Some of the major challenges associated with the field of digital preservation will, by and large, be most successfully tackled by national and international collaborative activity as many of the problems that practitioners face are common across institutions, disciplines and geographic regions. Collaborative working will reduce duplication of effort, will allow expertise to be more easily shared, will facilitate economies of scale, will enhance the feeling within the community that shared objectives are being tackled in a methodical and comprehensive way, and that the work of individuals and groups is being effectively disseminated to much wider audiences.
Whilst collaborative working can be extremely valuable on technical projects, it is often absolutely critical on projects where human and societal issues are more centrally important. It is widely understood that many of the more challenging issues in this field are to do with how to organise, standardise, legislate, cost and evaluate preservation-related activities, and that these issues in particular will be validated more effectively by national and international community endorsement.
One of the stated benefits of the JISC Digital Preservation Programme is that it will realise, for stakeholder communities, 'A more thorough understanding of all Digital Preservation-related issues through engagement with relevant national and international communities'. It has, therefore, been responsible for funding (wholly or partially) a number of national and international initiatives, and will continue to seek opportunities to work in mutually beneficial partnerships with all groups, organisations and agencies that share an interest in advancing knowledge about digital preservation-related activity.
Current collaborative work includes:
The International Copyright Law Study
The Blue-Ribbon Panel on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access
JISC subscribes to:
The Digital Preservation Coalition
The Alliance for Permanent Access to the Records of Science