Finalists 2012 - DPC Decennial Award

The Decennial Award is a special award offered to mark the tenth anniversary of the DPC. It will be presented to the project, initiative or person that in the period 2002-2012, the judges assess to have made the most outstanding contribution to ensuring our digital memory is available tomorrow.  Four finalists have been selected for this prestigious prize. Here the nominees describe their motivations, their projects and their impact.

Archaeology Data Service at the University of York

Archaeology is unusual in that the creation of knowledge results from the physical destruction of primary evidence, making access to data all the more critical in order to test, assess, and subsequently reanalyse and reinterpret both data and the hypotheses arising from them. Over the years, archaeologists have amassed a vast collection of fieldwork data archives, a significant proportion of which remain unpublished. Furthermore, much fieldwork data is increasingly born digital, making it all the more precious. Access to data, even those which are published, is often difficult or inconvenient at best.

The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) was established in September 1996, as one of five discipline based service providers within the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS). The ADS developed from a successful bid to the AHDS made by a consortium of university Departments of Archaeology and the Council for British Archaeology, led by the University of York. From an early stage the ADS also began to receive external funding from a variety of other organisations, such as English Heritage, reflecting the diverse nature of the archaeological sector. It developed a charging policy which is based on a one-off digital deposit charge, and provides a sustainable financial model for digital archiving. Its innovative approach to charging was widely welcomed and ADS has worked with
Charles Beagrie Ltd on the Keeping Research Data Safe projects to share best practice.

The ADS works with national and local archaeological agencies and those research councils involved in the funding of archaeological research, to negotiate deposition and secure archiving of project data. This includes data derived from fieldwork as well as desk-based studies. The types of data involved include: text reports, databases (related to excavated contexts or artefacts, for example), images (including aerial photographs, remote sensing imagery, photographs of sites, features and artefacts), digitised maps and plans, numerical datasets related to topographical and sub-surface surveys and other locational data, as well as 3D reconstructions. In March 2011 the ADS was accredited with the Data Seal of Approval, an international ‘kite-mark’ for digital repositories, becoming only the second UK repository to gain this recognition, after the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex. In 2012 it was accredited by MEDIN as a Data Archive Centre for the Marine Environment Data and Information Network.

Over a decade before the current push towards Open Data the ADS made the data it preserves available for re-use. On 15th September 1998 the ADS launched the first version of ArchSearch its online catalogue. All data sets are freely available for download and re-use; in 2002 it launched HEIRPORT, the first interoperable gateway for the historic environment sector. In 2005 it completed ARENA, the first portal to European cultural heritage and digital archives. In 2011 it launched TAG, the first Transatlantic Archaeological Gateway. ADS is now the UK supplier of 3D heritage data to CARARE, a Europeana best practice network, and a lead member of ARIADNE, a new EU Research Infrastructure project. Between 2007-9 ADS worked on Archaeotools,a JISC-EPSRC-AHRC eScience project to undertake Natural Language Processing of its collections and to implement a faceted browse interface, now available via ArchSearch. The ADS has also worked on Open Linked Data as another means of providing access to its online holdings, via the STAR and STELLAR projects.

ADS now preserves over 17,000 grey literature reports and over 500 data rich digital archives, derived from archaeological research projects and primary fieldwork. The archives represent some of the most important sites in British Archaeology. The grey literature has become the basis of other research projects, most recently a Leverhulme grant awarded to Professor Mike Fulford to study rural settlement in Roman Britain, and an ERC senior investigator award to Professor Chris Gosden, who is looking at Regional Identities in Britain. The significance of the digital heritage preserved is immeasurable. In an ongoing JISC commissioned survey on the Impact of ADS 74% of users said that ADS was very or extremely important for their academic research, 64% said it was important for their private research, and 55% said it was important for their learning and skills development. 48% of depositors reported that not being able to provide data to ADS would have a severe or major impact on their work.

ADS has worked extensively on data standards. In 1999 ADS published the first Guides to Good Practice, and published 6 titles in its first 6 years. In 2006 it completed work on ‘Big Data’ for English Heritage, on the “Preservation and Management Strategies for Exceptionally Large Data Formats”. In 2011 it launched the new online second editions of the Guides, freely available and including new areas, such as standards for Underwater Archaeology, derived from the EU-funded VENUS project. Keith Kintigh, Past President of the Society for American Archaeology writes that the ADS ”is an enormous asset to the UK’s archaeological community - within and outside academic settings. It provides both secure preservation and rich access to the irreplaceable records of archaeological investigations, thereby allowing this information to be effectively used in archaeological research and cultural heritage management.

ADS has been a key player internationally in advancing initiatives concerned with the preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage information and has, indeed, been a model of a sustainable and productive digital archive of archaeological data and documents. In our own multi-institutional effort to develop a digital archive for archaeological data in the US, ADS has not only served as a valuable model, its staff have provided critical advice and assistance. Further, ADS has been a major driver of international efforts to establish interoperability of digital repositories facilitating the sharing of archaeological information. Looking beyond archaeology, with its long (for a digital repository) history of success, ADS has also been a widely cited exemplar of a successful disciplinary repository.”

The ADS has been awarded two British Archaeological Awards for Innovation, in 2008 and 2012, and it featured extensively in the successful nomination of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York for a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2011.

Note - ADS (nominee) and University of York (Host) may not vote for ADS; JISC (initial funder) may not vote for ADS

PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata

Since winning the 2005 Digital Preservation Award, the PREMIS Data Dictionary has become the international standard for preservation metadata for digital materials. Developed by an international team of experts, PREMIS is implemented in digital preservation projects around the world, and support for PREMIS is incorporated into a number of commercial and open-source digital preservation tools and systems. PREMIS maintains XML schema to support implementation; engages in outreach around the world; and leads initiatives to develop guidelines and best practices for implementing the Data Dictionary. PREMIS is the international nexus for preservation metadata, and is recognized as a core standard for state-of-the-art digital preservation.

The PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata (http://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/v2/premis-2-2.pdf) is a comprehensive guide to core metadata to support the long-term preservation of digital materials. The Data Dictionary was produced through an international consensus-making working group, with representatives from many countries and domains. It includes detailed descriptions of the metadata needed to support the digital preservation process, along with guidelines for implementation and use. PREMIS also developed an XML schema to facilitate implementation of the Data Dictionary by institutions managing and exchanging PREMIS-conformant preservation metadata.

The PREMIS Working Group developed a data model that defines five key entities – Objects, Events, Rights, Agents, and Intellectual Entities – associated with the digital preservation process; this was used to organize and scope the Data Dictionary. For each entity, the Data Dictionary defines lists of “semantic units” – discrete pieces of information – where a semantic unit represents a property of the entity. The Data Dictionary provides guidelines for use and implementation notes for each semantic unit. An important feature of the preservation metadata defined in the Data Dictionary is the ability to support linking between the five entities, as a means of documenting important relationships within the digital preservation process. To promote applicability in as wide a range of contexts as possible, the Data Dictionary is neutral in terms of the strategies or encoding used for implementation; the PREMIS XML schema offers one alternative, but it is not required.

After the release of version 1.0 of the Data Dictionary in 2005, the Library of Congress (LC) established a PREMIS Maintenance Activity, which includes LC as managing agency, the PREMIS Implementers’ Group (PIG) listserv for communication with PREMIS implementers, and an Editorial Committee to promote implementation and coordinate future revisions as implementation experience suggests. The PREMIS Editorial Committee has been receptive to the implementation community by revising the PREMIS Data Dictionary according to an established revision process as issues were encountered and change proposals submitted. The PREMIS Data Dictionary is currently in version 2.2, having been revised to provide more detailed information about preservation rights and a mechanism for extensibility, among other enhancements.

Currently, work is progressing on a PREMIS OWL ontology to enable the use of preservation metadata within a Linked Data model, which allows information to be more easily interconnected, especially between different repository databases. It will integrate with the W3C Provenance ontology (PROV) (http://www.w3.org/TR/prov-primer/) and the PREMIS controlled vocabularies available from the Library of Congress’ Linked Data Service http://id.locgov/  Other activities have included the development of a conformance statement, registries of implementations and tools, and a best practice guide for implementing PREMIS with the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS). The PREMIS Implementation Registry (http://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/registry/premis-fulllist.php) lists 47 projects as of Aug. 2012; the list is not comprehensive, since the Committee is dependent on having implementers submit the information, but it reflects the wide variety of uses across domains and countries.

As part of its community outreach, PREMIS has sponsored and conducted numerous tutorials around the world to educate implementers and potential implementers. In addition, it has organized and held two “implementation fairs”, all held in conjunction with the International Conference on the Preservation of Digital Objects (iPres), where implementers share information about projects, issues, solutions, implementation experiences, tools and services. A third implementation fair will take place at iPres 2012 in Toronto (http://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/premis-implementation-fair2012.html).

