There is a great video on the importance of Web Archiving courtesy of the International Internet Preservation consortium. This video is also available in German, Spanish, French, Japanese and Arabic.

The IIPC is the home of world-wide experts in collecting and preserving information from the Web.

I’ve recently been appointed as an Institutional Support Officer for the Digital Curation Centre. In this role I will be raising awareness and building capacity for institutional research data by liaising with libraries, IT services, research support staff and others.

My first step in getting myself up to speed will be attending the DCC Roadshow to be held in Brighton from the 4th – 6th October 2011 at the University of Sussex Conference Centre. I attended one day of one of the earlier roadshows held in Bath and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I am very much looking forward to it.

The roadshow consists of three days of training in research data management. Day one is an introductory day aimed at researchers, data curators, staff from library etc. It provides an introduction to the DCC and the role of the DCC in supporting research data management. Day two is a more interactive day aimed at senior managers, research PVCs/Directors, directors of Information Services etc. and looks at strategy/policy implementation. Day three is a proper hands-on day and consists of the Digital Curation 101 – How to manage research data: tips and tools workshop.

Attendees are welcome to dip in an out of the workshops and don’t have to attend the full three days. There are still places available and I’m sure it will a very useful couple of days. Might see you there!

Have you ever lost valuable information which was hosted on your Web site? Do you have a record of how your Web site has developed since its launch over 15 years ago?

If these questions are of interest to you you may wish to attend an event on “The Future of the Past of the Web”. JISC are running a workshop on “The Future of the Past of the Web” which will take place in the British Library on 7 October 2011 from 10.30-16.30. Places arefree but will need to be booked before 1200 on Friday 30th September 2011. Further information is available from the JISC Web site.

The Open Planets Foundation and the Digital Preservation Coalition are inviting people to a hackathon at the DPC offices in York 27th-29th September.

The ‘hackathon” is designed to bridge the gap between collections owners and developers in the development of practical tools for preservation. It will provide a forum for practical problem solving. It will help collection owners to articulate their requirements in ways that developers can address; and will help developers respond more precisely to the needs of a community hungry for solutions.

This event will interest:

• Collection owners and managers who can bring along samples of their problematic digital collections. You will be asked to give a short talk to provide an overview of the content and the known or potential issues to the group.

• Developers / technical experts who want to gain hands-on experience of applying digital preservation techniques to digital collections. You will be asked to give a short talk about your technical experience and interests.

DPC and OPF members are invited to attend free-of-charge, non-members are also welcome at the cost of 200GBP. For more details, including registration see the DPC Web site.