The Digital Preservation working group focuses on the problem of long-term preservation of digital heritage and how to document this process.

Digital heritage means “heritage which is made up of computer-based materials, whether born digital or digitized from other format, which means emanates from different communities, industries, sectors and regions and requires active preservation approaches to ensure its authenticity, accessibility and usability through time” (The UNESCO/PERSIST Guidelines for the selection of digital heritage for long- term preservation, 2016, p.16).

This includes digital born data collected of the museums as a part of their collecting strategy as well as digital surrogates of museum objects. Besides that, digital data produced in the museum (for example data entries about the objects in the collection) is also part of the digital heritage which must be preserved and documented.

As yet, there is no satisfactory answer to the question of how to collect and how to keep this digital heritage alive. Many museums have already considered the importance of digital heritage and are aware of its fragility and short life-span. But they often lack knowledge, ability and financial resources for collecting and preserving it.

The working group wants to give guidance in questions concerning collecting and preserving digital heritage and the documentation of these processes.

If you like to take part in our work please feel free to contact:

Chair: Susanne Nickel, Eskilstuna City museum, Eskilstuna Kommun, Kultur- och Fritidsförvaltningen 631 86 Eskilstuna, Sweden,  susanne.nickel[at]eskilstuna.se

Co-chair: Kiki Lennaerts – klennaerts[at]beeldengeluid.nl

Programs

Reports

Resources