PREMIS has enjoyed considerable success in being accepted as the international preservation metadata standard regardless of domain, type of institution, type of resources being preserved, or geographic location. Some countries have mandated its use in preservation repositories in the cultural heritage sector. The Editorial Committee is planning to involve the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the near future to place the Data Dictionary in a more formal standards environment.

As PREMIS has matured, both open-source and commercial tools and services have been built to support it. The PREMIS-in-METS Toolbox http://pim.fcla.edu is an openly available resource that extracts preservation metadata from digital objects in the form of PREMIS XML, converts it to PREMIS in METS (or vice versa), and validates it according to the schema and the best practice guidelines. Some of the key digital preservation solutions that incorporate support for PREMIS include Archivematica, DAITTSS and ExLibris’ Rosetta.

PREMIS continually seeks to refine and enhance the Data Dictionary and its value to implementers. For example, the PREMIS Data Model provides a framework for implementing preservation metadata by defining the entities and relationships involved in the digital preservation process. As PREMIS gained wider adoption, implementation experience suggested a number of ways to update and adjust the Data Model to enhance its value to implementers. In response to this, the Editorial Committee is currently engaged in updating the Data Model for version 3.0 of the Data Dictionary: for example, making Intellectual Entities in scope for PREMIS metadata as another level of a preservation object; and making Environment (i.e. hardware and software) a separate entity within the Data Model. This work has been informed by a number of preservation initiatives, particularly the EU-funded Planets project.

In summary, the PREMIS Data Dictionary is a freely-available resource for the entire digital preservation community that has advanced the theory, practice, and understanding of digital preservation by standardizing the information that a repository must know in order to carry out its digital preservation processes. This resource is supported by a reliable apparatus, in the form of the Maintenance Activity and Editorial Committee, responsible for maintaining and enhancing it to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of implementers. Widespread adoption of PREMIS has led to the development of a variety of tools and services supporting its use. The original PREMIS Data Dictionary, published in 2005, has since emerged as the definitive international standard for preservation metadata, and is now part of the permanent infrastructure of standards and best practices supporting long-term digital preservation.

Note - Library of Congress (Host) may not vote for PREMIS

PRONOM and DROID from The National Archives

DROID supports batch processing of large numbers of files. It is freely-available to download under an Open Source license, and is written in the platform-independent programming language Java. It provides both a graphical user interface and a command-line interface. DROID provides comprehensive reporting on collections of digital records, including formats, extensions, PUIDs, filepaths, and check sums, the latter offering a quick method of finding duplicate files even when the files may have different filenames.  All reports can be saved and exported as spreadsheet files for detailed analysis.

Since DROID connects via web services to the PRONOM registry, users always have access to the latest available file format signatures. Users may also develop and implement their own signature files and we have produced detailed and freely available information on how to achieve this, meaning that individuals and institutions are not tied to The National Archives’ research alone.

In addition to appointing a full-time File Format Signature Developer, we have invested in continuous development of both PRONOM and DROID. DROID 5 introduced scanning of archive formats, such as .zip, meaning that DROID now reports on the contents of these files without the need for manually opening each archive file. DROID 6 provides container signatures for the first time, enabling accurate identification of compound formats, such as OLE2 used by Microsoft. DROID 6.1, to be released in autumn 2012 provides further stability and a more efficient command-line identification option. DROID 7, the next major release, has an openly available wiki for interested parties to submit their own requirements.

The next development we are planning for PRONOM is to make the entire registry available following a Linked Data approach. We have already made available via our website a prototype of Linked Data PRONOM.

The achievements of PRONOM and DROID are clear: they have stimulated debate and further thought on the subject of digital preservation; PRONOM was the first publicly available technical registry for file format information and both PRONOM and DROID have inspired a number of similar tools. PRONOM provided a significant amount of data to the Unified Digital Format Registry recently launched by the University of California Curation Center and the California Digital Library. DROID is embeddable within digital preservation workflows and systems conforming to the Open Archival Information System model, for example it is fully embedded within Tessella’s Safety Deposit Box system for which we won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2011.

PRONOM and DROID are 10 and seven years old respectively and throughout their lifetimes they have contributed significantly to the field of digital preservation. The National Archives remains wholly committed to these tools, which have not only helped to drive the success of our own digital records infrastructure, but have also been recognised and adopted worldwide.

Note - The National Archives (nominee) may not vote for PRONOM and DROID

International Internet Preservation Consortium

The Internet has enabled an unprecedented era of knowledge sharing, creativity, innovation, and connection. It has also created new challenges for institutions whose mission is to document and preserve contemporary knowledge and culture. Libraries and archives have long collected information to help scholars and the general public to understand contemporary history, culture, science, technology, economics, and society. Much of today's information is published on the World Wide Web – blogs and facebook pages are today's diaries, websites have replaced hard copy newsletters. In many countries, government forms and documents are more readily accessible on the web than they are in paper form.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world use the web as their primary resource to acquire and exchange information, to establish personal and professional networks, to buy goods, to view or distribute films, videos and photos, to listen to music, and to research a candidate or set of issues that might influence their choices during an election. The availability of online resources is now taken for granted. But, one thing is certain about the Web; like the weather, it changes. One cannot assume that a resource discovered today will still be accessible in two hundred years or twenty weeks or even two days hence. An estimated 44 percent of Web sites that existed in 1998 vanished without a trace within one year of initial publication. The rate of change has dramatically accelerated as web sites have become more dynamic, interactive, and personalized.

By 2000, there was an urgent need for governments, institutions and the constituents they served to understand that the web is the essence of our society, who we “are”. It is our culture and social fabric, and we should not risk losing a record of the significant roles the Web plays in our societies. At the same time cultural heritage institutions were charged with helping to bridge the technological divide that was growing at an alarming rate—to bring the breadth and depth of digital information and resources to those without the means to access, study and use the Web of their own accord.  These were the dilemmas facing cultural heritage institutions in 2003 – they needed greater control over web archiving projects, better methodologies, and tools. They needed dedicated budgets and opportunities to advance digital scholarship. And, each realized that they could not (and still cannot) address these immense needs alone.

The International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) was formed to ensure knowledge and information from the Web is preserved and made accessible for future generations everywhere. Eleven national libraries and the Internet Archive established the IIPC to develop common tools and standards for Web archiving and to encourage and support libraries, archives, museums and cultural heritage institutions everywhere to address Internet content collecting and preservation. Since its inception in 2003 the IIPC has grown to include forty-one members, all willing to share best practices, develop tools and resources for the global cultural heritage community. The strengths of the organization remain the ability of its members to put aside political, social, cultural, geographic, language, and technological differences to engage in an ongoing collaboration for which there is no final or ultimate solution to be reached. Each member shares a long-term commitment to helping institutions around the globe to create and sustain successful web archiving strategies and programs.

The primary achievements of the IIPC over the last decade include:

Open Source Web Archiving Tools Development
One of the very first projects of the IIPC was to develop an open source tool to capture web content called Heritrix. All original member institutions contributed engineering resources, funding or other support to the effort. The tool, Heritrix, was initially released in December 2003 after 4 months of co-development. It remains the only java-based, archival quality, open source, web crawler freely available for download today.
In the second and third phases of the consortium, members sponsored development of a suite of open source software libraries and applications called WARC tools that are used to validate content collected from the Web and to view it from an archive, and then dedicated time and resources to test the solutions in individual institutional workflows.

Best Practice and Standards Development
In 2007, IIPC members recognized the need to define a clear standard for preserving content collected from the web. Over a period of two years, the IIPC proposed and developed an ISO standard file format for archiving web content known as WARC. In 2011, the IIPC developed a suite of educational outreach programs that included sponsored workshops on social media, collection development, and international survey of legal deposit legislation. In parallel, sponsorship of a PhD student and the advancement of web archival research and publication became a central focus of the IIPC budget as the third phase of the consortium comes to a close and the fourth phase begins.

Content Collection and Preservation
Millions of web sites have been collected and preserved by individual institutions and in collaborative efforts such as international event based archives for natural disasters (e.g. tsunamis, earthquakes), national elections & revolutions (e.g. European Union, Jasmine revolution/Arab Spring), and the 2010 and 2012 Olympics.

Sustained Collaboration
A leading accomplishment of the IIPC was the creation of a sustainable, membership-based, international consortium. The IIPC fosters ongoing, collaboration by requiring active participation and direct contribution of its members through volunteer time, attendance at annual forums, and annual tiered dues based on an institution’s annual budget. In the second phase of the consortium, the IIPC also imposed a one-year limit on the term of the Steering Committee Chair. This enables institutions of all sizes to participate freely and openly in the consortium and to rotate through the highest level of leadership as Chair of the Steering Committee.

Spreading the burden helped each institution to accomplish more in the same time period than they ever could have accomplished on their own. In fact, the need to partner to address current and future challenges presented by innovative publishing models, as well as ever evolving technology, services, and popular trends is even more pronounced today than it was ten years ago. The IIPC is a model of collaborative action to preserve digital content from the Internet.

