DPASSH Conference 2026 (Digital Preservation for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences)
Ready, Set, Preserve! Making Space for Play in Digital Preservation
in Belfast, Northern/Ireland
DPASSH (Digital Preservation for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) is a biennial event by the Digital Repository of Ireland.The conference seeks to address the complexities of long-term digital preservation in the social and cultural sectors and provide a platform for early career researchers, academics, scholars, cultural heritage and research institutions, as well as libraries, archives and industry to engage with the domain and exchange ideas.
At DPASSH 2026, the concept of ‘play’ is used to encourage connections between digital preservation professionals with a range of backgrounds and skills, such as software developers, collections managers, curators, educators, researchers, citizen scientists, arts and business professionals.
We particularly welcome submissions that reflect playful and creative approaches to the day-to-day work of digital preservation and which are not afraid to demonstrate the lessons that can be learned from failure. Our theme also subtly points to challenges inherent in certain media types that need to be ‘played’ to be useful (like games, VR, AV, etc.) and the importance of collaboration to successful gameplay (e.g. multi-player games & team sports).
We invite the submission of posters, presentations, and workshops on any topic related to the theme of play, such as:
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Collaborative approaches to digital preservation Issues in media and videogame preservation
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Equity and inclusion in digital preservation work
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Taking a chance with new tools or workflows
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Making connections in unexpected places
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Adapting to changing policies and responsibilities
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Creative reuse of digital collections
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The role of AI in digital preservation
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and more!
Submit your proposal by 7 January 2026 at the following link.