DPC/PADI What's new in digital
preservation
Issue no. 17 (September 2007 - February
2008)
Compiled by Najla Semple for the Digital
Preservation Coalition (DPC)
April 2008
This is a summary of selected recent activity in the field of
digital preservation compiled from the Preserving Access to Digital
Information (PADI)
Gateway and the digital-preservation
and padiforum-l
mailing lists. Additional or related items of interest may also be
included.
Contents:
- News from organisations and
initiatives
1.1 Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC)
(UK)
1.2 Digital Curation Centre (DCC) (UK)
1.3 JISC (UK)
1.4 The National Archives, UK
1.5 The National Library of Scotland
1.6 The British Library
1.7 PLANETS
1.8 nestor (Network of Expertise in
Long-Term Storage of Digital Resources)
1.9 DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE)
1.10 National Library of the Netherlands
(Koninklijke Bibliotheek)
1.11 Netherlands Coalition for Digital
Preservation
1.12 US National Digital Information
Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP)
1.13 University of London Computer Centre
1.14 EU activities
- Specific themes
2.1 Digital Preservation - definitions,
frameworks and directions
2.2 Copyright and IPR
2.3 Repositories
2.4 Institutional Repositories
2.5 Digital Preservation and the
Information Profession
2.6 Web Archiving
2.7 Digital Preservation Life Cycle
2.8 Storage Media
2.9 e-journal Archiving
2.10 Tools
2.11 Film Preservation
- Other publications
- Events
4.1 Recent events
4.2 Current and forthcoming events
4.3 Training Events
1. News from
Organisations and Initiatives
1.1 Digital
Preservation Coalition (DPC)
The winner of the 2007 Digital Preservation Awards, sponsored
by the DPC, was announced by Lloyd Grossman at the prestigious
Conservation Awards ceremony at the British Museum on the 27th of
September 2007. The National Archives received the Award in recognition
for their software tool DROID (Digital Record Object Identification)
developed to perform automated batch identification of file formats and
PRONOM which facilitates the capture of detailed technical information
on file formats.
The shortlisted projects were: DRAMBORA; DROID and PRONOM;
LIFE; PARADIGM and The Web Curator Tool software development project.
All the shortlists gave a presentation of their projects at a DPC
Briefing Day - DP Awards 2007 Showcase & Shaping the DPC in
November 2007. Further details on the 2007 Digital Preservation Award
are available from the DPC website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/awards/2007.html
January saw the DPC welcome Portico and the Society of
Archivists as new Associate Members, bringing its membership up to
thirty.
In February the DPC published its latest 'Technology Watch
Report' on 'JPEG 2000 - a Practical Digital Preservation Standard?' The
report looks in-depth at the new format and the challenges it has to
cope with. JPEG 2000 is widely used to collect and distribute
a variety of images from geospatial, medical imaging, digital cinema,
and image repositories to networked images. As interest in JPEG 2000 is
growing in the archival and library sectors, institutions are looking
for more efficient formats to store the results of major digitisation
programmes. The report is aimed at organisations involved in the
management and storage of digital information. The in-depth
report will help archives, libraries and other institutions make
informed decisions about JPEG 2000 format and their future storage
needs. The report written by Robert Buckley, Ph.D. a Research Fellow
with Xerox is available from the DPC website.
Buckley, R. (2008) JPEG
2000 - a Practical Digital Preservation Standard? Digital
Preservation Coalition Technology Watch Series Report 08-01. Retrieved
30 March 2008 from: http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/reports/index.html#jpeg2000
1.2 Digital Curation
Centre (DCC)
The third issue of the International Journal of
Digital Curation (IJDC) is now available. Curation
in different scientific domains is the focus of a number of papers, as
well as integrating training into data creation organisations. The
Journal is available from the IJDC website. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.ijdc.net/ijdc/issue/current
Higgins, Sarah (2008) Standards Watch 5: Workflow
Standards
for e-Science. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/standards-watch/workflow-standards-for-e-science/
McGinley, Mags (2008) IPR in Databases.
Retrieved 30 March
2008 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/legal-watch/ipr-in-databases/
McHugh, A (2007) Building Trust Through
Repository
Self-Assessment. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/briefing-papers/trust-through-self-audit/
Harvey, R (2008) Appraisal and Selection.
Retrieved 30 March
2008 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/briefing-papers/appraisal-and-selection/
The Digital Curation Manual has also been expanded to
include four more chapters on different topics,
Abrams, S (2007) File
Formats. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/curation-manual/chapters/file-formats/
Campbell, L (2007) Learning Object Metadata. Retrieved
30
March 2008
from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/curation-manual/chapters/learning-object-metadata/
Doerr, M (2008) Ontologies. Retrieved
30 March 2008
from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/curation-manual/chapters/ontologies/
Holdsworth, D (2007) Preservation Strategies.
Retrieved 30
March 2008
from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/curation-manual/chapters/preservation-strategies/
The DCC have announced that they will be offering a Digital
Curation Summer School (DCSS) in early autumn 2008. The summer school
is
funded by JISC and will provide participants with the skills they will
need to conceptualise, create, manage, describe, store, and reuse data
over
time. Participation in DCC DCSS will introduce attendees to the DCC
Digital Curation Life-Cycle Model1 and provide them with a firm
understanding
of the individual role(s) they play in this life-cycle over time. The
summer
school will focus on the practical, rather than the theoretical, and
will contribute towards bridging the gap that currently exists between
a
general awareness of curation and preservation issues amongst the
information services and scientific community, and their ability to
practically
address digital curation and preservation challenges within their
actual working environment. In addition, the DCC Digital Curation
Summer School will
offer students an opportunity to network with other scientific
researchers, international experts, and practitioners across
disciplinary and
national boundaries.
