The Variable Media* and Digital Heritage Special Interest Group (Electron) represents a diverse community of conservators, preservation specialists and cultural professionals dedicated to the care of cultural materials which are variable, intangible and technologically dependent.

Members of Electron work within a range of cultural institutions and organisations, including art galleries, archives, libraries and museums, and collaborate with specialists in the audio-visual, information technology, digital preservation and university/research sectors to develop and maintain practices and approaches which are aligned with the continually evolving nature of contemporary cultural materials and the challenges of maintaining, conserving and preserving the technologies, software and hardware which underpin them.

* Variable Media is defined as cultural objects that possess a changing observable state and immaterial qualities that are important to preserve.

AIMS OF THE ELECTRON SIG

Foster and facilitate a forum for professional discourse and the sharing of skills and expertise around the care, management and conservation of variable media, intangible cultural forms and digital cultural assets.

Develop and disseminate knowledge based on contemporary and future best-practice approaches to the ongoing conservation, digital preservation and documentation of variable and electronic cultural materials.

Build and grow a platform for collaboration between individuals and institutions, with a focus on building communities of discourse and professional support within the conservation and preservation sector, and with industry and research specialists.

Associated organisations and groups

AIATSIS – https://aiatsis.gov.au/collections/caring-collection/preservation

AIC Electronic media group https://www.culturalheritage.org/membership

ASRA http://www.asra.asn.au

Association of Moving Image Archivists AMIA https://amianet.org/

Australasia Preserves www.australasiapreserves.org

Bay Area Video Coalition https://bavc.org/preserve-media/preservation-tools

Centre for Research Libraries (US). Includes link to Trusted Digital Repository checklist: https://www.crl.edu/archiving-preservation/digital-archives/metrics

DAMsmart – https://damsmart.com.au/

Digital Curation Centre http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources

Digital Preservation Coalition www.dpconline.org

Dutch Audiovisual network (includes resources from EU project PrestoCentre): https://library.avanet.nl/en/

International Network for the conservation of contemporary art https://www.incca.org/

iPRES: https://ipres-conference.org/

PASIG: https://preservationandarchivingsig.org/index.html

Audio Visual and digital preservation resources:

AV preserve https://www.weareavp.com/resources/

Community Owned Digital Preservation Tool Registry (COPTR): https://coptr.digipres.org/Main_Page

Digital Preservation Listserv: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=DIGITAL-PRESERVATION

IASA – https://www.iasa-web.org/tc04/audio-preservation

Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/

Open source resources – https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo

NFSA Preservation Glossary https://www.nfsa.gov.au/preservation/preservation-glossary

Time-based media and contemporary art resources:

AIC Electronic media group wiki https://www.culturalheritage.org/membership/groups-and-networks/electronic-media-group/resources

Building a new discipline: Time based media art conservation https://www.tbmsymposium2018.com/

International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art https://www.incca.org/articles

Matters in Media Art http://mattersinmediaart.org/

Variable Media Network http://www.variablemedia.net/e/welcome.html

Voices in contemporary art https://voca.network/