The Software Preservation Webinar Series provides a survey of software preservation contexts. Each episode explores a different software preservation context by providing an overview, discussion with guest speakers (specialists in digital preservation, software studies, scholarly communication, open source software and more) and open discussion with attendees.
The webinar series is jointly hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Software Preservation Network.
EPISODE 2: Software Collection Development
This episode reviews existing software collections and who those collections serve. In order to better capture current efforts in collecting software, we identify different collection profiles and the set of features that characterize each of them. We explore how collection development policies and strategies for existing collections impacts community goals of sharing and reuse.
Research Lead and Facilitator
Guests:
- Tim Walsh (Canadian Centre for Architecture)
- Paula Jabloner (Computer History Museum)
- Patricia Falcao (Tate)
Discussion Questions:
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How did you get your hands on the material? Map out your acquisition process and your relationships with donors, loaners, sellers and manufacturers.
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Why are you collecting software and what are you collecting? Pinpoint your collection’s distinctive features and its (potential) users.
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What does collecting software entails? Describe what types of physical and digital components are found in your software collection.
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Are all software collecting entities ensuring preservation? Define and compare procedures and standards in collecting and preserving software.
Sharing experiences and perspectives is critical to understanding the hurdles in software preservation, to imagining future use of software-dependent data, and to forming a mutual understanding of where collective action is necessary to facilitate those future uses so we hope you will join the discussion.
The webinar series is free to attend and open to all.
Watch the recording
(Runtime 49mins)
Read the Chat from the webinar: Episode 2
Supplementary Resources
Websites & Blogs
- Depocas, A., Ippolito, J., & Jones, C. (2003) Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach. Retrieved from http://www.variablemedia.net/e/preserving/html/var_pub_index.html
- DOCAM project, http://www.docam.ca/
- Dover, C. How the Guggenheim and NYU Are Conserving Computer-Based Art Part 1 https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checklist/how-the-guggenheim-and-nyu-are-conserving-computer-based-art-part-1
- Fondation Daniel Langlois pour l’art, la science et la technologie. (2009) Subtitled Public: Documentary Collection. Retrieved from http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=2117
- Kossow, A. (2012). Bit by Bit: Software Collecting. CHM Blog. Retrieved from http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/bit-by-bit-software-collecting/
- Matters in Media Art. (2015). Retrieved from http://mattersinmediaart.org/
Articles, Reports & Presentations
- Au Yeung, T., Carpendale, S., & Greenberg, S. (2008) Preservation of Art in the Digital Realm. The Proceedings of iPRES2008: The Fifth International Conference on Digital Preservation. London: British Library.
- Ball, A. (2013). Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD). DPC Technology Watch Report 13-02. Retrieved from https://www.dpconline.org/docs/technology-watch-reports/896-dpctw13-02-pdf/file
- Bearman, D. (1987). Collecting Software: A New Challenge for Archives & Museums. Archives and Museum Informatics. (Archival Informatics Technical Report [August 1985].1987;1, no.2) Retrieved from http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/bearman_col_soft.html
- Colon-Marrero, E. (2017). Image This! A Voyage Through Software Preservation [PDF]. Retrieved from https://osf.io/rwkx5/
- DiCosmo & Zacchiroli (2017). Software Heritage: Why and How to Preserve Software Source Code. iPRES 2017: 14th International Conference on Digital Preservation, Sep 2017, Kyoto, Japan. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01590958/document
- Engel, D. & Wharton G. Reading between the lines: Source code documentation as a conservation strategy for software-based art https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/2047058413Y.0000000115
- Fuller, M. (2002a). Behind the blip: Software as culture. Nettime mailing list, 7. Retrieved from http://noemalab.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fuller_sw_as_culture.pdf
- Lowood, H. (2016). It is What it is, Not What it Was, Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media, 27. Retrieved from http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2016/08/30/henry-lowood/
- National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, Preserving.exe: Toward a National Strategy for Software Preservation (2013) Retrieved from http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/multimedia/documents/PreservingEXE_report_final101813.pdf
- Rechert, K., Falcao, P. and Ensom, T. Introduction to an emulation-based preservation strategy for software-based artworks: http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/emulation-based-preservation-strategy-for-software-based-artworks
- SPN Metadata Standards and Policies Working Group. (2017) SPN Metadata Standards Survey: Initial Results, Analysis and Next Steps. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DERjYdU-90eaGImsbsWFBXMyftt0ymQF