[Asis-l] Ensuring Long-term Preservation and Adding Value to Scientific and Technical data (PV 2005)

[Joy Davidson]

**Apologies for cross-posting**

Ensuring Long-term Preservation and Adding Value
to Scientific and Technical data (PV 2005)
21- 23 November 2005
Royal Society, Edinburgh, UK
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/pv-2005/
First Announcement and Call for Papers
Preliminary Programme Committee (further members to be added)
David Giaretta, UK Digital Curation Centre RAL, UK (Chair)

David Corney, CCLRC, UK
Rachel Heery, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK
Claude Huc, CNES, France
Gian Maria Pinna, ESA/ESRIN, Frascati, Italy
Patrick Mazal, CNES, France
Seamus Ross, University of Glasgow, UK
Don Sawyer, NASA/GSFC, USA

Organizing Committee
Natasha Bishop, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK
Lee Callaghan, NeSC, UK
Bridget Robinson, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK

Presentation and Objectives of the Symposium
Title: Ensuring long-term preservation and adding value to scientific and
technical data

This conference is the third of a series on long-term preservation and
adding value to scientific data, begun in 2002 in France. Over the past
several years the importance of this topic has been recognised increasingly
widely and the term "digital curation" has come into use which covers
similar ideas.

The vulnerability of digital data is a major concern. Storage hardware and
access software change on a timescale of 3 years or so, while if we look
over a decade or more then the knowledge and software base of potential
users which a data holder can rely on will also change drastically. This
means that extraordinary efforts must be made to ensure that the information
that is held remains understandable to users, and especially when one
includes automated processes within the term "users".

Much scientific and technical data is kept because it is the record of
observations or phenomena which will never happen again, because it is part
of a long time series or because it forms part of the heritage which future
generations will wish to understand. Data managers are therefore
increasingly required to ensure the long-term preservation and to add value
to data as an integral part of their responsibilities. What technological,
methodological, standardizing and economic prospects are now opening up in
this field? These will be some of the issues addressed during the symposium.

Each conference also has, in addition to general areas, a particular theme.
It seems timely for this conference to encourage contributions from the
areas of e-Science and digital libraries, where there is a great deal of
relevant work underway.

Main topics
1. Ensuring long-term data preservation
State of the art of data archiving and access techniques, for example:

what standardization has to offer (in the form of feedback from experience),
adapting archiving techniques to the different categories of information
handled,
such as scientific data, technical data, documents, sounds and images,

system architecture in the context of constant technological developments
Lines of technological research,

2. Adding value to data
State of the art of techniques used to add value to data (description of
data and associated services)
The operational use of systems (services provided for users, value added
services, etc.)
3. Lessons Learnt
Examples of working systems which claim to provide digital curation
services, and the lessons that can be derived from them.
The operational use of archives (inserts and updates, migration of media,
etc.)
4. Future Prospects
What services will be needed in future to support digital curation
Anticipating future users' needs
Encouraged focus areas:
e-Science and Digital Libraries
Requirements for curation from e-Science and Digital Libraries
Application of curation techniques in e-Science and Digital Libraries
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION:
Authors are invited to submit one page abstracts by sending a PDF or Word
file to pv2005 at ukoln.ac.uk.

Abstracts should contain the following information:
Title of the presentation
All authors and their affiliation
Contact details (e-mail address) of the main contact author.

Authors will be notified of acceptance of their presentation by 16 May 2005
and then receive instructions for the preparation of the final paper for the
conference proceedings. The deadline for the submission of final papers is 1
September 2005

Important Dates
31 January 2005 | First announcement
1 April 2005 | Deadline for abstracts
16 May 2005 | Notification for authors
1 September 2005 | Deadline for final papers
21-23 November 2005 | PV 2005

General Information
Venue:
The conference will take place at The Royal Society in Edinburgh, UK. The
venue is ideally situated in the centre of Edinburgh and provides all the
facilities necessary for a conference of this nature.

Hotel accommodation can be arranged through the conference website to obtain
discounted rates. Details to follow.

Organization
The symposium will consist of plenary sessions. The language for the
conference will be English.

Publications
The symposium proceedings will be available to each participant on the
opening day. All authors presenting a paper are invited to submit a written
paper.

For any further information please contact events at ukoln.ac.uk

Joy Davidson
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 8592
Fax: +44(0)141 330 3788
http://www.erpanet.org