Digital Preservation Workshop for Small and Medium-sized Institutions

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Instructor: Ern Bieman (Candian Heritage Information Network)
Date: Thursday, October 24, 2019
Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm (1-hour break for lunch)
Location: Yukon Archives
Cost: Free (registration required)

The gathering of any cultural heritage information today involves a digital element; whether this is the electronic documentation of museum collections or archival fonds, the digitization of tangible objects through scanning and photography, or the recording of intangible cultural heritage through audio and video.

Using digital equipment simplifies work. It facilitates the searching and browsing of your information, and the sharing of it within and beyond your community. In some cases (as with the recording of intangible cultural heritage), it creates digital artifacts in their own right. However, digitized formats can also leave one exposed to the risk of losing access: loss of stored media, degradation of physical carriers, loss of hardware, changes to operating systems, software, and file formats, loss of copyright information, provenance information, and confirmation of object authenticity, are among a few of the issues affecting access.

Digital preservation standards exist, but much of it is daunting to all but the largest of institutions. This workshop, distills and prioritizes many of the existing standards and best practices, and offers a path for even the smallest institutions to implement the most important and practical elements that are core to digital preservation. Using the Canadian Heritage Information Network’s Digital Preservation Toolkit as a roadmap, we will learn how to conduct a survey of digital assets, how to develop a digital preservation policy, and how to select and implement a digital preservation plan. The workshop will also provide practical advice on implementing and managing digital preservation technologies in small institutions.

Limited to 20 participants. This workshop is presented in conjunction the Our Trails Bring Us Together / Haa deiyí wóoshxh haa ła.ât / Łä̀chʼi tän kwäga dūjal du conference. Please register via the conference Eventbrite listing here (select workshop ticket option).

Funding for this project is made possible with support from Government of Yukon’s Community Development Fund.