On the 2nd of November 2023, the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Archive and Research unit celebrated World Digital Preservation Day (WDPD), with the theme Digital Preservation: A Concerted Effort, by showcasing the rich digital archive of Madiba and the archive of the Foundation to the world. WDPD is an annual event that highlights the importance of preserving digital materials, such as documents, images, videos, and other digital assets. The day is typically celebrated on the first Thursday of November each year.
To celebrate WDPD, Zandile Myeka, a Metadata and Photographs archivist at the Foundation, in collaboration with Dr Yolandi Burger, a lecturer at Loughborough University, created a video demonstrating an interesting and exciting process of using authority records such as places as a search query to receive necessary search results. Authority records in the context of a digital archive refer to standardised records that provide information about entities such as people, institutions, places, genres and subjects. These records help ensure consistency and accuracy in the representation and management of these entities within our collections and ensure that users can find and access information quickly and easily using these uniform terms. For this reason, it is important to encourage heritage institutions and practitioners of digital preservation from around the world to celebrate World Digital Preservation Day.
Digital materials play a crucial role in preserving our cultural heritage, which is why it is so important to celebrate WDPD and emphasise the need to safeguard these digital assets for future generations. Digital materials are vulnerable to various forms of decay, including file format obsolescence, hardware and software incompatibility, and data corruption before even considering issues such as cybersecurity. By raising awareness of WDPD, heritage institutions and archivists are encouraged to take measures to prevent the loss of valuable digital information. Digital preservation also ensures that information remains accessible over time, thus, WDPD promotes the adoption of best practices and standards for preserving digital content - making it possible for researchers, scholars, and the general public to access and use information from the past.
Many research projects and academic endeavours rely on access to digital information, hence WDPD highlights the importance of maintaining digital archives and repositories to support ongoing research and scholarship. In various fields, there are legal and regulatory requirements for the preservation of certain types of digital records. Celebrating WDPD emphasises the importance of compliance with these requirements to avoid legal issues and ensure accountability.
WDPD serves as an opportunity to educate individuals and institutions about the challenges associated with digital preservation, including technological obsolescence, funding constraints, and the rapid evolution of digital formats. Moreover, WDPD provides a platform for networking and collaboration, fostering a sense of community among those involved in preserving digital materials.
In conclusion, World Digital Preservation Day is important because it draws attention to the critical need for preserving digital materials, which are increasingly integral to our cultural, historical, and scientific heritage. It serves as a reminder of the challenges associated with digital preservation and encourages individuals and institutions to take proactive measures to ensure the longevity and accessibility of digital information.
Enjoy the video in the link below…