I started digital preservation work on my pawdoc document collection by first recruiting my son, Matt Fox-Wilson, to help with the project. Matt is the co-owner/developer of the ArtRage natural painting software package, and his experience as a software engineer is likely to be of use in the work. I then sent out the following request to other potential collaborators via the JISC Digital Preservation email list:

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From: Digital-Preservation Announcement and Information List [mailto:DIGITAL-PRESERVATION@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of Paul Wilson
Sent: Wednesday, 7 December 2016 5:53 a.m.
To: DIGITAL-PRESERVATION@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Learning opportunity for digital preservation in document management systems

Collaborators are sought for a digital preservation project on a collection of some 40,000 documents stored in a document management system. This will be an ideal opportunity to gain practical experience of a variety of digital preservation challenges in an informal, small scale environment, unfettered by organisational constraints.

The project will apply the preservation planning methodology developed by Paul Wilson and published by the Digital Preservation Coalition in May 2016 – see http://dpconline.org/component/docman/doc_download/1509-casenotepwilsonpreservationplanningver2

The project will start early in 2017 and is likely to last for between one and two years. Collaborators will be expected, as a minimum, to familiarise themselves with the background and high level contents of the collection in question, to comment on the preservation planning documents that are produced, and to participate in the project meetings at which decisions are taken. Such participation need only be remote and will probably take up about one day a month excluding the time spent on familiarisation. However, it is hoped that participants will wish to benefit from the project in more substantive ways; they will be encouraged to play a full part in the decision making that will be required and in the detailed preservation work itself. Such involvement will be determined in the course of the project. It is anticipated that the learnings from the project will be written up and submitted for publication.

The project is likely to be of particular interest to collaborators who have experience of managing collections of Personal Archives, or who work in organisations that own such collections. Location is not a constraint for participation, however people and organisations from the UK and New Zealand are particularly encouraged to get in touch. Interested parties should contact Paul Wilson at pwilsonofc@btinternet.com

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I had two responses and am currently confirming the involvement of the people concerned. Things are looking good for commencement of the project in January 2017.