Francesca Mackenzie

About

Francesca works in the Digital Archiving Department working on intaking and processing the government digital records.

She specialises in file format research and digital preservation tools such as PRONOM and DROID.

She is interested in outreach, specifically how we can make both digital preservation and its related skillset more accessible by creating games and learning tools.

In her spare time, Francesca has co-founded the Bits and Bots Study Group, which teaches members of the international GLAM sector coding skills by creating games. She also creates digital preservation themed games as learning tools and organises events to play and build games.

In her previous role at The National Archives she was an Early Career Research Fellow, investigating HTR (handwritten text recognition software) and user interaction. Specifically, Francesca looked at how transcribers and AI could collaborate on transcription whilst still being engaging for users.

She has an MA in Archives and Records Management and is a former member of the ICA New Professionals Programme, an international programme that allows new professionals across the world to collaborate on research.