Further details about the DCC DCSS will be released soon via
the DCC
website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk.
1.3 JISC
A number of preservation projects are progressing under the
aegis of the JISC Repositories and Preservation Capital programme and
the first of these to conclude (April 2008) will be the Data
Exchange
Tools (DExT) project. Based at the UK Data Archive, this
project has
developed tools to ensure that social sciences research data can be
effectively imported and exported between data formats, thereby
facilitating long-term access and enhancing the potential for active
curation of the data to take place. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/dext/
A few months later in June 2008, the Life Cycle
Information
for e-Literature (LIFE2) project is due to report and
they will be
making available the work they have done on methods to quantify the
likely costs of preserving e-literature type material. A conference has
been organised to launch and disseminate this work and will take place
on the 23rd June at the British Library. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from:
http://www.life.ac.uk/2/
Another project called Complex Archive Ingest
for Repository
Objects (CAIRO) will conclude in August. The objective
of this work has
been to develop a tool for the ingest of complex collections of
born-digital materials (email, websites, documents etc.) into a
preservation repository, including basic descriptive, preservation and
relationship metadata. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://cairo.paradigm.ac.uk/
A number of other projects will be concluding during the
period up to March 2009 and details of these can be found on the JISC
Preservation web pages which also contain links to recent reports such
as the e-journal registry feasibility study
which looks at possible
models for enabling researchers to identify where any particular
e-journal has been archived. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/programme_preservation.aspx
Other initiatives at JISC include work in the area of
Significant Properties of digital objects
and four studies are
currently being concluded (March 2009) that analyse what aspects or
components of various types of digital object may need to be considered
in order that they can be effectively preserved and re-used over long
periods. The studies cover vector images, moving images, software and
e-learning objects.
JISC has awarded the UK LOCKSS Pilot programme
some further
interim funding to assist institutions with making their decision about
e-journal archiving strategies and have also commissioned a pilot
evaluation study and an e-journal archiving comparison study to provide
further information for the UK Higher Education sector. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/home/whatwedo/programmes/
programme_preservation/programme_lockss.aspx
A number of activities are being taken forward collaboratively
and JISC is working with: the National Science Foundation (NSF) to
establish the long term economic costs of digital preservation; the UK
Web Archiving Consortium (UKWAC) to discuss ways of preserving web
resources of interest to UK HE; and a number of international partners
to report on national approaches to copyright as it pertains to digital
preservation activities. JISC continues to fund and work closely with
the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) who are
contributing to a programme
of work that is looking at the problems associated with curating
'data'.
A recently published report synthesises the results of the
2004 to 2006 4-04 programme and touches on all the JISC funded projects
in this strand.
Pennock, M. (2008) JISC Programme Synthesis
Study: Supporting
Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions: a review of
the 4-04 programme on digital preservation and asset management in
institutions for the JISC Information Environment. Retrieved
30 March
2008 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/docs/publications/404publicreport-2008.pdf
1.4 The National
Archives, UK
The TNA are leaders in the Digital Continuity project, set up
to look at preserving the digital information output of government
departments in the medium term, from 3-30 years. The project will
explore issues such as how IT is managed within a department, the
volumes of data created and who takes records management decisions.
This project works in conjunction with the TNA's 'Seamless Flow'
digital preservation project. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/electronicrecords/digitalcontinuity/default.htm
The TNA was the Digital Preservation Award winner for its work
on PRONOM and DROID. [See under DPC for more details of this award]
Expanding the UK Government Web Archive:
The National Archives are moving into the next phase of their web
archiving, with Web Continuity - looking to harvest and manage access
to online government information. Building on 5 years' of collecting
selected sites, Web Continuity is aiming to capture the whole of the UK
central government web estate. Further information is available from
the TNA website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/webcontinuity/
1.5 The National Library
of Scotland (NLS)
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) has completed the pilot
phase of its web archiving system and is now transferring its selective
archive collection plans to coincide with the imminent close down of
the PANDA's web archiving service currently in place under the auspices
of the UK Web Archiving consortium (UKWAC). The library has worked
closely with the State and University of Aarhus in Denmark to implement
a custom version of the Netarchive suite, and to which it owes its
gratitude.
The pilot activity has successfully identified a number of
varied functional requirements and network/communications improvements
to be incorporated into the NLS repository system. Web archiving
continues to be a varied and fascinating activity and presents many
challenges to the Library and its partners.
As part of the ongoing Trusted Digital Repository development
programme, the team continues to develop 'back office' metadata
management and ingest tools to comply with the OAIS model, in line with
our mandate for preservation. Various other workflow tools are
similarly being created that are bringing together the 'heart' of the
National Library of Scotland TDR system.
The Library has also recently commenced a user engagement
exercise following on from the delivery of a prototype hosted
repository product developed in conjunction with the JISC funded
IRIScotland project. The resulting forums are being used to develop a
user led repository service aimed squarely at providing long term
preservation benefits to the Scottish research community through the
TDR, in addition to providing increased access to archived content.
Development activity will commence in the second quarter of this year
(2008) with a view to releasing the first beta service implementation
of the product at the beginning of 2009.
1.6 The British Library
(BL)
The British Library has published its Risk Assessment Report
(version 2.2), which assesses the condition of its digital collections,
identifies strategies to mitigate the risks, and recommends and plans
the actions to be taken. More information about digital preservation at
the BL and the report itself can be found from the British Library
website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/ccare/introduction/digital/
McLeod, R., Bright, P., Wheatley, P. (2007) Risk Assessment
2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/ccare/introduction/digital/riskassessment.pdf
Digital Lives project: The
British Library in partnership with UCL and University of Bristol. This
is a major research project focussing on personal digital collections
and their relationship with research repositories, addressing, amongst
other things:
- how curators should approach selection, description,
preservation and access for personal digital collections
- potentially transferable tools such as computer forensics
or synchronisation which could assist with management, description, and
preservation of personal digital collections or facilitate access to
them
- new services acting as intermediaries for managing and
publishing personal digital collections and assessing their potential
effectiveness for preservation.