Note - Library of Congress (Host) may not vote for IIPC

Finalists 2012 - DPC Award for Research and Innovation

The DPC Award for Research and Development celebrates significant technical or intellectual accomplishments which lower the barriers to effective digital preservation. It is presented to the project, initiative or person that, in the eyes of the judges, has produced a tool, framework or idea that has (or will have) the greatest impact in ensuring our digital memory is available tomorrow.

Four finalists have been selected in this category:

Collaboration in Data Management Planning: the UK's DMP Online and the US DMPTool, The Digital Curation Centre and partners

Much research in the arts and sciences is funded from the public purse via grants. A lot of it produces – or relies upon the reuse of – digital data held in a wide variety of formats and in collections of varying size and complexity. Until recently, the long-term stewardship of digital data was largely overlooked by researchers, and important data with the potential to be repurposed or reused was managed in an ad hoc fashion. Data planning was an overlooked, orphan activity, with two key consequences: important and sometimes irreplaceable data stood at risk of being lost forever, and time and money were wasted recollecting existing data, or salvaging it from obsolete formats or storage media.

In many cases datasets were lost completely, not through deliberate neglect or lack of care, but because there was little incentive and no clear guidance on how to manage them, and consequently little planning at the critical early stages of a research project’s lifecycle; once lost, data concerning human and environmental events cannot be replaced.

The situation is now changing, with funding bodies increasingly requiring their grant-holders to create and maintain data management plans (DMPs) to enable future access and provide a solid base for future preservation activities. These plans typically justify the creation of a new dataset, outline how data will be created and managed, and assign clear roles and responsibilities across each stage of the data management lifecycle. However, there is a historical shortfall of understanding in the research sector on how best to care for this digital data, and where to turn for guidance and best practice exemplars during the planning process.

DMP Online is a web-based tool and suite of resources, representing the culmination of the DCC’s engagement with the topic of data management planning, work which also covers an ongoing analysis of funder requirements, influential and much-reused checklist, ‘How-To’ guides and other forms of advice, consultancy reports, journal articles and a successful book chapter. It gathers together guidance from the memory community and from individual funders into a single location to provide a one-stop shop for data management planning.

New data requirements from US funders led to an interest in creating a tool similar to DMP Online, but with a focus on the needs of US researchers. The transatlantic DMPTool consortium formed as a result of conversations at the 2010 International Digital Curation Conference in Chicago, USA. Through these conversations, we came to realise that there were many shared factors in play between our two countries, as well a number of differences which would make a single, shared approach unlikely to succeed.

Our collaboration brought together librarians, IT experts and researchers, and spanned international activities from the very beginning. Recognising the extensive thought, broad consultation and shared effort that went into the development of the first version of DMP Online, the US team immediately sought international collaboration to leverage this existing work.

Each tool offers a variety of functions that have been designed with clarity and ease of use in mind. Features include:

• breadth in scope to plan the management of a very wide range of data types and volumes;
• incorporation of customisable reporting tools for communicating data management issues to decision makers, thus facilitating awareness-raising of digital preservation in the upper strata of large institutions;
• assistance for users seeking to demonstrate a commitment to data management, enabling institutions to provide crucial assurances – increasingly important as legal and compliance issues continue to grow in prominence;
• inclusion of funder-specific guidance, enabling plans to be tailored to specific disciplinary needs in terms that researchers find familiar and comforting.

The design of these systems makes it possible for the research community to gain insight into the methods and practices of research data management across the entire lifecycle at both a micro and a macro level. They offer value to the individual researcher through a focused data management plan development workflow and just-in-time resource associations, while also offering high-level functionality that makes meta-analysis of data management planning practices across many domains a possibility. They offer the wider research community the opportunity to understand and refine practices for better integration of research data management processes, consequently enabling more interoperable and reusable data.

Shared ownership of the plans cements their place as communication devices between project partners, and the benefits of online hosting underpin our shared vision of DMPs as living, evolving documents which take into account changes in the research activity – and in best practice. Such flexibility is a critical requirement in long-term digital preservation. Similarly, at the macro level, the ability to collect and compare DMPs within institutions and across disciplines provides opportunities for capacity planning and related benefits that offline plans cannot readily achieve.

Since their respective launches in April 2010 and August 2011, DMP Online and DMPTool have been used to create more than 3700 plans, and uptake patterns have mirrored the journey from specialist need to wider use among our stakeholder communities. Between us, our work has attracted interest from the Southern Hemisphere as well as continental Europe, and conversations are underway as to how we can continue to foster this spirit of international cooperation.

The DMPTool project has also begun to include contributing partners beyond the initial group, starting with the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. More widely, the team has also received enthusiastic interest from a number of other institutions and government agencies, including the US National Science Foundation, the US Forest Service, the US Geological Survey, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as several for-profit organisations that specialise in support of the research management process. We continue to liaise with various stakeholders to take this forward as a shared, community-driven effort.

The ongoing intention is to continue adding contributing partners, conducting structured user testing on new subjects, and growing the community to ensure the broader sustainability of the service and more expansive integration of the system data and functionality with other research platforms and resources.

Note - DCC (nominee), UK LOCKSS Alliance and HATII Glasgow University (proximity) and JISC (funder) may not vote for Data Management Planning Tools

PLANETS Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services, The Open Planets Foundation and partners

The Planets Project set out to enable organisations including national scale libraries and archives to ensure the long-term preservation of their valued digital content. To accomplish this, it brought together a team of sixteen major libraries and archives, large technology companies, smaller enterprises, and leading university research teams.

As the project completed in 2010, it was able to deliver a fully integrated, open framework of tools and services to support every stage of the Digital Preservation Lifecycle in a way which would not only reflect the OAIS model, but also enabled third party archiving solutions to be able to connect simply and seamlessly to either the whole or individual parts of the Planets system.

The project contributed to advances in key digital preservation challenges including characterising digital items, planning to address the risks to digital content, using emulation technology, preserving databases, and providing a basis for evaluating the success of preservation actions. It also helped to establish a conceptual framework for digital preservation as well as establish a testbed approach to conduct non-destructive repeatable experiments with either one’s own digital objects or ones selected for their specific properties from reusable corpora.

The legacy of Planets continues today. The project established the Open Planets Foundation (OPF) to further develop the international technical and practitioner community in digital preservation. The OPF has become a key meeting place for deep discussion and problem solving as well as providing a way to sustain open source software contributions. Technologies and approaches developed in Planets have spurred national and international projects to carry them forward. Examples include the SCAPE project to build a scalable preservation environment, the KEEP project to further pursue emulation techniques. Future Hacka-thons were fostered through the existence of both the developer community and tool basis that had been developed in Planets. The conceptual framework has contributed to international standards such as PREMIS.

The methodological and technical developments enabled organisations such as the British and Dutch national libraries to improve their approach to ensuring long-term access to digital content.

Planets combined its own innovative developments with existing software and research. Planets created a suite of tools in the areas of Preservation Planning, the identification (Characterisation) of digital objects and the creation of a Preservation Testbed in which Preservation Tools can be tested by conducting non-destructive, repeatable experiments with either one’s own digital objects or ones selected for their specific properties from Corpora of various formats.

Alongside Planets’ own work, the project also integrated and supported the further development of tools developed by Planets partners, as well as ‘wrapping’ existing preservation tools to enable them to be invoked and managed automatically within sometimes-complex workflows.

At its completion, the Project had achieved its main objectives and established publicly accessible instances of its PLATO Preservation Planning and Testbed applications connected via the Planets Interoperability Framework to over 50 Preservation Services as well as to characterisation and format comparison services.

The Planets suite integrates with and adds capabilities to repository management systems such as Fedora, Rosetta, ePrints, or internally developed systems such as the British Library’s DLS or the Dutch National Library’s eDepot through a repository manager adaptor. A single interface is all that is required to connect any third-party system to all Planets tools and services, irrespective of location. Full specifications have been published to enable further interfaces to be developed, and experience gained in connecting Fedora suggests that less than 10 programmer-weeks’ effort is required to complete this work.

Planets has raised awareness of issues surrounding Digital Preservation in the global archives and library community. Via structured training courses held across Europe, Planets provided practical training to 320 delegates and published audio-visual self-study material. The Planets newsletter has a regular readership of approximately 1,250 and 600+ people have registered to receive regular e-bulletins.

Planets also helped to raise awareness of digital preservation challenges more broadly. It commissioned, a series of awareness-raising short films published on YouTube, including 2 cartoons featuring DPE’s ‘Digiman’ that continue to garner attention and have been seen thousands of times. The unique Digital Time Capsule campaign during which we deposited a digital time capsule in the ultra-secure Swiss Fort Knox data repository, reached an audience independently estimated to exceed 17.5 million readers, listeners and viewers around the world.

