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Reflections on my first IIPC WAC, Paris 2024

Ndahambelela Hertha Iipinge

Ndahambelela Hertha Iipinge

Last updated on 18 July 2024

Ndahambelela Hertha Iipinge is Associate Archivist at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. She attended the IIPC Web Archiving Conference with support from the DPC Career Development Fund, which is funded by DPC Supporters.


Since August 2023, I have been working as an associate archivist in the digital preservation team at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. My role includes managing the UNHCR Web Archive, where my responsibilities include curating and capturing essential content. I work closely with UNHCR websites owners, social media team and the Records and Archives Section Web Archiving Working Group, notifying them about scheduled website crawls to ensure content selection and inclusion. The role is crucial in maintaining optimal performance, data integrity and that the process runs smoothly and without undue strain on servers.

I also work closely with UNHCR’s web archiving service provider to oversee the crawling of our websites and social media platforms, safeguarding the online digital web legacy of UNHCR’s global efforts.

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An Introduction to Disentangling Digital Preservation Risk with CHARM

Michael Popham

Michael Popham

Last updated on 11 July 2024

Friday 5th July saw the last #DPClinic session before we take an extended break over the (northern-hemisphere) summer. The speaker was Dr Maureen Pennock (Head of Digital Collection Management at the British Library) who presented an overview of her recent work to develop the CHARM reference model for digital preservation risk, as part of her PhD thesis at the University of Dundee

The research question that Maureen set out to address was: “How can the nature and complexity of digital preservation risk be more thoroughly and consistently represented so as to support the foundations for a more flexible yet comprehensive preservation planning risk response?”. Inspired by risk science, CHARM offers a new perspective on digital preservation risk that distinguishes between the conceptualisation of risk and its subsequent characterisation or measurement.  It can be used to help produce scenario-based and holistic risk assessments that incorporate different types of characterised risks, rather than focusing on one type alone.

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Advocacy never ends… but where does it begin?

Lena Böse

Lena Böse

Last updated on 28 June 2024

Lena Böse is a student at University College Dublin 


At last month’s DPC Unconference in Dublin, participants voted to have one of the spontaneous DPC member-led sessions focus on advocacy. When an Unconference participant shared their experience of institutional data loss and neglect, the group for this session came together as a supportive sounding board: They shared their own experiences openly and offered suggestions on how to overcome adversity in institutions and organizations to get the resources, time, and recognition required to successfully preserve digital material.

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Let’s blog about FRED (part 2)

Jenny Mitcham

Jenny Mitcham

Last updated on 20 June 2024

Yesterday afternoon we ran session 2 of ‘Let’s talk about FRED’. Read all about session 1 in my previous blog post here. Session 2 was a Members-only ‘show and tell’ about FRED, and we were lucky to be able to hear case studies from three Members on how they are using their FRED forensics workstations.

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DP and Artificial Intelligence - A Four Point Plan

William Kilbride

William Kilbride

Last updated on 21 June 2024

In June 2024 I was invited to give an opening keynote on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Preservation to a workshop of around 200 librarians organized by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), sponsored by the IFLA Information Technology Section, the IFLA IT Special Interest Group in Artificial Intelligence and IFLA Preservation and Conservation Section.  The workshop had the theme ‘AI and the future of digital preservation’ and my own presentation was followed by a series of case studies:

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Let’s blog about FRED (part 1)

Jenny Mitcham

Jenny Mitcham

Last updated on 18 June 2024

This morning the DPC hosted session one of  ‘Let’s talk about FRED: Experiences with the FRED Forensic Workstation’

As noted in the event preamble, this event was born on the back of a conversation amongst DPC Members on the DPC mailing list. Someone had asked a question about how other organizations use the FRED Forensics Workstation as they were thinking of trying to make the case to get one for their own digital preservation activities. The friendly and helpful replies included information about FRED use at a variety of organizations along with a call to have a FRED ‘show and tell’ session for Members to discuss this further. As the DPC is guided and driven by our members, it seemed only right to try and provide this opportunity, and with generous offers to speak, we quickly had a full programme.

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DPC Unconference 2024 Hosted by the DRI

Áine Madden

Áine Madden

Last updated on 17 June 2024

Every year, the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) invites member organisations from around the world to gather together for the DPC Unconference, where professionals working in the digital preservation sector get to set the agenda and lead sessions on topics related to their area of work. This event is for DPC Members only, and is designed to privilege operational staff working directly on digital preservation. This in-person networking event provides a fantastic opportunity for the digital preservation community to share expertise and experiences and to work together to bring about a sustainable future for our shared digital cultural heritage.

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Upholding Research Integrity in Preservation and Archiving

Gali Halevi

Gali Halevi

Last updated on 17 June 2024

Gali Halevi is Collection Director at CLOCKSS


This blog post was originally published on the CLOCKSS website 

In the dynamic world of academic publishing, maintaining the integrity of research is absolutely crucial. These journals bear the weighty responsibility of upholding the principles of research integrity and appropriate scholarly conduct.

However, in recent times, a troubling trend has emerged. Predatory journals and paper mills have begun to proliferate, casting a shadow over the sanctity of academic research. Alongside this surge, there has been a disconcerting increase in the number of retracted articles, revealing cracks in the foundation of research integrity.

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Reflections on connections: the DPC Unconference in Dublin

Niamh Murphy

Niamh Murphy

Last updated on 5 June 2024

Niamh Murphy is Digital Preservation Librarian at the James Joyce Library, University College Dublin


Attending the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Unconference last week, alongside our Digital Library Manager, Audrey Drohan, was an incredibly fulfilling experience. I am filled with immense gratitude and pride as I reflect on the event. Gratitude for being part of such a wonderful and inspiring community, and pride in the meaningful work that we all do.

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The First Digital Preservation Publications Index Is Now Available

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Last updated on 1 May 2024

The first prototype service from the Registries of Good Practice Project is now available, here: https://www.digipres.org/publications/

This first experiment has focussed on bringing together the proceedings of the iPRES Conference series. We're hoping this will make it much easier to find and build on the digital preservation research and practice from the twenty-year history of iPRES.

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