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Elizabeth Day, Assistant University Archivist for Records Management, and Irina Schmid, Instructor and Digital Collections Archivist, both work at the American University in Cairo.

THE WHITE DESERT STORY

The White Desert is a one-of-a-kind landscape in Egypt, known for its breathtaking rock formations created by wind erosion over millions of years. These formations are made of white chalk and have been sculpted into a variety of shapes and structures, such as mushrooms, cones, and columns.

From a cultural perspective, the White Desert is a well-known tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage site. The distinctive rock formations, combined with the stark beauty of the surrounding desert, make it a popular destination for photographers, hikers, and adventurers alike.

From a scientific perspective, The White Desert provides important scientific insights into the erosion and sedimentation processes that have shaped the Earth's surface throughout history. The White Desert's distinctive formations and patterns can help scientists better understand how wind, water, and other natural forces interacted over time to create the world we know today.

Overall, the White Desert's unique geological features and cultural significance make it an appealing destination for both scientists and tourists. However, the economic benefits of tourism must be balanced against the need to protect and preserve the fragile ecosystem of the White Desert for future generations to enjoy.

Zhenxin Wu is the deputy director of NDPP (National Digital Preservation Program), and she is also a senior researcher of National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Additionally, she is a professor of school of economics and management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China.

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We all know that we are in a world where "born digital material" has become the mainstream mode of academic communication, especially since Generation Z has become a part of the scientific research community. Therefore, sustainable access to digital scholarship resources is now an urgent strategic issue in the field of research and education in any country. However, due to the inherent risks of digital information in terms of media, formats, software, and systems, along with the international and commercial nature of the academic publishing market, it is not reasonable to assume that the sustainability of these resources is guaranteed. This is the principal reason for archiving commercial academic publishing resources.

China is currently the leading contributor to scientific publications^[1], but most of its international publications are issued by 20+ commercial publishers operating outside of China^[2]. Some Chinese institutions began digital preservation of scientific publications early on; for example, in 2009, the National Science Library (NSL)^[3] of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) initiated long-term preservation agreements with SpringerLink and IOPP to archive publications.

Nick Thieberger works for the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) and the University of Melbourne. Nick won the Research and Innovation Award at the Digital Preservation Awards of 2024.

 “Those who do not see themselves reflected in national heritage are excluded from it." 
Stuart Hall*

The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC)  is an exemplary research repository, primarily for records in ‘small’ or ‘under-resourced’ languages, records that would otherwise have no archival home. These records include manuscripts, media recordings (with transcripts where possible), dictionaries and so on. Many are the result of fieldwork by an outsider researcher in a small community. For some of these languages, this is the only material in them available on the web.

PARADISEC demonstrates end-to-end training and assistance with creation of citable research data and metadata, longterm curation, and APIs to maximise findability. It shows how a relatively low-tech Australian DIY ^[1] solution can be world-leading. It uses standard metadata terms and conforms to relevant international standards, allowing its catalog to be harvested by the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC), TROVE, Research Data Australia, Digital Pasifik, and google, among others.

Jaye Weatherburn is Head of Digital Preservation at the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) 

As the trusted custodian of Australia’s audiovisual heritage, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) actively advises on technical specifications and implements policies and procedures that contribute to good practice across the international GLAMR (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and Research) sector. 

We recognise that evolving technology is integral to the digital expansion of audiovisual archives, from the 1930s to the present. Our approach to selecting, reviewing and implementing digital object formats is undertaken in accordance with in-house operations which reflect current archival and industry standards.

Jack Wain is Coordinator, Digitisation and Preservation at Deakin University Library

University collections come in many shapes, formats and sizes, and typically involve a large variety of interconnected systems, discovery platforms and repositories, often accrued and integrated over many years – even decades. These systems will also often have their own data analysis tools or reporting functions, or have integrations set-up for this task, and as a result it can sometimes be difficult to grasp the sheer volume of digital files in the entirety of a collection because your data points are gathered separately.  This is even further complicated in situations where ownership or responsibility for the collections varies, or in cases where documentation has been developed independently by numerous teams.

