Fáilte go Sráid na Banrighinn

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.  ~Sydney J. Harris

Football and digital preservation seem an unlikely combination but on May 15th Ed and I arrived to a slightly damp Glasgow celebrating en masse the end of the football season, to deliver our DPTP north of the border.  There, I am afraid the comparison between football and digital curation ends but it is worth noting that on Monday our students did not consist, in the main of bleary eyed Scots.  As I am myself half Scottish I was looking forward to hearing about the digital state of play in my mother’s country but curiously we had a very international group, many had travelled far from places such as the European Central Bank,  European Commission, PRONI,  and near  such as from the National Records Scotland (who clearly cannot get enough of a good thing as we were with them 4 weeks previous).  The group was very creative who seemed to work well together. I know  I know, we say this a lot but this group seemed to shine for many reasons.  They were keen to work together and shout out about their ideas right from the start. And though being a disparate international group they managed to work together very neatly and develop some great case studies for us.

Internationally (and sometimes nationally!) language has always been a barrier  for communication, but  it is also an enabler  and this is again where we see something such as the OAIS being a useful way of empowering people to be able to communicate with each other, and other professionals.  The DPTP rarely (and rightly so) has students just from the traditional information management world (libraries/archives/etc).  Many people now being redeployed from different parts of their organisation and as such are often unfamilair with the idea/concept of an archive or indeed of the traditional notion of the lifecycle of a document/record. This is where OAIS is very valuable due to the way it which it expresses the way a digital object should be ideally kept and uses a language describe this.

In many of our case studies with OAIS, we often find that many organisations are actually mapping very well to the OAIS which indicates that it reflects  good and real practise when it comes to managing our digital repository. Our job in the DPTP is to take someone who has never heard of the OAIS (suprisingly more often than not) and by the end of the three days have them fluent in the OAIS concepts both through listening and through application to their own environments.  Our feedback from the course has proven that this is a job well done….DPTP abú!

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/projects-and-work/digital-preservation-faqs.htm

‘It’s designed to demystify issues and give a lead in to more detailed information provided by us or others in the DP community. So ….. please take a look and let us know what you think.’

The DPTP gets a nice recommendation here under ‘Where can I learn more?’. Many thanks!

Sunny SOAS and Senate House

Hard to believe that yet another DPTP has come and gone.  We had a full house again for this course and had to close bookings due to demand.  We had a very international attendance once again with people from the Netherlands, Iraq and Venezuela (via Essex) attending.  Our UK represenatation was very impressive with large and small organisations being represented.  We were also very chuffed that the DPC once again awarded the DPTP  with five scholarships.  Thank you! It enables many who could not attend take part in the DPTP.

In terms of feedback our score cards shows that we our ratings are constantly improving for all our modules which sees the standard of content and presentation improving course by course, as it should be doing.  We aim for excellence in each of our modules.  Again and again we see that the more we work with the students the richer the course becomes.  Each person and their experience which they bring adds significantly to the course. You can take a look at some outputs here. I think the presenters will all agree that working with the students makes what could be a quite a long three day event very enjoyable and rewarding.  Here are some photos of the course.

So good stuff.  But what did our students really think of the course? here are some of the comments we got:

‘I really enjoyed the interactivity of the course; it broke up the day & helped put learning into context.’

‘Very encouraging – gave me lots of practical ideas as to how to move forward and not to “byte” off more than I can chew.’

‘Excellent exposition of model and practical application – will make a great difference to how I engage with projects and discussions in the profession.’

And one which speaks for itself: ‘Ace!’

Enough for now.  A big thanks to everyone for their hard work and participation.

Patricia

We are pleased to announce a series of of one-day workshops to be delivered as a follow-up to the established Digital Preservation Training Programme (DPTP).

A one-day workshop on web archiving will be held at SOAS on 28th June 2010. The workshop will look at the selection, capture and management of websites and web resources, introducing and assessing various organizational approaches and technological tools which exist. The training will look at website archiving within the framework of the OAIS model which is currently taught on the DPTP, and illustrate the concepts with practical examples and exercises. Attendees should leave the course with the ability to understand the why, what and how of web archiving and be in a position to apply the learning to their own institutional context and requirements.
The course costs £100.00 exclusive of VAT. Refreshments are included in the price.

