The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) invites proposals for Digital Preservation 2019: Critical Junctures to be held in Tampa, Florida, October 16-17, 2019.

Digital Preservation is the major meeting and conference of the NDSA. Open to members and non-members alike, it highlights the theory and practice of digital stewardship and preservation, data curation, the digital object lifecycle, and related issues. Our 2019 meeting is held in partnership with our host organization, the Digital Library Federation. A separate call for proposals is being issued for Learn@DLF (October 13) and the 2019 DLF Forum (October 14-16), which will take place at the same venue.

Proposals are due by Sunday, April 28, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

About Digital Preservation 2019:

The conference will be held at the beautiful Waterfront Marriott in Tampa, Florida. NDSA strives to create a safe, accessible, welcoming, and inclusive event, and aligns with the DLF Forum’s Code of Conduct.

New for 2019: The Digital Preservation conference will provide increased overlap with the DLF Forum. On Wednesday morning (October 16), Digital Preservation attendees will have the chance to attend the DLF Forum breakfast, sessions, coffee break, and closing plenary, followed by a buffet lunch exclusively for Digital Preservation attendees. Digital Preservation 2019 kicks off on Wednesday afternoon and continues through Thursday (October 17) with sessions and working group meetings.

Submissions:

NDSA welcomes 250-word proposals for Digital Preservation describing your presentation, demo, or poster, or 500-word proposals for full panel sessions. Please also include a 50-word abstract to be included in the conference program if your submission is selected. Submit proposals online with ConfTool: https://www.conftool.pro/dlf2019/

Deadline: Sunday, April 28, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

We encourage proposals related to this year’s theme: Critical Junctures.

Digital preservation supports ongoing access to important digital records and aims to counteract the many risks that digital materials face, from obsolete software and hardware to bit corruption. “Junctures” can be defined as particular points in time or as the places where things join. Critical junctures among people, organizations, and technology are fostered to ensure digital objects persist over time. This year, Digital Preservation 2019 invites presentations and workshops that seek to explore these “Critical Junctures.” The program committee is particularly interested in presentations that address the following topics:

• Joining Forces: We invite talks with a focus on exploring interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and post-custodial approaches, while examining the benefits, challenges, and limitations of collaboration and resource-sharing.
• Risks Becoming Reality: What happens when skills, policies, tools, and/or other resources fail to materialize or align at critical junctures? We’d like to hear “real life” stories of preservation risks playing out in big and small ways and their impacts not only on collections and organizations, but also on communities.
• Soup to Nuts: Preservation is a series of decision points that enable collections to endure. We invite papers that explore a holistic view of preservation and consider how individual components of digital preservation fit into the chain as a whole.
• Preservation is Social: Socio-technical perspectives look beyond software and hardware to explore the intersections of people, organizations, and digital preservation programs and policies.
• Fast Forward: What will digital preservation look like in 5, 10, 20, or even 50 years? Bring a futurist point-of-view to the table, and/or examine forward-looking ideas and new approaches that may not only be experimental, but fun.

Submissions length and format:

With the increased integration with the DLF Forum and based upon strong feedback from the community, submissions this year are invited in the following lengths and formats:

• 55-Minute Panels: 55-minute panel discussions with 3-5 speakers will be given a dedicated session. Panels should reflect a diverse range of voices, and male-only panels will not be accepted.
• 18-Minute Talks/Demos: Presentations and demonstrations are allocated 18 minutes each, and speakers should reserve time within that allotment (5 - 8 minutes) for interactive exchanges on next steps, possible NDSA community action, and discussion or debate.
• Minute Madness: Share your ideas in 60 seconds or less before the reception. Presenters will have the option to display 24”x 36” posters during the reception that follows.
• Working Group Meetings: NDSA working and interest group chairs are invited to propose 55-minute group meetings or targeted collaboration sessions.

All submissions will be peer-reviewed by NDSA’s Program Committee. Presenters will be notified of their acceptance in June and will be guaranteed entry to the conference.

Deadline to submit a proposal: Sunday, April 28, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Is your organization interested in becoming a sponsor of #digipres19 or the DLF Forum? Take a look at our sponsorship opportunities and please contact [log in to unmask]if you would like more information.

2019 Digital Preservation Organizing Committee

Thank you to these individuals for their hard work in organizing this year’s Digital Preservation conference.

• Sibyl Schaefer, UC San Diego (chair)
• Courtney C. Mumma, Texas Digital Library (vice chair)
• Seth Anderson, Yale University Library
• Heather Barnes, Wake Forest University
• Joe Carrano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Suzanne Chase, Georgetown University
• David Cirella, Yale University
• Stefan Elnabli, UC San Diego
• Alex Kinnaman, Virginia Tech
• Dan Noonan, The Ohio State University
• Krista Oldham, Clemson University
• Kristen Schuster, King’s College London