About

Bristlecone Strategy works with partners in cultural heritage, higher education, and government sectors to foster a more equitable society through responsible development and use of technology. Our services include consulting, research and development, professional development, and grant writing.

Thomas Padilla, Founder

thomas@bristleconestrategy.com

Thomas Padilla is an internationally recognized expert in responsible development and use of technology to advance research, education, and minoritized community knowledge preservation and access. Thomas has secured millions of dollars in funding from private and government sources to advance diverse organizational initiatives (e.g., collections as data, responsible AI), is a frequently sought keynote speaker (e.g., National Information Standards Organization, Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities, United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean) and has held positions at a broad range of organizations such as the Internet Archive, OCLC Research, and the Library of Congress.

Thomas served as Principle Investigator of Collections as Data: Part to Whole and Always Already Computational: Collections as Data and authored the responsible AI research agenda, Responsible Operations: Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI in Libraries. Thomas’ scholarship is collected here.

Thomas has provided advisory support to efforts such as the Opioid Industry Documents Archive, Roy Rosenzweig Center for New Media, Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Program, The Sloane Lab: Looking back to build future shared collections, Responsible AI: Tools for values-driven AI in libraries and archives, and the Digital Preservation Services Collaborative.

Why “Bristlecone” Strategy?

Bristlecone, from the Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva), one of the longest-lived lifeforms on earth. Bristlecone Pine trees thrive in conditions where most other trees do not. At high altitude, with little rainfall, in alkaline soil. It is a long-lasting species that evokes a sense of perseverance and adaptation, working successfully at an elevation that provides a view far into the distance. Inspiring qualities to guide challenging work worth doing.