Vienna University of Technology
Institute of Software Technology and Interactive Systems
Information & Software Engineering Group
DigitalPreservationEurope Exchange Programme (DPEX)
Introduction
Because research and practice in digital preservation is patchy, fragmented, and disconnected and communication between research groups is limited and does not always engage with the needs of practitioners DPE Launched the DPEX exchange programme. Exchange of professional practitioners and researchers provides a valuable way to understand and overcome these barriers. They can facilitate knowledge exchange, capacity building, and innovation.
This exchange programme has brought about great benefit to the individuals and organisations that have taken part, and a report which highlights the lessons learned from this will be released shortly.
Exchange Experiences
GIUSEPPINA VULLO:
Read Giuseppina's Exchange Report
MIGUEL FERRIERA:
“ The DPE Exchange gave me the opportunity to spend a few weeks with one of the most interesting European research groups working on digital preservation. I have acquired a great deal of insight from their collaborative methods of doing research and had the privilege to obtain free access to advanced preservation techniques and tools being developed by the hosting team. The sharing of ideas as well as self-made preservation services also made me realize how relevant my own research can be. I would very much like to thank the Viennese Planets team for making this exchange exceptional at all possible levels: professional, cultural and social.“
ARIAN RAJH:
“ The DPEX programme award made it possible for me to learn and gain very valuable experience from experts who work in INFARMED, Torre do Tombo and European Documentation Centres. INFARMED is Portuguese national competent authority for evaluation of medicinal products with projects that aim to evolve their public service and implement new global standard for electronic medical documentation. Torre do Tombo as the national archive monitors their activities and collaborates with them in certain aspects. I was received extraordinarily well by his hosts at all levels and I greatly appreciate the given opportunity and would like to thank DPEX programme and all the hosts.“
GEMMA TOUGHER:
" The DPE exchange allowed me to develop the theoretical knowledge that I gained from my post graduate qualification in Archival Science and to apply this to a practical environment by analysing and evaluating the ways in which digital projects are managed at a prestigious institution, such as the NKP in Prague. As a newly qualified archivist with a background in dealing with manuscripts and physical paper-based documents (and very little experience in the field of digital preservation) the exchange trip has given me the knowledge and confidence to discuss the main issues surrounding the management and preservation of digital materials and how to approach them. As a result I intend to keep up-to-date with developments in this field and to encourage my fellow archivists, cultural heritage sector workers, and colleagues at the University of Glasgow Archive Services to be aware of how we can preserve valuable digital records for future generations and how we can strive to achieve trusted repository status.
The Digital Preservation team at NKP provided me with a valuable insight into the work they are involved in and I hope to maintain links with them and the European digital preservation at large throughout my career. I found the DPE exchange both challenging and thoroughly enjoyable and I would like to thank all who made this trip possible. "
MARTIN IORDANIDIS
" The greatest benefit of the exchange was the hands-on insight into functional requirements of audiovisual content in the broadcasting domain. It became clear that metadata documenting audiovisual content has to be by far more explanatory as well as multidimensional compared to document-related metadata – for instance, the notion of time is still largely unconsidered in preservation metadata. Having learned about the “real-world” metadata technologies within the TV/broadcasting domain, structural similarities with wrapper formats, complex object encodings and exchange formats in the digital library world will be revealed more easily. At the same time, assessing the actual practical value of academic approaches to multimedia description became feasible. Being occupied with repository management tasks on a preservation level at hbz, expectations from “off-the-shelf”-solutions for digital preservation have increased even more. [...] On an institutional level, the exchange has created a potential link between Planets and PrestoPRIME as well as a link between hbz and the BBC Archive. All parties are held together by a strong common interest in preservation planning and development. "
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