[Asis-l] ERPANET Workshop Bern: Programme Released

[Monica Greenan]

www.erpanet.org

Apologies for any cross-posting

ERPANET is pleased to release the programme of its workshop on the
“Long-term Preservation of Databases”. It will be held on the 9-11 April
2003 and is co-hosted by the Swiss Federal Archives.

*** Programme ***

Wednesday 9 April
   09:00	Registration
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
   09:45	Welcome (Christoph Graf, Swiss Federal Archives; Seamus Ross,
ERPANET); Introduction (Peter Keller, Swiss Federal Archives);
SESSION ONE: Practical experiences with database preservation
   11:00	Centre des Archives Contemporaines, France (presented by
Jean-Pierre Teil); other projects to be confirmed
   12:15	Lunch
   13:30	Testbed Digitale Bewaring, Netherlands (speaker to be confirmed);
National Digital Archive of Datasets, UK (speaker to be confirmed)
   15:45	Breakout session
   16:30	Finish
	Workshop Dinner on Mount Gurten

Thursday 10 April
SESSION TWO: Practical experiences with database preservation (continued)
   09:00	 National Archives, Norway (Terje Pettersen-Dahl); Software
Independent Archiving of Relational Databases at the Swiss Federal Archives
(Stephan Heuscher, Stephan Järmann)
   11:30	Breakout session
   12:15	Lunch
SESSION THREE: Archival methods
   13:30	Extraction (Niklaus Bütikofer, ERPANET); Description (Elizabeth
Shepherd, University College London, UK); Appraisal (Thomas Zürcher Thrier,
Swiss Federal Archives)
   16:30	Finish
		Walking tour of the historic city centre

Friday 11 April
SESSION FOUR: Access, Use, Adding Value
   09:00	Value-Adding, Access, and Use (Rolf Apweiler, European
Bioinformatics Institute, UK)
   10:15	Breakout session
CONCLUSIONS
   11:00	Mariella Guercio and Hans Hofman (ERPANET)
   12:00	End of Workshop

*** Focus ***

Databases have been, and continue to be, a key technology for the storage,
organisation, and interrogation of information. While the value of other
types of digital information has been highlighted in recent years, databases
and the information they contain have been sidelined. Their preservation is
of great concern as they are often either irreplaceable or of such value
that replacement would be prohibitively expensive.

The workshop will cover the entire process of database preservation:
selection, appraisal, preservation, description, and access. Technical
solutions will occupy an important place in the workshop and archival
requirements will also be addressed.

Various institutional approaches will be presented and key areas of
difficulty and success offered. Breakout sessions will focus on some of
these identified areas, and attempt to posit solutions and strategies for
this difficult challenge.

*** Who Will Benefit From Attending? ***

Erpaworkshops are expert meetings to promote and develop new approaches to
preservation challenges. Participation is encouraged from specialists in the
archival, scientific, and IT spheres, and those with theoretical and/or
practical experience in the field of database preservation. Our speakers
will present experiences in order to facilitate discussion and the
furtherance of knowledge on database preservation.

*** The Venue ***

The Workshop will take place at the conference hall of the Swiss Federal
Archives (www.bundesarchiv.ch) in Bern. See
www.bundesarchiv.ch/webserver-static/docs/e/situationsplan.pdf for a map of
the area.

*** Travel Information ***

by plane: Bern Airport (www.alpar.ch, German-only website) features only a
small number of direct European flights and transfer connections through
Basel, Zurich, and other airports. In most cases it may be more convenient
to fly to Zurich (www.unique.ch), Basel (www.euroairport.ch), or Geneva
(www.gva.ch), and to reach Bern by train from there. Zurich and Geneva offer
convenient changes at their respective airport railway stations; the journey
will take 90 (ZRH) or 120 minutes (GVA). EuroAirport Basel has frequent bus
connections to Basel main station, from where the train to Bern takes
approximately one hour. Train tickets are available at vending machines and
counters at the stations; timetable info at www.rail.ch. (There is a
possibility to have your luggage checked through to Bern directly, see
www.sbb.ch/pv/fly_e.htm.)

by train: Participants from neighbouring countries may consider travelling
to Bern by train. There are convenient connections from France, Spain,
Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Belgium to Bern
main station. For timetable information look at www.rail.ch.

*** Accommodation Information ***

Arrangements and reservations have been made with selected hotels for the
ERPANET Workshop. These are mostly located in the historic city centre of
Bern and are within walking distance of both the train station and the
Federal Archives. Taxis and buses are available at the station. The
registrations are being taken care of by the Bern Tourist office. Please
find the registration form on the ERPANET website. Special hotel fares apply
for those who book their room until the 1st March 2003.

*** Workshop Dinner ***

ERPANET is pleased to invite you to the workshop dinner that will be held on
Wednesday evening at Mount Gurten near Bern.

*** Registration ***

The registration fee is 220 CHF. This includes workshop materials,
refreshments, and the workshop dinner. Please register at www.erpanet.org.

____________________________________________
Monica Greenan
ERPANET British Editor
Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII)
George Service House,
11 University Gardens,
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QJ
Scotland
Tel: +44(0)141 330 3549
Fax: +44(0)141 330 3788
http://www.erpanet.org