There are two months until our very first International Digital Preservation Day (IDPD17), and already there’s a fantastic buzz about it. People have been tweeting and emailing me since we first announced it, asking for ideas for things they could do to join in the celebrations, the fun, the party!
My favourite suggestion yet has been someone contemplating dressing up as a floppy disk at work for the day – please don’t let me stop you.
What’s great is, even aside from the dressing up, there are LOADS of ways to get involved. Whether you’re a tweeter, facebooker, instagrammer, blogger, vlogger, filmmaker extraordinaire…or you just like a good old-fashioned face to face chat with a bunch of likeminded folk, you can do any or all of those things.
DPC members are obviously in a tremendously privileged position because they have direct access to the DPC blog and can post as their fancy takes them throughout the day (just don’t forget to register first and upload a profile pic please!), but the invitation is open to anyone and everyone who would like to participate.
And here are some suggestions:
1. Tell us ALL about it
Like to write? We’d like you capture ‘a day in the life’ of you! Tell us about the trials and tribulations, challenges and solutions, failures and successes you face in a day. Take us behind the scenes and tell us about the material you’re working with. Have you got your hands on the email archive of a local celebrity, or the research data from a ground-breaking piece of work, or are you working on strategy, policy and funding? Are you doing something special for the day? Let us know. If you are a member, you can post directly to the DPC blog on the day (login first). If you have your own blog, post your piece there and send us a link to it and we’ll add it to the IDPD17 page, or send us your post in advance (by Friday 10th November) and we’ll add it to the DPC blog for you.
2. Tell us about it (short version)
Blogging isn’t for everyone, but most of us have a social media account of some sort these days. Can you encapsulate your ‘digital preservation day’ in 140 characters? Do you think you could persuade your organization to relinquish the corporate twitter account for the day, for you to tweet non-stop about digital preservation?! It goes without saying that we want this to be an international affair, so any language goes... just make sure you use the hashtag #IDPD17.
3. Take a picture
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Can you take a photo which sums up your ‘digital preservation day?’ A stack of CDs or other fragile storage media filed 'safely' on a shelf, your preservation lab (I appreciate not everyone has one of these), a team meeting, a seminar, your colleague dressed up as a floppy disk? Add it to your own Instagram/facebook/Flickr account using the hashtag #IDPD17 or send it to us and we’ll add it to ours.
4. Make a movie
I’ve had a few people contacting me to say ‘there was this amazing inspirational session at conference X/Y/Z recently, if only we could have recorded it for IDPD.’ Do keep your eyes peeled for moments like this between now and 30th November, and record them if you can! If you are giving a paper at a conference soon, you're holding a webinar, or have done recently, see if you can record it and make a short video. If you are holding your own event or attending one on the day, or can capture a workflow at your desk, see if you can do the same. It doesn’t have to be studio quality; record on your phone or even narrate a PowerPoint, and then add to your video sharing platform of choice, remembering the hashtag #IDPD17 of course.
5. Come together
All this social media is fine, but nothing beats a proper get together. Take inspiration from some of our members who have come together to form their own local digital preservation gatherings; ‘Digital Preservation and Cake,’ ‘Aye Preserve’ or ‘Edinburgh Preserves’ being the three that immediately spring to mind. Basically, get together, have a chat about digital preservation with likeminded folk and consume a foodstuff and/or beverage of your choice. What could be better? Or why not take the opportunity to gather colleagues from other departments around your organisation, who you would like to know more about what you do, and tell them! It doesn’t need to be all day – an hour long breakfast or lunchtime seminar would be perfect. If you are organizing an event, let us know by Friday 10th November and we'll add to the IDPD17 page on the DPC website! And take a picture, and tweet it, or whatever you like to do.
So there you have it. We want International Digital Preservation Day to provide a window into the daily activities of those involved with or contemplating digital preservation, so whatever your ‘thing’ there’s a way to share your own digital preservation day, whatever that may be.