The research for Digital Lives commenced in September 2007 and
will run for 18 months to March 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.bl.uk/digital-lives/
LIFE2: The LIFE project made the
first major steps forward in planning for and costing digital
preservation activities and, despite its small size, had a significant
impact. LIFE2, an 18-month project which began in
February 2007, will rigorously test and refine the methodology and will
apply it to a range of new case studies including digital repositories,
primary data and digitised newspapers. A discussion paper, which draws
together feedback, discussion and review of the LIFE Model is now
available. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.life.ac.uk/
Wheatley, P. and Ayris, P. and Davies, R. and Mcleod, R. and
Shenton, H. (2007) The LIFE Model v1.1.
Discussion paper. LIFE Project, London, UK. (Unpublished) Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/4831/
The results of LIFE2 will be presented at the LIFE2
Conference, to be held on 23 June 2008 at The British Library in
London. Other topics will include mapping digital
and analogue lifecycles, as well as the updated LIFE costing model and
how to go about using the LIFE model in one's own institutions. More
information can be found at the LIFE Project Blog. Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.life.ac.uk/blog/2008/02/.
A paper on costing for
LIFE is also available.
Wheatley, P., Ayris, P., Davies, R., McLeod, R., and
Shenton, H. (2007) LIFE: Costing the digital preservation
lifecycle.
In: iPRES Annual Conference 2007, 11-12 October 2007, Beijing, China.
(Unpublished) available online via the eprints website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/4914/
1.7 PLANETS
(Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services)
The project has completed initial releases of each of the
major software components in the Planets platform, including:
- The Planets Preservation Planning Tool (Plato),
which enables organisations to make informed selection of the most
appropriate preservation plan against requirements.
- The Modular Emulator, which
allows 1980s software applications to run in a simulated computer
environment, and the Universal Virtual Computer, which provides an
alternative approach to emulation that allows interaction with software
long into the future.
- The Preservation Characterisation Registry,
a core component that supports automatic identification of the
essential characteristics of digital materials we wish to preserve.
- Extension to the XCEL-Based Significant
Property Extraction Tool, which now supports textual
formats in addition to image, sound and other non-textual formats.
- The Planets Testbed, a
controlled software environment that allows researchers and
practitioners to conduct digital preservation experiments and gather
data on a scientific basis.
- The Planets Interoperability Framework
that provides shared functions and integrates the Planets tools and
services into an easily managed preservation system. Its extensibility
allows plug-in of third party tools and services.
These initial software releases will enable Planets partners
to conduct case studies and refine support for key preservation work.
They will lead to public availability of the software that members of
the wider digital preservation community will be able to use.
The Planets project has published various papers and has
presented at a number of conferences during the last six
months. These have covered topics such as Preservation
Planning, Object Characterisation and Emulation. Links to all
these papers and presentations are given in the recent Planets
Newsletter, Issue 3, on the Planets website. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://planets-project.eu/docs/newsletters/PlanetsNewsletterIssue3.pdf
.
1.8 nestor (Network
of Expertise in Long-Term Storage of Digital Resources)
Nestor has been involved with a standardisation project
initiated by the Innovation with Norms and Standards (INS) Institute.
The government-led project recognises the need for standardisation in
digital preservation and has set up a working group to take some
concrete steps for action. Its long term aim is to collaborate with
international standardisation groups. The study addresses the fact that
the persistent identifier systems currently in use, such as Uniform
Resource Names (URNs), Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and the handle
system, are mutually incompatible. More information can be found on the
Norms and Standards website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ins.din.de/cmd?level=tpl-home&contextid=ins&languageid=en
Digital preservation techniques were showcased by Nestor, DPE,
CASPAR, and Planets at the CeBIT stand, 'WePreserve - European Digital
Preservation Initiatives' 4-9 March 2008. The event was a great success
for the four projects and generated a great deal of interest within the
business community, the general public and also the German
Government. Among the many visitors to the 'WePreserve' stand
was Bern Neumann, German Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor
and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
The latest Nestor newsletter was published in December and is
available online. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://nestor.sub.uni-goettingen.de/newsletter/index.php?lang=en
1.9
DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE)
The second Digital Preservation Challenge
was announced in January 2008. The challenge invites participants to
overcome the barriers hindering access to five digital objects. Each
set of objects is accompanied by a highly abstracted scenario based on
real-life situations. These scenarios are intended to make the
challenge more accessible to participants from all backgrounds while
not trivialising the serious nature of the digital preservation
challenges facing society. The deadline for the challenge is 30 May
2008. More information is available from the DPC website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/challenge/
The DPE is working on a research roadmap which
aims to contribute to the planning of the future research and
development in Digital Preservation by means of analysing both the
state of the art in Digital Preservation research and existing
research. The roadmap offers experts a chance to contribute their ideas
about what preservation research needs to be done through an online
DELPHI survey, interviews and through workshops. Building on these
investigations and contributions DPE has released a draft Research
Roadmap identifying ten core domains for preservation research: Restoration,
Conservation, Management, Risk, Significant Properties of Digital
Objects, Interoperability, Automation, Context, Storage,
and Experimentation. For further
information please contact Holger Brocks: Holger.Brocks@FernUni-Hagen.de
DPE have recently published a report, Market and
Technology Trends Analysis, which provides the digital
preservation community with information on the most common
technological solutions currently available for digital preservation.
