top of page
Search

iPRES Digital Preservation Bake Off 2025 - Amuse Bouche Challenge: Tiny Tools, Tasty Wins

  • ipres20254
  • 5 hours ago
  • 2 min read

Updated: 3 hours ago

Pasties from Glou Glou cafe in Wellington.
Come to Wellington for the digital preservation learnings, but stay for the food! Some of the unique and delicious offerings at Glou Glou café in central Wellington. Photo credit: Phoebe Mackenzie, WellingtonNZ.com

New for iPRES 2025: the Amuse Bouche Challenge - Tiny Tools, Tasty Wins Overview

The Amuse Bouche Challenge invites bakers (practitioners) to serve a bite-sized digital preservation tool that packs a flavorful punch. These tools should be simple, elegant, and focused—just like a good amuse-bouche. Think: a script that solves a niche problem, a micro-tool that transforms a tedious task, or a clever workaround that others might savor.


This is a chance for toolmakers, especially those who don’t typically submit to the primary track of the Bake Off, to share the small things that make a big difference.


Challenge Guidelines

  • The Dish

    • Submit a small, self-contained tool such as:

      • A command-line script (e.g., Bash, Python, PowerShell)

      • A short web utility (e.g., HTML/JavaScript)

      • A minimal GUI tool

      • A function or plugin that enhances an existing system

    • It should:

      • Be under 300 lines of code (bonus points for less!)

      • Have a clear preservation or curation use case

      • Be easy to run or demo (e.g., no complicated setup).

      • Include a 2–3 sentence “menu description” (what it does and why)

  • The Ingredients

    • Make it open: share the code and a short README (optional but encouraged)

    • Keep it light: dependencies should be minimal

    • Make it flavorful: creativity, humor, and elegance are welcome

  • Suggested Flavors

    • A tool that fixes one specific metadata issue

    • A script that identifies rogue file formats in a collection

    • A browser bookmarklet that reports access issues

    • A function that turns a messy spreadsheet into clean metadata

    • A CLI alias that makes preservation easier (and sassier)


Evaluation

This round is all about community taste. Audience Choice Voting will determine the winners. Attendees will vote for the most clever, charming, or downright delicious tools. Everyone gets a say, and bragging rights go to the crowd favorites.


Whether your tool is technically dazzling or just plain delightful, the power is in your peers' hands (and taste buds).

How to Submit

Participants can complete a submission form. Accepted submissions will be featured during a live session at iPRES 2025, where each baker (practitioner) gets to demo or describe their dish in a brief, timed presentation. Demonstrations must only use files from the iPRES Bake Off Pantry.

Why Participate?

Not every tool has to be a layer cake. The Amuse Bouche Challenge highlights the flavor and flair of the little things: the glue scripts, the sanity-savers, the funny little helpers that quietly support our preservation work.


bottom of page