DPC

On the 25th of April this year (2018) the European Commission released its Recommendation on access to and preservation of scientific information Brussels, 25.4.2018 C(2018) 2375 final (author resists temptation of side-rant on ISO standard date formats). This work by Mariya Gabriel and Carlos Moedas replaces that by Neelie Kroes (then Commission Vice-President) back in 2012. This revision ”recognises that big data and high-performance computing are changing the way research is performed and knowledge is shared, as part of a transition towards a more efficient and responsive open science". This is particularly timely as the UK Data Service is working with international colleagues on the SERISS project to consider the legal, ethical, quality and archival practice implications of  'new and novel' forms of  big data. 

The paper is not long and it's pretty comprehensible, so you may wish to skip these whimsical musings and got straight to the real thing.

The Software Preservation Webinar Series provides a survey of software preservation contexts. Each episode explores a different software preservation context by providing an overview, discussion with guest speakers (specialists in digital preservation, software studies, scholarly communication, open source software and more) and open discussion with attendees.

The webinar series is jointly hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Software Preservation Network.

EPISODE 5: Scaling Software Preservation and Emulation

This episode explores current programmatic and project based initiatives to create the processes and infrastructure that will support a growing number of software (re)use cases/organizational users. Our first use case highlights challenges and opportunities associated with scaling an institutional software preservation program. Our second use case highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with scaling software preservation across institutions.

Research Lead and Facilitator:  

• Paul Wheatley (Digital Preservation Coalition)

Guests

• Euan Cochrane (Yale University)
• Maureen Pennock (British Library)
• Klaus Rechert (OpenSLX and University of Freiburg)

Discussion Questions:

1. Define scale in the context of your project. How is scale different from growth?
2. Are there aspects of software preservation that are not in scope for your project or program to tackle, but are nevertheless crucial to the long-term success of your project or programmatic goals?

Sharing experiences and perspectives is critical to understanding the hurdles in software preservation, to imagining future use of software-dependent data, and to forming a mutual understanding of where collective action is necessary to facilitate those future uses so we hope you will join the discussion.

The webinar series is free to attend and open to all.  

Watch the webinar recording

(Runtime 54 mins)

  Read the Chat from the webinar: Episode 5

Supplementary Resources

Websites & Blogs

Emulation as a Service (EaaS) at Yale University Library:
https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2014/08/emulation-as-a-service-eaas-at-yale-university-library/

Example of emulated content at Yale University Library
https://twitter.com/euanc/status/998599100311490562

Scaling Emulation as a Service Infrastructure Project
http://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/eaasi/

Articles, Reports & Presentations

ARL Best Practices for Fair Use in Software Preservation
http://www.arl.org/focus-areas/copyright-ip/fair-use/code-of-best-practices-in-fair-use-for-software-preservation

Cochrane, E. (2013). “Rendering Matters.” Archives New Zealand.
https://web.archive.org/web/20130218111126/http:/archives.govt.nz/rendering-matters-report-results-research-digital-object-rendering
and examples from the report:
http://archives.govt.nz/resources/information-management-research/rendering-matters-report-results-research-digital-object-0

Day, M., Pennock, M., May, P., Davies, K., Whibley, S., Kimura, A., Halvarsson, E. (2016). “The preservation of disk-based content at the British Library – Lessons from the Flashback project.” http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0955749016669775

“Integrated Preservation Suite” in the 2017-2020 BL Digital Preservation Strategy: https://www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/collectioncare/digitalpreservation/strategy/BL_DigitalPreservationStrategy_2017-2020.pdf

Interview with Dirk von Suchodoletz about PLANETS and Emulation: https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2012/12/the-foundations-of-emulation-as-a-service-an-interview-with-dirk-von-suchodoletz-part-one/

Rechert, K., Liebetraut, T., Stobbe, O., Lubetzki, N., Steinke, T. (2017).
“Integrating emulation into library reading rooms”
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0955749017725427?journalCode=alaa

