DPC

The last DPC staff meeting ended somewhat surprisingly with a number of late night poetry recitals.  In honour of that unexpected turn I am going to start this post in the company of Walt Whitman:

Dave Heelas is the Archivist and Records Manager for Unilever Art, Archives & Records Management

I have been in my role as an Archivist and Records Manager here at Unilever Art, Archives & Records Management (UAARM) for three months now, the focus of my role is to lead on the Digital and Audio Visual collections. We are taking stock of our current digital preservation practices and in order to determine what challenges we may encounter in the future and how we can develop our current approach to digital preservation.

The Legal Possibilities for Software Preservation Miniseries builds on the Software Preservation Webinar Series  that ran from April 23 - May 30, 2018. This miniseries explores the legal challenges associated with preservation, sharing and reuse of software. Guests discuss their current advocacy work and next steps for legal strategy around software preservation. 

The Miniseries and the Software Preservation Webinar Series are both jointly hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Software Preservation Network.

Episode 6: Overview of Current Trends and Their Legal Implications

Research Lead and Facilitator:  Jessica Meyerson (Educopia Institute)

Guests:

• Andrew Charlesworth (University of Bristol)
• Brandon Butler (University of Virginia)
• Kendra Albert (Harvard University)

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe the relevant legal considerations when discussing software preservation and reuse in a research context.
2. Describe your work in this area – who you are working with and your methods for understanding the current state of the field.
3. What can digital preservation practitioners do in order to ensure that software dependency concerns are heard and taken in toconsideration by law/policy makers?

Watch the webinar recording

(Runtime 58 mins)

Read the Chat from the webinar: Episode 6

Supplementary Resources

Websites & Blogs

United States Legal Context:

• Albert, Kendra. (2016). The Angry Birds in the Coal Mine . RIT MAGIC Invited Speaker Series, March 3rd, 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB0hPZUMc1o&feature=youtu.be
• Intellectual Property Rights Issues for Software Emulation: An Interview with Euan Cochrane, Zach Vowell, and Jessica Meyerson, by Morgan McKeehan, The Signal, January 22, 2016
• The United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1201 Rulemaking  (exemption to break technological protection measures in the service of software preservation)
  • Copyright.gov/1201 – the U.S. Copyright Office homepage for the 1201 process for 2018
  • Software Preservation Network/Library Copyright Alliance Petition, Comments, and Reply Comments (see Class 9) in support of an exemption for software preservation
  • Software Preservation Network 1201 Additional Comments in support of Society of American Archivists “all lawful uses” proposal.
• Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Software Preservation: Association for Research Libraries project landing page
• The Copyright Permissions Culture in Software Preservation and Its Implications for the Cultural Record—Best Practices Phase 1 Report
• How Is an App Like a Player Piano? And Does That Help the Fair Use Case for Software Preservation?—Brandon Butler, The Taper blog
• What’s Eating Software—Brandon Butler, The Taper blog
• Digital Preservation and Copyright, by Peter Hirtle

Canadian Legal Context

• Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU) Statutory Review of the Copyright Act: http://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/INDU/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=9897131,
• Link to submitted brief requesting an exception for circumventing technical protection measures (currently being translated to French): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PHQrINvwSeEao_rOEVmWjdCxsBid4UVxlIk5eI5jn7w/edit?usp=sharing

Articles & Reports

United Kingdom Legal Context

• Charlesworth, Andrew. (2012) Intellectual Property Rights for Digital Preservation: DPC Technology Watch Report 12-02 2012, https://www.dpconline.org/docs/technology-watch-reports/796-dpctw12-02/file
• Kemper, Jakko; Kolkman, Daan. (2018) Transparent to whom? No algorithmic accountability without a critical audience, Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2018.1477967
• Rowland, D., Kohl, U. & Charlesworth, A. (2016) Information Technology Law. 1 Aug 2016 5th ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Schafer, Burkhard; Edwards, Lilian. (2017). ‘“I spy, with my little sensor”: Fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security’, Connection science, Vol 29, pp 200-209
• Schafer, Burkhard; Komuves, David; Zatarain, Jesus Niebla. Diver, Laurence. (2015).  ‘A fourth law of robotics?: Copyright and the law and ethics of machine co-production’, Artificial Intelligence and Law, Vol 23, pp 217-240
• Schafer, Burkhard. (2015). ‘D-waste: Data disposal as challenge for waste management in the Internet of Things’, International Review for Information Ethics, Vol 22, pp 100-106

United States Legal Context

• Whitt, Richard S. (2017).  ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’ — Technical, Policy, and Financial Actions to Avert the Coming Digital Dark Ages. Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2016. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2742388

Ongoing Discussion

Add your thoughts and comments below...

The DPC invites you to join a briefing on repository migration: from choosing an application with a robust exit strategy to extracting valuable data from legacy systems. The day will feature speakers from various institutions, as well as demonstrations by a selection of repository vendors. In the afternoon, participants will join in a workshop session to explore and exchange approaches with other practitioners.

