News

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has started 2020 with the opening of a new office, at the University of Melbourne. This presence will enable improved access to the DPC’s programme of activities for members and digital preservation practitioners across the southern hemisphere; helping support, represent and amplify the work of a very active digital preservation community in the region, as well as enabling institutions at all stages of maturity in the digital preservation journey.

The initiative is the result of a strategic partnership between DPC and the University of Melbourne, and the office will be staffed by Jaye Weatherburn who has been seconded to the DPC.

The Digital Preservation Coalition is delighted to welcome Amy Currie to its staff, in the role of Training Officer.

Amy will manage training and skills services for members, covering the work of Sharon McMeekin – the DPC’s Head of Workforce Development - as she delivers the Novice to Ninja project with colleagues from The UK National Archives.

“Amy will help us continue to provide opportunities for our members to acquire, develop and retain competent and responsive workforces that are ready to address the challenges of digital preservation,” explains Sharon. “We’re very pleased to have her on board!”

The Digital Preservation Coalition is delighted to welcome John McMillan to its staff, in the role of Administration Officer.

John brings with him considerable experience in managing business processes and communities having worked most recently for Xact Group and formerly for the Airdrie Savings Bank.

John will work with the whole team, across each of the DPC’s strategic objectives, to enable the smooth and efficient operation of this growing, strategically important and international membership organization.

In celebration of World Digital Preservation Day 2019, it is our pleasure to announce the updated DPC Technology Watch Report ‘Preserving Email (2nd Edition)’ by Christopher J Prom is now open to the public.

Following on from the popular 2011 report and the successful Task Force on Technical Approaches for Email Archives, this report reviews the current state of email preservation and offers recommendations for information professionals (such as organizational leaders, records managers, IT professionals, librarians, archivists and curators) who seek to preserve email for its cultural, legal or administrative value.

Whatever choices that people and repositories make, this report describes the key policies, implementation strategies, procedures, tools, and services that can be drawn upon when developing an email preservation programme. Ultimately, it presents a hopeful message: by implementing appropriate technical standards, capture methods, and processing tools, every archivist, curator, records manager, or other information professional can take practical steps to preserve email for its legal, administrative, or historical value.

Download & read the report here.

The Digital Preservation Coalition has launched its new maturity model, the DPC Rapid Assessment Model, at iPRES2019 in Amsterdam this week.

Designed to enable rapid benchmarking of an organization’s digital preservation capability, the DPC RAM is a digital preservation maturity modelling tool which aims to be applicable for organizations of any size in any sector, and for all content of long-term value. Developed in conjunction with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in the UK, and based on existing good practice, it is preservation strategy and solution agnostic, simple to understand and quick to apply.

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has been presented with the Jury's award for Best Poster at the international conference on digital preservation (iPRES 2019), in Amsterdam.

The winning poster presents the Executive Guide on Digital Preservation, a resource which provides practitioners with a combination of generic and specific messages and motivators designed to communicate with senior executives, legislators and budget holders, as well as decision and policy makers with a view to embedding the value of digital preservation at the core of every organization.

Sponsored by Data and Archiving Networked Services (DANS) and presented by their Deputy Director, Ingrid Dillo, the award recognizes the clear design, quality and creativity of the poster, and its supporting video.