Note - British Library (host) and British Library Preservation Advisory Centre (proximity) may not vote for PLANETS

TOTEM Trustworthy Online Technical Environment Metadata Registry, University of Portsmouth and partners

Today, many organisations and individuals want to keep their digital artefacts, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that in order to achieve this aim, data needs to be recorded detailing the original computing environment in which such artefacts were created and used. Now this is a potentially daunting task, as such environments are technically, culturally and semantically complex. However, this was the task facing the University of Portsmouth team as they sought to provide this information for the EC KEEP (Keeping Emulation Environments Portable) project in general (http://www.keep-project.eu/ ), which was dedicated to providing workable solutions for using software to emulate obsolete computer hardware and software, and for an Emulation Framework in particular.

In order to achieve this, comprehensive research was carried out to see what was already available in this domain, and to work out how best to connect to related solutions, such as the well-known PRONOM file format registry (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/Default.aspx) containing data about different file formats such as text files or image files, created by the National Archives, UK. There was also a lot of relevant material from the EC project Planets (http://www.planets-project.eu/ ), such as the software to characterise computer files, and the definitions of software and hardware for manipulating linked data on the Web, both created by the University of Cologne. A successful tool from KEEP would have to be compatible with this prior work, as well as much else.

So, having completed the fundamental research, the next stage involved creating models of different kinds of computing environments to see how computer files need software to run them; how software depends on software libraries in some situations, how hardware requires operating systems and so on. These models had to be very detailed, because for each of these relationships given above, you have to know which specific versions are involved. The environments considered included typical ones, such as an IBM PC running different versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Word; and more unusual ones such as the Commodore C64 games computer and other games consoles running computer games such as Donkey Kong. All this planning and modelling was done in such a way as to make sure the eventual output could be used by a wide variety of people in many different situations, whether they wanted to access material via a database, via linked data on the Web, and several other ways that various communities might wish to employ.

The implementation that we chose for the registry was a standard MySQL database, which could be accessed by any registered user on the Internet. We spent a considerable amount of time filling this database with quality data so that it could be realistically tested at our KEEP workshops in several key locations across Europe (even though providing this data was above and beyond our project remit!) We carried out extensive user evaluations, and online users also provided key feedback. The feedback we received was very positive indeed, and users clearly greatly valued the information TOTEM currently provided, and could supply in the future when further developed.

To make sure our database fitted in with existing initiatives in this area, we included a link in our file format data to the PRONOM registry. We then collaborated with the Chair of Digital Humanities, Professor Manfred Thaller at the University of Cologne (http://www.hki.unikoeln. de/manfred-thaller-dr-phil-prof ), where his colleague Johanna Puhl converted the models we had created into a form that could be used on the Web so that potentially all the data there that is already linked (http://linkeddata.org/ ) can be used to provide information about computing environments. All this work is described in a book on TOTEM, in a series edited by Professor Thaller (2012 The Trustworthy Online Technical Environment Metadata Database – TOTEM, Series: Manfred Thaller [ed.]: "Kölner Beiträge zu einer geisteswissenschaftlichen Fachinformatik“ ISBN 978-3-8300-6418-3 Publisher: Verlag Dr. Kovac, Hamburg (
(http://www.verlagdrkovac.de/). Co-Authors: Janet Delve, David Anderson).

The models have also informed work done to help libraries and archives worldwide describe the metadata (data about data, such as library catalogue data) via a metadata schema that they need to record to preserve a variety of different digital objects.

Having created a tool that covers the core relationships in typical computing environments, what are the next steps for TOTEM? How will we ensure TOTEM remains current, correct and sustainable over the long term? We have had expressions of interest from key individuals from organisations all over the world who want to collaborate with us, to ensure the data in TOTEM is trustworthy for institutions everywhere. TOTEM has succeeded in providing suitable data for the KEEP Emulation Framework (http://emuframework.sourceforge.net/ ), and current projects such as bwFLA at the university of Freiburg (http://bw-fla.uni-freiburg.de/wordpress/?page_id=7) are already using TOTEM in their research. By collaborating with organisations such as the DPC and the OPF, we can ensure that TOTEM is validated and used by the whole community, and that robust data entry methods are employed. The core models can also be extended to cater for a greater number as well as more complicated types of environment. TOTEM can also engage with and fit into the “registry eco system” envisaged by the OPF (http://www.openplanetsfoundation.org/newregistry-digital-preservation-outline-proposal ), making it a truly useful tool for many kinds of digital preservation scenarios, including emulation and migration, for organisations all over the world.

Note - University of Portsmouth (nominee) may not vote for TOTEM

The KEEP Emulation Framework, Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) and partners

The Emulation Framework (EF) offers an end-to-end, automated, emulation-based, digital preservation strategy. It provides a convenient way to open old digital files and run the associated programs in their native computer environment. This allows the end user to experience the intended 'look and feel' of the file or software program, independent from current state of the art computer systems.

To achieve this the EF combines existing emulation technology with a sophisticated workflow that automates steps of defining and configuring hardware and software dependencies. As a result, the end user doesn’t need in-depth technical knowledge of the original computer system or software to be able to render the digital object.

Key functionality of the EF is the automated workflow for defining, configuring and rendering the emulated environment. The following steps are automated:

• identifying the type of digital file that the user has selected;
• finding the required software and computer platform for the file;
• matching these dependencies against the available software and emulators;
• configuring the emulator and preparing the software environment;
• injecting the digital file into the emulated environment;
• giving the user control over the emulated environment

The EF builds on existing work done in digital preservation: instead of re-inventing the wheel, the EF project team reused the current state of the art developments in emulation and file identification technology. For identification, the Harvard File Information Tool Set is used; instead of developing new emulators or modifying existing ones, the EF incorporates a number of open source emulators. Emulators such as QEMU and Dioscuri have a proven track record in reliably rendering specific computer environments, and have been selected to emulate x86 hardware. Other platforms included in the current release include the Commodore 64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro and Thomson, but the spectrum of potential computer platforms and applications that can be supported is practically unlimited.

Another key feature of the EF is its architecture. The EF can be used as a standalone tool, but has been designed so that the solution can be scaled in an organisational setup. To achieve this, the EF has been split into three components which run independently of each other:

• EF engine (including graphical user interface)
• Emulator archive service
• Software archive service

While the EF engine runs locally, both the emulators and the required software are stored centrally in an emulator archive and a software archive, respectively. Both are designed to be contacted via web services allowing them to be used across the network within an organisation, or even worldwide. This improves manageability of available software in the archives and lowers IT maintenance. The single archive locations mean that extending them with emulators and software provides immediate benefit for all EF users connected.

The EF is available as open source software under the Apache 2.0 license and comes with a point-and-click installer, a basic set of seven emulators and open source operating systems and application software. With this suite, users can immediately render more than 30 file formats, such as PDF, TXT, XML, JPG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, Quark, ARJ, EXE, disk/tape images and more.

The set of supported emulators, operating systems and application software can be extended using wizards for adding new emulators and software to the web services, further supporting any number of file formats.

The software is developed in Java with cross-platform compatibility in mind, and runs on all versions of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux that support the Java Runtime Environment version 1.6 or higher.

 Note - University of Portsmouth (proximity) may not vote for the Emulation Framework

Finalists 2012 - DPC Award for Communications and Training

The DPC Award for Teaching and Communication celebrates significant efforts to empower workforces or engage policy makers with the skills and information they need to make digital preservation a practical reality. It is presented to the project, initiative or person that, in the eyes of the judges, has produced training resources, curriculum, or campaign that has (or will have) the greatest impact in ensuring our digital memory is available tomorrow, or undertaken empirical research that will evidently support the development of those skills.

Four nominations are being taken through to the final round.  Here the nominees describe their motivations, their projects and their impact.

Digital Archaeology from Story Worldwide

The early years of the web were a period of experimentation, there was no best practice, there were no rules. This rich period of creative expression was dominated by nonconformists, not all of whom were computer scientists. Designers, artists, writers, photographers, illustrators, filmmakers and musicians dived into this new media without inhibition. These mavericks defined the way we now see, hear, share, sell, buy, interact, and participate in society. Tragically, many of these formative sites from the 90’s and early 2000’s, built by these pioneering creatives, can no longer be seen.

The story of the first web page, created by Tim Berners-Lee on August 6th 1991, is typical. Its significance wasn’t obvious to its creator, who over-wrote it with the second web page the following March. No copy of the original web page, not even a screenshot exists. A record of that monumental point in our culture has been lost forever.

Concerned that the evidence of this culturally significant period was being lost, I led a project to harvest and restore landmark websites and present them in an exhibition, “ Digital Archaeology”, as part of Internet Week Europe in London.

