Following the work of the Task Force, the University of Illinois was awarded a grant by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop conversion criteria and requirements for archiving email into PDF containers. A copy of the final report, A Specification for Using PDF to Package and Represent Email, is now available. It has also been deposited in the University of Illinois IDEALS Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109251.
In late 2016, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Digital Preservation Coalition announced the formation of the Task Force on Technical Approaches for Email Archives. The task force is charged with assessing current frameworks, tools, and approaches being taken toward email as critical historical sources.
Through a set of working groups, the task force will construct a working agenda for the community by focusing on three issues: (1) articulating this technical framework, (2) suggesting how existing tools fit within this framework, and (3) beginning to identify any missing elements. A final report is expected by December 2017.
For more information:
- Press release from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Digital Preservation Coalition (November 2016)
- Sponsors
- Task force members
- Task force charge
- Working groups
- Project timeline