Workshop registration limit: 30 participants

Andrea Hricíková, Francesca Mackenzie, Andrey Kotov, and Kathryn Phelps, The UK National Archives

During this workshop, attendees will gain hands-on experience in file format analysis and understand why this can be helpful during the day-to-day. Alongside this it will provide them with the tools needed to contribute to the open-source registry PRONOM, and an understanding of the field of file format identification. We will cover a range of methods that can be applied to different files and content types. PRONOM is a file format registry that provides the information required to identify file formats in many digital preservation tools such as DROID, Preservica, Freud and Siegfried. As well as being educational, file format identification is a lot of fun!

PRONOM as a tool aligns with the themes of the conference. PRONOM is open source and used across the globe in both information management, digital preservation and beyond. It embodies the value of Getting Going with “Good Enough” Practices and encourages understanding of file formats for long term needs.

PRONOM embodies the conference themes of intersections and new voices. In recognition of this our workshop will be aimed at all levels of technical expertise. We have collaborated with over 80 institutions around the world to help analyze digital collections, flag issues and contribute to our shared knowledge of file formats. We have open communication platforms and transparent workflows to enable wider audience to participate in conversations. We wish to continue the conversation and reach out to anyone interested in digital preservation and enable a more diverse audience to participate in this collective endeavour.