To register your interest and book on the course please look here: http://www.dptp.org/events/web-archiving-day/

Following up his excellent interview with William Kilbride at DPTP in May, this time Frank Steiner conducted video interviews with some of the DPC students and scholarship winners – hopefully you can see them below:

But I digress. I’m here to write about some outcomes from Friday’s DPC board meeting. Encouragingly, it looks likely that the digital preservation award will return in November 2010, although some hurdles remain to be overcome. It’s quite possible that some aspects (such as eligibility or marking criteria) may change. Watch out for news late this year or early next. In the meantime, if you have views on what would make the awards more interesting or relevant to you, and particularly on what might encourage you to enter, do let me or the DPC know.

The joint Society of Archivists’s digital preservation roadshows (supported by DPC, TNA, Planets and Cymal) have been extremely popular, with some events over-subscribed. They are proving a great way to get basic, practical information about digital preservation tools and methods into the hands of working archivists and records managers. The problems, and the reception, sound reminiscent of similar work I did for the SoA about 10 years ago, as part of their occasional training days for newly-qualified archivists.

I’m also pleased to say that the Board approved a proposal to allocate more money to training scholarships in 2009/10, which can be used to support attendance at DPTP or other member-provided courses such as DC 101 (which is currently free.) We’re also looking forward to a joint training showcase in Belfast with the DCC’s DC 101, facilitated by JISC and PRONI, in September. More details will appear here and elsewhere when we have them.

We’re expecting an increased number of DPC techwatch reports in the coming year. The latest, released on preview to DPC members yesterday (2009-07-10), covers geospatial data, and there’s a long list of candidate topics for the next couple of years.

Finally, the board said thanks and farewell to its current chair, Ronald Milne, who is taking up a new post at the National Library of New Zealand next month. The Vice Chair, Bruno Longmore, will act as DPC chair until elections are organised for the AGM in November.

Frank Steiner: I understand you’ve just recently taken on the post at DPC. What is your background in the field of digital preservation and how did you end up at the DPC?
William Kilbride: After my archaeology studies at Glasgow University and an MSc in computer applications I worked for the Archaeology Data Service at University of York. I started there in 1999 – which were early days in digital preservation – at least within archaeology. Part of our work involved raising awareness as well as ensuring long-term provision and access to archaeological research data. Because fieldwork can be very destructive, archaeologists have always had a close relationship with and respect for archives. The DPC came into existence at that time – also based in York. We had a lot of shared interests and quickly developed a close working relationship.

FS: So you basically switched camps and went to the other part of town to get into work in the mornings. (N.B.: DPC is based in York)
WK: No, I actually took a slight detour. For family reasons and because of some interesting work they were doing I moved to Glasgow in 2006 to work in Glasgow Museums as Research Manager.

FS: This sounds like there is more than one?
WK: Indeed, most people don’t know it, but the city of Glasgow owns one of the largest and most impressive civic collections in Europe, displayed in 13 museums across the Glasgow. Glasgow has a real love affair with its museums and although only about 2 percent of the collection is on display, a new research centre will soon provide access to the whole lot – like a massive reference library or public archive.It’s really innovative and shows a real commitment to access.

FS: So you went back to your archaeological roots, so to speak?
WK: Yes – but computing projects and the issue of digital preservation caught up with me once more. We developed online access to collections as well as trying to ‘make sense’ of the ever growing pool of native digital items which the collection contained. But the Executive job at the DPC became available and considering the history I had with DPC it was very attractive. I decided to apply, and now have an office in Glasgow University where I was already an honorary lecturer. So although DPC is based in York, my office is in ‘HATII’ – the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute in Glasgow – which has an impressive track record in research and development with digital preservation. It’s a good place to work.

FS: I have spoken to both of your scholarship winners, who seemed very pleased to be given the opportunity to be funded to attend the most recent DPTP course. What other activities is DPC involved in to raise awareness of the importance of the preservation of digital material?
WK: You already mentioned part of our mission statement there. We are an agenda setting and enabling body with the ultimate goal to make our digital memory accessible in the future.

