Date:
Monday December 12, 2005

Location:
Residencia de Estudiantes

Director:
José Antonio Millán

Organize:
Residencia de Estudiantes

Collaborate:
Fundació Caixa Catalunya
Ministry of Culture
Amigos de la Residencia de Estudiantes

Why do we need digital preservation? The question could be inscribed on the larger "Why preserve?" What lies in the roots of institutions such as archives, libraries, and museums? Today, the development and dissemination of an important part of cultural creation in Spanish (and other co-official languages of Spain) is digital, as well as key material for linguistic, historical or cultural research.

The question is displayed on two fronts: on the one side, there are the materials accessible online (the Web), and on the other, private materials (emails, but also the digital archives that are the genesis of many works today). Can we develop any kind of conservation policy for the latter?

And as far as the Web is concerned, is it just enough the work of browsers like Google or initiatives such as the Internet Archives to preserve web sites in our languages?

Do these initiatives preserved all which is desirable and in an appropriate way, or do they have significant gaps? If the answer to both questions is no, should we create our own Internet archives? And how should it be?

This seminar is primarily for discussion and proposals from experts on memory institutions, government and researchers on various aspects of the Web.