Topic: preforma news

Open Source Tools for Validation in the Digital Archive Workflow

Merle Friedrichsen attended the “No Time To Wait 2” symposium organised by PREFORMA in November 2017 and gave a presentation on “Open Source Tools in the Digital Archive Workflow” from the perspective of the German National Library of Science and Technology. They both veraPDF (PDF/A), and MediaConch (for Matroska/FFV1 – for film) and the result is that all the requirements that they identified regarding open source software for validation are fulfilled (or are possible to fulfill) by these tools. Continue reading


veraPDF 1.10 released on International Digital Preservation Day

The latest version of veraPDF is now available to download. veraPDF is an open source PDF/A validator, and version 1.10 marks the first release of veraPDF as part of the Open Preservation Foundation’s (OPF) reference toolset. The latest version of veraPDF is now available to download. veraPDF is an open source PDF/A validator, and version 1.10 marks the first release of veraPDF as part of the Open Preservation Foundation’s (OPF) reference toolset. There are also a number of other fixes and improvements which are documented in the latest release notes. Continue reading


Adobe steps up on standards adoption

The November 2017 updates for Acrobat DC, now available from Adobe, include some significant news for those who pay attention to ISO standards-adoption. Among the enhancements of the preflight tools there is also PDF/A compatibility with veraPDF. Now, Acrobat preflight tools can find and report issues that are not compatible with the veraPDF tests. Continue reading


Interview with Brian E. Davis of Oregon State University

This is the nineth in a series of interviews with people using MediaConch within their institutions. Brian is the head of the Digital Production Unit for the Special Collections & Archives Research Center at Oregon State University Libraries & Press. He is using MediaConch for validation and policy checking during the quality control process for the video files. He also used DPF Manager and veraPDF for quality control of TIFF and PDF files. Continue reading


Interview with Patricia Falcao and Francesca Colussi of Tate

This is the eight in a series of interviews with people using MediaConch within their institutions. Patricia Falcao is a time-based media conservator at Tate. She uses MediaConch to check files that have resulted from migration. Francesca Colussi is one of the senior time-based media conservation technicians at Tate. She mainly uses MediaConch both for local policy checking and in-house quality control, as a comparison and ‘problem solving’ tool to spot anomalies in exhibition format files. Continue reading


MediaConch Users Survey

MediaArea is immensely grateful to have been involved in the PREFORMA challenge over the past three years. Through this initiative, MediaArea has been given the opportunity to further contribute the cultural heritage sector through the development of the open source audiovisual conformance checker tool, MediaConch. To better understand our users and plan more efficiently for the future of this software, MediaArea would appreciate your feedback via this MediaConch Users Survey Continue reading


Shaping our future memory standards (2/2)

Hosted by the National Library of Estonia, the PREFORMA International Conference “Shaping our future memory standards” brought together 150 people worldwide to discuss the importance of standardisation and file format validation for the long term preservation of digital cultural content, discover the potential of the open source conformance checkers developed in PREFORMA and look at future challenges and opportunities. Continue reading


DPF Manager Workshop

On Wednesday, December 13, PACKED and the Royal Library of Belgium, in collaboration with the University of Girona, organise a workshop “Quality Control of TIFF Files”. The workshop is intended for digital archivists who are responsible for the long-term preservation of TIFF files. During the workshop you will learn how to gain an insight into the technical properties of TIFF files and what you can do to preserve them for future generations. The workshop is conceived as a hands-on session, where participants get started with TIFF files from their own collection. Continue reading


veraPDF Workshop

On Friday, November 24, PACKED and the Royal Library of Belgium, in collaboration with the Open Preservation Foundation, organise a workshop “Quality Control of PDF Files”. The workshop is intended for digital archivists who are responsible for the long-term preservation of PDF files. During the workshop you will learn how to gain an insight into the technical properties of PDF files and what you can do to preserve them for future generations. The workshop is conceived as a hands-on session, where participants get started with PDF files from their own collection. Continue reading


Shaping our future memory standards (1/2)

Hosted by the National Library of Estonia, the PREFORMA International Conference “Shaping our future memory standards” brought together 150 people worldwide to discuss the importance of standardisation and file format validation for the long term preservation of digital cultural content, discover the potential of the open source conformance checkers developed in PREFORMA and look at future challenges and opportunities. Continue reading