FS: I gathered from the competition, which you ran for the scholarships, that you are member’s only club. Is that right?
WK: Not really, we are a not-for-profit membership organisation, but by no means exclusive. Our members benefit through early bird rates at events, special discounts and preferred access to reports and such. Ultimately we share our reports and training with anyone who needs it. Members are able to share their work through the DPC and also able to set the agenda – to point us at issues they need resolved. Digital preservation is a topic for everyone from large commercial organisations, small charities down to each and every one of us. So it makes sense economically and intellectually if we work together.

FS: Interesting you should mention that. I realised there were a wide spread of backgrounds at the last DPTP.
WK: And I think that is one of the many benefits for people attending the course. Every time I present there is this sense of mutual problem solving, regardless which organisation the participants are from or what their background is. The chance for DPTP students to establish peer contacts and network with people trying to solve similar problems is something I like to see happening and it is also something we at DPC try to achieve.

FS: Can you shed some more light on the DPC’s involvement with the DPTP course?
WK: We helped ULCC develop the course with Cornell University, ADS, JISC and others, based on the general need within the community for training in digital preservation. I find it very satisfying to see some of the first students (in 2005) who went from looking for solutions to resolving their digital preservation issues to becoming significant leaders in the field – developing and applying solutions and sharing their experience with the community.

FS:Looking into the future, do you think there will be further scholarships by DPC?
WK: There’s no question about it, yes. There is a persistent need for digital preservation training and there are also growing expectations of what digital assets can do for organisations and individuals.

FS: Do you think the course itself has to change to stay relevant?
WK: Of course it does and it certainly has over the past 3 years. The field has developed quickly and I’m confident Patricia and the guys from ULCC will ensure the latest changes are reflected in the course syllabus. I think maybe there will be or could be a variation or targeting of DPTP, like ‘DPTP for Museums’, ‘DPTP for Publishers’ and so on. Although basic concepts and principles of digital preservation remain the same there is a trend of more specialised requirements which could be addressed by a more customised DPTP offering.

FS: William, thank you for your time and I hope to see you at the next DPTP course.
WK: Thanks for having me.

Japanese Zen garden at Brunei gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies.

So another DPTP over! As presenters we felt it went really well. We again had a great group of people. The level of knowledge was very high and even so it seems the course really does help consolidate many levels of knowledge about digital preservation. For many it was OAIS and the class project seems to have helped put the theory into practice. One quote from the feedback:

‘Things really fell into place for me during this exercise and models started to make proper sense. Moved things from theory to practice.’

Overall the level of satisfaction with what we are providing is high.

‘Overall an excellent course. Bringing together so many disparate ideas and concepts and making sense of the muddle! Just hope we can move forward using the models. Excellent group too, good interaction and discussion – I got as much out of this element as from the taught content. Thank you so much all!’

We are now looking to developing links with the DCC as well as moving on to another stage of the DPTP. We will keep providing these 3 day courses with readjustments and updates but we are also looking at developing the modules into e-learning objects. Now all we need is funding!

DPTP is of value to anyone with responsibility for digital preservation in an institutional context – its aim is to equip you with the knowledge to effect change in the organisation to allow the right things to happen. (If your primary responsibility is scientific data curation, you may find the DCC’s DC 101 course more applicable.)

Applications need to be in by May 5th – it’s not an onerous process, so don’t delay.

Without going into too much detail and re-living every single presentation, there clearly is a lot more to digital archiving than meets the eye. Five stages, three legs, “the two documents”, OAIS were the main methods and models discussed, all during the first day of the three day programme. Even though my head was spinning and I had trouble remembering my own name, thanks to the information overload, my interest was sparked.

The methods and models mentioned above can be used by any organisation to find out where they are in the greater scheme of things, so to speak. Cornell’s five stages help determine at which ‘knowledge’ stage of digital preservation an organisation is; the OAIS reference model and TDR (Trusted Digital Repositories) help analyse technological and organisational infrastructure respectively. Once these methods and approaches have been used to decide on the “right” approach to digital preservation we looked at the next step: preservation approaches and legal issues. Not surprisingly the latter could have been extended to a week-long workshop itself.Day 2 was filled with a good mix of case studies, presentations and workshops, which focused on the use and necessity of metadata in preservation, and a big group exercise putting the recently acquired knowledge to the test.

Despite the fact that I missed the last day, I personally found it a more than worthwhile and helpful workshop to attend. Patricia, Ed, Rory and Kevin did a great job “on stage”; as I’m sure did all the unnamed heroes in the background, organising and supporting this fantastic event.

