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
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/
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/