The Antarctic Legacy of South Africa (ALSA) is delighted to announce the appointment of Dana Jellin as our new Assistant Digital Archivist. Dana brings her knowledge, skills and enthusiasm to her role, where she will be responsible for maintaining, updating, and assessing ALSA’s digital repository—a cornerstone of our mission to preserve South Africa’s rich Antarctic heritage. She has just completed her Master of Philosophy specialising in Digital Curation at the University of Cape Town.
She is uniquely equipped to ensure that the legacy of South Africa’s involvement in Antarctic research and exploration remains accessible to current and future generations. Her role will also include the critical task of evaluating the repository’s content, structure, and accessibility to ensure it continues to meet the needs of researchers, educators, and the general public.
Her appointment marks a milestone for ALSA as she joins a team dedicated to documenting and promoting the country’s contributions to Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research. Her commitment to excellence and innovation aligns perfectly with our goals to foster engagement with the broader South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) community.
As part of her new role, Dana will actively participate in SANAP events and initiatives, further strengthening the connections between ALSA and the larger scientific and academic communities.
We warmly welcome Dana Jellin to the ALSA family and look forward to the exciting developments her expertise will bring to the project. Please join us in extending your support and best wishes to her as she embarks on this important journey.
Dana has been working on an ad hoc basis for ALSA since last year and joined in an Open day of the S.A. Agulhas II and exhibition. During these ad hoc hours she has spent many hours on getting the references to scientific articles in the ALSA bibliography up to date.
During the Annual Research Day hosted by the Department of Knowledge and Information Stewardship (DKIS) at UCT on 29 November 2024, Dana was awarded the best presentation of the day. Congratulations!