Issues
Browse the Knowledge Base by a cross section of legal, organisational and technical issues such as File Format Obsolescence, Procurement or Metadata.
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Articles
Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation: some thoughts
On Friday last week the DPC hosted a webinar on ‘Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation’. We were delighted to be able to get all four authors of a recent article in American Archivist in the (virtual) room together with our Members to discuss this important topic. The article is available here and I’d urge digital preservation people everywhere to read it if you haven’t already. I joked within the webinar last week that I wished I’d written it myself...but I should also note that...
Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation: some thoughts
On Friday last week the DPC hosted a webinar on ‘Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation’. We were delighted to be able to get all four authors of a recent article in American Archivist in the (virtual) room together with our Members to discuss this important topic. The article is available here and I’d urge digital preservation people everywhere to read it if you haven’t already. I joked within the webinar last week that I wished I’d written it myself...but I should also note that...
Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation - Webinar
The cultural heritage community has engaged with environmental sustainability in many areas, but is only beginning to explore the sustainability concerns of digital preservation activities. Building off of a recent American Archivist article (“Toward Environmentally Sustainable Digital Preservation”), in which the authors argue that truly sustainable practice will come only from critical examination of the underlying motivations and assumptions of current digital preservation practices, the...
Enacting Environmentally Sustainable Preservation - Webinar
The cultural heritage community has engaged with environmental sustainability in many areas, but is only beginning to explore the sustainability concerns of digital preservation activities. Building off of a recent American Archivist article (“Toward Environmentally Sustainable Digital Preservation”), in which the authors argue that truly sustainable practice will come only from critical examination of the underlying motivations and assumptions of current digital preservation practices, the...
From ‘starting digital preservation’ to ‘business as usual’
Anna McNally is Senior Archivist at University of Westminster in the UK The University of Westminster’s Records and Archives team manage the institutional records of the University (founded in 1838), alongside the deposited records of several architects and town planners, and a garment collection (the Westminster Menswear Archive). We started actively managing digital records in 2016 but, in a relatively fast-paced area (compared with paper records!), it’s hard not to always think...
Introducing the DPC RAM
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it.” Martin Robb, National Programme Manager, NDA I’ve heard this phrase several times since starting work on a digital preservation project with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority here in the UK. Colleagues at the NDA were very keen that as part of our two year project with them, we found an appropropriate way of measuring where they are now in their digital preservation journey and establishing a clear direction of travel. Maturity...
Level up with DPC RAM
The DPC’s Rapid Assessment Model is a helpful tool for assessing an organization’s maturity with digital preservation. It allows you to consider both where you are currently and where you would like to be, and highlight gaps in your current digital preservation capacity. This resource is designed to help you work out how to address those gaps and move up the levels of RAM. For each of the 11 sections of RAM there are helpful tips, links to useful resources and case studies...
The 'Capstone' email appraisal approach
Alexander Roberts is Digital Humanities Manager/Research Data Manager at Swansea University and attended iPRES2018 with support from the DPC's Leadership Programme which is generously funded by DPC Supporters Welcome to my second blog post relating to themes and projects which sparked my imagination as a result of attending iPres2018, the international digital preservation conference, last September in Boston, USA. As I mentioned in my previous blog post discussing...
A Greener Film Archive
Janice Chen is Archive Officer at the Asian Film Archive in Singapore Much has been written about the escalating carbon footprint arising from digital consumption and its resulting environmental impact. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the world needs sweeping changes to energy, transportation and other systems to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.[i] The bleak future facing our world and the devastating natural disasters in 2018 that have hit...
A Greener Film Archive
Janice Chen is Archive Officer at the Asian Film Archive in Singapore Much has been written about the escalating carbon footprint arising from digital consumption and its resulting environmental impact. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the world needs sweeping changes to energy, transportation and other systems to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.[i] The bleak future facing our world and the devastating natural disasters in 2018 that have hit...
