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iPRES 2025 February Newsletter

Kia ora iPRES Enthusiasts!

Message from the Conference Chairs

Ngā mihi nui - thank you to everyone who participated in the Call to Community brainstorming workshops in December and January, and to our friends at the DPC who helped facilitate. We appreciate your thoughtful suggestions for how we can make iPRES 2025 a great experience for everyone – whether in-person, or as a remote attendee. We will be sharing insights from the workshops on the news section of the website – check out our first recap of programme related feedback and ideas.

Thanks as well to everyone who filled in the Expression of Interest (EOI) to volunteer for iPRES 2025 planning committees! Organising an international conference on the scale of iPRES is a massive undertaking, and we couldn’t do it without your ongoing enthusiasm and collaborative energy! It’s often said that the best thing about iPRES is the people, and this year is no exception. We are compiling the lists and will be in touch with everyone shortly to follow up. 

There is a well-known whakataukī (Māori proverb) which states:

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.

What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.

iPRES is more than a conference - it is a community. It is an opportunity to connect with each other, to share knowledge and ideas, and to unite in our commitment to preserving our shared digital heritage for generations to come. 

– Andrea Goethals (Conference Chair); Valerie Love, Jan Hutař, and Martin Gengenbach (Conference Vice-Chairs)

Meet your hosts!


Exterior photograph of the National Library of New Zealand with blue sky in background.
Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand. Photograph by Mark Beatty.

The National Library and Archives New Zealand have long histories of active participation in the international digital preservation community, from the launch of the National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) in 2004, and the establishment of the Government Digital Archive (GDA) in 2010. NLNZ and ANZ have a shared policy programme for digital preservation activities. We are committed to working together to preserve digital content. The strategy ensures that the digital content is managed and preserved in a way that reflects its status as a knowledge asset and taonga (treasure) of New Zealand.


Artist rendering of the new Archives New Zealand building.
Artist rendering of the new, purpose-built facility for Archives New Zealand, set for completion later this year.

Additionally, 2025 will be a year of transformation for Archives New Zealand and the National Library, with the completion of new archives facilities, including a digital preservation lab. The new Archives building will provide the best possible facilities to preserve Aotearoa's records, and give the public better access to the nation's taonga.

Learn more about the conference hosts and organising team on the website at https://www.ipres2025.nz/conferencehosts

Introducing Tākina, our venue for iPRES 2025

We are delighted to introduce our venue for iPRES 2025 - Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre.


Exterior image of the Tākina convention centre in Wellington.
Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibiton Centre.

Environmental sustainability was forefront in the design process for Tākina. This stunning facility opened in 2023 and has a 5-Star Green Star rating, representing New Zealand’s excellence in environmental sustainability. Tākina has been built using sustainable materials, and includes initiatives to reduce energy and water use. Additionally, Tākina Events are committed to supporting our local community, employing local, and wherever possible, sourcing sustainable products and services locally in accordance with Fair Trade principles. 

The Māori meaning of Tākina is to encounter and invoke, to connect and bring forth. The Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre was bestowed with the name Tākina to acknowledge and reflect the way that Wellington summons great winds, which are considered a metaphor for bringing energy, ideas, and the sharing of knowledge. 

Call for Contributions   

The countdown is on! There’s two months left before the submission deadline for peer-reviewed contributions. This includes Full Papers, Short Papers, Workshops, Tutorials, Panels, and Posters. These submissions are due 14 April, End of day, Anywhere on Earth (AoE). If you haven’t submitted to an iPRES conference previously, please note that for full and short papers, completed papers are required at the time of submission.

The themes for iPRES 2025 are: Haerenga (Journey), Tūtaki (Encounter), and Tūhono (Connect). These themes encourage reflections on the evolving practices, innovations and partnerships shaping the future of digital preservation. Each theme reinforces the others, creating a holistic view of how digital preservation research and practice can adapt, innovate and thrive.

In case you’re looking for submission ideas, take a look at some of the topics that Call to Community participants said they would like to see on the programme at iPRES 2025.

Detailed information on types of submissions, conference themes, and submission instructions is available on the iPRES website at https://www.ipres2025.nz/call-for-contributions. All authors are also required to have an ORCID ID. If you don’t have an ORCID iD, you can register for one here.

Feel free to contact us at info@ipres2025.nz with any questions, or for initial feedback on ideas. 

iPRES Controlled Vocabulary

New for iPRES this year, we are piloting the use of a controlled vocabulary for keywords in submissions. The vocabulary was proposed in an iPRES 2024 poster, with the goal of promoting more consistent terminology and ultimately improving discovery across all iPRES submissions and conferences. More details on selecting keywords, along with a link to the iPRES vocabulary spreadsheet can be found on the Submission Instructions webpage.

Feedback from Calls to Community

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Call to Community brainstorming workshops. It was great to see familiar faces and meet new ones! It was invigorating to hear all of your thoughts about what you would like to see at iPRES 2025. Unsurprisingly, there were lots of suggestions about types of content and the kinds of sessions you’d like to see on the programme this year, as well as how we can best support both in person and virtual attendance. Our Committees will be working through the feedback and incorporating it into our planning where possible. 

Sponsorship Opportunities

We have also launched our sponsorship prospectus and available packages. There are options for both virtual and in-person sponsorship, including bursary scholarships to support attendees, keynote speakers, and more! Partnering with us at iPRES 2025 is a great opportunity to showcase your organisation’s products and services to local and global audiences, and showing your commitment to preserving significant digital heritage for generations to come. Don’t miss out on being part of iPRES 2025!

For more information, contact us directly or visit our website at https://www.ipres2025.nz/sponsorship.


All the iPRES 2025 info

We are continually adding content to the iPRES 2025 website. Check out new pages on the conference hosts and organising team, our commitment to sustainability, as well as the all important entry information and visa requirements for travelling to Aotearoa New Zealand! We also have a brand new section on things to do in Wellington while you’re here.

 

Stay tuned for the March newsletter which will include more detail about our virtual offerings and plans for remote participants, as well as information on other digital preservation events happening in Wellington around iPRES! 

If you have been forwarded this email, do subscribe to the iPRES Interest mailing list at https://bit.ly/ipres-interest

You can also follow official iPRES 2025 accounts on social media on LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, and YouTube, or follow the hashtag, #iPRES2025.

Do you have specific questions? Just ask! You can reach the organising team at info@ipres2025.nz

Whakatauki / Māori proverb

Mā te whakarongo, ka mōhio. Mā te mōhio, ka mārama. Mā te mārama, ka mātau. Mā te mātau, ka ora. By listening, comes knowledge. By knowledge, comes understanding. By understanding, comes wisdom. By wisdom, comes wellbeing.

Ngā manaakitanga / With best wishes,The Wellington Local Organising Committee and Committee Chairs:

Andrea Goethals, Angela Puggioni, Blanche Joslin, Carly Lenz, Cynthia Wu, Dale Cousens, Olga Holownia, Jan Hutař, Joshua Ng, Martin Gengenbach, Nicola Caldwell, and Valerie Love



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