Local Government Web Network

Formats for long term preservation of information – Guest post from Cassie Findlay

After my presentation on preserving digital information at the recent Local Government Web Network conference, Reem told me that she received lots of enquiries about PDF/A, which I mentioned in my talk; specifically, What is it?, How to use it? and Where to get it?
PDF/A is the ‘archival’ format for PDF. PDF/A has fewer “bells and whistles” than traditional PDF which minimises future migration requirements. PDF/A is more open than traditional PDF because it is maintained by the International Standards Organisation, not one specific vendor. The PDF/A standard is ISO 19005-1 Document management – Electronic document file format for long-term preservation – Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1).
You can create PDF/A documents by either adding a PDF maker plug-in to MS Word. Adobe Acrobat Professional has a validation feature which allows you to validate your document against the PDF/A-1 standard.
PDF/A is a great option for a long term preservation format (or LTPF as digital preservation nerds like me like to say!) for documentary style information – ideally you should use PDF/A from the very start of the information’s life, particularly when you know it has long term value (such as Board minutes). Alternatively, you can implement a conversion strategy to turn documents into PDF/A when they are moved off active directories, to minimise the risk of obsolescence  and make future migrations easier. If the information is ultimately required to come to the State archives, PDF/A is a suitable format for that, too.
Other formats that are suitable as LTPFs include Open Document Format (ODF), HTML, XHTML and XML. For digital images, JPEG, TIFF or PNG are recommended, and FLAC for digital audio.
For those interested in capturing websites or portions of websites in high volumes, rather than saving individual pages, the International Internet Preservation Consortium recently  announced the publication of the WARC file format as an international standard: ISO 28500:2009, Information and documentation — WARC file format. This is a a container format that permits one file simply and safely to carry a very large number of constituent data objects (of unrestricted type, including many binary types) for the purpose of storage, management, and exchange.

For more information on choosing the right formats for long term preservation of digital information, check out State Records’ digital records strategy Future Proof, subscribe to our blog at: http://futureproof.records.nsw.gov.au or follow us on Twitter @FutureProofNSW
Cassie Findlay
Cassandra.Findlay@records.nsw.gov.au

2009 Conference Wrap up

We did it! Our second year and our second conference went off without a hitch!

For those of you who made it, we do hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful. For those of you who couldn’t make it, never fear, content is here! Check out the conference site for presentations and selected Audio. Sessions available include the opening keynote from Senator Kate Lundy,  as well as the lightening talks from staff at councils. You can also check out some pictures on Flickr!

We’re really looking forward to next year, and are very keen for you to be more involved, so don’t be shy, get in touch, let us know what you’re interested in and want to see at the conference next year, or if you want to help out.

Conference registrations close on 7 August – here’s why you should come

You have just a few days to get your tickets for the WE Believe in Community conference. Registrations close Friday, 7 August 2009.

Conference highlights include:

• Keynotes from Senator Kate Lundy and Mark Pesce
• Plenary session from Jason Ryan
• Panel session on online community engagement with panel members from local and state government, and industry.
• Government 2.0 Taskforce workshop with Lisa Harvey

We also have a choice of 6 workshops from the basics of writing for the web, the essentials of Information Architecture, WCAG 2.0, user-centred design you techniques you can do yourself, and you can get into some coding techniques with Real world CSS, and an Introduction to JavaScript.

To help convince you, here’s me being interviewed by James Dellow giving the low-down on this year’s conference.

Diana Mounter on the upcoming Local Government Web Network Conference from James Dellow on Vimeo.

Public Sphere: Government 2.0

Sat in the car heading down to Canberra for the second Public Sphere, Reem, Bern (from Mosman Council), and I have been talking about the possibilities of local government on the web, and the challenges that face the web staff in councils. In New South Wales we’re on varying levels when it comes to our websites, or web services. Many are still tackling the basics of getting a functioning, usable, accessible website up, whilst others are experimenting in the realms of social media. Open data, open government, and open web, is something most are still learning about, let alone being at a stage where these methodologies will be incorporated into the building of new web services. For example, with a quick count it looks like less than 50% of councils in NSW have even one RSS feed, on the other hand we’ve seen more and more councils utilising social media such as YouTube, and gradually we’re seeing councils popping up on Twitter. Continue reading Public Sphere: Government 2.0…

WE Believe In Community – register now

We’re happy to announce that registrations for our conference – WE Believe In Community – are now open!

Like last year we are keeping the ticket prices as low as possible. This conference is not about making money, it’s about getting people together to share ideas and learn.

Early Bird discount available until 10 July: only $475.00 +GST (that’s a discount of $75.00!) Continue reading WE Believe In Community – register now…