10617 DPC Annual Report 2008 Insides.Indd
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ce Park, Heslington, Yo York Scien rk YO10 entre, 5DG ion C ovat Telephone 019 Inn 04 435 The 362 Website www.dpco nline.org Email info @dp conl ine .org accessible tomorrow Our digital memory O u r D 9 0 0 i 2 - g 8 0 0 2 A t n r n o u p a e l R i t a l M e m o r w y o r a r c o c e m s o s t i b l e Contents Chairman’s Introduction 01 DPC Activities 05 Papers, Presentations and Reports 08 Leadership Programme 15 Technology Watch Report 16 What’s New In Digital Preservation 17 The Digital Preservation and DPC-Discussion email lists 17 Members’ Activities – Full Members 19 Members’ Activities – Associate Members 29 Allied Organisations 38 DPC Board of Directors 38 2008-2009 Financial Statement 40 [Cover Image] View of the Robert Adam dome ceiling in HM General Register House, The National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Image on [Contents], [Page 39] and [Page 40] courtesy of Mike Braham Photography, York. All other images courtesy of DPC and its members. Designed and produced by [Rubber Band] www.rubberbandisthe.biz Chairman’s Introduction [1] THE CORE TASK OF ENSURING THAT OUR DIGITAL MEMORY IS ACCESSIBLE TOMORROW REMAINS The aim of the Digital Preservation Coalition the core task of ensuring that our digital is to secure the preservation of digital memory is accessible tomorrow remains. resources in the UK and to work with While developing the plan was the work of others internationally to secure our global Executive Director, Frances Boyle, delivery digital memory and knowledge base. has fallen to her successor. Frances left the Vigorous advocacy and a collaborative DPC in January to lead the development approach to digital preservation matters of the UK Research Reserve. She leaves the are hallmarks of the DPC and are important coalition greatly strengthened. We wish characteristics that will persist into the her well in her new role and thank her future. The coalition is conscious, however, for the work that she has done. Our new that, in order to retain its relevance, it Executive Director – William Kilbride – is must keep ahead of the times by reflecting known to many in the coalition from his on the balance of its activities and by previous work at the Archaeology Data continuing to serve its members in the Service and, more recently, at Glasgow most appropriate and beneficial way. Museums. We are grateful to colleagues at By far the most significant action of the Glasgow University who have provided him coalition in the last year has been the with an office in the Humanities Advanced creation and adoption of a new three-year Technology and Information Institute strategic plan. Presented and approved (HATII). By this action the ‘closer working at our AGM in November, the plan relationship with HATII’ envisaged in the identifies five key functions of the coalition: strategic plan has been effected more leadership; sharing and disseminating completely than could have been predicted. knowledge; enriching the experience The administrative centre remains in of members; empowering members’ York, where Carol Jackson, Events and workforces; and assuring the sustainability Administration Manager, has overseen a of the coalition. Discussions relating to move to more compact accommodation. this new plan provided an opportunity for members to revisit the coalition’s founding principles and to calibrate them against new and emerging needs. The values of the coalition are strong and, although some of the needs which our organisation was established to address have changed, 01 Chairman’s Introduction [2] A SIGNIFICANT VENTURE THIS YEAR HAS BEEN THE LAUNCH OF A DIGITAL PRESERVATION ROADSHOW Interest in the coalition has continued to strategy is to apply digital preservation grow. We welcomed two new associate management to all current and future members at the start of 2009: the Research digital assets belonging to Tate. Information Network (RIN) and Tate. RIN Although awareness of digital preservation undertakes evidence-based research into is now much more widespread than when information and data issues that relate the coalition was founded in 2002, the gap to professional researchers – particularly between awareness and action remains academic researchers – and develops policy, wide; policy needs transforming into guidance and advocacy on that basis. practice. In late 2008 the DPC supported a RIN and DPC are natural allies for policy survey of local government archive services. development and agenda setting. Tate is This showed that around 50 percent one of the UK’s leading cultural heritage had a digital preservation policy in place, organisations. It is charged with curating indicating that progress has been made in and exhibiting the national collection