Cynde Moya, Postdoctoral Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology  

For World Digital Preservation Day we are thrilled to announce that our ARC LIEF (Australian Research Council - Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities) application "The Australian Emulation Network Phase 2 - Extending the Reach" has been funded.

Amie Martin (Gamilaroi) and Gulwanyang Moran (Birrbay & Dhanggati) of the First Nations Community Access to Archives project at the Museums of History New South Wales

Under Article 13.1 United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 

Aboriginal peoples have a right to be self-determining in relation to their Languages, Knowledges and Cultures.

The importance of accessing archival materials is fundamental to not only language revitalisation but to connect First Nations people back to ancestors, reclaim cultural practices and shed our own light and shadows over the information found in colonial records. Further, there is a truth-telling connection to historic injustice, bridging a gap to connections thought to be lost.

Archives hold a power, a power over accessibility, over the impact of records on First Nations peoples and narratives, allowing them to explore past histories.

While these archives cast a dominating white shadow, they also trace another history. This invisible history can be seen through the almost breathtakingly complete absence of our voices within these spaces and texts. There are glimmers and whispers and we can read through their colonising archival lies. This is a history that we can collectively give life to; our Nunga histories of creative resistance, our histories of collective love transforming abjection, and our histories that are deeply engaged in survival. We cast our own shadows. We shed our own light; it can be found shining in the midst of oppressive times. - Baker et al. 2020, p 856.

Nicola Caldwell is a Digital Archivist at the National Library of New Zealand 

DigiPres folk are some of the most generous and welcoming colleagues I have had the pleasure of meeting. As an early career professional from Aotearoa New Zealand, I have found a passionate and supportive network in the field of digital preservation. This sense of community is something I have felt both at home in Australasia and, more recently, during my travels in Europe. Earlier this year, I had the privilege of meeting colleagues in the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands, thanks to the support of my managers, during some personal travel.

As a digital archivist at the National Library of New Zealand, I care for incoming unpublished born-digital heritage collections, carrying out transfer, technical appraisal and ingest. In my first two years in the role, I have learned about everything from obsolete technologies and hardware to collecting social media. I have also developed an avid interest in the preservation of complex digital objects such as games and time-based media art. On my travels, I was keen to find out how colleagues in Europe were tackling digital preservation challenges and to expand my knowledge of the tools, frameworks and processes used in the profession.

Andrea Goethals is Manager, Digital Preservation and Data Capability at Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand, and Conference Chair for iPRES 2025 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Valerie Love is Senior Digital Archivist and Acting Digital Collections Team Leader at the Alexander Turnbull Library, the Archives and Special Collections for Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand. They are one of the Co-Chairs for iPRES 2025.

Nau mai, haere mai and hello from Aotearoa New Zealand, the first place in the world to see the sun. We could not be more delighted to kick off World Digital Preservation Day 2024! This year’s theme, Preserving Our Digital Content: Celebrating Communities feels particularly relevant in the lead up to iPRES 2025, which will be held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.

As part of our preparation, we’ll be hosting a series of ‘Call to Community’ online workshops over the coming months to gather your ideas on what the ideal iPRES conference experience could look like. These workshops will be a chance for the digital preservation community to shape the conference's focus and activities together, ensuring it reflects the community's evolving needs and aspirations. We can’t wait to hear from you!

The Wellington digital preservation community, including staff from Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand; Te Rua Mahara o Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand; Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision, and Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand. Photograph by Valerie Love.

William Kilbride is the Executive Director of the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC)

World Digital Preservation Day 2024 encourages us to consider the communities in which and for whom we work.  The theme ‘Preserving Our Digital Content: Celebrating Communities’ has lots of layers and I am looking forward to hearing the many ways our diverse communities will respond to the theme.  One of the initial reasons for creating World Digital Preservation Day was to help the highly distributed but also highly collaborative and welcoming community of digital preservation specialists to connect.  That remains as true and as important especially as the community has grown.  It also reminds us about the communities whose valuable digital content we are trusted to preserve.  As regular readers of this blog will have heard me say before, preservation is not for the sake of the bits and the bytes: it’s about the people and the opportunities.  If you are unsure where to start, start there.