Description

Digital repositories are a safe place to hold our endangered digital assets. They help us manage our content effectively and keep it for the long term.

Or do they?

Like all other data and all other software, digital repository applications have a finite lifespan. So what does it mean to migrate from one repository to another? What are the pitfalls? What are the lessons learned from our community? And when do we need to start preparing for this potentially traumatic repository migration? (Hint: we should already have started).

Some of us at the frontier of the digital preservation community established digital repositories some time ago. Many of these applications are beginning to reach the end of life. Large scale repository migrations are imminent.

Those who have joined the community more recently have been able to take advantage of the growing market in repository applications but are typically facing the challenge of migrating data from other legacy content management systems.

Those coming more recently to the table, and looking to establish a digital repository, already need to be thinking about a smooth exit strategy, even if it might be a decade away. This seemingly niche topic has the potential to be critical for all of us.

This event will explore a number of perspectives on the repository migration problem. We'll learn from those with experience of performing significant migrations. We'll engage with our repository vendors, discuss our requirements and consider how repository applications can best meet them.

We'll sound out different approaches to getting important data out of legacy repositories and management systems. And we'll examine what we need to do across the lifecycle of a repository to ease the transition during its last days.

This topic touches on technology, metadata, standards, process, and perhaps most importantly, how our staff negotiate this potential minefield of repository transition.

Participants at the workshop will:

• Learn about the experiences of other institutions who have gone through the procurement process for a new repository system
• Learn about the experiences of other institutions who have tackled the challenge of gathering information about legacy systems and the content held in them
• Learn about how the open source repository community is preparing for major software upgrades
• Compare the exit strategies / features of the repository applications offered by market leading vendors
• Engage with other participants and speakers through a practical exercise discussing strategies for repository migration

Who should come?

This workshop will interest:

• Archivists, librarians, curators or data managers with digital collections
• Digital preservation specialists and repository managers
• Chief information officers or chief technology officers of agencies with needs for long-term data retention
• Information professionals interested in new developments in digital preservation and community engagement
• IT professionals with a focus on digital preservation

Programme

10.00 Registration, Tea & Coffee

10.30 Welcome

10.40 Chris Fryer, Parliamentary Archives

11.00 Adele Tamar, Parliamentary Archives

11.20 Edith Halvarsson & James Mooney, Bodleian

11.50 Matthew Addis, Arkivum

12.10 Jon Tilbury, Preservica

12.30 Erin Tripp, Duraspace

13.15 Lunch

1400 Tom Storrar, The National Archives UK

14.20 Alex Green, The National Archives UK

14.30 Introduction to Practical Workshop

14.40 Practical Workshop in Breakout Groups (Tea & Coffee served)

15.40 Feedback and discussion

16.30 Close

Follow the event on Twitter using #dpcrepo18

DPC Members and Supporters please login to watch the recordings

How to register?

Places are strictly limited and should be booked in advance. Registration will close one week before the event and early booking is recommended as we expect these events will be popular. Registration is free for DPC members and £275 for non-members.

There is a limit of 3 places per member (incl. consortia and membership organisations) and these will be available on a 'first come, first served' basis. Additional registrations will be accepted but will be placed on the wait list until registration closes a week before the event, at which time they will be distributed equally amongst members. To check if your organisation qualifies for free attendance, please check the DPC Member List. If you have any questions about registration please contact Sara Day Thomson (sara.thomson[at]dpconline.org).

The briefing days usually fill up quickly, so early registration is recommended. DPC members can claim their free place by entering the promotional code DPCMEMBER. Cancellations will be accepted until one week before the event, a 'no show' fee of £275 will be charged for those who cancel after this time.

Can't make it in person?

Parts of this event will be broadcast live on the day and recordings shared on the DPC website page for Members (login required).

Jon Tilbury is the Founder and CTO of Preservica

You may have seen the announcement this week about a joint project funded by Jisc and combing the research efforts of Arkivum, Archivematica, Preservica and the Open Preservation Foundation to share information on digital preservation best practice. As part of this new team I am happy to share my thoughts on how it came about and where it could lead to. This could be the start of a new era in collaborative research between all the innovators in digital preservation and could deliver two very important benefits – to make digital preservation better and to make it easier.

Having worked in Digital Preservation for approaching 20 years it is one of my personal frustrations that many islands of best practice are isolated from each other and shared only through local groups, at conferences and within certain product communities. Many never get further than the originating institution despite the creativity and detailed research that has gone into them. This is ironic as the community is largely non-competitive and is happy to learn from each other but lacks an efficient mechanism to do so. At several PASIG talks I urged for more collaboration between all the players in this field.

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) will host the International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPres) in Glasgow in 2022.

https://ipres2022.scot/

The iPres conference is a global forum for research and development in digital preservation.  Held every year since 2004 it has been held on four continents, embracing a variety of topics in digital preservation from strategy to implementation, and from international and local initiatives.  It welcomes small organizations and large; established leaders and new entrants. Year on year the debate and research profiled at iPres have moved digital preservation from a niche specialism of experts to a global challenge with the community to match.

