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STACKTRACE // News from Software Preservation Network
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STACKTRACE. News from the Software Preservation Network.
Oct 2020 - Nov 2020
Volume 3, Issue 6 
CORRECTION: an earlier version of this newsletter was sent with an incorrect link under the "DMCA Rulemaking, DMCA Reform" section. The correct link is now listed below and can also be accessed here
SPN-Wide Initiatives
Learn about current SPN-wide efforts—activities that crosscut working groups and affiliated projects.
Two-year seed funded launch
Closing out 2020 and Looking Ahead to 2021: Updates from SPN's Community Coordinator
If there's one thing SPN should be known for after 2020, it's for making a plan and sticking to it. 

When we started out on the journey to secure SPN as a sustainable, community-led organization with strong backbone support and a healthy financial base, we knew that we would face challenges on multiple fronts. 

Over the course of the seed-funded period (January 2019-December 2020), SPN members rose to the occasion and met each of those challenges head on—diving into the work of capacity and infrastructure building while simultaneously crafting a flexible budgetary framework that could account for the rapid change brought on by a global pandemic.


For more on the challenges and opportunities of SPN's seed-funded period, and what's on the horizon for 2021, read Jess Farrell's full community coordinator update on the SPN blog. 
DMCA Rulemaking, DMCA Reform
The Software Preservation Network is pleased to share updates on the status of our work on the DMCA triennial rulemaking and on reform to the DMCA more generally. The DMCA rulemaking process unfolds every three years, and we successfully petitioned for two broad exemptions favoring preservation of software and video games in the last cycle, which saw rules published in 2018. 

The latest cycle of rulemaking began earlier this year. Our goal for this cycle is to seek an expansion of the rule to permit access to preserved software beyond the premises of the library where the collection is held. You can now read our first major filing in the process, our long comments in support of our proposed new exemption, which removes the premises language from the 2018 rule.

Other DMCA news broke in November as Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) sent out a letter seeking responses to a series of questions and proposals for reforming the DMCA. The letter alludes to a broader reform of the copyright system, and suggests that Tillis may introduce legislation this year aimed at starting a broader copyright reform conversation. SPN submitted brief comments explaining that the copyright system in general is indeed outdated and ill-suited to the needs of SPN members. You can read our letter here.


For more on DMCA rulemaking and reform, and SPN's engagement with both, check out our latest post on the SPN blog authored by Brandon Butler (SPN's Law & Policy Advisor).
Quarterly Community Forum
Software Preservation Community Forum. Subscribe to the Software Preservation Network listserv to receive call-in information: http://bit.ly/spn-listserv

On December 1, we were delighted to once again host the Software Preservation Quarterly Community Forum. Each quarter, we invite our colleagues across professional and disciplinary communities to participate in an hour-long discussion on topics related to software curation, preservation, and reuse.

The Winter 2020 Community Forum featured a discussion with ethical AI researchers, lawyers, and digital preservation and curation practitioners about the role of cultural repositories (such as libraries, archives, and museums) in supporting long-term access to software and its composite algorithms. We were joined by some esteemed guests, including: 
  • Keith Porcaro, lawyer and technologist at the Berkman Klein Center whose work focuses on how technology mediates legal decision-making
  • Stephen Abrams, digital preservation practitioner from Harvard University
If you missed the Forum, or if you simply want to revisit all of the ideas and inspiration, be sure to check out the running notes document
Affiliated Projects

Learn about SPN affiliated project activities and milestones. SPN affiliated projects focus on specific aspects of software preservation/curation that support the strategic goals of SPN.

EaaSI: Scaling Emulation and Software Preservation Infrastructure

Timeline: January 2018 – June 2020
Funder(s): Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Awardee: Yale University

Since the last issue of Stacktrace, the EaaSI team has been hitting the virtual conference circuit with presentations at #WeMissiPRES, Digital Library Forum 2020, and the Coalition of Networked Information Fall Meeting. The team also launched an "EaaSI Resource Highlight" campaign via Twitter and email that directs the attention of specific communities to EaaSI resources on the SPN website.

As the team enters the second phase of the EaaSI program, they are using this inflection point as an opportunity to review the goals of the program, the services they provide, and their commitment to certain principles that inform how they work.


Read the complete update here!

Join SPN

The Software Preservation Network (SPN) facilitates and supports software preservation efforts. SPN preserves software through community engagement, infrastructure support, and knowledge generation in five core activity areas including Law & Policy Advocacy, Metadata & Standards Development, Training & Education, Research-in-Practice, and Technological Infrastructure.

Do you appreciate the work that SPN has been doing over the last several years to broaden participation and ensure lawful preservation, sharing, and reuse of software? Would you like SPN to continue its work of coordination, research, advocacy, and capacity building? Do you have ideas or a vision for the future of software preservation that you would like to see realized through the SPN community?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then consider supporting our work through membership or sponsorship. To learn more about the benefits of membership and sponsorship, visit: https://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/get-involved/

To join, please download, complete, and submit your SPN Participation Agreement to <jess.farrell@educopia.org>.

Software Preservation Network
Twitter: @softpresnetwork
Web: www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org
Email: contact@softwarepreservationnetwork.org
Subscribe: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/software-preservation-network
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