This analysis is based on an extensive survey distributed to the
digital preservation community. The report is available from the DPE
website.
DigitalPreservationEurope (2007) Market and
Technology Trends Analysis, DPE-D6.1, Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/reports/dpe-market-analysis.pdf
DPE recommends the establishment of a federated network of
competence centres with a single, common interface to the provision of
resources and services. This approach will help to solve digital
curation and preservation challenges that could not be solved by any
single centre alone. DPE hosts a registry of competence centres, which
is regularly updated at the DPE website. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/registries/competence-centres/list/
DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) Research and Industrial Exchange (DPEX)
call for applications. This exchange programme aims to encourage
innovative practice through research collaboration and to build bridges
between practitioners and researchers. Exchanges should typically last
for four weeks and the DPEX support of up to 3500 Euros per exchange
can be used to partially meet the costs of accommodation, subsistence,
and travel. The deadline for applications is the 1st of each month.
Further information can be found on the DPE webpage. Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/exchange
1.10 National Library of
the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek)
Mass digitization projects are taking off at the Koninklijke
Bibliotheek. A report on "Alternative File Formats for Storing Master
Images of Digitisation Projects" is now available at the KB website. In
the coming four years millions of high resolution, RGB (Red, Green,
Blue) master image files will be made and will have to be (permanently)
stored. If all 40 million files are stored as uncompressed TIFFs, the
estimate is that the KB will need no less than 650 TB of storage space
by 2011. Currently, the main question the KB faces revolves around
necessity: do all master image files really need to be stored as
uncompressed TIFF files and added to our long term repository? The KB
has conducted a research project focusing on finding alternative file
formats for the storage of master image files depending on the
different purposes of the digitization. The draft version of the report
was presented to a group of selected specialists on digitisation,
digital preservation and image science. Their feedback is incorporated
in the final version of the report that can be found at the KB website.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.kb.nl/hrd/dd/dd_links_en_publicaties/publicaties/
Alternative%20File%20Formats%20for%20Storing%20Masters%202%201.pdf
File Format Risk Assessment Method:
The KB has developed a quantifiable file format risk assessment method.
This method can be used to define digital preservation strategies for
specific file formats. The choice for a specific file format at
creation time or later in the life cycle of a digital object influences
the long-term access to the digital object. The evaluation method
contains seven sustainability criteria for file formats that are
weighed for importance. A description of the current version of the
method can be found at the KB website. Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.kb.nl/hrd/dd/dd_links_en_publicaties/publicaties/ KB_file_format_evaluation_method_27022008.pdf
A KB report has recently been published which analyses the
'e-depot' system, and the strategic implications it will have on the
organisation. The report is also of value to the digital preservation
community as it provides a succinct overview of the running of an
active digital repository as well as preservation recommendations. The
report covers the interests of a range of stakeholders
Hoorens, S., Rothenberg, J., van Oranje, C., van der
Mandele, M., and Levitt, R. (2007) Addressing the uncertain
future of preserving the past. RAND Corporation, Santa
Monica, CA, USA. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.kb.nl/hrd/dd/dd_links_en_publicaties/publicaties/rand_report_e-depot_TR510_3c_Cover.pdf
1.11 Netherlands
Coalition for Digital Preservation
A Netherlands Coalition for Digital Preservation (NCDD) has
been established. At the initiative of the National Library of the
Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB), and Data Archiving and
Networked Services (DANS), the Coalition was established early 2008.
The NCDD aims to establish a sustainable technical and organisational
infrastructure in the Netherlands within the next five years. In
addition, it will serve as a platform for sharing knowledge and
expertise.
Members of the Coalition include 3TU. Federation, Netherlands
Institute for Sound and Vision, Statistics Netherlands, Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dutch Ministry of the
Interior, National Archives, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
Research, and SURFfoundation.
The first strategic initiative of the Coalition is a national
survey to assess the status quo of digital preservation in the
Netherlands: In particular, the study aims to determine which
organisations preserve which categories of data and in what manner, and
to assess what risks the public sector is running to incur digital data
loss. The survey will result in strategic recommendations for concerted
action.
The Coalition's office, with coordinator Inge Angevaare (inge.angevaare@kb.nl)
is based at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek and the English-language
website is now available. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ncdd.nl/en/
1.12 US National
Science Foundation (NSF) and the National
Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP)
The National Science Foundation, Office of Cyberinfrastructure
has put out a call for applications to its new programme, DataNet:
Sustainable Digital Data Preservation and Access Network Partners. This
programme aims to build cross-domain exemplar organisations which will
assist the communities of researchers and scholars to face the
challenges of data curation of all types of data. More information is
available via the NSF website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503141&org=OCI&from=home
The NDIIP is expanding its initiative by adding more partners
to its network. These include state government agencies, geospatial
archives and state library and archives. More information can be found
from the Library of Congress website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/library/reports.html
1.13 University of
London Computer Centre (ULCC)
The ULCC recently delivered a condensed three day version of
the Digital Preservation Training Programme (DPTP) event in Scotland.
Aimed at managers in institutions who are grappling with fundamental DP
issues DPTP is predicated on the need for institutions to combine
organisational and technological perspectives to devise an appropriate
response to the challenges that digital preservation requirements
present. More details can be found on the DPTP website and the ULCC
blog. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ulcc.ac.uk/dptp/
and http://dablog.ulcc.ac.uk/
1.14 EU Activities
A recent EU report, "Council Conclusions on scientific
information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation"
invites EU member states to carry out a number of information-related
tasks and makes a number of key recommendations. This includes taking a
structured approach when setting up digital preservation and legal
procedures for scientific information. It also recognizes the
importance of linking research and experiments at a cross-European
level. More information can be found at the EU Commission's Research
site.
