The Software Preservation Network (SPN) Coordinating Committee and Working Group Coordinators are excited to share the following 2024-2026 goals, which were created through an iterative prioritization and community feedback process during 2023.
The Software Preservation Network is a coordinated, distributed effort to ensure long term access to software through community engagement, infrastructure support, and knowledge generation. The following goals, and more information about our mission, values, members, and staff can be found on the About page of the SPN website.
Community Engagement Goals
2024
- Articulate an outreach strategy by the end of 2024 that meets the demonstrated needs of both members and non-members, supports broad access to SPN content on software preservation practices, connects practitioners together, and brings greater attention to software preservation.
Lead: Community Engagement Collaborative - Create and deliver at least two SPN publicity and outreach presentations for administrator audiences by the end of 2024.
Lead: Coordinating Committee
2025-2026
- Develop a strategy for collaborative software collection development that empowers documentation of the diversity of software creators and users.
Lead: Research-in-Practice Working Group
Infrastructure Support Goals
2024
- Continue interventions in tri-annual DMCA rulemaking process, with a focus on maintaining current exemptions for software preservation and seeking new exemptions for remote access to video game software and removal of the one-user-at-a-time limit on remote access to non-video game software by the end of 2024.
Lead: Law and Policy Working Group - Create a resource for the SPN website by the end of 2024 to index which organizations are collecting which software titles and types, as a critical input to the creation in 2025-2026 of a strategy for collaborative software collection development that empowers documentation of the diversity of software creators and users.
Lead: Research-in-Practice Working Group - Identify the organizational resources required for a SPN Working Group to apply for a grant-funded project by the end of 2024.
Lead: Coordinating Committee, in collaboration with Law and Policy Working Group
2025-2026
- Pilot a formal cross-institutional expertise/labor-sharing model for software preservation and curation.
Lead: Coordinating Committee - Apply for a grant-funded research project on aligning international law and policy approaches to software preservation.
Lead: Law and Policy Working Group
Knowledge Generation Goals
2024
- Document 3-4 examples of using the Software Metadata Recommended Format Guide by the end of 2024.
Lead: Metadata Working Group - Publish CLIR Pocket Burgundy “Overview of Emulation as a Preservation Method” by the end of 2024.
Lead: Technological Infrastructure Working Group - Publish an Emulation Information Resource by the end of 2024.
Lead: Technological Infrastructure Working Group - Publish an Emulation Information Resource by the end of 2024.
Lead: Technological Infrastructure Working Group - Contribute software preservation definitions and use-case-driven good practice recommendations to a software curation guidebook by the end of 2024.
Lead: Research-in-Practice Working Group
2025-2026
- Conduct an environmental scan and gap analysis of software preservation training and education resources.
Lead: Community Engagement Collaborative - Conduct environmental scan and gap analysis of documentation about standards and methods that advance good practice in preserving software.
Lead: Research-in-Practice Working Group
Organizational Coordination Goals
2024
- Finish creating multi-year financial plan by the end of 2024.
- Articulate a membership growth and retention strategy by the end of 2024.
- Clarify or formalize relationships, partnerships, or collaborations between SPN and EaaSI, and SPN and Software Heritage by the end of 2024.
Lead: Coordinating Committee
2025-2026
- Create strategy to recruit diverse slate of Coordinating Committee nominees and members.
- Visualize SPN work and outputs on a timeline to assess and demonstrate impact and help clarify scope of work.
- Refine criteria for starting or supporting affiliated projects.
- Explore how a formal community roadmapping process could benefit SPN in the medium-term.
Lead: Coordinating Committee
Please feel welcome to reach out to SPN leadership at any time with feedback or ideas: spn-coordinating-committee [at] educopia [dot] org.