We live in a digital age we no longer commit knowledge to vellum or paper, storage solutions that have stood the test of time. Now everything is created, consumed and, hopefully, stored on computers. It is this last area that is of particular concern, how can we ensure that valuable digital information will remain accessible and usable? This is where digital preservation comes in.
EGI: What is the goal of the Networking Session?
Claudio Prandoni: Our aim with the session is to present to the whole digital preservation and e-infrastructures community the new opportunities offered by the pre-commercial-procurement launched by PREFORMA project. We are interested in engaging with everyone from the open source community and developers to standardisation bodies and memory institutions. At the end of May we launch a call for tender to develop and deploy a suite of open source tools that allow memory institutions to check that the files stored in their archives conform to a specific standard.
EGI: Who would you like to attend the session?
CP: The tender is quite broad and we want to have a wide range of stakeholders involved. So at the session we would love to see any potential supplier like SMEs, research centres or universities that have some experience in the field of standardisation and quality checks. However they are not the only people who should come along, we are interested in memory institutions and cultural heritage organisations coordinating or representing them, developers, research organisations, standardisation bodies, funding agencies, best practice networks and other projects in the digital culture, e-Infrastructures and policy arenas. There is a place for anyone interested in preserving our digital heritage.
EGI: What will attendees learn from attending?
CP: We hope attendees will have a better understanding of what PREFORMA does and how they can get involved, including funding opportunities. But most importantly for us is the opportunity for them to give us feedback and advice and ask specific questions around the issues and challenges that PREFORMA is addressing, helping us to improve and refine the requirements and the specification of the tender
The “Pre-commercial procurement on digital preservation” networking session will be held at 11am on Wednesday 21st at the EGI Community Forum in Helsinki.
You can find more information on the PREFORMA website at http://www.digitalmeetsculture.net/article/preforma-egi-community-forum-2014
Source: http://www.egi.eu/news-and-media/newsfeed/news_2014_014.html