Council Conclusions on scientific information in
the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation.
Council of the European Union. 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/pdf/97236_en.pdf
The EU Alliance for Permanent Access has published papers from
a conference entitled "Science Assets of the Digital Age at Risk" which
addressed the need to implement a sustainable infrastructure for the
preservation of scientific records. The Alliance will work to an agreed
set of standards for their interoperable repositories. The papers can
be found from the Alliance's website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.alliancepermanentaccess.eu/index.php?id=7
2. Specific themes
2.1 Digital
Preservation - definitions, frameworks & directions
A paper given at the last European Conference on Research and
Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries (ECDL) conference
investigates the key research challenges of digital preservation and
the role the science will play in digital libraries if they are to have
long term viability at the centre of the global information society.
Ross, S. (2007), Digital Preservation, Archival
Science and Methodological Foundations for Digital Libraries,
Keynote Address at the 11th European Conference on Digital Libraries
(ECDL), Budapest (17 September 2007). Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.ecdl2007.org/Keynote_ECDL2007_SROSS.pdf
A journal article by Priscilla Caplan gives an overview of
digital preservation and where the discipline is today in terms of
technologies and tools and trends. The article also covers activities
in specific countries, some interesting repositories and some special
preservation issues.
Caplan, P (2008) "The Preservation of Digital Materials" Library
Technology Reports 44(2), February/March 2008. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: https://publications.techsource.ala.org/products/archive.pl?article=2614
The Research Information Network (RIN) has finalised its draft
set of data principles and has published a framework of key principles
and guidelines. Five broad principles are put forward, for the benefit
of a range of stakeholders, including one which addresses digital
preservation. The framework poses some key preservation questions which
are crucial for the digital curator. The full document is available
from the RIN website, where a succinct summary document can also be
found.
Stewardship of digital research data: a framework
of principles and guidelines. (2008) Research Information
Network. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.rin.ac.uk/data-principles
Digital Preservation Europe (DPE) has started a series of
'position' papers putting forward controversial viewpoints. A recent
paper hints that the digital preservation community is alarmist in its
outlook and that it can't provide enough evidence for not
being able to access valuable data in the future.
Harvey, R (2008) So where's the black hole in our
collective memory? A Provocative Position Paper Retrieved
30 March 2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/
position/Ross_Harvey_black_hole_PPP.pdf
A Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation
and Access has been set up to develop sustainable recommendations for
digital preservation. The task force is co-chaired by both the San
Diego Supercomputer Centre and OCLC and consists of an international
group of experts. More information is available via the OCLC website.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200692.htm
The summer 2007 issue of Library Trends
is devoted to cultural heritage preservation including the value of
digital preservation. The articles explore issues such as
collaboration, digital culture, virtual collections and preservation
expertise. Some articles of note are: (N.B. These articles
are available only to Muse online journal subscribers)
Besser, H. (2007) "Collaboration for Electronic
Preservation" Library Trends 56(1), Summer
2007.Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/toc/lib56.1.html
Bradley, K. (2007) "Defining Digital Sustainability" Library
Trends 56(1), Summer 2007.Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/toc/lib56.1.html
Lusenet, Yola de. (2007) "Tending the Garden or
Harvesting the fields: Digital Preservation and the UNESCO Charter on
the Preservation of the Digital Heritage" Library Trends
56(1), Summer 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/toc/lib56.1.html
Mason, I. (2007) "Virtual Preservation: How has Digital
Culture Influenced Our Ideas about Permanence? Changing Practice in a
National Deposit Library" Library Trends 56(1),
Summer 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/toc/lib56.1.html
Smith, A. (2007) "Valuing Preservation" Library
Trends 56(1), Summer 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/toc/lib56.1.html
2.2 Copyright
& IPR
A recently published book, Digital Copyright,
by Paul Pedley is reviewed in the latest edition of Ariadne. It touches
on database rights and legal deposit in the digital arena. While it
does not cover all aspects of digital copyright, the book can provide
the reader with a number of useful pointers. The review can be found on
the Ariadne website,
Pedley, P. (2007) Digital Copyright,
London, Facet Publishing
Hannabuss, S. (2008) "Digital Copyright" Ariadne
54, January 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue54/hannabuss-rvw/
Copyright laws in Israel have been altered so that libraries
can copy copyrighted works and in turn migrate it to newer platforms
for preservation purposes. This also has implications for web and
domain archiving as internet sites are also permitted to be copied and
thus archived. More information can be found via the PADI Listserve.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://listserver.nla.gov.au/wws/arc/padiforum-l/2007-12/msg00002.html
The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) has released a Legal Watch
Paper on how databases are affected by copyright law, and touches on
the 'Database Right'. The paper gives a number of valuable
recommendations including follow-up resources. Some interesting
presentations on copyright can also be found via the DCC website which
held an event to give an overview of the legal considerations of data
curation. The Legal Environment of Digital Curation
tackled the main issues that concern non-legal professionals such as
the Freedom of Information Act, licensing and database protection
issues.
McGinley, M. (2007) IPR in Databases DCC
Legal Watch Paper. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/legal-watch/ipr-in-databases/
The Legal Environment of Digital Curation
23 November 2007. Digital Curation Centre Workshop. Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/legal-env-dig-cur-2007/
Whyte, A. (2007) Report from the DCC Workshop: 'The Legal
Environment of Digital Curation'. International Journal of
Digital Curation (2)2 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.ijdc.net/ijdc/article/view/51/57
2.3 Repositories
The Wellcome library has been accepting born digital materials
into its collections for the last six months. To support these
activities they have made available a 'Digital Curation' section on
their website, which lists a number of useful FAQs as well as a Digital
Curation Toolbox. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/node288.html
An article in Ariadne sets out how the
Wellcome library plans to deal with this digital data, and also focuses
on the creators of the data and the workflows to and from the archive.
