Digital Preservation Pilot Study
At the beginning of April Het Nieuwe Instituut is initiating the Digital Preservation Pilot Study: an internal learning trajectory that aims to produce a blueprint for acquiring, evaluating, organising and preserving born-digital archives (archives created in a digital environment) and making them accessible to the public. The digital archive of the architecture practice MVRDV, acquired by the institute in 2015, is the main focus of the research. The results of the Pilot Study will provide a model for other heritage organisations.
23 March 2016
Archives and heritage institutions have well-established frameworks, processes, protocols and standards for the preservation of analogue collections, supported by bespoke software applications. However, the collecting, processing and preservation of born-digital archives demand other processes, skills and technologies. The Digital Preservation Pilot Study aims to develop frameworks and standards for the preservation of digital archives and to increase our knowledge about sustainable access to digital files. The quality of an archive is determined to a large extent by the way architecture practices archive their work. A poorly organised archive can lead to problems in terms of selection, preservation and accessibility once acquired by an institution. This aspect will also be examined in the Pilot Study.
Digital Preservation Pilot Study
In April and May the staff of the Heritage department will attend a five-day training course in Digital Preservation. The training includes a theoretical component about preservation risks and how to combat them. The trainees will then apply this theoretical framework to the entire process from the acquisition of an archive to making it accessible to the public and tackling practical problems that arise along the way. The fruits of this training will be of use in the subsequent phase: developing facilities for digital preservation for Het Nieuwe Instituut.
Reproducible results
The Pilot Study is the first step in fulfilling the brief that stemmed from the 2015 TNO report 'Born Digital Preservation at Het Nieuwe Instituut'. This report described the requirements for establishing a digital depot. The Pilot Study is also part of the 'Preservation' dossier of the Digital Heritage Network, an initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. One of the most important points for the Digital Heritage Network is to develop strategies that can be used by other organisations. The results of the Pilot Study will be made available this autumn to the heritage sector as a whole and the Pilot Study will be reproducible for other organisations.
National Coalition for Digital Preservation
Het Nieuwe Instituut is one of the partners of the National Coalition for Digital Preservation, established in 2008 by a group of public-sector organisations with a remit for collecting digital data. The Coalition's aim is to create a sector-wide organisational and technological infrastructure to guarantee long-term access to digital files.
The Digital Preservation Pilot Study runs until September 2016. For more information please contact Frans Neggers (project leader) or Behrang Mousavi (Heritage manager).