Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age Building Sustainable Digital Preservation Programs

Preserving digital content for the long term requires performing actions that complement digital asset management activities. This session aims to de-mystify digital preservation, placing digital preservation under the umbrella of the totality of digital asset management and stewardship. 

The NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation* is used as a template to discuss digital preservation policies and procedures that attendees can compare to their own internal practice. 

Events Digital Preservation Summit 2026 - Securing Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age Digital Collections: Building a Cohesive Ecosystem Across the University of Oxford’s Museums

With the rollout of a unified digital collections’ ecosystem across the University of Oxford’s four museums with the aim of improving long-term preservation and expanding digital access to collections for research discovery and public engagement, this session explores the journey from fragmented, siloed systems to an integrated service, and the organisational, technical and cultural challenges involved.

Events Digital Preservation Summit 2026 -Trusted AI Digital Repository

As more museums bring AI into DAM processes, industry professionals are seeking clear guidance on adopting these tools responsibly—while honoring commitments to data privacy, digital preservation, and institutional integrity.

In this session, Terentia CEO Neal Bilow will explore what responsible AI means for the GLAM sector and how institutions can get started. Attendees will learn about Terentia’s approach to building a trusted AI digital repository, where AI systems are powered entirely by an institution’s authenticated data, assets, and metadata.