The authors also acknowledge the importance of using existing skills in
the archival workforce, and mirroring traditional processes which are
already in place.
Hilton, C. & Thompson, D. (2007) "Further
Experiences in Collecting Born Digital Archives at the Wellcome
Library" Ariadne 53, October 2007. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue53/hilton-thompson/
A DigitalPreservationEurope briefing paper on open access
repositories explores the properties a trusted repository must have as
well as the policies that must be in place to manage the repository.
Pasqui, V (2007) Digital Preservation and Open
Access Archives. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/briefs/open_archives_pasqui.pdf
A recently published paper describes an institution's workflow
management system, based on Fedora. The Ingest process is described as
well as the METS metadata creation function scalability and altering of
the system to open source so that other institutions can use it.
Agnew, G. & Yu, Y. (2007) "The Rutgers Workflow
Management System: Migrating a Digital Object Management Utility to
Open Source" Code4Lib Journal Issue 1,
2007-12-17. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/25
2.4 Institutional
Repositories
Uptake and use of institutional repositories [IRs] is a theme
of many articles in recent D-Lib Magazine issues.
The Journal of Digital Information devotes an
entire issue to digital preservation and trusted repositories. Just how
to judge the success of a repository is as yet uncertain and many
articles explore this, as well as the obstacles that hinder the swift
uptake of these IRs.
Cat McDowell describes the state of institutional repositories
since 2005. The article applies a methodology by comparing repository
size as a criterion to evaluate the success of U.S repositories. Thomas
and McDonald also summarise a study of author/depositor distribution
patterns, another possible technique to analyse repository success.
Markey et al. describe the MIRACLE research
project which is looking into university involvement with IRs and the
paper puts forward preliminary findings. Jihyun Kim reports on a study
of factors that motivate or impede faculty contribution to the IR and
summarises findings from a study. Thibodeau's article argues that the
success of a repository should be judged according to how well it
operates in its cultural and resource context.
The Utah Digital Repository provides a useful structure for
organisations to follow in setting up their own institutional
repositories. The article outlines how three libraries were able to use
this toolkit to set up their repositories.
Rieh et al. point out how there is much
uncertainty underlying institutional repositories both for
organisations that already have repositories and for those about to set
one up. Key components of repository infrastructure were examined in a
recent census and the article provides a useful overview of the
difficulties institutions face such as responsibility and funding.
In the most recent issue of D-Lib Magazine,
Ferreira et al. look at the problem of both slow
adoption and low deposit rates and at the University of Minho
initiatives were explored to promote the repository, such as
value-added services for authors.
Estlund, K & Neatrour, A (2007) "Utah Digital
Repository Initiative" D-Lib Magazine (13)11/12
November/December 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november07/neatrour/11neatrour.html
Ferreira, M., Baptista, A., Rodrigues, E., &
Saraiva, R (2008) "Carrots and Sticks: Some Ideas on How to Create a
Successful Institutional Repository" D-Lib Magazine
(14)1/2 January/February 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january08/ferreira/01ferreira.html
Kim, J (2007) "Motivating and Impending Factors Affecting
Faculty Contribution to Institutional Repositories" Journal
of Digital Information (8)2 Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/view/193/177
Markey, K. St. Jean, B., Rieh, S., Yakel,
E., Kim, J. and Kim, Y. (2007) "Nationwide Census of Institutional
Repositories: Preliminary
Findings" Journal of Digital Information (8)2
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/view/194/170
McDowell, C (2007) "Evaluating Institutional Repository
Deployment in American Academe Since Early 2005" D-Lib
Magazine (13) 9/10 September/October 2007. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september07/mcdowell/09mcdowell.html
Moore, R. and Smith, M. (2007) "Automated
Validation of Trusted Digital Repository Assessment Criteria" Journal
of Digital Information (8)2 . Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/view/198/181
Rieh, S., Markey, K., St. Jean, B., Yakel, E., &
Kim, J., (2007) "Census of Institutional Repositories in the U.S." D-Lib
Magazine (13)11/12 November/December. Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november07/rieh/11rieh.html
Thomas, C. and McDonald, R. (2007) "Measuring and Comparing
Participation Patterns in Digital Repositories" D-Lib Magazine
(13) 9/10 September/October 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september07/mcdonald/09mcdonald.html
Treloar, A., Groenewegen, D., and Harboe-Ree, C. (2007) "The
Data Curation Continuum" D-Lib Magazine (13) 9/10
September/October 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september07/treloar/09treloar.html
Thibodeau, K., (2007) "If you build it, will it fly?
Criteria for success in a digital repository" Journal of
Digital Information (8)2. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/view/197/174
The JISC Repositories Support Programme [RSP] have set up a
series of Professional briefing and networking events which
will run until March 2008 and will provide attendees with valuable
opportunities to learn key repository skills and meet peers.
Information and papers from past events are online at the RSP website.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.rsp.ac.uk/events/ProfBrief.php
The new DRIVER project is also tackling the challenge of
engaging researchers in open access IRs. The project aims to create a
unified approach to managing the repository landscape and to enhance
repository development, as well as setting up a number of test-bed
repositories. The project recognises that interoperability across
repositories is needed. An article in Ariadne
outlines the DRIVER project and three comprehensive reports available
via the DCC website detail the DRIVER but also contains much valuable
information on many repository-related issues.
