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Nominate at-risk digital materials now!
The Bit List remains open for nominations year round
NOMINATE AT-RISK DIGITAL MATERIALS
If you are unable to access the Google form to nominate your at-risk digital materials or you would like to prepare your information in advance,
please download and complete the Excel version of the form.
Completed Excel forms may be sent to Sarah Middleton.
The DPC's 'Bit List' of Digitally Endangered Species is a crowd-sourcing exercise to discover which digital materials our community thinks are most at risk, as well as those which are relatively safe thanks to digital preservation. By compiling and maintaining this list over the coming years, the DPC aims to celebrate great digital preservation endeavors as entries become less of a ‘concern,’ whilst still highlighting the need for efforts to safeguard those still considered ‘critically endangered.’
- Access the full text the the Revised Bitlist List Report for 2020
- (see also the text of the BitList Report for 2019, now superceded)
Click on each of the risk classifications to see the entries for each category, browse the Bit List by digital species or click each entry for the full report:
Risk Classifications
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LOWER RISK
Digital materials are listed as Lower Risk when it does not meet the requirements for other categories but where there is a distinct preservation requirement. Failure or removal of the preservation function would result in re-classification to one of the threatened categories.
There are no entries classified as Lower Risk in this edition of the BitList.
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VULNERABLE
Digital materials are listed as Vulnerable when the technical challenges to preservation are modest but responsibility for care is poorly understood, or where the responsible agencies are not meeting preservation needs. This classification includes Lower Risk materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
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ENDANGERED
Digital materials are listed Endangered when they face material technical challenges to preservation or responsibility for care is poorly understood, or where the responsible agencies are poorly equipped to meet preservation needs. This classification includes Vulnerable materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
3D Digital Engineering DrawingsBorn Digital Photographs and Video shared via Social Media or Uploaded to Cloud Services
Completed investigations based on open source intelligence sources
Consumer cloud-based utilities
Consumer social media free at the point of use
Contractual Documents and Related Records
Corporate Records of Long Duration on Network Drives,
Intranets and EDRMSCurrent Portable Magnetic Media
Current Portable Optical Media
Current Portable Solid-State Media
Digital materials in museums and galleries
Digitally published sheet music
Digital music and ephemera shared on social media
Electronic hospital and medical records
Massively Multiple Online Gaming Platforms and
ExperiencesMaster Digital Music and Sound Recordings
Premium or institutional social media services
Pre-Production TV and Movie Materials
Proceedings and Evidence in Court
Recordings of video game play uploaded to online platforms
Records of Quasi Non-Governmental Agencies
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CRITICALLY
ENDANGERED
Digital materials are listed Critically Endangered when they face material technical challenges to preservation, there are no agencies responsible for them or those agencies are unwilling or unable to meet preservation needs. This classification includes Endangered materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
Adobe Flash animations and interactive applets
Born Digital Images Held Offline on Portable Storage Devices
Community generated content in arts and heritage
Correspondence and records of research
Data posted to defunct or little-used social
media platformsDigital Archives from Public Enquiries and Commissions
Digital archives of community groups
Digital Archives of music production
Digital Evidence and records of investigation prior to court
Legacy research web collections
Maritime Archaeological Archives
Media Art by deceased artists or defunct workshops
Non-current Hard Disk Technologies
Non-current Portable Magnetic Media
Non-current Portable Optical Media
Non-current Portable Solid State Media
Old or non-current video games
Open source intelligence sources of current conflicts
Records of Non-Governmental Agencies
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PRACTICALLY
EXTINCT
Digital materials are listed as Practically Extinct when the few known examples are inaccessible by most practical means and methods. This classification includes Critically Endangered materials in the presence of aggravating conditions.
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CONCERN
Digital materials are listed as of Concern when an active member of the digital preservation community has expressed a legitimate concern but the concern has not yet been assessed by the BitList jury. They will be assessed for inclusion in the subsequent year.
There are no entries classified as Of Concern in this edition of the BitList.
Download the BitList 2019 Poster