DPC Reading Club - Emergency Curation

Check your local time for the event here. [3am UTC/1pm AEST/11am SGT/3pm NZST]

Our DPC Reading Club in June 2026 will be hosted by our Head of Australasia and Asia-Pacific, Robin Wright. The paper we will be reading and discussing this month is 'Emergency curation as anticipatory maintenance: Lessons from the 2016/2017 data rescue movement' by Laura Rothfritz. This article examines how volunteers involved in the Data Rescue movement navigated concerns about the stability and stewardship of federal environmental data following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This paper offers a critical perspective on data stewardship in times of political uncertainty and there will undoubtedly be interesting themes to explore in our Reading Club session, including trust and the limitations encountered of volunteer-driven infrastructures. We are looking forward to discussing this with you!

Laura Rothfritz (2026), Emergency curation as anticipatory maintenance: Lessons from the 2016/2017 data rescue movement, Big Data and Society, February 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517261421482

When reading the article, have a think about the following questions which we will discuss together:

• What did you learn from the article? Was it an interesting read?

• Was there anything that surprised you in the article …or was there perhaps something that you disagreed with?

• Do you think you will do anything differently as a result of reading this article - does it change your practices or thinking in any way?

• Is there anything we should do as a community or the DPC could help with?

Any other observations or discussion points also welcome!

More information about Reading Club (and a reading list so you can catch up on anything you've missed) can be found here.

Registration

This will be a small and informal event for DPC Members only and places are limited. Sign up now to secure your place! We only ask that you have done the reading that has been set before the event and bring along your thoughts and observations to share.

Places for DPC members will be restricted to five places for full members and one place for associates on a first come, first served basis. If you find you are no longer able to attend, please let us know in advance so we can free up your space to those on the waiting list.

DPC Members, please log in to register.

If you are having any issues registering, please contact eleanor.oleary@dpconline.org 

DPC Inclusion & Diversity Policy

The DPC Community is guided by the values set out in our Strategic Plan and aims to be respectful, welcoming, inclusive and transparent. We encourage diversity in all its forms and are committed to being accessible to everyone who wishes to engage with the topic of digital preservation, whilst remaining technology and vendor neutral. We ask all those who are part of this community to be positive, accepting, and sensitive to the needs and feelings of others in alignment with our DPC Inclusion & Diversity Policy.