Rosenthal, D. (2016). Emulation & Virtualization as Preservation Strategies:
https://mellon.org/media/filer_public/0c/3e/0c3eee7d-4166-4ba6-a767-6b42e6a1c2a7/rosenthal-emulation-2015.pdf

Scott, J. (2017) “20 Minutes into the Emulation Future.” Created for the Digital Preservation Coalition Halcyon and On Emulation Summit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuIOJD2xbjY&t=1s 

Ongoing Discussion

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In May 2018 I was invited to participate in a workshop entitled ‘The Challenges of Managing Digital Information for Measuring the Sustainable Development Goals’ with a brief to discuss ‘Fostering National and International Collaboration in Preserving and Reusing Digital Information’.  This blog post is the manuscript for that presentation. The workshop organisers intend to publish the outcomes of the workshop so the text is presented here as an early draft to encourage comment, criticism or addition.

In this short paper I want to talk about the opportunities and the challenges of collaboration in digital preservation. In particular I will draw on the experience of the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), an agency which will be familiar to some of you. I want to reflect on some of the successes we have achieved and barriers we have faced over the years and how we have overcome them, or not as the case may be.  I will also project a little to the future, recognising that the collaboration possible through organizations like the DPC cannot be static.  I also want to question in a slightly more light-hearted but hopefully insightful way why the DPC is still here and why we have not all been able to get back to our day jobs.

The Software Preservation Webinar Series provides a survey of software preservation contexts. Each episode explores a different software preservation context by providing an overview, discussion with guest speakers (specialists in digital preservation, software studies, scholarly communication, open source software and more) and open discussion with attendees.

The webinar series is jointly hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Software Preservation Network.

EPISODE 4: Software in Digital/Scholarly Communications

This episode provides an overview of scholarly communication practices as they relate to software preservation and citation within contemporary scholarly research methods. Attention is paid to evolving and changing practices in a variety of institutional settings (e.g. post-secondary institutions, GLAMs, nonprofits), and to the need for disciplinary responsiveness in publication and citation practices.

Research Lead and Facilitator:  

• Elizabeth Parke (McGill University)

Guests:

• James Howison (University of Texas at Austin)
• Veronica Ikeshoji-Orlati (Vanderbilt University)
• Neil Chue Hong (Software Sustinability Institute)

Discussion Questions:

1. Where (and when) can software preservation discussions enter into the research process? Especially in terms of disciplines such as the humanities where issues of software creation, preservation, and emulation are in the initial stages of development.

2. What role can training take in order to facilitate scholarly communication practices within and beyond institutional boundaries? E.g. outward facing blogs as well as internal communication re. Best practices, workflows etc.

3. What teams/groups should be involved in discussions of software in digital/scholarly communications? How can SPN or other collectives work to build strong networks?

4. Where do you see software in digital/scholarly communications in the next 5 years? 10 years?

Sharing experiences and perspectives is critical to understanding the hurdles in software preservation, to imagining future use of software-dependent data, and to forming a mutual understanding of where collective action is necessary to facilitate those future uses so we hope you will join the discussion.

The webinar series is free to attend and open to all.  

Watch the webinar recording

(Runtime 57 mins)

