Events

The 2014 Innovation Study into the Australian GLAM sector identified that discussion and management of “born digital” cultural heritage materials was often overshadowed by the overwhelming demand for digitisation of collections. Additionally, the study identified that smaller cultural institutions and organisations were often left behind from leading edge practice evident in the larger national and state institutions. A 2016 survey by the National Library of New Zealand found that over 80% of respondents were collecting born digital content, however respondents ranked building staff expertise with working with born-digital material highest for future born-digital collecting/archiving. In this workshop, our anticipated participants are those archivists in smaller organisations and departments that need to start somewhere with their born digital materials.

Goals for this workshop are to identify and share key issues and experiences as well as build a network for ongoing shared knowledge and practice in born-digital processing in archives in Australasia. Our workshop proposal draws from two North American initiatives: Jump In! from the Society of American Archivists and BDAX, the Born-Digital Archiving & eXchange. Jump In! was an initiative inspired by the 2012 OCLC research report, “You’ve Got to Walk Before You Can Run: First Steps for Managing Born-Digital Content Received on Physical Media” which outlined first steps for managing born digital content. The Jump In! Initiative, which ran from 2013 - 2015 asked archivists to start the proposed OCLC steps and report back. The BDAX is created and hosted by Stanford University Libraries and is an annual unconference where the archiving community shares experiences, and builds skills and knowledge.

Outcomes: Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Discuss key digital curation principles as they relate to working with born digital collections.
• Understand current practices, resources, and tools for ingest and accession of born digital materials.
• Develop policies and workflows that meet your institution’s needs.
• Contribute to and support a growing community of archivists who want to experiment with and report on born digital archiving.

Who should attend:

• Practitioners from small to large cultural heritage departments and organisations looking to increase their digital capabilities, knowledge and skill in handling born-digital materials
• IT professionals working in cultural heritage who seek to better understand archival concerns
• Participants with or without previous experience who are keen to contribute to building a community of born-digital practice and knowledge are welcome!