Conference Programme

Studied since the 1980s in French Archival services from a technical point of view, long term digital preservation strategy became a priority a few years ago in the context of Vitam program. The French Archive Interdepartmental Service, in partnership with the Vitam program team and the Ministries of Culture (National Archives), for Europe and Foreign Affairs and of Armed Forces, commissioned a study in 2018 about " The long-term sustainability of digital information ". This collective work offers a modelling of digital preservation processes and an analysis of the skills and profiles needed to implement these processes, not only for the three ministries but for any archival service wishing to diagnose its maturity.

Sustainability has been a key focus for the digital preservation community in recent years, but we have mostly focused on issues such as the sustainability of systems and funding. We cannot, however, be successful without also developing a robust and skilled workforce. This paper will examine trends in workforce development in digital preservation and suggest steps forward we should take as a community.

Abstract – This paper will present the online resource ffmprovisr as a case study in using open, online documentation as a shared educational resource. ffmprovisr is a website that supports the digital audiovisual community through technical education. This paper will cover how the website was developed, its role in fostering a collaborative educational environment, and its impact on the field and beyond.

The National Archives of the United Kingdom has a leadership role for archives in England, representing a very broad range of memory institutions, most with limited digital capacity. This paper outlines the multi-strand approach underway to build capacity across this network of archives. The paper focuses on the aims of different intervention approaches and the involvement of the archives community and its stakeholders in different elements of delivery. The paper finishes with preliminary analysis of impact and known risks of this approach.

The National Geoscience Data Center (NGDC) is the designated repository for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant-funded Earth science data and holds the CoreTrustSeal certification. The NGDC is hosted by the British Geological Survey (BGS), which co-funds post-graduate research students through the BGS University Funding Initiative (BUFI) program. This paper describes the research data management training (RDM) course developed and delivered by the NGDC to help instill good data management practices in our students from early on, and to strengthen the long-term quality of research data they generate and deposit with the NGDC. It also looks at how RDM training fits into the wider context of the NGDC modular digital preservation program, currently under development. This paper is aimed at data repository managers and research data managers who provide user training in data management best practice and digital preservation. It is also suitable for postgraduate students interested in digital continuity and preservation of their research data.