Call for Contributions

The iPRES Conference brings together experts, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in the field of digital preservation to share their knowledge, experiences, and innovations. Save the dates, mark your calendars, and join us in Ghent for iPRES 2024.

Together, let's unlock the past, present and future of digital preservation!

iPRES is the premier international conference on digital preservation, offering a unique platform for the global digital preservation community to:

• present groundbreaking research and innovative projects;

• share practical experiences and best practices;

• discuss emerging trends and challenges;

• collaborate on future directions and solutions.

iPRES 2024 has three themes to guide the discussions, workshops and presentations throughout the conference:

• From document to data: Across sectors from audiovisual preservation, document management and archiving, digitisation in memory institutions to web archiving, a shift is happening from document to data. This shift prompts some fundamental research questions, e.g. about semantic interoperability over time. What are the research opportunities in preserved data? In an Open Science environment, expectations are for peers to be able to access and process existing data seamlessly... what is needed to bridge generations of researchers with preserved data and documents?

• Scaling up: The pioneers of the earliest digitisation & preservation projects are no longer around… Have the choices proven to be sustainable? Are migrations or conversions needed? Does the actual documentation as preserved with the artefacts prove useful? Can the preservation work scale up with influx of new containers and maintenance of existing containers? Can we do that within the boundaries of climate change, budget restrictions and any number of challenges to our institutions? What future tools and technologies do we need? What can AI bring to our mission?

• Start 2 preserve: Keynote speakers at iPRES 2022 in Glasgow and 2023 in Illinois sparked a conversation about the responsibilities around community archiving and lowering the barriers to digital preservation. In fact, it’s never too late to start and never too late to learn new things. The iPRES conference is a great place to share your learning curve, to update and share learning materials and to facilitate the learning of colleagues.

Call for Contributions

All contributions to the programme are reviewed by the programme committee, in one of two forms of submission:

1. Papers: Present original research findings, case studies/practical approaches, or theoretical advances in digital preservation in an academic paper between 2500 and 7500 words.

2. Abstracts: All other contributions can be submitted with a textual description of 200 to 350 words and filling out a questionnaire specific to the format.

Please note - the iPRES conference does not postpone its deadlines!

How to submit?

All practical guidelines for contributors will be published January 2024. The capacities for hybrid participation will be announced as well. A webinar with the possibility to ask questions is scheduled for 11 January 2024.

>> Sign up now to join the online meeting!

Join Us in Shaping the Future

iPRES 2024 promises to be a dynamic and engaging event where you can exchange ideas, collaborate with peers, and contribute to the ongoing discourse on digital preservation. We look forward to your valuable contributions and the opportunity to collectively work towards preserving our digital heritage.

Save the dates, mark your calendars, and join us in Ghent for iPRES 2024. Together, let's unlock the past, present and future of digital preservation!

Sincerely,

iPRES 2024 Conference Programme committee Co-Chairs:

Julie Birkholz, Dieter De Witte, Jean-Yves Le Meur, Sean Macmillan, Sharon McMeekin, Dries Moreels, Heather Moulaison Sandy, Quincy Oeyen, Marcel Ras, Leontien Talboom, Tamara Van Zwol, Willem Vanneste, Rony Vissers, Lotte Wijsman