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Enclosed are two recent announcements from Neil Beagrie at JISC,
pertaining to digital preservation.  These have been widely posted so
please excuse the duplication, but they are important and I wanted to be
sure we had all seen them.

 

Neil is part of the DLF Digital Formats Registry team, and we are
coordinating closely with a range of non-US partners in this area.

 

1) Survey and assessment of sources of information on file formats and
software documentation: Final Report

 

2) JISC Circular 6/03: Digital Curation Centre 

 

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1) Survey and assessment of sources of information on file formats and
software documentation: Final Report

 

The above report commissioned by JISC has been released on the JISC
website and can be downloaded in PDF format from:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/FileFormatsreport.pdf

 

Background to the Report

 

The aim of the File Format and Rendering Project is to support the
implementation of the JISC Continuing Access and Digital Preservation
Strategy 2002-5: in particular to contribute to the technical foundation
for a long-term digital curation centre. The project is developing
technologies, conceived by the Cedars and CAMiLEON projects.

 

In order to provide effective preservation of digital materials it is
necessary to understand the formats in which the data is encoded. The
specifications of these formats are not always made publicly available
and information on obsolete formats is rarely retained. A survey and
assessment of sources of information on file formats and software
documentation has been undertaken. This includes research into what
information is available, who owns the information and how accurate it
is. Sources investigated include information available on the web and in
published form.

 

Consideration is given to outcomes from related work on file format
information for example in the Public Record Office PRONOM project and
the Dutch Government Digital Preservation Testbed (Digital Bewaring). A
specific investigation was made into the availability of text and word
processor file format information.

 

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JISC Circular 6/03: Digital Curation Centre 

The above circular was dispatched today to Heads of UK Higher Education
Institutions. 

 

The JISC and e-science core programme are inviting bids from UK Higher
Education Institutions to establish a Digital Curation Centre to develop
key services and generic tools needed by researchers, institutions and
archiving bodies to facilitate their management of digital resources
over the long-term.  Funds of up to £750,000 per annum for three years
initially, are available for the establishment of the Centre.

 

The key objectives of the Centre are to: 

 

Pilot development of services for recording and monitoring file formats
and preservation planning tools utilising these services; 

 

Develop a reliable, sustained repository of generic tools, software, and
documentation, to support curation, preservation and the use of research
materials; 

 

Develop testbeds and certification for systems, tools, and curation
services; 

 

Provide advisory services. 

 

Submissions of interest in establishing the Centre should be submitted
by 9.00 am on Monday 7 July 2003.  The deadline for the submission of
full proposals is 9.00 am on Monday 8 September 2003.  A town meeting
will be held on Wednesday 18 June in central London where further
details about the circular will be available together with the
opportunity to ask any questions regarding the bidding process.  Please
contact Ann Lloyd to reserve a place (0117 931 7124,
[log in to unmask]). The full text of the Digital Curation Centre
circular can be found at
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=circular_06_03 

 

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Neil Beagrie                        JISC Digital Preservation Focus

Programme Director            Secretary, Digital Preservation Coalition

JISC London Office,           Tel/Fax/Voicemail :+44 (0)709 2048179 

King's College London        email:  [log in to unmask]

Strand Bridge House           url:  www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?=pres_home

138 - 142, The Strand,               www.dpconline.org

London WC2R 1HH          email list:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/digital-preservation.html

 

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