Our recent trip to Wellington in November for iPRES2025 and PARBICA was nothing short of inspiring. You may have noticed our recent deluge of content on our social media around this - sorry, not sorry. We had the amazing opportunity of collaborating with passionate digital preservation practitioners from across the globe - each deeply committed to safeguarding cultural heritage, community stories, and digital collections. Yet one theme was unmistakable: many of these dedicated professionals are working in small teams or completely solo, carrying the heavy responsibility of “doing digital preservation” alongside a long list of other organisational tasks.
This reality makes it challenging to gain confidence, stay current, and find practical pathways into sustainable digital preservation. That’s exactly why we delivered our session, “Duct Tape and Downloads: Digital Preservation on a Budget.” Our goal was simple: share approaches, tools, and open-source options that help organisations begin or strengthen their digital preservation work without needing enterprise-level budgets.
The response was energising. Attendees told us the session filled a real gap and could make a genuine difference for people trying to learn, adapt and implement under constraints. But one question kept coming up: How do we share this knowledge with those who were not fortunate enough to attend the conferences?
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been gathering feedback, refining our content, and exploring how we can make this training more accessible and more impactful. We realised that sharing slides alone won’t cut it - that's not how you get the best out of learning. The value comes from the insights, context and lived experience behind the material, freely shared by experienced practitioners.
Coming Early 2026: Our New Digital Preservation Training Program
We’re thrilled to share that in early 2026, we’ll be transforming years of expertise, hands-on experience, and community feedback into a dedicated Digital Preservation Training Program. The comprehensive, paid training will be available both in person and online.
This program is built for the practitioners on the front lines of digital preservation: the teams making day-to-day decisions, solving unexpected challenges, and keeping collections safe. Our goal is simple - rapid and practical upskilling that gives your staff the confidence and capability to excel and all based on open source tools you can trust.
You’ll learn directly from experienced archivists and technical specialists who understand both the realities of the work along with the power of the available open source tools. By the end, your team will walk away feeling supported, empowered, and ready to deliver - today and well into the future.
Plus: A Free, Public Learning Series
Alongside the paid training program, we’re launching a free, multi-part learning series featuring blog posts, step-by-step video tutorials, and practical guides.
What began as a single three-hour workshop is evolving into a modular, self-paced video series designed to help you tackle digital preservation on a budget - taught by people who’ve been in the trenches and know what works. Each instalment includes expanded tool walkthroughs, hands-on demonstrations, and supporting resources you can revisit, share, and build into your own custom workflows.
Whether you're just beginning your digital preservation journey or levelling up your existing program, this series will give you the clarity, guidance, and confidence to move forward.
If you want to see the material we presented at iPRES2025 and PARBICA, or simply want to be notified the moment the series goes live, please reach out via Jarrad.Lawrence@gaiaresources.com.au or on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram. We’ll make sure you’re the first to know when everything launches.
Together, we can make digital preservation more accessible, more practical and more sustainable for every organisation, no matter the size of the team, location or the budget.
Jarrad