Career Development Fund Guidelines
Download a PDF copy of the Career Development Fund Application Guidelines Introduction The DPC recognizes the very great need among our members for access to specialist training and professional development opportunities. The DPC Career Development Fund (previously known as the Leadership Programme) was created to offer an ongoing programme of grants so that our members can attend courses, events, or other training and development opportunities that will help them build digital...
Getting Started and Making Progress training modules
Face to face training is available on request for members. This page provides access to the training resources for the Getting Started and Making Progress courses. Getting Started with Digital Preservation 'Getting Started with Digital Preservation' introduces delegates to common digitial preservation concepts and issues before walking them through the firsts steps they can take to manage their digital assets. This includes bit-level preservation, assessing their digital preservation...
Getting Started and Making Progress training modules
Face to face training is available on request for members. This page provides access to the training resources for the Getting Started and Making Progress courses. Getting Started with Digital Preservation 'Getting Started with Digital Preservation' introduces delegates to common digitial preservation concepts and issues before walking them through the firsts steps they can take to manage their digital assets. This includes bit-level preservation, assessing their digital preservation...
Web Archiving & Preservation Special Interest Group
Web Archiving & Preservation Special Interest Group What is the Web Archiving & Preservation Special Interest Group? The Web Archiving and Preservation Special Interest Group (previously the Web Archiving & Preservation Task Force) provides a forum for participants to share their experiences, establish common goals, and inform their own policy development. It provides a mutually supportive environment for continued programme and policy development for DPC members and a...
A foot in the door is worth two on the desk
Shibboleth I am asked, from time to time, how to persuade management that digital preservation matters. It’s a puzzling question in context and content. For a start, I am not sure I have ever persuaded anyone of anything. I have been on hand when people persuaded themselves but that’s not the same thing. It’s like finding the fire brigade at the scene of every major fire and assuming they are to blame. Moreover, I am not sure it’s possible to offer a global shibboleth for digital preservation...
'Personal Digital Preservation: Photographs and Video' by Richard Wright
{jcomments on} ‘The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) Technology Watch Report Personal Digital Archiving provides an overall approach and methodology for putting one's “digital house” in order. My purpose in this case note is to add the gory detail about digital photos and video, giving a one-person case study. I say exactly what software and processes I use (and which ones I've considered but rejected, or used and discarded), and try to be frank about successes and...
Engaging with Public Policy
The DPC campaigns for digital preservation and long term access to be a feature of public policy and routinely advises Government and related agencies on issues that are relevant to our members and our mandate. The DPC Board has adopted a set of principles for the DPC's engagement with public policy and direct advocacy. While this document is due for renewal, it lays out in clear terms the values of the Coalition and how and when the DPC will intervene in public policy...
2007 Digital Preservation Award
Accolade for new tool to save digital archives for future generations as DROID wins the 2007 Digital Preservation Award. An innovative tool to analyse and identify computer file formats has won the 2007 Digital Preservation Award. DROID, developed by The National Archives in London, can examine any mystery file and identify its format. The tool works by gathering clues from the internal 'signatures' hidden inside every computer file, as well as more familiar elements such as the filename...
2010 Digital Preservation Award
The Digital Preservation Award 2010 was won by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Old Dominion University for the Memento Project. The Institute for Conservation and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) are delighted to announce that the Memento Project led by Herbert Van De Sompel and colleagues of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Michael Nelson and colleagues of Old Dominion University, USA, has won the Digital Preservation Award 2010. ‘Memento offers an elegant and...
Digital Preservation Awards 2012
DPC is delighted to announce the winners of the 2012 Digital Preservation Awards. The Digital Preservation Awards celebrate the excellence and innovation that will help to ensure our digital memory is available tomorrow. It was first awarded in 2004 as one of the Conservation Awards and it has been presented on four occasions (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010), sponsored by the Digital Preservation Coalition with the Institute for Conservation. Although based on the Conservation Awards the Digital...