Read the Chat from the webinar: Episode 4

Supplementary Resources

Websites & Blogs

• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Scholarly Communications Program: https://sloan.org/programs/digital-technology/scholarly-communication
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Scholarly Communications Program: https://mellon.org/programs/scholarly-communications/
• Bucknell’s Digital Scholarship Workflow: http://dsc.bucknell.edu/files/2016/08/Digital_Scholarship-Flowchart_ver3.pdf
• CiteAs: https://github.com/Impactstory/citeas-api/
• “Climategate” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy
• Developers and researchers on cross-functional teams that use digital collections: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/2015/06/bl-labs-competition-winners-for-2015.html#  
• FLOSS mole: https://flossmole.org/
• FORCE11 Software Citation Implementation Group https://www.force11.org/group/software-citation-implementation-working-group
• Haters Gonna Hate - why you shouldn't be ashamed of releasing your code https://www.software.ac.uk/blog/2016-10-06-haters-gonna-hate-why-you-shouldnt-be-ashamed-releasing-your-code
• James Howison“Peer Production” course syllabus: https://jameshowison.github.io/peer_production_course/pp_syllabus.html
• London School of Economics and Political Science. Impact Blog. “101 Innovations in Scholarly Communication: how researchers are getting to grip with the myriad new tools” http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/11/11/101-innovations-in-scholarly-communication/
• London School of Economics and Political Science. Impact Blog. Digital collections offer researchers opportunities to develop new skills and scholarly communications networks. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/02/02/digital-collections-offer-researchers-opportunities-to-develop-new-skills-and-scholarly-communications-networks/
• Scholarly and Research Communication Vol 7 No. 2/3 (2016) AND CfP for Theme: The Future of Scholarly Publishing: Algorithms, Bots, Usage Data, Big Data, Visualization, and AI (Questions? Contact Monique Sherrett This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• Software Sustainability Institute. “How to Describe and Cite Software.” https://www.software.ac.uk/how-cite-and-describe-software
• 4OSS recommendations: Recommendations to encourage best practices in research software from the Open Source Software Working Group, supported by ELIXIR, SSI and the Netherlands eScience Center: https://softdev4research.github.io/recommendations/
• University of Toronto Scholarly Communications Guide: https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/ScholarlyPublishing

Articles, Reports & Presentations

• Manifesto from Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 16252. Engineering Academic Software. “serving as a roadmap towards future professional software engineering for software-based research instruments and other software produced and used in an academic context. The manifesto is expressed in terms of a series of actionable “pledges” that users and developers of academic research software can take as concrete steps towards improving the environment in which that software is produced.”http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2017/7146/pdf/dagman-v006-i001-p001-16252.pdf
• Practice papers from the International Digital Curation Conference (http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/international-digital-curation-conference-idcc) are published afterwards in the IJDC: http://www.ijdc.net/
• Software as a Well-Formed Research Object, DLF 2017 Presentation https://www.slideshare.net/yasmina85/software-as-a-wellformed-research-object
• The Pathways of Research Software Preservation: An Educational and Planning Resource for Service Development

Ongoing Discussion

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Dr. Natalie Harrower is the Director of the Digital Repository of Ireland

Major organisational transitions can be challenging, requiring clear goals, and genuine buy-in across the entire organisation. If you think about it, both of these aspects are dialectic and work in concert with each other -- goals can only be attained if they are supported, and support, or buy-in, requires … something clear to buy into.

The Software Preservation Webinar Series provides a survey of software preservation contexts. Each episode will explore a different software preservation context by providing an overview, discussion with guest speakers (specialists in digital preservation, software studies, scholarly communication, open source software and more) and open discussion with attendees.

The webinar series is jointly hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Software Preservation Network.

EPISODE 3: Software (Re)Use Cases

The “collections as data” initiative centers user communities and use cases in discussions about collection development. This episode will highlight research use cases for software collections, and explore whether and how the “collections as data” approach is a useful response to the unique challenges of collecting, preserving and providing access to software?

Research Lead and Facilitator:  

• Andrea Altenbach (Studio Gang)

Guests:

• Matthew Allen (University of Toronto)
• Eric Kaltman (Carnegie Mellon University)

Discussion Questions:

1. How does software factor in to your research? How do you utilize software as data/as a research object?

2. What are the unique qualities of software as data/as a research object?

3. How/Where do you access the software you have used in your research?

4. Do you think that the practice of creating/writing software is a requirement for the study of software as a research object?

5. Which "Collections as Data" tools/documentary methods (position statements, facets, personas) have the greatest impact potential for software preservation efforts?