of recent years, but that, clearly, a lot of basic British Art plus international modern and work is still needed. Respondents ranked contemporary art. Tate operates across ‘finance’ as the biggest challenge they face. four different sites and receives a total of The need for appropriate skills and support eight million visitors a year. www.tate.org. was identified as the second greatest need uk receives twenty million visitors a year; its and it is in this realm that DPC has much interest in digital preservation is particularly to offer. distinctive. Tate’s digital collections began with the ‘collection’ itself which was the In similar vein, a survey of JISC-funded subject of an inaugural digitisation project projects undertaken by the DPC, in started over 10 years ago. Two subsequent conjunction with Portico and the University projects have created established workflows of London Computer Centre (ULCC), to digitise existing imagery and new digital provided an insight into preservation captures and have helped inform and planning for large-scale digitisation create the basis for further digitisation projects. Although many of those involved such as contemporary digital art, time- in the projects had thought carefully about based media, and an extensive commercial the long-term future, some of them were photographic library. Digitisation is an facing unforeseen difficulties such as the ongoing process at Tate and is rapidly disappearance of partners or a dislocation expanding to include areas such as Library between access and preservation services. and Archive documentation. The key 02 Our digital memory accessible tomorrow Little wonder, then, that the DPC’s events and Methods for Digital Preservation’ In demitting office after almost three programme has been as popular as ever. and brought together researchers and years as chair of the Digital Preservation A significant venture this year has been the practitioners from around the world to Coalition (and with a move to New Zealand launch of a Digital Preservation Roadshow, explore the latest trends, innovation and imminent), I am heartened that DPC is in in association with the Society of Archivists practices in digital preservation. Other key such excellent shape, with first-rate staff, a and the National Archives. Seven day-long events this year have been the ‘Missing busy agenda and an engaged membership. events are planned in total across the UK Links: the Enduring Web’, a conference It has been a great privilege for me to chair and Ireland with preliminary feedback on the topic of web archiving held in the organisation and I am grateful to all from York and Gloucester giving evidence July, ‘Tackling the Preservation Challenge: for their collegiality and support. The DPC of success. The speed at which the events practical Steps for Repository Managers’ in has a bright future, and I shall observe with reach capacity and the size of the waiting December and an invitation-only meeting great interest the continuing growth and lists demonstrate the appetite for expertise to review the OAIS standard. This last event success of the coalition, albeit from distant in the long-term management of digital produced two sets of recommendations shores. data. signalling the coalition’s ongoing Ronald Milne commitment to standards development. Training is also available for those looking Chair for more detail than can be provided The coming year promises much. Work in a single day. The Digital Preservation is well under way on a new platform for Training Programme run by the ULCC has the DPC website, and the publication plan The DPC has a had a long association with the DPC. This has already generated a great deal of acquaintance was renewed in May when interest from members and non-members bright future the DPC sponsored two places on the alike. The final board meeting of 2008/9 course for members. These ‘scholarships’ approved the formation of a new DPC were initially intended as an experiment, task force on web archiving with a specific but feedback from participants and the mandate to support the collaborative policy number of applications means that we development that the UK will need to hope this can become a regular feature ensure a long term memory from the web. and an obvious benefit for members. Reviews of membership and branding are also on the horizon. In September the DPC sponsored the International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPres 2008), hosted by the British Library. The conference was themed ‘Joined Up and Working: Tools 03 Dr William Kilbride, Executive Director, DPC and Richard Davies, ULCC 04 Our digital memory accessible tomorrow The Web Archiving Consortium Workshop – Missing Links: the Enduring Web, July 2009 DPC Activities [1] DPC EVENTS HIGHLIGHT iPRES 2008: The Fifth International