Archiving websites is not a new idea. The British Library, The Library of Congress and notably Archive.org’s Wayback Machine have been archiving websites for a decade or more. The Wayback machine in particular is a valuable resource but it is an imperfect one. It does not archive any site pre-October 1996 and suffers from missing media and broken links. Crucially, as these are web-based archives, the websites are seen within today’s browsers, on today’s monitors, at today’s processing speeds and therefore the visitor is only experiencing part of the story. A true record of the original sites only exists when they are seen in the context of the hardware and software they were created on and for. For example, the first website can be seen on the CERN website but when Tim Berners-Lee invented the webpage, he also had to invent the web browser, which is often forgotten.Only by seeing the first webpage and first web browser in combination can we appreciate that the web was envisaged as a multi-author environment from the outset, the browser was also an editor. As part of the Digital Archaeology exhibition, we re-united the first (second) ever webpage, with the Nexus Browser for what we believe is the first time since Tim Berners-Lee left CERN.

The code for the first website is publically available, however it was not as easy to obtain the code for other groundbreaking websites, like the first animated website (The Blue Dot), the first ezines (Word.com), early online communities (Head-Space.com) and the first branded utility (Nike Plus). Agencies had been acquired or gone out of business, people had moved on, records were poor, files had been lost and at best, code was stored on redundant media.

The creatives, technologists and entrepreneurs that formed this culture are all forward looking people, interested in what’s next, not what’s been. This is typified by an exchange we had with Ajaz Ahmed, founder of AKQA. When we asked him to put forward an exhibit for the show he declined, saying AKQA was inspired by the future and had a policy of not celebrating the past. We concluded that there are three types of ownership - legal, physical and emotional, the latter being the most important for web archiving.

The first show, Internet Week Europe 2010, exhibited 18 groundbreaking websites on the hardware and software of the day. We also interviewed those that had donated code and asked them about their work and their attitudes to web archiving. It was Internet Weeks most talked about event and received worldwide attention from major media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, The Daily Mirror, Reuters, Wired, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and over 100 other news organisations. Helen Hockx-Yu, Web Archiving Programme Manager at The British Library praised what we had done and gave a talk on the challenges of preserving digital media. Gratifyingly, it wasn't just people involved in the industry who were interested, it was accessible to anyone who had owned a computer or accessed the web over the last twenty-years.

It was so successful that we were asked to deliver the exhibition again as a core event of Internet Week New York 2011. We decided to expand and improve the show, unearthing, restoring and displaying 28 groundbreaking websites. The show attracted 12,000 visitors and sponsorship from Google. Abigail Grotke, Web Archiving Team Lead at the Library of Congress gave a keynote presentation focusing on the importance to the world of recovering and saving these works. The event again attracted a huge amount of press from CNN, NPR, The Daily News, CBC, Slashdot, The Next Web, ReadWriteWeb and over 200 other news organisations.
The Digital Archaeology event isn’t just a nostalgic trip into our recent digital past, it’s a rallying cry. The project seeks to raise the profile of web archiving and motivate individuals to rescue and restore the code of early websites while they still can. Just because it's recent history, doesn’t make the early web experiments any less important than the first cave paintings, Muybridge’s first experiments with the moving image or the first works of literature created by the Sumerians in the 18th century BC.

The show has been a phenomenal success, 12,000 visitors, 90,000 mentions online, global press coverage and support from The British Library, The Library of Congress and Google. I have a publishing deal to write a book about these early web pioneers and was asked to present at the 2012 Digital Preservation Conference in Washington DC. The MOMA in New York see this work as a crucial record of the history of late 20th Century design. Crucially, it has reached the only audience that can make a significant difference to the preservation of the early web, the creative pioneers that built it.

Digital Preservation Training Programme from University of London Computer Centre

DPTP is an ongoing programme which has provided targeted training since its inception as a JISC-funded project in 2005.

DPTP is a national service that supports digital preservation by providing accessible training courses. It does this through adherence to core principles (OAIS, the performance model), and by teaching about widely accepted standards in the field (for example, METS, PREMIS, and TDR). It spreads awareness of significant recent initiatives, toolkits, systems and services (including Archivematica, DPSP, RODA and repository software) that can be used for preservation.

DPTP is a body of work that has continued to evolve from initial ideas to fully functioning and embedded modular training programme. The teaching method has been continually developed, through feedback, to include greater student participation; learning resources have evolved from ringbinders full of paper to online provision of digital content. The course has become honed a short, intensive, and highly cost-effective introduction to the subject.

After nearly a decade of spreading the digital preservation message, many organisations and people in the UK and elsewhere have benefited from DPTP, including large national memory and cultural heritage institutions, small record offices, individual businesses and companies, universities and colleges; and individuals seeking to use the knowledge gained to educate their own organisations, such as records managers, archivists and librarians.

Organisations who have participated and benefitted include: National Library of Ireland, National Library of Scotland, National Archives of Scotland, Iraq National Library and Archives, British Library, The National Archives (TNA), Wellcome, West Yorkshire Archives, British Telecom, The Royal Household, the European Central Bank, Learning and Skills Improvement Service, Tate Gallery, and many more - both UK and international.

Feedback from students has been consistently good, and has been used to continually improve the course. The course providers take the feedback very seriously and conduct a review of each course in light of our experience and the feedback provided.

The course has maintained its quality by seeking to be flexible, adaptable and relevant. While maintaining an emphasis on established standards and models, optional modules have been provided on subjects including web-archiving, repositories, and digitisation, based on the ongoing professional expertise and experience of the main tutors (Patricia and Ed) or of specially invited presenters.

While the course has a strong theoretical basis, the material reflects real experience. The Digital Archives team at ULCC have worked on a wide range of projects which inform the content of the course. The National Digital Archive of Datasets, for example, provides a case study of workflows for database preservation, while the teams work with the UK Web Archiving Consortium and the ongoing EU-funded BlogForever project provides new perspectives on web preservation.

The team has thus experienced the variety and rapidity of change in the arena of digital preservation. We have noted this change reflected in the basic knowledge of the students attending, and constantly strive to meet the current level of interests and requirements.

DPTP has striven to be accessible, running courses not only in central London, but in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, York, Dublin and Warwick. In addition to the scheduled courses, custom in-house courses have also been delivered for the National Library of Scotland and the National Archives of Scotland; a custom course is in preparation for the National Library of Ireland in Autumn 2012.

DPTP has also been used as the basis for work with the Iraq National Library and Archives, striving to rebuild and preserve its cultural heritage. As part of the House of Books project, with support from the UN and the EU, DPTP materials haven been enthusiastically received at workships in Jordan and Iraq, and further developments are expected.

Note - University of London Computer Centre (nominee) DPC Executive and JISC (Funders) may not vote for DPTP

Keeping Research Data Safe

Data has always been fundamental to many areas of research but in recent years it has become central to more disciplines and inter-disciplinary projects and grown substantially in scale and complexity.  There is increasing awareness of its strategic importance as a resource in addressing modern global challenges and of the possibilities being unlocked by rapid technological advances and their application in research. However, there are several significant challenges facing the UK academic community relating to the long-term digital preservation and curation, storage, retrieval and discovery of research data

Recognising this, JISC has invested heavily in Higher Education digital repositories and preservation including relevant research on costs and benefits through the Keeping Research Data Safe projects.

Our aims and objectives for post-KRDS research communications were to build upon the research reports and also synthesise and package findings and methods further for wider take-up and dissemination. That activity delivered the following products:

• KRDS Factsheet - This A4 four-page factsheet is intended to be suitable for anyone interested in a concise summary of our key findings. It will be relevant to all repositories and institutions holding digital material but of particular interest to anyone responsible for or involved in the long-term management of research data. In his recent book Preserving Digital Materials Prof Ross Harvey stated that “The KRDS Factsheet is required reading for anyone interested in digital preservation…”. 
• KRDS User Guide - The KRDS User Guide is an edited selection and synthesis of the guidance in the KRDS reports combined with newly commissioned text and illustrations. It is intended to act as a concise practical manual for KRDS users particularly those who want to build their own cost models implementing/drawing on elements of the KRDS cost model or present the benefits of their digital preservation activities using/incorporating KRDS approaches.
• KRDS Benefits Toolkit– A set of open access tools to help research groups to assess and present the direct and indirect benefits of improved research data preservation. The project partners have validated these tools within their own domains, and produced exemplars that can be used by others as profiles. Each tool consists of a more detailed guide and worksheet(s). The tools have drawn on previous work on benefits and impact for digital curation/preservation. This experience provided a series of common examples of generic benefits that are employed for users to modify or add to as required. The toolkit provides a formalised method for any project or service to define its own opportunities and benefits, and to assess the potential impact (including, but not limited to, financial impact) of investments in better digital curation.

We believe the work is an exemplar of how digital preservation research can be synthesised and how tools can be provided to reach a wide audience and stimulate take-up at various levels of need. Although developed in the research data domain its methods and outputs are made widely available and have been recognised by other digital preservation communities.

The KRDS Factsheet had 2,000 downloads in its first week of release. 20 months later (July 2012) it was still generating around 120 downloads a month (30 per week) and it has had over 5,000 downloads over a 20 month period. KRDS outputs overall had over 13,000 downloads over the last 12 months (from July 2011).

