The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and the Dutch Digital Heritage Network (DHN) have signed a new friendship agreement today to confirm their commitment to international exchange and cooperation in the field of digital preservation.
The DPC's William Kilbride shakes hands with Wim Westland, Chair of the Domain Group Sustainable Digital Heritage. Marcel Ras, Domain Manager for Sustainable Digital Heritage and former Program Manager for the NCDD also signed the Friendship Agreement.
With a long-standing alliance between DPC and the Netherlands Coalition for Digital Preservation (NCDD) already in place, this new agreement recognizes the joining of forces between NCDD and DHN which took place on 1st March 2018 and acknowledges a desire to continue working collaboratively. With the goal of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship for the members of each organization, the DPC and DHN will continue to participate in the achievement of shared objectives to increase awareness of the social value of cultural heritage offered by digital technology and secure our digital legacy.
“Digital preservation is a problem best faced together: larger than any one organization, sector or geographic location,” explains William Kilbride, Executive Director of the DPC. “We have enjoyed the benefits of international collaboration through our relationship with NCDD and see their amalgamation with DHN as an excellent opportunity to build on previous work to enrich the digital preservation community further through a firm and continued alliance.”
In practice both DPC and DHN members can expect to see joint working in the areas of workforce development and capacity building; through knowledge exchange in the form of joint reports and joint webinar series. The two agencies will also work together in developing assurances and practice by jointly reviewing, commenting on, and supporting the development of standards, and will help members develop and embed policies and regulations that can become examples of good practice; as well as working jointly on relevant projects and the dissemination of project results. While initiatives such as the ‘BitList’ of Digitally Endangered Species and Digital Preservation Awards will continue to be coordinated by the DPC, DHN will lend support through community engagement activities.
“Both DHN and the DPC have a common goal in addressing the universal challenge of digital preservation” says Marcel Ras, Domain Manager Sustainable Digital Heritage for the DHN. “We are delighted to be reaffirming our relationship with the DPC, and we look forward to working together on initiatives that will benefit the digital preservation community as whole for many more years to come.”
About the DPC
The DPC is an international, not for profit membership organizations which enables its members to deliver resilient long-term access to digital content and services, helping them to derive enduring value from digital assets and raising awareness of the strategic, cultural and technological challenges they face. The DPC achieves its aims through advocacy, community engagement, workforce development, capacity-building, good practice and good governance. It exists to secure our digital legacy.
Find out how to join the DPC: https://www.dpconline.org/about/join-us
About the DHN
The Digital Heritage Network is a network in the Netherlands that focuses on developing a system of national facilities and services for improving the visibility, usability, and sustainability of digital heritage. The DHN achieves its aims through advocacy, community building and -engagement, capacity-building and collaborative projects. The network is open to all institutions and organizations in the digital heritage field. The (board) members of the Network are large, national institutions that strive to professionally preserve and manage digital data (the National Library, The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency, the Humanities Cluster of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Archive).
Find out how to join the DHN: http://www.netwerkdigitaalerfgoed.nl/en/contact/