What is the Bit List?
A free-to-access and open resource for digital preservation advocacy, the DPC's Global Bit List of Endangered Digital Species (or Bit List for short) is a community-sourced list of at-risk digital materials which is revised every two years. Entries to the list are nominated by the community, who are at the forefront of digital preservation efforts, and reviewed by international organizations which represent global expertise in the preservation of the listed digital species.
By compiling and maintaining the Bit List, the DPC aims to equip digital preservation practitioners with independent evidence that digital materials are critically endangered, and that action is required, in order to support their targeted advocacy efforts.
Risk Classifications
Current entries were last nominated to the Bit List in 2023. Entries are grouped by risk ‘classification’ and digital ‘species.’ Click on each of the risk classifications to see the entries for each category, browse the Bit List by digital species and click each entry for the full report.
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PRACTICALLY
EXTINCT
Digital materials are listed as Practically Extinct when the few known examples are inaccessible by most practical means and methods. This classification includes Critically Endangered materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
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CRITICALLY
ENDANGERED
Digital materials are listed Critically Endangered when they face material technical challenges to preservation, there are no agencies responsible for them or those agencies are unwilling or unable to meet preservation needs. This classification includes Endangered materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
Community generated content in arts and heritage
Consumer social media free at the point of use
Correspondence and records of research
Data posted to defunct or little-used social media platforms
Digital archives of community groups
Digital Archives of music production
Digital Archives from Public Enquiries and Commissions
Digital Evidence and records of investigation prior to court
Games with Offline Play Components
Games with Online Play Components
Legacy research web collections
Manuals, Documentation, and Associated Materials
Media Art by deceased artists or defunct workshops
Non-current Hard Disk Technologies
Non-current Portable Magnetic Media
Non-current Portable Optical Media
Non-current Portable Solid State Media
Open source intelligence sources of current conflicts
Pre-WWW ViewData and Teletext Services where no Archival Agency has Captured and Retained the Signal
Records of Non-Governmental Agencies
Records of Quasi Non-Governmental Agencies
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ENDANGERED
Digital materials are listed Endangered when they face material technical challenges to preservation or responsibility for care is poorly understood, or where the responsible agencies are poorly equipped to meet preservation needs. This classification includes Vulnerable materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
3D Digital Engineering Drawings
Born Digital Photographs and Video shared via Social Media or Uploaded to Cloud Services
Cloud-based Services and Communications Platforms
Collections Information Management Data and Systems
Completed investigations based on open source intelligence sources
Content on cloud video services produced by the service provider
Contractual Documents and Related Records
Corporate Records of Long Duration on Network Drives, Intranets and EDRMS
Current Portable Magnetic Media
Current Portable Optical Media
Current Portable Solid-State Media
Digital music and ephemera shared on social media
Digital recordings published via cloud-based music sharing platforms
Digitally published sheet music
Electronic hospital and medical records
First Nations Secret/Sacred Cultural Material
Original Digital Music and Sound Recordings
Pre-Production TV and Movie Materials
Recordings of video game play uploaded to online platforms
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VULNERABLE
Digital materials are listed as Vulnerable when the technical challenges to preservation are modest but responsibility for care is poorly understood, or where the responsible agencies are not meeting preservation needs. This classification includes Lower Risk materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
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LOWER RISK
Digital materials are listed as Lower Risk when it does not meet the requirements for other categories but where there is a distinct preservation requirement. Failure or removal of the preservation function would result in re-classification to one of the threatened categories.
There are no entries classified as Lower Risk in this edition of the BitList.
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CONCERN
Digital materials are listed as of Concern when an active member of the digital preservation community has expressed a legitimate concern but the concern has not yet been assessed by the BitList jury. They will be assessed for inclusion in the subsequent year.
There are no entries classified as Of Concern in this edition of the BitList.
Digital Species
Species Categories
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Nominate at-risk digital materials now!
The Global Bit List of Endangered Digital Species is open for nominations of at-risk material from the digital preservation community all year round.
Submit a nomination now for consideration as part of the next review cycle for the Bit List 2025.
NOMINATE AT-RISK DIGITAL MATERIALS
If you are unable to access the Google form to nominate your at-risk digital materials or you would like to prepare your information in advance,
please download and complete the Excel version of the form.
Completed Excel forms may be sent to sarah.middleton@dpconline.org.
Access previous versions of and introductions to the Bit List, now superceded:
Planning ahead for DVD-Video migration research
Starting with complexity: Archiving digital-born music compositions from Mac systems of the 80s/90s