KRDS has been used by data services and centres funded by all seven of the UK research councils and by all the ten KRDS UK partner institutions.
It was used in the US to develop the Dryad cost model for its service and has at least influenced and been cited by other major costing projects including LIFE in the UK, DANS in the Netherlands and the DMDP in Denmark. We have been told that it is being used in curriculum materials in i-schools in North America. It has also been used in the DCC Regional Roadshows in the UK.

The KRDS research reports are also cited in the recent publication Science as an open enterprise (Royal Society June 2012) and their findings contribute to discussion in Chapter 4 Realising an open data culture: management, responsibilities, tools and costs. It is likely our communications work first alerted the authors to the research findings.

Cost-modelling for digital preservation has been undertaken by a range of research projects. We believe no other project has focussed on the benefits of digital preservation to the extent or success of KRDS. The methods and approaches are highly innovative and the adoption and communications activities have largely focussed on this area. It continues to inspire new research and implementations on the impact and benefits of digital preservation and curation.

New research projects by the partners and others have also incorporated KRDS and leveraged further impact from the research. We can point to how the JISC and the Research Councils have since funded a series of three research studies on the impact of research data services that incorporate KRDS with traditional economic approaches to measuring impact (respectively the Economic and Social Science Data Service by ESRC; the Archaeology Data Service by JISC; and the British Atmospheric Data Service by JISC and NERC).The first of these on the Impact of the ESDS was published by ESRC in July 2012 and was cited in its press release as part of the case for its investment in the new UK Research Data Service.

In the current challenging economic climate the main benefits of our work are improved capacity to explain the benefits of digital preservation and improved understanding of relative costs. Organisations and institutions are facing increasing demands to demonstrate significant return-on-investment of public funds. The enhanced ability to demonstrate value and impact from digital preservation and curation in this context is paramount..

 Note - Neil Beagrie (nominee) ADS and UK Data Archive (proximity), and JISC (funder) may not vote for Keeping Research Data Safe

The Signal from Library of Congress

The Signal is a premier source of information for all facets of digital preservation. With a focus on clear, accessible writing about important issues, the publication has a broad reach and a major impact. Launched in May 2011, the blog has published over 340 posts, received over 700 comments, and registered over 300,000 page views. It gives preservation practitioners timely details and unique insights into institutional practices, products and perspectives. The Signal is also an effective tool for gaining wider public attention for the enduring importance of keeping digital assets available and accessible.

The Signal is of proven value for teaching digital preservation. The Library of Congress Digital Preservation Outreach and Education initiative, which is building a national training program for professional continuing education, is detailed in a number of articles. Posts explore developing staff expertise through classroom and hands-on training; surveying digital preservation training needs; delivering train-the-trainer workshops; exploring the requirements for educating data curators; and outlining the skills needed by digital archivists and librarians. The interests and perspectives of current students in library and information science are well documented on The Signal with over two dozen posts by current and former Library of Congress student interns. As a result, the blog offers unique first-person documentation about concrete internship projects with broad value for hand-on digital preservation training programs.

Raising public awareness is critical to extend the practical reality of digital preservation. Preserving institutions depend on community support, and sustaining digital preservation at scale depends on regular people appreciating the value of the work. The Signal uses two basic approaches to engage directly with individuals about the need for preserving digital content. The first is to promote a clear understanding about how digital collections contribute to knowledge and creativity. Articles are written from a popular perspective and focus on the importance and intricacies of preserving the web and social media, as well as digital photographs, video and art. Posts also highlight the critical need for digital content to document and research topics such as the rise of democratic movements around the world and geographical change over time. A second approach draws on the emotional appeal of personal digital archiving. The Signal publishes many posts with practical advice for people to use in keeping their personal collections of digital photographs, social media and other content. These writings are very popular, and often circulate far beyond the digital preservation community. In addition to providing information with practical utility, The Signal helps people appreciate the overall cultural importance of digital preservation, as well as the critical role that cultural heritage institutions have to play.

The blog also investigates topics such as digital forensics, media migration, collection building and institutional preservation policies. There are reports on activities such as exploring economic sustainability, developing tools and services and managing government digital information. Special attention is given to discussing collaborative projects with detailed analysis of the tangible benefits that flow from them. There are insightful interviews with important members of the preservation community, including David Rosenthal, Bram van der Werf, William Kilbride and Andrea Goethals. In terms of a specific benefit to the UK, The Signal discusses web archiving at the British Library; the Measuring the value of culture: a report to the Department for Culture Media and Sport report; the release of DROID 6 by The National Archives; the Digital Curation Centre curation lifecycle model; the JISC Managing Research Data project; the Oxford and Manchester Universities PARADIGM project; and the Preserving Email Technology Watch Report from the Digital Preservation Coalition.

 Note - Library of Congress (nominee) may not vote for The Signal

2010 Digital Preservation Award Judging Panel

The 2010 Judging Panel

• Kevin Ashley, Director, Digital Curation Centre
• Adrian Brown, Assistant Clerk of the Record, Parliamentary Archives
• William Kilbride, Executive Director, Digital Preservation Coalition
• Pip Laurenson, Head of Time-based Media Conservation, Tate
• Zoe Lock, Lead Technologist for ICT, the Technology Strategy Board
• Eefke Smit, Director for Standards and Technology, Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers
• Dave Thompson, Digital Curator, The Wellcome Library
• Matthew Woollard, Director Designate, the UK Data Archive
• Richard Wright, Senior Research Engineer, BBC

2010 Digital Preservation Award Shortlists Press Release

Digital Preservation Award 2010: shortlist announced

21^st September 2010

The Institute for Conservation (Icon)and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Digital Preservation Award 2010.

‘Digital data is fragile so we have to think hard about what sort of digital legacy we want to leave behind,’ explained William Kilbride of the DPC. ‘Our generation has invested as never before in digital resources and we've done so because of the opportunity they bring. They have grown in volume, complexity and importance to the point that our children are baffled by the inefficiencies of the analogue age. Pervasive, fluid and fragile: digital data is a defining feature of our age. But it will take a co-ordinated effort of research and training to ensure that our digital memory is available tomorrow.’

‘That’s why we sponsor the Digital Preservation Award.  It celebrates the excellence and innovation that will help to ensure our digital memory is available tomorrow. It is one of five awards which are collectively called the Conservation Awards, co-ordinated by a working party of the Institute for Conservation (ICON) and sponsored by us.’

‘This is the fourth time we’ve invited nominations for the award’ explained Kevin Ashley, chair of the judging panel.  ‘We were greatly impressed by all the nominations this year and had a very hard job cutting the long list down to five. A few years ago we used to worry that we’d face a ‘digital dark age’ as current formats and technology became obsolete. The quality and range of this year's nominations underlines the growing confidence with which we can face the future and it also puts the spotlight on some very important work which is not celebrated as much as it should be’

This year’s nominations include a US-designed solution and associated tools to browse seamlessly the current and archived web, a major programme of work to ensure continuity of government documents in the UK, a tool to help plan for digital preservation, a US research project to help preserve computer games and an international study into the economics of the sustainable digital future.

The Shortlist

Short-listed for the Digital Preservation Award (in no particular order) are:

• The MEMENTO Project: Time Travel for the Web, from Old Dominion University and the Los Alamos National Lab in the United States

The Memento project, sponsored by the Library of Congress, has proposed, demonstrated, and promoted internationally an approach to integrate the current and past Web in a manner that is fully aligned with the Architecture of the World Wide Web. Memento’s approach is based on a straightforward extension of the very widely used ‘HTTP’ tool that results in a way to navigate seamlessly current versions of web resources as well as prior versions which might be held by Web Archives and or embedded within wikis.  Just enter a web address in your browser, set the time slider to a desired date and see the web as it used to be.

• Web Continuity: ensuring access to online government information, from The National Archives UK

The arrival of a new government – with new ambitions and new structures – could have been very disruptive for citizens trying to navigate the government’s extensive web estate, had it not been for the Web Continuity project.  The Web Continuity is a solution to broken links on government websites which helps provide access to millions of pages of archived government information and data.  So, when a new government comes in with new policies and plans, the links to old pages are not lost.  The redirection software enables users who try to a web page that is no longer live to be taken automatically to where the information is held in The UK Government Web Archive.  The web archive, dating back to 1997, contains regular snapshots of government websites which are preserved for posterity.

• PLATO 3: Preservation Planning made simple from Vienna University of Technology and the PLANETS Project

Experience shows that there is not a single route to preservation: that different solutions have strengths and weaknesses depending on scenarios and institutions.  Preservation planning is the process of evaluating potential solutions and specifying a preservation plan for a given set of objects.  It is at the heart much digital preservation work but up till recently has been a manual, sometimes ad-hoc process.  The planning tool Plato is a Web-based decision support tool that provides a planning process for evaluating actions and specifying plans.  It accesses a range of preservation services and integrates a controlled environment for experimentation and measurement.  In this way it enables trustworthy, evidence-based preservation planning, with actionable plans that meet the specific needs of an institution, set of objects, and different types of usage.  Plato is one of the tools developed by the PLANETS project, now overseen by a new body called the Open PLANETS Foundation.

