On 4-5 May 2011, the Cultural Heritage and Technology Enhanced Learning unit hosted a workshop for invited experts in the field of digital preservation. It was attended by around 60 representatives from universities and research centres, memory institutions, industry and other organisations such as foundations dedicated to digital preservation.

The event started with a stock-take of achievements and ongoing activities funded under the ICT programme, presenting the portfolio of digital preservation projects and the research roadmaps proposed by the community so far. This presentation was based on a report commissioned for the event which can be downloaded in the documents section below.

The main part of the workshop consisted in group discussions providing input to the digital preservation research agenda within the next EU framework programme for research and innovation (Common Strategic Framework, 2013-2020). A number of reports are now available from the workshop:

• Executive summary of the workshop report
• Full report of workshop (including executive summary)
• Report “Research on Digital Preservation within projects co-funded by the European Union in the ICT programme” – will become available by mid June 2011

I’m aware that recently I haven’t spent a lot of time adding post to this blog. Life and other projects have got in the way! However I do like to keep up to date with Digital Preservation news and wanted to share some of the best news blogs and RSS feeds available:

• Digital Curation Centre News – there is both a news RSS feed and an events RSS feed.

• Digital Preservation Coalition News – there is a news RSS feed and you can also follow William Killbride on Twitter. The DPC also publishes a monthy news summary entitled What’s New.

• Library of Congress News – with a news RSS feed and a NDIIP Twitter account.

• The National Archives News – they have RSS feeds for news and new document releases.

Signing up to these resources should keep you up to date with what’s happening in the digital preservation world.

As part of the JISC-funded Piloting the LIFE costs tool in UK HEIs project, the Digital Curation Centre is now seeking volunteers to test the effectiveness of the LIFE 3 tool within UK HEI repositories. Testing will run from early June until the end of July and participants will receive dedicated support in employing the tool. Participants will be asked to maintain an activity journal for a one-month period and JISC has provided some financial support for institutions wishing to take part. See the DCC LIFE project page for more information.