#dpip — Public Fediverse posts

Digital dark times: Salaries in digital preservation

The Serpentine is one of the world’s most renowned art galleries. Their exhibitions as varied as Gerhard Richter, Damien Hirst, and Marina Abramović. They don’t hold a permanent collection, instead, they provide a space for temporary collections and an annual pavilion, the pavilion designed by luminaries such as Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, and Ai Weiwei.

Given a recent job posting it looks like they are looking at maintaining their memory better and branching out into digital preservation.

Here’s the kicker — its salary band is GBP 35,000 to GBP 38,000. So it must be an entry level position, especially in London, right?

Well, let’s see what they want you to do for that price tag…

When you can’t pay for things the currency of payment is psychic…

Contributing back to the commons in digital preservation hasn’t been for everyone.

We know the famous XKCD that touches on the underappreciated work of maintainers in obscurity. When you, or your institutions, or services are using free and open source software, or other information and data in the commons, and you’re not contributing back, you’re perpetuating this, and what’s more, there’s a virtuous cycle that we’re missing out on.

I read something the other day and it felt like a red flag.

Pleased to say that after just 15 years since I suggested some internet nerds might want to meet up for some social drinks in a local pub, I've now officially been appointed as a Director of Digital People in Peterborough CiC.
The existing Directors do an amazing job - but it's nice to help directly rather than supporting them slightly from the sidelines...
https://danthornton.net/2025/09/from-co-founder-to-director-at-dpip-cic-in-just-15-years/

#DPiP #PeterboroughSTEMFestival

Had a great time at
@DPiPboro last night. It was good to catch up with @optimisey , who kindly presented a really useful guide to Google Search Console with handy tips for beginners and more advanced users alike...
If you're in or around #Peterborough it's free to attend: mydpip.com

#Peterborough #DPiP #GoogleSearchConsole #DigitalPeopleinPeterborough #Meetups #PeterboroughUK

Interviewing in digital preservation: a duty of care and community

by @beet_keeper

Sometime in 2024, I received zero feedback for a job interview—one of at least five interviews without any feedback in the last eight years.

The thing is, digital preservation is very niche. Those five roles probably represent a good number of institutions actually hiring specialists and likely represent some of the best chances for jobs in the future.

Not getting a role is part and parcel of interviewing, but in not providing feedback, a didactic moment was lost—a moment of community connection and outreach—and simply an act of care.

Furthermore, loops are not closed, processes feel incomplete, and of course, you will likely know the person who gets the role ahead of you. Trying to measure yourself against that individual will likely be in the back of your mind when you next meet or work with these individuals because you have been left questioning by the recruiter.

And before it is suggested that this is just a ‘you’ thing—let’s say conservatively, five people interviewed for each of the five positions I applied for. Assuming everyone is treated equally, that’s 20 people missing out on something critical to improving their skill set, interview technique, or helping them find more suitable jobs in the future. I guarantee, you ALL deserve feedback. It is also 20 people that each recruiter has missed an active opportunity to build a stronger bond with, who will sing the praises of the process and the organization; this is important.

#community #digipres #DigitalPreservation #dpip #outreach #recruitment

What we could do with a second life…

by @beet_keeper

Cleaning up some posts today for clarity or for improving their appearance in ActivityPub instances I didn’t want to lose this quote introduced to us at Archives New Zealand in a visit from Verne Harris back in 2017. It represents the need for a second life to apply all of the lessons learned in this one – in the GLAM sector, everything we learn getting up to speed, to learn how to work

#digipres #DigitalPreservation #digitalPreservationIsPeople #dpip #glam #verneHarris #workLifeBalance