• The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access

The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access was an international, multi-disciplinary group convened to examine the challenge of economically sustainable digital preservation. Ensuring that digital preservation activities are provisioned with sufficient resources to achieve their long-term goals is an essential aspect of securing permanent access to society’s scholarly and cultural record. The Task Force produced two substantial reports that provide a comprehensive examination of the economics of digital preservation, ranging from basic principles like the definition of economic sustainability in a digital preservation context, to practical recommendations for shaping effective economic sustainability strategies for digital preservation.

• Preserving Virtual Worlds, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, Stanford University and Linden Lab in the United States

Virtual words, video games, digital fiction, and other interactive media represent important aspects of the design and creativity of the late 20^th and early 21^st century’s cultural heritage.  They are highly complex so are at high risk of loss because the technologies on which they are based rapidly become obsolete. Indeed the gaming industry is hooked on new releases: it’s how the market is structured and the result is a systematic obsolesence of previous releases.  The Preserving Virtual Worlds project has explored methods for preserving representative case sets for this important class of digital materials as part of the Library of Congress's National Digital Infrastructure and Preservation Program.  Major activities have included developing basic standards for description and representation and conducting a series of archiving case studies for early video games, electronic literature and Second Life, an interactive multiplayer virtual world.

All the short-listed projects will give a presentation to the Digital Preservation Awards judges on 21^st October. The winners of the Conservation Awards 2010 will be announced at the Awards Ceremony at the Royal Institution on 1st December 2010.

The Judges

•      Kevin Ashley, Director, Digital Curation Centre, Edinburgh University

•      Adrian Brown, Assistant Clerk of the Records, Parliamentary Archives

•      William Kilbride, Executive Director, Digital Preservation Coalition

•      Pip Laurenson, Head of Time-based Media Conservation, Tate, UK

•      Zoe Lock, Lead Technologist for ICT, the Technology Strategy Board, UK

•      Eefke Smit, Director, Standards and Technology, International STM Publishers Association, The Netherlands

•      Dave Thompson, Digital Curator, The Wellcome Library

•      Matthew Woollard, Director Designate, the UK Data Archive

•      Richard Wright, Senior Research Engineer, BBC

The Prize

The Digital Preservation Award consists of 4 elements: a cash prize (£2500); a bespoke glass trophy; a miniature of the trophy to be retained by the winner; a certificate which is retained by the winner.

Timetable and Judging

• Shortlist announced during IPRES 2010 in Vienna, Austria
• September 2010: first meeting of judges, shortlisted entries invited to presentation
• 1^st October 2010: online voting for shortlisted candidates opens
• Mid October 2010: online voting closes
• Mid October: second judges meeting with presentations from shortlisted candidates, deliberation and decision
• 1^st December 2010: awards ceremony in London (after DPC AGM / Board meeting)

The Winner

The winner will be announced at a prestigious presentation ceremony to be held at a The Royal Institution, London on the 1^st December 2010. The winner of the Digital Preservation Award 2010 will receive a cheque of £2,500; a trophy which will remain the property of the DPC; a miniature trophy which can be retained; and a certificate.  The winner will be invited to participate in press and advocacy activities to promote their work.

Previous DP Award Winners

• 2007 - The National Archives for the PRONOM and DROID projects
• 2005 - PREMIS - the Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies Working Group
• 2004 - The National Archives, The Digital Archive project.

For more information on the awards see:

http://www.dpconline.org/advocacy/awards

or

http://www.conservationawards.org.uk/

-Ends-

Notes to Editors:
For further information, please contact:
Carol Jackson, Digital Preservation Coalition
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: 01904 435 362

The Digital Preservation Coalition sponsors the Digital Preservation Award under the banner of the Conservation Awards, which are supported by Sir Paul McCartney and managed in partnership by key organisations in conservation, restoration and preservation management: Icon (The Institute of Conservation), DPC (Digital Preservation Coalition) and the Anna Plowden Trust.

The Digital Preservation Coalition was established in 2001 to foster joint action to address the urgent challenges of securing the preservation of digital resources in the UK and to work with others internationally to secure our global digital memory and knowledge base. For further information see the website at www.dpconline.org

Digital Preservation Awards 2012

The Winners have been announced!

Read the annuncement
A selection of photos from the awards ceremony are below

The Voters Pack for the Digital Preservation Awards has been published

DPC members are invited to select favourite entries for the Digital Preservation Awards and to comment on them

• Access the Voters Pack and Ballot Paper (login required)
• Register for the DPC website

The Shortlist fot the Digital Preservation Awards 2012 has been published.

Four finalists have been selected for each of the three awards. .

For an outstanding contribution to teaching and communication in digital preservation in the last 2 years:

• The Digital Preservation Training Programme, University of London Computing Centre
• The Signal, Library of Congress
• Keeping Research Data Safe Project, Charles Beagrie Ltd and partners
• Digital Archaeology Exhibition, Story Worldwide Ltd

... see the Full Description of the Shortlisted Candidates

For an outstanding contribution to research and innovation in digital preservation in the last 2 years:

• Data Management Planning Toolkit, The Digital Curation Centre and partners
• PLANETS Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services, The Open Planets Foundation and partners
• TOTEM Trustworthy Online Technical Environment Metadata Registry, University of Portsmouth and partners
• The KEEP Emulation Framework, Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) and partners

... see the Full Description of the Shortlisted Candidates

For the most outstanding contribution to digital preservation in the last decade:

• The International Internet Preservation Consortium
• The National Archives for the PRONOM and DROID services
• The Archaeology Data Service at the University of York
• The PREMIS Preservation Metadata Working Group for the PREMIS Standard

... see the Full Description of the Shortisted Candidates

The Digital Preservation Awards celebrate the excellence and innovation that will help to ensure our digital memory is available tomorrow. It was first awarded in 2004 as one of the Conservation Awards and it has been presented on four occasions (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010), sponsored by the Digital Preservation Coalition with the Institute for Conservation. Although based on the Conservation Awards the Digital Preservation Award has always been distinctive in how it implements the criteria and eligibility.

2012 is the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the DPC. To mark this occasion, and in recognition of the increasing diversity of digital preservation research and activity, DPC will offer four separate prizes in 2012

• DPC Decennial Award for an outstanding contribution to digital preservation
• DPC Award for Research and Development in Digital Preservation
• DPC Award for Teaching and Communicating Digital Preservation
• DPC / OPF Digital Preservation Challenge

Each Award consists of 2 elements: a cash prize and a presentation certificate which is retained by the winner with copies to be distributed to team members.

The Awards

The Decennial Award is a special award offered to mark the tenth anniversary of the DPC. It will be presented to the project, initiative or person that in the period 2002-2012, the judges assess to have made the most outstanding contribution to ensuring our digital memory is available tomorrow.

The DPC Award for Research and Development celebrates significant technical or intellectual accomplishments which lower the barriers to effective digital preservation. It is presented to the project, initiative or person that, in the eyes of the judges, has produced a tool, framework or idea that has (or will have) the greatest impact in ensuring our digital memory is available tomorrow.

The DPC Award for Teaching and Communication celebrates significant efforts to empower workforces or engage policy makers with the skills and information they need to make digital preservation a practical reality. It is presented to the project, initiative or person that, in the eyes of the judges, has produced training resources, curriculum, or campaign that has (or will have) the greatest impact in ensuring our digital memory is available tomorrow, or undertaken empirical research that will evidently support the development of those skills.

The winner of the Digital Preservation Challenge is the individual or agency that, in the view of the judges, has done most towards to complete a challenge which they have set. It will be awarded by the Open Planet Foundation. It is distinctive among the awards because the criteria for entry are strictly directed, and submissions are directly comparable. Details of the challenge will be announced by the OPF in due course and with a timetable that will be confirmed.

With the exception of the Digital Preservation Challenge, all applications should be submitted by 1200 on Friday 17th August 2012 (see “How to apply” below for details). These will be sifted and considered for short-listing by the Digital Preservation Screening Panel in August 2012. Only short-listed candidates will be asked for full details of their projects.

The Judges

• Kevin Ashley (DCC)
• Adrian Brown (Parliamentary Archives)
• Rachel Bruce (JISC)
• William Kilbride (DPC)
• Louise Lawson (Tate)
• Ant Miller (BBC)
• Caroline Peach (BLPAC)
• Dave Thompson (Wellcome)
• Bram van der Werf (Open Planets Foundation)
• Paul Wheatley (Leeds University)
• Matthew Woollard (UK Data Archive)

How to Apply

Nominations closed on 1200 Friday 17th August 2012.

• Application Pack in Word 2010 Format
• Application Pack in PDF Format
• Application Pack in RTF Format

2010 Digital Preservation Award

The 2010 Digital Preservation Award

The Digital Preservation Award celebrates the excellence and innovation that will help to ensure our digital memory is available tomorrow.

