Suspended development of the Electronic Records Archive (ERA) and closure of the Archives Library and Information Center (ALIC). What happened to set off this furor was the release of two documents: Memorandum 2011-113 issued by the Archivist of the United States (AOTUS), David S. Ferriero, on Feb. 14 and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report to Congressional Committees, Electronic Government: National Archives and Records Administration’s Fiscal Year 2011 Expenditure Plan (GAO-11-299) published on March 4.
A copy of the website has been archived in PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive. The existing live website will remain available until the end of 2010; however no new resources have been added since the start of July 2010 and the existing links will not be actively managed. The archives of the padiforum-l list will continue to be available , however no new postings will be accepted from 30 September 2010.
After two years of research, the European project PARSE.Insight held its final symposium on 25 June 2010. ... Ten major insights in research were presented, amongst these major gaps between European countries in how to deal with research data and researchers' reluctance to share their data while they certainly want others' data. These findings were enforced by the outcomes of three case studies in High-Energy Physics, Earth Observation and Social Sciences and Humanities.
In conjunction with these insights the final roadmap for a science data infrastructure in Europe has been published. Aside from technical aspects this also addresses organisational as well as social aspects such as incentives for researchers to increase their willingness to share their data. Furthermore, the gap analysis tool was presented which helps analysts to find weak spots and contradictions in stakeholder communities.
Please visit our website for downloading the PARSE.Insight reports: http://www.parse-insight.eu/publications.php
Apart from these documents, PARSE.Insight created an online visualisation of actors putting effort in digital preservation. This Interactive Map is a first attempt to give an overview of who is playing an important role in research to digital preservation. Via this map researchers, data managers, publishers, funders and other stakeholders that would like to learn more about best practices in preservation can look for an organisation in their country or discipline.
The PARSE.Insight project and the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) seek your input towards a major international survey on digital preservation.
Preservation of digital information is a major challenge for many organizations. The long-term management, access and preservation of this information presents a number of serious risks and unresolved problems. The international scientific research community must rise to this challenge if it is to take full advantage of the data and information resources available for research today and in the future.
There is a growing realisation that the answer to these challenges calls for coordinated approaches on both national and international level.
The PARSE.Insight project, partly funded by the European Commission, aims to produce a roadmap for development of an infrastructure for digital preservation. The first step is to conduct a wide-ranging survey of many stakeholders, which we are carrying out in conjunction with the DCC.
Your particular views and experiences are of great value in helping to shape the roadmap, and we would be very grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete the survey, which may be accessed at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=cVxlodNKyrnc0Lvnh_2bkUAw_3d_3d
All responses to this survey will be aggregated for analysis and made anonymous. The findings will be used to help inform and shape the funding landscape for digital preservation activity throughout Europe. We encourage you to make your views known and would be grateful if you would forward details about this survey on to any colleagues who may be interested in contributing.
PARSE.Insight is a two-year project co-funded by the European Union under the Sixth Framework Programme. It is concerned with the preservation of digital information in science, from primary data through analysis to the final publications resulting from the research. The problem is how to safeguard this valuable digital material over time, to ensure that it is accessible, usable and understandable in future. The rapid pace of change in information technology threatens media, file formats and software with obsolescence, and changing concepts and terminology also mean that, even if data can be read, it might not be correctly interpreted by future generations.
Many initiatives are already under way in this area, and the aim of the PARSE.Insight project is to develop a roadmap and recommendations for developing the e-infrastructure in order to maintain the long-term accessibility and usability of scientific digital information in Europe. The project will conduct surveys and in-depth case studies of different scientific disciplines and stakeholders and will base its results on these findings, as well as knowledge of ongoing developments.
PARSE.Insight is closely linked to the Alliance for Permanent Access to the Records of Science. The output from the project is intended to guide the European Commission's strategy about research infrastructure.
The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) 3 Project is an international collaborative endeavour composed of 15 regional, national and multinational research teams. The overall goal of the Project is to enable small and medium-sized public and private records/archival units, organizations or programs, which are responsible for the digital records resulting from government, business, research, art and entertainment, social and/or community activities, to preserve over the long term authentic records that satisfy the requirements of their stakeholders and society’s needs for an adequate record of its past.
Begun in 2007, the project has reached its mid-term mark and is going to present and discuss its findings and products to date in an International Symposium that will see the participation of speakers from North and South America, Europe and Asia.
TOPICS WILL INCLUDE: the impact of organizational culture on the development of preservation programs; various cities' strategies for digital preservation; digital preservation in structured and unstructured environments (law enforcement and financial organizations versus academic and art organizations); pervasive issues in digital preservation (e-mail, vital records, XML, web 2.0); issues of terminology, and more.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Records and information managers, archivists, IT professionals, librarians, administrators, auditors, any decision maker responsible for digital records policies and procedures, and of course students, regardless of whether they are in the records and archives field...everybody should learn about digital preservation.
DATE: 29 May 2010 8:45am to 5:30pm (but registration starts at 8:00am...be there bright and early)
WHERE: [Forest Sciences Centre (FSC), Room 1005] 2424 Main Mall, Point Grey Campus, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Registration fee: $20 (includes box lunch)
Registration mode and deadline: TBA
We will post the program on the InterPARES web site, www.interpares.org, and will send another message as soon as registration will be open.
... the symposium is being held in the Forest Sciences Centre (FSC), Room 1005. Here is a link to a photo of the building, a campus location map and some images of the auditorium where the symposium will be held: http://regi3.adm.ubc.ca/classroomservices/function/viewlocation?userEvent=ShowLocation&buildingID=FSC&roomID=1005