Feijen, M., Horstmann, W., Manghi, P., Robinson, M., and
Russell, R. (2007) "DRIVER: Building the Network for Accessing Digital
Repositories across Europe" Ariadne, Issue 53.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue53/feijen-et-al/
Foulonneau, M. and Andre, F., (2008) Investigative
Study of Standards for Digital Repositories and Related Services
Amsterdam University Press. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://dare.uva.nl/document/93727
van der Graaf, M. and van Eijndhoven, K., (2008) The
European Repository Landscape Amsterdam University Press.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://dare.uva.nl/document/93725
Weenink, K., Waaijers, L., and van Godtsenhoven, K., (eds.)
(2008) A DRIVER's Guide to European Repositories
Amsterdam University Press. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://dare.uva.nl/document/93898
2.5 Digital
Preservation and the Information Profession
As the field of digital preservation expands, so building a
professional workforce and training becomes an important issue. This is
the focus of a number of papers in the last few months. A briefing
paper by the DPE explores the benefit of different learning
technologies and e-learning for information professionals,
Harvey, R. (2007) Professional Development in
digital preservation: a life-long requirement. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/briefs/professional_development.pdf
Another article explores the intellectual issues of digital
content and by looking at the University of Glasgow's Information
Management and Preservation MSc programme; it highlights how a
cross-disciplinary approach brings a range of influences which are
crucial for a firm knowledge base.
Moss, M., and Ross, S. (2007) "Educating Information
Management Professionals: The Glasgow Perspective", Journal
of Education for Library and Information Science, Vol 48, No
4 (Fall 2007), 294-308.
A two-part article in D-Lib Magazine examines
the role of librarians and information professionals and the challenges
facing those who have traditionally been responsible for the curation
of the scientific record. It sets out the importance of librarians
making new relationships with scientists and data professionals and
investing in developing new skills.
Gold, A. (2007) "Cyberinfrastructure, Data and Libraries,
Part 1: A Cyberinfrastructure Primer for Librarians" D-Lib
Magazine v. 13 No. 9/10 September/October 2007. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september07/gold/09gold-pt1.html
Gold, A. (2007) "Cyberinfrastructure, Data and
Libraries, Part 2: Libraries and the Data Challenge: Roles and Actions
for Libraries" D-Lib Magazine v. 13 No. 9/10
September/October 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september07/gold/09gold-pt2.html
2.6 Web Archiving
One of the outcomes of the National Digital Information
Infrastructure Preservation Program (NDIIPP) is a web archiving project
that uses a web crawler to help prepare the website for archiving and
thus alleviate the tasks of an archivist. The resource is analysed and
metadata is added so that the object will arrive at the archive
preservation ready. The article is published in January's edition of
D-Lib Magazine.
Smith, J., and Nelson, M. (2008) "Creating
Preservation-Ready Web Resources" D-Lib Magazine
(14) 1/2 January/February 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january08/smith/01smith.html
An article in the Serials Librarian outlines the selection,
acquisition and management techniques for web archiving at the Library
and Archives of Canada. It also covers other web archiving activities.
Lillenitt, R. (2007) "Archiving the Canadian Web:
Experiences at Library and Archives Canada" The Serials
Librarian v. 53 Issue 1/2 2007. N.B. article
available to Serials Librarian subscribers only.
The website of the Deutscher Bundestag (Lower House of German
Parliament) is now retrievable online. Since 2005 the site has been
archived, and the archive adheres to three fundamental archiving
principles: user-friendliness; authenticity and sustainability. The
site is accessible from the Parliament website. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://webarchiv.bundestag.de/cgi/archive.php?jahr=2008
2.7 Digital
Preservation Life-cycle
A number of articles address different aspects of the
preservation lifecycle, from appraisal to ingest, to automatic metadata
extraction.
Life-cycle: An article in the
International Journal of Digital Curation sets out the draft lifecycle
model for the Digital Curation Centre. The model is generic and can be
applied to any organisation across the whole lifecycle, or at stages
throughout it. Comments on the draft are welcome.
Higgins, S (2007) "Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model", International
Journal of Digital Curation. V. 2, No. 2 2007. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.ijdc.net/ijdc/article/view/45/52
Robert Sharpe highlights the different procedures when
carrying out preservation functions. The article provides a detailed
approach to the different stages of the life cycle such as access,
preservation planning and administration.
Sharpe, R (2007) "Preservation requires planning and
maintenance." Research Information.
August/September 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.researchinformation.info/features/feature.php?feature_id=142
Appraisal: Appraisal is the
subject of a number of papers. Oliver et al. report
on the technology available to automate appraisal, especially in an
'uncontrolled' environment. Another 'position' paper by DPE argues why
random selection is the best approach to the appraisal process.
Oliver, G., Ross, S., Guercio, M., and Pala, C. (2008), Report
on Automated re-Appraisal: Managing Archives in Digital Libraries
Paper given at Second DELOS Conference on Digital Libraries, 5-7
December 2007.
Neumayer, R. and Rauber, A. (2007) Why Appraisal
is not 'Utterly' Useless and why it's not the Way to Go either.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/appraisal_final.pdf
Harvey, R. (2008) Appraisal and Selection.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/briefing-papers/appraisal-and-selection/
Appraisal in the digital world was the subject of a recent
conference. A framework was established by the DELOS Network of
Excellence to think about automating the appraisal process, the
rationale behind it being that records for permanent retention should
be identified at creation. Many professions would be involved in this
process, thus this conference provided an ideal opportunity for a range
of experts to get together to assist in building such a methodological
framework for the appraisal of digital objects. Papers for this event
are available from the Delos website.
