Introduction
Computer-aided design tools are widely used to assist engineers, architects, designers and cartographers to develop, represent, capture and transmit large and complex representations of the world – real and imagined. Diverse in application, a great deal of vital, valuable and irreplaceable information is stored in CAD models, from the designs of aircraft carriers and skyscrapers to records of archaeological excavations. It also means that CAD is an area of constant innovation and intense competition between vendors, resulting in CAD systems that are ephemeral and largely incompatible with each other. It is the disconnect between these two – the value of the models and the ephemeral nature of the systems – that makes CAD preservation at once important and challenging.
The Digital Preservation Coalition first addressed this topic in July 2010, inviting expert practitioners to share their concerns and aspirations for long term management of CAD systems at an invitation Briefing Day called ‘Designed to Last’. Since then we have commissioned Alex Ball of DCC – one of the keynote speakers - to provide a Technology Watch Report that distils and updates latest thinking on the topic. The Technology Watch Report Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD) was published at this workshop.
This DPC briefing day launched that report, allowing participants the opportunity to reflect on new and emerging challenges. Leaders in the field foregrounded their own work and their practical concerns about preservation. Recent case studies were presented and speakers considered emerging and future trends.
Participants at this workshop:
- had an advanced introduction to issues of preserving CAD
- were updated on the latest developments in standards for preservation of CAD
- Heard case studies that put the standards into practice and the issues that have resulted
- had an opportunity to discuss their own concerns with developers behind the standards and practitioners already working with them
- Examined the place and value of CAD collections within wider digital collections management
- were encouraged to contribute to the development of standards and tools
- Met others preserving or considering the preservation of CAD within their own preservation architectures
Who should come?
This meeting was of interest to:
- Records managers and information officers in organisation in sectors where CAD is used
- Regulators in sectors where CAD is widely used such as engineering, aviation
- Risk managers, executives and chief information officers seeking to minimise information risk or maximise information potential
- Collections managers, librarians, curators and archivists in all institutions
- Tools developers and policy makers in digital preservation
- Innovators and researchers in information technology, especially with vector graphics and documentation
- Vendors and providers of services for preservation, records management and forensics
- Innovators, vendors and commentators on digital preservation and cognate fields
- Analysts seeking to develop tools and approaches for longer term information management
Programme for the Day - 26th July, Christopher Hilton Room, IMechE, One Birdcage Walk, London
10.00 - Registration and Coffee
10.30 - Welcome and introductions - William Kilbride, DPC
10.35 - Preserving CAD: An Overview - Alex Ball, UKOLN / DCC (University of Bath)
11.15 - LOTAR and the position of the European aerospace industry (ASD SSG) – Sophie Herail, Airbus
11.45 - Preseving a Hybrid Archive: the King's Cross Desgin Archive - Kurt Helfrich, RIBA
12.15 - Preserving CAD: A Case Study - Hans Ulrich Heidbrink, InConTec
12.15 - Q+A (chaired by William Kilbride)
12.30 - Lunch
13.30 - Preserving CAD: emerging trends in 3d modelling - Stuart Jeffrey, Glasgow School of Art
14.00 - Preserving CAD: emerging trends in architecture - Ruggero Lancia, University of Glasgow
14.30 - Preserving CAD: emerging trends in Engineering - Sean Barker, BAE Systems
15.00 - Tea and Coffee
15.30 - Roundtable
16.30 - Thanks and Close
Recorded Sessions
Preserving CAD: An Overview - Alex Ball, UKOLN / DCC (University of Bath)
LOTAR and the position of the European aerospace industry (ASD SSG) – Sophie Herail, Airbus