Announcement of the DIGITAL PRESERVATION AWARD Shortlist

As posted to the Digital-Preservation discussion list.

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THE 2005 CONSERVATION AWARDS - DIGITAL PRESERVATION AWARD Shortlist Announcement Today

- London, 12 July 2005 -

The Digital Preservation Award of £5,000 is sponsored by the Digital Preservation Coalition. This prestigious Award recognises the many new initiatives being undertaken in the challenging field of digital preservation. Shortlisted for the Digital Preservation Award are:

1. Choosing the optimal digital preservation strategy
Applicant: Vienna University of Technology

The Vienna University of Technology recognises the difficulty in choosing a long-term preservation strategy, whether the material be digitised or born digital. It has developed a workflow evaluation tool to assist in the selection of an optimal preservation solution (eg. migration, emulation, or computer museum), thus enabling the user to make an informed, well documented and accountable decision for the implementation of a specific strategy for a given collection. Their approach has a wide application and has been successfully applied to video, audio and document records.

2. Digital Preservation Testbed
Applicant: National Archives of the Netherlands

The Digital Preservation Testbed project, developed by the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands, is a practical research project to investigate options to secure long-term accessibility to archival records. The Archief carried out experiments based on series of solution-oriented research questions, in order to decide which preservation strategy or combination of strategies would be most suitable. The Testbed focused on three different methods for the long-term preservation of digital information, namely migration, XML and emulation. These methods are assessed not only in terms of their effectiveness, but also in terms of their limitations, cost and possibilities for use. From June 2005, the Testbed will operate as the Digital Preservation System of the Nationaal Archief.

3. PREMIS (Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies)
Applicant: PREMIS Working Group

Sponsored by the OCLC and RLG, PREMIS is an international working group set up to define a core set of preservation metadata elements, applicable to a broad range of digital preservation activities and to identify and evaluate alternative strategies for encoding, storing, managing, and exchanging preservation metadata - in particular, the core metadata elements - within and across digital preservation systems. Its activities culminated in the release of a Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final Report of the PREMIS Working Group (May 2005). The Data Dictionary is a comprehensive guide to core metadata for supporting the long-term preservation of digital materials. PREMIS has made a vital contribution to the development of effective digital preservation solutions by creating and moving forward an international standard for preservation metadata.

4. Reverse Standards Conversion
Applicant: British Broadcasting Corporation

The recovery of significant early British colour television programmes by the BBC, which were degraded when they were converted to an American TV standard in the late 1960s and early 1970s. An innovative project that overcomes problems dealing with an obsolete video format, resulting in the digital conversion of some 80 programmes to broadcast quality, ensuring their preservation for future generations.

5. UK Web Archiving Consortium
Applicant: The Consortium

Six leading UK institutions, The British Library, the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, JISC, the National Archives and the Wellcome Library, have formed the UK Web Archiving Consortium (UKWAC) to deliver a searchable archive of selected UK websites. This pioneering project addresses the lifecycle of websites from selection, through rights clearance and capture, to access by the public and long-term preservation. The collaborative venture went live at http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ on May 9th 2005.


Judging

All the shortlisted projects will give a presentation to the Digital Preservation Awards judges in September. The members of the 2005 judging panel are:

Richard Boulderstone (Chair of the Judging Panel), Director, e-Strategy, British Library Sheila Anderson, Director, Arts and Humanities Data Service Kevin Ashley, Head of the Digital Archives Department, University of London Computer Centre David Dawson, Head of the Digital Futures Team, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council Hans Jansen, Head of Research & Development Division, National Library of the Netherlands Maggie Jones, Executive Secretary, Digital Preservation Coalition (sponsor of the Digital Preservation Award) Chris Rusbridge, Director, Digital Curation Centre David Seaman, Executive Director, Digital Library Federation

See the Conservation Awards website for further information on the judging
panel: http://www.consawards.ukic.org.uk/judges.html#dpa

Also announced this week are the:

Student Conservator of the Year
Anna Plowden Award for Research & Innovation

The winners of the Conservation Awards will be announced at the British Museum on 22 November 2005.

- Ends -

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Notes to Editors:
For further information, please contact:
Maggie Jones, Executive Secretary, Digital Preservation Coalition
Email: maggie@dpconline.org
Tel: 01904 435 362

The Digital Preservation Coalition sponsors the Digital Preservation Award under the banner of the Conservation Awards, which are supported by Sir Paul McCartney and managed in partnership by key organisations in conservation, restoration and preservation management: the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the UK Institute for Conservation (UKIC), English Heritage, the Institute of Paper Conservation (IPC) and the National Preservation Office. UKIC and IPC are in the process of merging with other organisations during 2005 into a new larger professional body for conservation of the cultural heritage, the Institute of Conservation. The Anna Plowden Trust sponsors the Award for Research and Innovation in Conservation.

The Digital Preservation Coalition was established in 2001 to foster joint action to address the urgent challenges of securing the preservation of digital resources in the UK and to work with others internationally to secure our global digital memory and knowledge base. For further information see the website at http://www.dpconline.org/

For further information on the Awards visit: http://www.consawards.ukic.org.uk/