Sharing experiences and perspectives is critical to understanding the hurdles in software preservation, to imagining future use of software-dependent data, and to forming a mutual understanding of where collective action is necessary to facilitate those future uses so we hope you will join the discussion.

The webinar series is free to attend and open to all.  

Watch the Recording

(Runtime 52 mins)

Read the Chat from the webinar: Episode 3

Supplementary Resources

Websites & Blogs

• Collections as Data, https://collectionsasdata.github.io/
• Cooper Hewitt Labs, https://labs.cooperhewitt.org/category/ch-3-0/
• Matthew Allen’s research on academia.edu, https://matthewallen.academia.edu/research  
• Eric Kaltman’s research, https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Nyi5tjYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra
• The Santa Barbara Statement on Collections as Data. Retreived from https://collectionsasdata.github.io/statement/
• Collections as Data National Forum 2 recording, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENaPV2XmO9I

Articles, Reports & Presentations

• Padilla, T. (2016) On a Collections as Data Imperative. Retrieved from http://digitalpreservation.gov/meetings/dcs16/tpadilla_OnaCollectionsasDataImperative_final.pdf
• Collections as Data: Stewardship and Use Models to Enhance Access. Sept 2016, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.. Retrieved from http://digitalpreservation.gov/meetings/dcs16.html
• Designing the Future Landscape: Digital Architecture, Design, and Engineering Assets. Nov 2017, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.. Retreived from http://digitalpreservation.gov/meetings/ade/ade2017.html
• Newman,J.(2011). (Not) Playing Games: Player-Produced Walkthroughs as Archival Documents of Digital Gameplay. International Journal of Digital Curation. 2011; Issue 2, Volume 6. https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v6i2.206
• Swalwell, M. (2009). Towards the Preservation of Local Computer Game Software: Challenges, Strategies, Reflections. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 15(3), 263–279. doi:10.1177/1354856509105107

Ongoing Discussion

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Spring brought more than just a change in season for me this year, as I also made the leap from archives trainee at HSBC to starting a new role as Digital Archivist at the bank. In this post I have been invited to share some of my experiences so far and why I chose to move into the field of digital preservation.

I am starting this role without a background in technology and am still in the very early stages of my career, graduating less than two years ago. I began my career in archives as a trainee at HSBC in London during 2016 and I started my new role as Digital Archivist in March this year. If I was told at my graduation “in 18 months’ time you will be a digital archivist” I probably would have said “I couldn’t do that!” – which is a feeling that I think many archivists grapple with when presented with the challenges of digital preservation.

The Software Preservation Webinar Series provides a survey of software preservation contexts. Each episode explores a different software preservation context by providing an overview, discussion with guest speakers (specialists in digital preservation, software studies, scholarly communication, open source software and more) and open discussion with attendees.

The webinar series is jointly hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Software Preservation Network.

EPISODE 2: Software Collection Development

This episode reviews existing software collections and who those collections serve. In order to better capture current efforts in collecting software, we identify different collection profiles and the set of features that characterize each of them. We explore how collection development policies and strategies for existing collections impacts community goals of sharing and reuse.

Research Lead and Facilitator

• Anne-Marie Trepanier (Canadian Centre for Architecture)

Guests:

• Tim Walsh (Canadian Centre for Architecture)
• Paula Jabloner (Computer History Museum)
• Patricia Falcao (Tate)

Discussion Questions:

1. How did you get your hands on the material? Map out your acquisition process and your relationships with donors, loaners, sellers and manufacturers.

2. Why are you collecting software and what are you collecting? Pinpoint your collection’s distinctive features and its (potential) users.

3. What does collecting software entails? Describe what types of physical and digital components are found in your software collection.

4. Are all software collecting entities ensuring preservation? Define and compare procedures and standards in collecting and preserving software.

