We are delighted to share that the Digital Repository of Ireland’s (DRI) Community Archive Scheme has been awarded an Ireland eGovernment Award 2024 in the Open Data Category, which recognises initiatives that demonstrate comprehensive data accessibility, usability, and societal impact. DRI Senior Software Engineer Dr Kathryn Cassidy accepted the Award on behalf of DRI, and the community groups with which we work, at the 21st Ireland eGovernment Digital Awards and Summit, which took place on Thursday 19 Sept 2024 at Goldsmith Hall, Radisson Blu, Dublin.
DRI is a publicly funded repository or online archive that provides long-term preservation and access to Ireland’s social and cultural data. We recognise the importance of supporting community-based archival initiatives, and are committed to collaborating with care with community groups to foster more diverse cultural collections that enrich our shared digital cultural heritage. Launched in 2019, the DRI Community Archive Scheme provides free DRI associate membership, bespoke digital preservation training, and DRI’s profession-based knowledge and support to under-resourced community archivists and community groups so that they can preserve their stories in an open-access repository. It is vital that community archivists are supported with the resources to carry out their work as ‘the loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world’ (Digital Preservation Coalition, Global ‘Bit List’ of Endangered Digital Species 2023). The aim of the DRI Community Archive Scheme is to acknowledge the significant work of community archivists and to empower and support them in curating, preserving, and sharing their own stories in an open access format.
The Scheme is now in its sixth year and has supported numerous community archives and community groups to safeguard their digitised and born-digital data in the DRI repository. Previous winners include: Cork LGBT Archive (2019); Asylum Archive (2020), Cork Community Media Hub (formerly Frameworks Media and Archive Centre) (2020), Dublin-based Community Films by Joe Lee (2021); Dublin Ghost Signs (2021); the Elephant Collective (2021); Bray Arts (2022); Tulsk History Society (2022); Dublin Digital Radio (2023); and Folklore.ie (2024).
Commenting on the value of the DRI Community Archive Scheme collaboration, the Open Data Category judges stated:
“The Digital Repository of Ireland have been proactive in going out and getting small interest groups and small community groups’ data and stories and storing them and curating them. Along with addressing the data and the digital artifacts we could currently be losing due to the changes in platforms and delivery systems.”
The community groups that DRI work with retain ownership of the data they deposit with us, while the DRI provides stewardship of that data in our CoreTrustSeal-certified trustworthy digital repository to ensure that it is preserved for sustained access and discovery. DRI supports the open sharing and reuse of data where possible, but depositors choose the rights statements and licences attached to their own digital assets. This process means that community groups retain control over how their collections are described, accessed, and reused.
We’re honoured that the collaboration between DRI and community groups has been recognised as part of the Ireland eGovernment Awards celebrating excellence in digital services. Speaking about the Award for the DRI Community Archive Scheme, DRI Director Dr Lisa Griffith stated that:
“We are thrilled that the Ireland eGovernment Award 2024 has recognised this work. We want to thank all of the community groups who work with us to digitally preserve records of their communities. We’ve learned a huge amount from working with them and look forward to future collaborations.”
The DRI Community Archive Scheme 2025 is open for applications until Friday, 8 November 2024. Learn more about this initiative on the DRI Community Archive Scheme page.