• ‘It was all good. Thank you for the extra bits of reading in the pack too.’
• ‘This course came highly recommended and didn’t disappoint!’
• ‘Even the things that don’t directly apply to me now were useful to know for the future, and to understand the needs of our collaborators.’

We are now studying the feedback with a view to further improving the course and looking at developing some social networking opportunities as well as looking at e-learning. The next DPTP will be in February 2009. Once dates are confirmed we will post them here.

I’m here because I was invited to speak this morning about Ingest, the previous stage in the lifecycle. That was followed by a stimulating set of exercises developed and led by Suzanne Embury which got attendees to think about data quality and the varied measures we might use for it. Suzanne’s exercise was based on work by Wang and Strong (“Beyond accuracy: what data quality means for data consumers”) which starts from the premise that we can never directly measure data quality – rather, we must construct measures which are proxies for quality, or measure only one facet of it. This was new work to me, but it was reassuring to see that it fitted very well with my own experience and with what I know of the ways in which others have approached quality in data. Their original paper took 176 measures of data quality and condensed them into 15 generic aspects of quality. Not all are applicable to all settings, and part of the exercise today got our students considering which were appropriate to them and how they might measure them. This struck me as being particularly useful, as it provides a formal means for deciding which aspects of quality are important to your consumers. Effort can then be focussed on dealing with those aspects well, and not wasting effort on areas that are of lesser relevance, or for which measures are difficult to establish.

The DCC 101 looks to be a promising addition to the canon of training and education in digital curation. We’re looking forward to working with Joy Davidson and her colleagues at the DCC to explore how our training provision and theirs can complement, rather than compete with, each other. There are plans to discuss these issues at a workshop following the IDCC this year, and I’m interested in opinions from a wider audience that would help inform our discussions. If you are a potential attendee at one or more of these training courses, would it help you to see them more integrated ? Do you find it easy to identify the training and education that best suits you at present, and what could improve that situation ? If you are responsible for staff that may need training now and in the future, what type of training provision best suits you and your organisation and what constraints – budgets, time, place – should we all be aware of ? Responses as comments to this post, or by email, would help us all greatly to plan future training that will meet the community’s needs.

The course is particularly beneficial to those working in the world of information management such as librarians, records managers, archivists and IT specialists working within a library or archives. The new interactive element of the course has seemed to pay off as attendees mostly responded positively to this approach. Feedback includes:

• ‘Excellent. Was able to feed off other people’s ideas and views.’
• ‘Fun and VERY helpful.’
• ‘Very good presentations! Very professional.’
• ‘Very well organised and presented. Good to have additional reading material.’

So we are pretty happy and are planning our next event very soon in June and in London. So keep your eye on the blog, and the DPTP website.

We have also been strengthening our skills as pedagogical teachers, so that the course becomes much more interactive and participatory for those attending, and gives them something to engage with instead of listening passively to a series of hour-long PowerPoint lectures. We think this new approach, inspired by the principled teaching model of Graciano Soares at the JISC RSC for London, is paying off; we heard much from the experiences and expertise of archivists, librarians, curators, museum staff, and IT specialists, all placed at varying levels of seniority and responsibility in their parent organisations. Their input in fact generated a significant part of the actual course content. We shall soon be providing photographs of many a flipchart page, and hosting them on flickr or the DPTP website, in order to share the many group-work and pair-work exercise results. The course can only improve as a result of this approach, giving us new ideas and further material to enrich the modules.

He is going to help us devise a Delivery Model based on a principled teaching model he developed. Rather than examine the content of each DPTP module in detail, the model can be used as a structure to apply to any module in our programme. One important outcome is to make the modules more interactive, by making time for group work, pair work and Q&A sessions. Our task will be to identify moments where we could insert relevant activities to enable this, and elaborate on the Test-Teach-Test method.

Graciano has a lot of experience with e-learning which started with his work as an Adult Course Coordinator for an English School in Brazil, where he first experimented with CALL packages. Since moving to the UK, he has taken part in many other e-learning projects and initiatives, including the LSDA’s Explore e-Learning for LLN Tutors project and the piloting of the ICT in Skills for Life Adult Core Curriculum.

We’ll post further reports as we go along.