Screening the Future, May 7-8 Tate Modern

DPC Member, Tate is hosting the 'Screening the Future Conference in London May 7-8

Screening the future is an annual showcase delivered by PrestoCentre and focusing on the latest trends in audiovisual preservation. This international conference brings together leaders in the fields of technology and research, and those with strategic responsibility for digitisation and digital preservation in the creative and cultural industries including broadcast, post-production, motion picture, sound and music recording, visual and performing arts. The conference aims to navigate participants through current case studies and latest thinking on standards and planning for the digital preservation of AV assets.

The next conference will be held at the Tate Modern in London on 7-8 May -- more information here: http://2013.screeningthefuture.com

Trust in Digital Preservation, Dublin 4-5th June

Registration has opened for our co-sponsored training event on the topic of ‘Trust in digital preservation’ at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin 4-5^th June.

http://www.dpconline.org/events/details/61-trust-and-digital-preservation?xref=67

This event is being organized by the DPC and is sponsored by the European Commission under the APARSEN project in association with the Digital Repository of Ireland.  It is free to DPC members and heavily for all others.

Long established as a key issue for those engaged in digital preservation, the training will examine how to establish ‘trust’ in preservation processes, actions and institutions from a number of different perspectives, based partly on the emerging findings of the APARSEN project and with contributions from leading practitioners and researchers. The workshop is a distinctive addition to digital preservation training activities in Europe.  It is intended for managers and staff already working in digital preservation.  It assumes a working knowledge of existing standards like the Open Archival Information System – OAIS as well as an understanding of how issues of preservation apply to their own institution. 

Participants are welcome to attend one or both days.

The first day, presented in a workshop format, will include presentations from the APARSEN project on its work on the audit and certification of repositories, and the capture and maintenance of authenticity and provenance information for digital objects. Presentations from guest speakers will also examine trust in relation to data sharing and reuse, and establishing trust in digital preservation practitioners. Attendees will also be encouraged to participate actively in a panel discussion on the topics covered.  Day one is intended for researchers, practitioners and managers looking for a practical introduction to latest thinking on the topic of Trust in digital preservation.  It will help them evaluate options, understand emerging trends and make informed recommendations for action.

The second day will be a ‘deep dive’ into the issues of certification, authenticity and provenance, providing practically focused training on each topic. This will include more detailed and more presentation and discussion of emerging trends and case studies derived from the APARSEN project, and will make use practical exercises.  Day two is intended for practitioners seeking to implement practical solutions or seeking to improve existing workflows in their institutions.

Registration will fill quickly and places are limited so please do register early.  A general announcement about registration will follow.

New ‘Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD)’ Technology Watch Report released to DPC members

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is delighted to offer its members a preview of the latest in its series of topical DPC Technology Watch Reports, Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD). Written by Alex Ball, and published in association with Jisc’s Digital Curation Centre (DCC) and Charles Beagrie Ltd, this report provides a comprehensive overview of the development of CAD, the threat caused by its own innovative application and its vendors’ race to continuously upgrade; often leaving users with inaccessible versions and models.

A specialist in digital curation at the DCC and UKOLN at the University of Bath, Alex writes ‘CAD is an area of constant innovation…, resulting in CAD systems that are ephemeral and largely incompatible with each other.’ The report provides valuable insights into the key standards, techniques and technologies developed in an attempt to slow the seemingly inevitable obsolescence associated with native CAD formats.

Having outlined some of the critical issues surrounding CAD preservation, as well as some of the potential solutions, Alex reminds us that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer to the problem. He urges the preservation community to ‘consider an advocacy programme which raises awareness of the importance of standard formats and high quality format migration,’ with a view to providing greater interoperability and better support for CAD users.

The report is primarily aimed at those responsible for archives and repositories with CAD content, but will also appeal to creators of CAD content who want to make their models more amenable to preservation.

‘I’m delighted to welcome this report to the series,’ commented William Kilbride of the DPC. ‘Although CAD plans and drawings are limited to specialist domains they are typically complex to maintain and of very high value. Moreover, because they tend to relate to buildings, places or products with long lifecycles their preservation is a pressing issue. Alex’s contribution to the series is eagerly anticipated.’

The DPC Technology Watch Reports identify, delineate, monitor and address topics that have a major bearing on ensuring our collected digital memory will be available tomorrow. They provide an advanced introduction in order to support those charged with ensuring a robust digital memory and they are of general interest to a wide and international audience with interests in computing, information management, collections management and technology.

The reports are commissioned after consultation among DPC members about shared priorities and challenges; they are commissioned from experts; and they are thoroughly scrutinized by peers before being released. The authors are asked to provide reports that are informed, current, concise and balanced; that lower the barriers to participation in digital preservation; and that they are of wide utility. The reports are a distinctive and lasting contribution to the dissemination of good practice in digital preservation.

• The report is available as a preview to DPC members
• If you’re not yet a member of the DPC you can get a preview by joining us: http://www.dpconline.org/join-us
• It will be released to the public in the second quarter of 2013

The Digital Preservation Coalition and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland invite you to join them at a workshop to explore the preservation of 3d laser scan data: Edinburgh 1st May 2013 

• http://www.dpconline.org/events/details/58-3d-laser-scanning?xref=63

Current best practice guidance for the long term preservation of 3D laser scan data, in particular the required metadata is found to be onerous by data creators. This workshop will bring together leading practitioners from the archaeological community, alongside leading data archivists and software suppliers in the UK and Ireland to work towards agreeing a new metadata standard to facilitate preservation. This event will allow for communication between archivists, creators and purveyors of software and hardware for laser scanning, as well as equipment manufacturers.  The aim is to ensure that the export of metadata is much simpler and more convenient for users.