The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has made the next three Technology Watch Guidance Notes in the new ‘Data Type’ series available on general release today. The topics covered in the set are: audio file formats, moving images and raster images.
Authored by staff at Artefactual Systems in collaboration with the DPC and developed in conjunction with the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, each of the Guidance Notes in the Data Type series is designed to provide a primer on the current state of community knowledge about types of data commonly encountered by those seeking to preserve digital holdings.
"One of the great benefits I saw from the project was how we learned from each other as we worked through each particular topic," says Kelly Stewart, Chief Archivist at Artefactual and co-author of the notes.
"There were many places where we could see common threads throughout all the topics but many other areas that diverged entirely. I am proud of the work that was produced and the folks who produced them. I hope these notes will help those who care for some part of the world's cultural memory to ensure that the evidence of the past is cared for now and in the future."
The notes document broadly applicable good practices that have been established as a result of many years of research, practical implementation, and consensus building as well as preservation challenges to be aware of. These are presented within the Guidance Notes as a starting point, along with additional resources for further exploration.
This and other Technology Watch Guidance Notes are ‘bite-sized’ papers that contain information about a problem, a solution, or a particular implementation of digital preservation and provide short briefings on advanced digital preservation topics.
Further Technology Watch Guidance Notes on a range of other digital preservation topics are planned for release in the coming months!
The Technology Watch publication series is just one of the ways the DPC supports the digital preservation community. An international charitable foundation and advocate for digital preservation, the Coalition helps its members around the world to deliver resilient long-term access to digital content and services through community engagement, targeted advocacy work, training and workforce development, capacity building, good practice and standards, and through good management and governance.
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