The Digital Preservation Coalition sponsors the Digital Preservation Award, one of a set of awards which are collectively called the Conservation Awards. The Conservation Awards began in 1993 and their presentation is co-ordinated by a working party of the Institute for Conservation (ICON). There are five awards in total. The Digital Preservation Award has been run three times (2004, 2005 and 2007) Although based on the high level criteria of the Conservation Awards, the size of the community and the nature of the work it recognises means that the Digital Preservation Award is is distinctive in how it implements the criteria and eligibility. The award will be offered in 2010.

The Digital Preservation Award 2010 has been won by Old Dominion University and Los Alamos National Laboratory for the Memento Project.

The complete application pack is below for information only ... the deadline for sumissions passed at 1200 on 30th July 2010.

The Prize

The Digital Preservation Award consists of 4 elements: a cash prize (value to be confirmed but not less than £2,500); a bespoke glass trophy to be returned from the previous winner; a miniature of the trophy to be retained by the winner; a certificate which is retained by the winner. It is awarded to the nominee who, in the eyes of the judges, best demonstrates excellence and innovation that will help to ensure our digital memory is available tomorrow.

Scope: The judges will assume a broad definition of digital preservation: projects which describe themselves with specialist terms like ‘conservation’, ‘continuity’, ‘curation’, ‘legacy’, or ‘sustainability’ will be eligible so long as they can demonstrate that they are working towards ensuring our digital memory is accessible tomorrow.

Who can apply? The Digital Preservation Award is open to all. There is no restriction on public or private sector and there is no restriction to whether the nominee is a member of the DPC. Entries should be supported by senior management within your institution and nominations based on an external grant or commission should be supported by the grant giving agency or commissioning agent. Joint entries are welcome from individuals or teams working in the public or private sectors, though a single point of contact should be agreed. Small projects with modest outcomes are encouraged to apply: impact will be assessed in proportion to the total resource expended.

Where can you apply from: We seek entries from all around the world and impose no geographical restrictions. The judges are predominantly based in the UK and the DPC/ICON will be using UK media outlets to promote the event and communicate the results. So nominees should demonstrate an impact in the UK and should present their entries in terms that a UK audience will understand.

Is there a timeframe? The Digital Preservation Award is given for work that was completed between 31^st March 2007 and 31^st July 2010. Work may have begun at any date before 31^st March 2007.

What can we submit? Any work which has contributed to ensuring our digital memory is accessible tomorrow. By ‘work’ we mean any sustained and unified effort that provides discrete and definitive outcomes. This could include a one-off project, the development and delivery of innovative services or a single programme of work. Pilot projects and full scale projects can be submitted though applicants may wish to signal the relationship between them. Small projects with modest outcomes are encouraged to apply: impact will be assessed in proportion to the total resource expended.

What isn’t appropriate? Combinations of projects which happen to operate in the same sphere but which have no structural linkage should be avoided. Typically digitisation projects will not eligible unless they offer a specific deliverable that will improve long term access to the digital estate.

Judging Criteria

The Digital Preservation Award is awarded to the nominee who, in the eyes of the judges, best demonstrates excellence and innovation that will help to ensure our digital memory is available tomorrow.

Recognising the rapid development of this field, the judges do not wish the criteria to be restrictive. All nominations will be considered which meet the eligibility criteria. The judges will begin their assessment of applications against the ten criteria listed below which are derived from the criteria used in the Conservation Awards. Nominees should be aware that the judges will be free revise or weight these criteria as they see fit for the purposes of short-listing. Shortlisted nominees will be provided with a definitive set of criteria and weightings to assist their preparations for presentation to the judges:

1. Clarity of aims and objectives.
2. Effectiveness of the methodology used to achieve those aims.
3. Exemplary or innovative application of digital preservation tools or principles.
4. Impact of the work and its relevance and applicability to others.
5. Understanding of digital preservation issues and reference to existing body of knowledge.
6. Clarity and practicality of benefits that accrue.
7. Durability of contribution to the field.
8. Demonstrable effectiveness of resources and effort expended.
9. Significance of heritage preserved.
10. Assessment of quality by peers.*

*It is our hope to measure the ‘assessment of quality by peers’ through an online voting mechanism open to the membership of the DPC. This will occur after short-listing. Arrangements will be confirmed in due course.

Example submissions

The judges will welcome submissions in many different forms and do not want to discourage applicants. All are encouraged to apply no matter how large or small. The examples below are not intended to be proscriptive:

• an intervention which has secured a significant element of our digital heritage that might otherwise have been lost
• a publication which has advanced the theory, practice and understanding of digital preservation.
• a project which tested the theory of a particular digital preservation strategy.
• a tool, software application or standard which has helped the long-term storage of electronic objects.
• an innovative piece of thinking which has changed how we perceive digital preservation.
• a campaign which has raised public awareness of digital preservation issues.
• a programme of work which has provided targeted training and support.
• a new service that supports digital preservation.

Conditions of entry

1. The work must have been completed between 31st March 2007 and 31st July 2010.
2. Joint entries are accepted: all parties to a joint entry should support the nomination.
3. All nominees must complete the nomination form and submit this to the DPC by 12 noon on Friday 30th July 2010.
4. Nominees must be clearly identified with a clear point of contact. In the case of joint entries there must be a lead party.
5. The nominee must have been a lead contributor to the work being nominated.
6. The nominated work should demonstrate benefit for the UK, but may be carried out elsewhere.
7. Entries should be supported at senior management level within the nominee’s institution.
8. The DPC will reject any entry that does not meet the conditions of entry.
9. The decisions of the judges are final.
10. Nominees must not discuss their entries with judges after submission.
11. Nominations should comply with the wider conditions of entry of the Conservation Awards

Key dates

The following sets out key dates

• Late March 2010: Preliminary announcement, expressions of interest opens CLOSED
• 31st May 2010: awards open, application pack made available, list of judges and short biographies published. COMPLETED
• 1^st July 2010: second call for applications. CLOSED
• 14^th July 2010: final call for applications. CLOSED
• 30^th July 2010: awards close (12:00), applications received, checked for eligibility and distributed to judges. CLOSED
• Late August 2010: first meeting of judges. COMPLETED
• September 2010: online voting for shortlisted candidates*. COMPLETED
• Mid October 2010: online voting closes.* CLOSED
• 21^st October: second judges meeting with presentations from shortlisted candidate.
• 1st December 2010: awards ceremony in London (after DPC AGM / Board meeting)

Judges

• Kevin Ashley, Director, Digital Curation Centre
• Adrian Brown, Assistant Clerk of the Record, Parliamentary Archives
• William Kilbride, Executive Director, Digital Preservation Coalition
• Pip Laurenson, Head of Time-based Media Conservation, Tate
• Zoe Lock, Lead Technologist for ICT, the Technology Strategy Board
• Eefke Smit, Director for Standards and Technology, Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers
• Dave Thompson, Digital Curator, The Wellcome Library
• Matthew Woollard, Director Designate, the UK Data Archive
• Richard Wright, Senior Research Engineer, BBC

What to do now?

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

• DPA2010 - application pack in Word format
• DPA 2010 - application pack in Rich Text Format
• DPA 2010 - application pack in Portable Document Format
• DPA 2010 - application pack in Open Document Format

2004 Digital Preservation Award

The first Digital Preservation award was opened in 2003 and was announced in 2004.  The award was won by The National Archives for their 'Digital Archive' project and a special commendation was awarded to the Universities of Leeds and Michigan for the 'CAMiLEON' project.

• 2004 DP Award Press Releases
• 2004 Judging Panel
• 2004 Shortlist
• 2004 Awards Ceremony

The DPC celebrates those people and organisations that have made a significant contribution to ensuring that we can have long term access to digital data. The threats to the digital estate are distinctive therefore the tools and processes of traditional archiving and conservation are not sufficient to ensuring ongoing access.  Therefore in 2004 the DPC established and sponsored a prize under the Conservation Awards to mark an outstanding contributuion to this challenging and new field. Because the award is embedded within the Conservation Awards it is offered approximately every two years.

A carefully selected group of expert judges review a series of projects and services which have been completed since the close of the previous award and which have been proposed by the community.  They create a short list of nominees who are interviewed about their work and then select the project which they think deserves particular attention.  The winners are announced at a specially convened gala ceremony. The winners receive a trophy a certificate and a cash prize.

• Digital Preservation Awards 2012 - Winners announced! 
  

• Digital Preservation Award 2010 - won by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Old Dominion University for the Memento Project.
• Digital Preservation Award 2007 - won by The National Archives for the PRONOM and DROID projects
• Digital Preservation Award 2005 - won by the PREMIS Working Group for their work on preservation metdata
• Digital Preservation Award 2004 - won by The National Archives for their Digital Archive project, with a special commendation for the staff of the CAMiLEON Project at the Universities of Michigan and Leeds