Sharing experiences and perspectives is critical to understanding the hurdles in software preservation, to imagining future use of software-dependent data, and to forming a mutual understanding of where collective action is necessary to facilitate those future uses so we hope you will join the discussion.

The webinar series is free to attend and open to all.  

Watch the recording

(Runtime 49mins)

Read the Chat from the webinar: Episode 2

Supplementary Resources

Websites & Blogs

• Depocas, A., Ippolito, J., & Jones, C. (2003) Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach. Retrieved from http://www.variablemedia.net/e/preserving/html/var_pub_index.html
• DOCAM project, http://www.docam.ca/
• Dover, C. How the Guggenheim and NYU Are Conserving Computer-Based Art Part 1 https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checklist/how-the-guggenheim-and-nyu-are-conserving-computer-based-art-part-1
• Fondation Daniel Langlois pour l’art, la science et la technologie. (2009) Subtitled Public: Documentary Collection. Retrieved from http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=2117
• Kossow, A. (2012). Bit by Bit: Software Collecting. CHM Blog. Retrieved from http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/bit-by-bit-software-collecting/
• Matters in Media Art. (2015). Retrieved from http://mattersinmediaart.org/

Articles, Reports & Presentations

• Au Yeung, T., Carpendale, S., & Greenberg, S. (2008) Preservation of Art in the Digital Realm. The Proceedings of iPRES2008: The Fifth International Conference on Digital Preservation. London: British Library.
• Ball, A. (2013). Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD). DPC Technology Watch Report 13-02. Retrieved from https://www.dpconline.org/docs/technology-watch-reports/896-dpctw13-02-pdf/file
• Bearman, D. (1987). Collecting Software: A New Challenge for Archives & Museums. Archives and Museum Informatics. (Archival Informatics Technical Report [August 1985].1987;1, no.2) Retrieved from http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/bearman_col_soft.html
• Colon-Marrero, E. (2017). Image This! A Voyage Through Software Preservation [PDF]. Retrieved from https://osf.io/rwkx5/
• DiCosmo & Zacchiroli (2017). Software Heritage: Why and How to Preserve Software Source Code. iPRES 2017: 14th International Conference on Digital Preservation, Sep 2017, Kyoto, Japan. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01590958/document  
• Engel, D. &  Wharton G. Reading between the lines: Source code documentation as a conservation strategy for software-based art https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/2047058413Y.0000000115
• Fuller, M. (2002a). Behind the blip: Software as culture. Nettime mailing list, 7. Retrieved from http://noemalab.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fuller_sw_as_culture.pdf
• Lowood, H. (2016). It is What it is, Not What it Was, Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media, 27. Retrieved from http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2016/08/30/henry-lowood/
• National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, Preserving.exe: Toward a National Strategy for Software Preservation (2013) Retrieved from http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/multimedia/documents/PreservingEXE_report_final101813.pdf
• Rechert, K., Falcao, P. and Ensom, T. Introduction to an emulation-based preservation strategy for software-based artworks: http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/emulation-based-preservation-strategy-for-software-based-artworks

• SPN Metadata Standards and Policies Working Group. (2017) SPN Metadata Standards Survey: Initial Results, Analysis and Next Steps. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DERjYdU-90eaGImsbsWFBXMyftt0ymQF

Ongoing Discussion

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I’m one week into my post as Digital Archivist here at Parliament, so I doubt I’ll be offering any ground-breaking insights just yet! But it’s never too early to jump into the conversation, and I look forward to meeting with and talking to lots of you soon.

This role is an internal move – I’m from an information management background – and as I prepared to move teams, I tried to pack up both the things and the ideas that that I thought would be useful.

My previous team operates with a service-oriented model, delegating a lot of day-to-day records management to a devolved network, and focusses on providing that network with training, advice and support whilst acting as a centre of expertise. I’ve been thinking about what we could learn from this approach in the Digital Preservation team, so here are a newcomer’s ideas about where we could be heading...