Initial NDIIPP Partners Plan for the Future
December 30, 2008 -- Heads of the initial eight NDIIPP partnerships met with Library staff to discuss ideas for continuing collaboration after their projects end in 2009. The meeting took place in Washington, DC, during December 10-11, 2008.
Library staff began with a summary of recommendations from the IBM Watson Research Center. The Library asked IBM for advice about how to leverage NDIIPP results to build an enduring partnership organization for digital preservation. IBM suggested extending relationships with multiple content domains and promoting digital stewardship.
Three partners presented case studies about their experience in building and maintaining partnership networks. Martin Halbert talked about the MetaArchive Cooperative; Myron Gutmann reviewed Data-PASS; and Zsolt Nagy reported on the North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project, as well as the interconnected layers of collaboration at the local, state, and national level for geospatial data management.
Martha Anderson from the Library talked about a draft outline for organizing partners into a stewardship alliance. Participants were then asked to expand upon the outline to consider the specific functions and benefits of such an association, and many useful suggestions resulted.
Tyler Walters from Georgia Tech (a MetaArchive partner) led a presentation on creating trust relationships for distributed digital preservation federations, which was based on his iPres 2008 paper.
After a conversation about the potential application of an alliance “brand” and “seal of approval,” the meeting concluded with a review of next steps. Library staff noted that the final NDIIPP report was nearing completion and that it would include discussion about formulating a sustainable stewardship membership organization.
