Call for papers--Preservation of electronic records

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Call for Papers
Symposium 2003
Preservation of Electronic Records: New Knowledge and
    Decision-making
Ottawa, Canada
September 15-18, 2003

Submissions are now being invited for Symposium 2003--Preservation
of Electronic Records: New Knowledge and Decision-making. This
symposium, hosted by the Canadian Conservation Institute, the
National Archives of Canada, and the National Library of Canada,
will be held in Ottawa, Canada, from September 15 to 18, 2003.

During the last quarter of the 20th century, heritage collections
have included increasing amounts of information stored on magnetic
and optical media (videotapes, audiotapes, computer tapes and disks,
CDs, and DVDs). Although archives and libraries have the largest
amounts of this material, much is also found in museums and even
galleries (e.g. oral histories, documentation of relevant recent
events or performances, and contemporary artworks).

Leading archives and libraries are increasingly aware of the
challenges of preserving these materials and the information stored
on them. The purpose of the symposium is to expand this awareness by
bringing expert and leading edge opinions to a larger audience
including small and medium-sized archives, libraries, and museums.
The focus will be on making decisions and finding practical
solutions that can be implemented immediately, especially for the
materials that are at risk of being lost within the next 10 to 20
years. Participation is encouraged from experts in larger archives
who are knowledgeable of the preservation of such collections, as
well as collection managers and conservators who have the
responsibility for this sort of material but may not be as well
informed about the issues and approaches.

The program for the symposium will be based on a decision tree (i.e.
the chronological decisions that need to be made as electronic
records come into the heritage institution to ensure they are
preserved). Papers emphasizing new knowledge, case studies, or
critical reviews are encouraged for each step of the decision-making
process outlined below.

    Value Criteria: What criteria can be used to identify records
    that should be preserved? How do libraries, archives, museums,
    and galleries approach this? Are they fundamentally different?

    Authenticity Criteria: What criteria can be used to assess the
    authenticity of records that will be preserved? How do
    libraries, archives, museums, and galleries approach this? Are
    they fundamentally different?

    Factors to be Considered in Developing a Preservation Strategy:
    What professional and institutional requirements must be
    considered in developing a preservation strategy? Does current
    information technology meet specific preservation requirements?
    What is the likely nature and quantity of future acquisitions?

    Preservation Strategies for Information Content: What is the
    best strategy to preserve information content ? maintain old
    technology, emulate old technology, migrate records within
    proprietary format, convert to a standard format, or create a
    persistent object?

    Media Knowledge: How do media (CDs, DVDs, magnetic tapes and
    disks) deteriorate? How should media be stored (including survey
    methodology) and handled? What is the longevity of media? What
    is the best method of recovering media from a disaster? How is
    good quality media selected?

Presentations at the symposium will be limited to 30 minutes
(including time for introduction and questions), and may be in
either English or French. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

Call for Posters: In addition to formal papers, submissions for
posters are also welcome. Posters may be presented in the
traditional fashion on boards, or electronically in the form of Web
pages. Computer stations will be set up at the symposium venue to
allow delegates to view electronic posters.

Submissions should include the speaker's name, address, e-mail
address, telephone and Fax: numbers, a short one-paragraph
biographical note, the title of the presentation or poster, and an
abstract of 400-500 words.

Submissions must be received by April 30, 2002.

All abstracts will be considered by the Program Committee, and
suitable papers and posters selected by June 15, 2002. Selected
authors will be provided with guidelines to assist them in preparing
their papers or posters, first drafts of which will be due by
December 15, 2002. These drafts will be carefully reviewed by the
Program Committee and final selections made by March 15, 2003. Final
papers will then be due by June 30, 2003. These papers will be
incorporated into a CD to be distributed to delegates at the
symposium, and eventually published as postprints.

Note: Following the symposium, authors will have until October 31,
2003 to revise their papers to incorporate any new knowledge they
may have gained during the conference; if no amendments are received
by this date, the final draft papers will be used in the postprints.
All papers will undergo a full peer review before publication.

Please send your submission to:

    Symposium 2003 Program Coordinator
    Canadian Conservation Institute
    1030 Innes Road
    Ottawa ON  K1A 0M5
    Canada
    613-998-3721
    Fax: 613-998-4721
    cci-icc_publications [at] pch__gc__ca

Neil Beagrie
Assistant Director
JISC London Office,
King's College London
Strand Bridge House
138 - 142, The Strand
London WC2R 1HH


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:56
                Distributed: Thursday, February 14, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-15-56-009
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