Working groups
nestor offers all interested parties from the private and public domains the possibility to participate in working groups.
There are currently four working groups made up of experts from the partner institutions and other organisations, working on different topic areas. They are committed to collecting best-practices in the digital preservation of different media formats and multimedia materials, to the institutional sharing of current digital preservation projects, to the exploration of legal issues surrounding digital preservation and to the organisation of digital archives.
The working groups bundle together existing expert knowledge on the individual topics. The participants monitor and discuss national and international developments. Conversely, results from the working groups are fed back into the national and international planning and activities in the field of digital preservation. The working groups therefore constitute the primary nodes of the nestor competence network. If you are interested in contributing to one of the working groups, please send a mail to the address given below. If you wish to get in touch with nestor, please contact the nestor administrative office.
List of Working groups
Certification WG
Based on the DIN 31644: "Criteria for trusted digital repositories", the WG designed two certification processes with different levels. The first stage will include an extended self-evaluation based on the DIN with an assessment and the award of a nestor seal and registration, in order to help implement the 2010 agreed "Memorandum of Understanding to create a European framework for audit and certification of digital repositories".
Contact. Astrid Schoger and Christian Keitel
Cooperation and Networking WG
The purpose of this WG is to support cooperative efforts in digital preservation and to help find ways to intensify collaboration and to set up binding agreements between memory institutions with the same or similar collection mandates. The main focuses of the work are upon taking responsibility for the selection and storage of materials, aspects of localisation in documentation systems within the context of user requirements, and related organisational, legal and technical issues. The approaches and procedures developed by the WG are intended to support memory institutions in establishing a cooperative long-term preservation strategy and in setting up the necessary administrative processes.
Direction: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Contact: Tobias Beinert and Armin Straube
Costs WG
The working group - which represents experts for digital Long-term Preservation as well as for the determination of costs - plans to take up and carry on existing work.
In the determination of cost considerations, the working group is based in principle on the processes in the OAIS reference model, but will also include other cost factors - such as procurement costs and initial costs.
As a result the working group plans a publication which contains a Guideline for the Determination of costs for digital Long term preservation.
Contact: Yvonne Friese and Michael Nelißen
Digital Preservation WG
In contrast to books or paper-based archive records, digital objects can only be preserved by means of proactive measures on the part of the archive or library. Which measures are appropriate? At what point in the lifecycle can and must certain assumptions be made? How can user interests, significant characteristics and practical requirements be reconciled? These are the questions which the WG will attempt to answer.
Direction: Baden-Württemberg State Archive
Contact: Christian Keitel
Digital Preservation Standards WG (assimilated into DIN WG)
This working group has generated publications on the ingest of information and persistent identifiers to be found in Publications. The WG has also been assimilated into the DIN Standardisation Committee for Libraries and Documentation (NABD).
Contact: Karsten Huth
Emulation WG
In collaboration with nestor and the Gesellschaft für Informatik (Society for computer science, GI) the joint working group "emulation" (in the GI: WG Long-term preservation) was founded in 2010. The groups simultaneous connection to both the GI and nestor provides the access to many various resources of the network in conjunction with a concentration of the skills of GI members.
Grid/eScience and Digital Preservation WG (assimilated into other initiatives)
The working group supervised and published three reports and drew up a statement on the preservation of research data.The documents are available under Publications. The work of the WG is being continued in other initiatives.
Contact: Heike Neuroth
Legal WG
The aim of the WG is to clarify legal questions which arise in conjunction with digital preservation. The WG serves as a source of information for the cooperation partners and offers advice to legislators.
Direction: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Contact: Tobias Beinert and Armin Straube
Media WG
The aim of the nestor Media WG is to establish a central node for best-practices in ensuring the long-term accessibility of non-textual digital media. The intentions here are to involve noted experts in the field, to provide a virtual meeting place and to publish a media guide on the long-term preservation of non-textual media, including media format, hardware and workflow problems.
Direction: Institute for Museum Research (SMB-PK)
Contact: Stefan Rohde-Enslin
Trusted Repositories - Certification WG (assimilated into DIN WG)
The nestor "Trusted Repositories - Certification" working group, assimilated into the DIN "Trusted Digital Repositories" working group, is concerned with processes for analysing and evaluating the quality of digital preservation.
The "nestor Catalogue of Criteria for Trusted Digital Repositories" identifies both organisational and technical requirements.This provide a tool for achieving, assessing and documenting trustworthiness in digital repositories. The catalogue is currently being revised to serve as the basis of a DIN standard.
Contact: Susanne Dobratz and Astrid Schoger
Last update: 11.9.2012