The DPC is long-standing part of the digital preservation community around the world, helping to address the challenge of reliable access to digital resources from its base in Glasgow, and the Coalition’s network will be used to good effect. Representing and working on behalf of the diverse and dynamic digital preservation community around the world, the DPC will draw from the expertise of its membership, as well as lessons learned in community engagement, administration and the dissemination of research, to deliver a world-class program on the state of the art in digital preservation for all parts of the community from creators, curators, funders, researchers, solution providers and users.

Following ‘Connecting the Bits’ DPC Member Unconference, this episode will be concluded with a wrap up and summary from the DPC team who will outline a plan of member events, activities, publications and work for the coming year. Members will be invited to make further suggestions and recommendations, before the plan is published as the DPC Prospectus for 2018-2019.

Watch the Recording

Following the inaugural Digital Preservation Futures Community Forum, and based on the emerging themes, trends and priorities identified at the event, this episode will gather together representatives from each of our Supporters again to hear their plans for the coming year in response to these discussions. Members will be invited to ask further questions about how these solutions might meet their particular needs and upcoming challenges.

Members and Supporters please login to watch recording

Rachel MacGregor is the Digital Archivist at Lancaster University

We are members of the Digital Preservation Coalition which is a members organisation which exists to secure our digital legacy. Members include businesses, HE institutions, funding bodies, national heritage and cultural organisations and are drawn from every continent.

Last week all members were invited to the annual un-conference where we come together not only to share experiences and network but also to help set the Digital Preservation Coalition’s training and development agenda for the year ahead. The ideas is that members have the opportunity to raise the issues which really matter to them and then discuss how the DPC can take action to move forward on these issues.

Connecting the Bits is a day-long networking and planning event designed to help members keep in touch with each other and with the state of the art in digital preservation. This year we're taking over the Glasgow University Library for an "unconference style" day of knowledge exchange and strategic planning.

As usual we’ll be opening the floor to our members. The agenda will be generated by participants in the morning, then delivered in the afternoon. This format privileges debate and discussion, and it ensures that anyone with a burning issue or success story has a chance to share it. Because members set the agenda, it provides a unique opportunity to steer the Coalition's programme for the coming year.

The event is only open to members, so participants can speak candidly and openly about successes, failures, plans and threats. With the continuing momentum of a growing membership we've every reason to expect that 'Connecting the Bits' 2018 will be another great opportunity to build an ever-stronger platform for co-operation and collaboration between participants.

Full members may register up to 3 delegates and are asked to prepare a 3 minute presentation on 3 key topics:

• 1 recent success story from their organisation,
• 1 key digital preservation challenge likely to surface in the next 5 years, and
• 1 notable example of upcoming work (which may or may not be affected by that challenge).

Associate Members may register one delegate for the event, adding others to a waiting list which will be allocated a week before.

Tea, coffee and lunch will be provided. That is part of the purpose. There will be a remarkable concentration of digital preservation expertise at 'Connecting the Bits' and we fully expect that a great deal of useful business will be conducted informally at lunchtime and over coffee breaks. There will be opportunities for small groups to assemble and evolve through the day. We expect that products will be reviewed and debunked; projects will be imagined and designed; professional relationships established and renewed; practical know-how will be shared; strategic alignment will be enabled: all informally and all by virtue of having the right people in the right place at the same time.

If that's not enough, for the first time we’ll be holding ‘Digital Preservation Futures’  a new annual community forum which will bring together members and Commercial Supporters to build on the themes explored during Connecting the Bits, and brainstorm how to manage some of the challenges on the horizon.

Who is the event for?

'Connecting the Bits' is designed to privilege operational staff working directly on digital preservation. We are particularly keen to hear from three groups: junior staff recently appointed and looking for opportunities to build their professional networks; new entrants to digital preservation seeking to apply professional know-how to this new field; and experienced practitioners who might not normally attend the DPC Board but have clear insights into the challenges of digital preservation in their own institutions and are well placed to steer the DPC's practical programme. Senior staff, researchers and students are also welcome, though it's the practical know how that will be most prominent.

There will be a mechanism for those who are unable to attend in person to contribute to the discussion.

Program

• 10.00 - Registration opens, followed by prompt 10.30 start
• 10.30 - Agenda setting, opening presentations (webcast for members only)
• 11.30 - Coffee and networking
• 12.00 - First Break out session
• 13.00 - Lunch and networking
• 14.00 - Second Break out session
• 15.00 - Feedback from break out sessions and round up
• 16.00 - Close

Missed it?

There are a number of ways for members to engage remotely:

• Watch/participate in the Digital Preservation Futures webinar mini-series
• Tell us about your requirements and priorities for the Digital Preservation Future, by completing this VERY short survey.

DPC Members please login to watch the recording

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