This year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Digital Preservation 
Coalition, and we’re planning a series of activities throughout 2022 to celebrate. The more formal events will happen in coordination with the iPres 2022 conference in Glasgow, including a special edition of the Digital Preservation Awards. But the DPC was launched at a gala reception in the House of Lords in London, in late February 2002.We couldn’t let this month pass without having some fun!
An important date for your diary is Friday 25th February, 14:00-15:30 UTC, when we’ll be having an online party to mark that launch . We decided not to gather in person because we weren’t sure about Covid restriction, but also because we want to encourage people to come to iPres too. We’ll be hearing from DPC friends and family and will be launching the 2022 Digital Preservation Awards. We’ll also be announcing the winner of the World Cup of Digital Preservation. “What’s that?” you ask. Well, that’s what I’m here to talk about!
Over the month of February, we’ll be starting with some silly fun by asking the digital preservation community to vote on Twitter via the @dpc_chat feed for their favorite/most valued/most important/least infuriating* (*choose as you wish!) DP tool, resource, model, or standard. We’ve identified 64 contenders, nominated by DPC staff and the Digi Pres community on Twitter to compete. Our apologies for any obvious choices that have been missed off the list. It is testament to the wonderful work of the community over the last 20 years that it was really hard to try to think of all the possibilities but also keep the list to a manageable 64! Also, as vendor neutrality is a core part of the DPC’s ethos, we haven’t included any commercial solutions or service providers. So, this is a cheerful (not to mention cheap!) way to add some fun to proceedings. But if by coincidence you discover a tool or standard or idea that’s new to you, then that will be to everyone’s benefit.
The competition will work as follows: between the 1st and 24th of February we’ll be regularly posting polls on Twitter asking you to vote in the 4 rounds of competition. Between the 1st and 10th the polls will cover the groups stages, the 64 entrants in 16 groups of 4, with 2 polls a day. The quarter finals will run 14th-17th, with the remaining 16 competitors again in groups of 4. The semi-final head-to-heads will run on the 21st and 22nd, and we’ll wind things up with a grand final on the 23rd-24th. The final will run via a Google Form so we can keep the winner under wraps! As mentioned above, the winner will be announced at our party on the 25th.
But who are the competitors and what are the groups? Yesterday morning, celebrity guest, and #dogsofdigitalpreservation star, Crouton joined me to help draw the names for the brackets. (Only 3 treats were consumed in the capture of these images....)
The image below shows the full list of competitors and groupings. You can download a hi-res version via the link at the bottom of the page if you’d like a copy to print out and track the results. If you don’t follow @dpc_chat on Twitter, make sure to do so now, and get ready to vote. The hashtags #DPWorldCup and #DPC20years are also worth a follow. And don’t forget to RSVP to the party on 25th so you can be there for the announcement of the winner!
Download a hi-res version of the World Cup of DP bracket
RSVP for the Party: https://www.dpconline.org/events/dpc-20th-ann
Follow the Hashtags: #DPWorldCup and #DPC20years