Delos NoE Conference: Appraisal in the Digital World,
Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei, Rome, Italy. 15-16 November 2007.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://www.dpc.delos.info/rethinking_appraisal/
Ingest: An article in D-Lib
Magazine explores the ingest function and the tools they
have developed at the Australian Public Record Office Victoria to
accession digital objects into the archive. The paper touches on the
tasks associated with ingest, for example ensuring an object retains
its integrity, and the effective carrying out of any normalisation that
is required. The tools and design of the ingest function are described
and the special features of the system that are needed in order to
ingest large amounts of data.
Waugh, A. (2007). "The Design and Implementation of an
Ingest Function to a Digital Archive." D-Lib Magazine,
13 (11/12) November/December 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november07/waugh/11waugh.html
Automatic metadata extraction: A
recent paper investigates the approaches to extracting automatically
descriptive and semantic metadata from digital objects. The study
examines existing tools and related research as well as putting forward
its own model which proposes a novel approach: pre-ingest of automated
metadata extraction based on genre classification of the digital
object.
Ross, S., Kim, Y., and Dobreva, M. (2007), Preliminary
framework for designing prototype tools for assisting with preservation
quality metadata extraction for ingest into digital repository
ISBN: 2-912335-39-6
Two further papers examine automated genre classification as a
step toward automating metadata extraction from digital documents for
ingest into digital repositories such as those run by archives,
libraries and eprint services. A DPE briefing paper examines the scope
and workflow of automating metadata extraction.
Kim, Y., and Ross, S. (2007), "The Naming of Cats: Automated
Genre Classification", The International Journal of Digital
Curation (2) 1, 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ijdc.net/./ijdc/article/view/24/27
Kim, Y., and Ross, S. (2007), "Searching for Ground Truth: a
Stepping Stone in Automated Genre Classification." In: Thanos et
al. (eds.) Proceedings DELOS Conference on
Digital Libraries. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/lt760613m2731723/fulltext.pdf
2.8 Storage Media
The Library of Congress and the San Diego Supercomputer Centre
(SDSC) have released a report on data transfer and storage tests. At
the heart of the project was the concept of trust and guaranteeing the
integrity of the SDSC to reliably store the Library of Congress's data.
The report covers in detail key area of data storage such as the data
transfer process, data monitoring and access as well as web archiving.
Anderson, M. et al. (2007) Data
Center for Library of Congress Digital Holdings: A Pilot Project.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/pdf/SDSC_LC_data-storage_report_2.pdf
2.9 e-journal
Archiving
A recently published paper takes an analytical approach to
review nine different current archiving models for scientific journals,
including JSTOR, Portico, E-Print Repositories, Open Access Model,
LOCKSS, OCLC Digital Archive, JISC PubMed Central and KB e-Depot.
Another paper reports on surveys of e-journal archives and
institutional repositories of how the community is responding to the
challenge of large scale digital archiving and the challenges of
stakeholder participation.
Moghaddam, G. (2008) "Preserving scientific electronic
journals: a study of archiving initiatives." The Electronic
Library 2008 (26)1. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/02640470810851761
Smith, K. (2008) "Institutional Repositories and E-Journal
Archiving: What Are We Learning?" Journal of Electronic
Publishing Winter 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;cc=jep;rgn=main;view=text;idno=3336451.0011.107
DPE have published a couple of briefing papers on the benefits
of collaboration when preserving institutional digital output, given
the vast scale that it is being produced; not one institution can do it
all, thus giving rise to preservation models such as Portico and
LOCKSS. The issue of access vs. preservation within the context of
complex licensing agreements is also explored.
Fenton, E (2007) Portico: A Collaborative
Approach to Preservation Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/portico_briefing_paper_def.pdf
Rusbridge, A (2007) LOCKSS: Re-establishing
Librarians as custodians for journal content. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/briefs/lockss-briefing-paper_sr.pdf
Rusbridge, A. and Ross, S. (2007) "The UK LOCKSS Pilot
Programme: A Perspective from the LOCKSS Technical Support Service."
International Journal of Digital Curation, (2)2. Retrieved
30 March 2008 from: http://www.ijdc.net/ijdc/article/view/49
A First Monday article is based on a
workshop held in January that examined four different kinds of systems
for e-journal archiving. It looks at issues of trust and reliance on
commercial software and the importance of interoperability.
Seadle, M. and Greifeneder, E. (2008) "In archiving we
trust: Results from a workshop at Humboldt University in Berlin" First
Monday (13)1. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2089/1923
2.10 Tools
DRAMBORA: The Digital Curation
Centre's DRAMORA (Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk
Assessment) tool assists organisations in self-assessment of their
repository and helps them identify and manage the risks in their
curation activities. The tool represents the ongoing international
effort to conceive methodologies for audit and certification of
trustworthy digital repositories. The tool is the subject of a number
of new articles
The self-assessment process is set out in a short DCC article
and there is now an FAQ section on the DCC website, for new users of
the tool. This includes how long it takes to use the tool and lists
organisations who have already implemented.
A conference paper examines the benefits of the DRAMBORA tool
which is designed to facilitate the assessment of digital repositories'
risk exposure: it facilitates internal audit by providing repository
administrators with a means to assess their capabilities, identify
their weaknesses, and recognize their strengths.
Innocenti, P., McHugh, A., Ross, S., and Ruusalepp, R.
(2007) Risk Management Foundations for DLs: DRAMBORA
(Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment),
DELOS 2nd Workshop on Foundations of Digital Libraries, within ECDL
conference, Budapest, Hungary, 20 September 2007. Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.delos.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=597&Itemid=328
An Approach to Audit and Certification.
(2007). HATII, University of Glasgow. Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.repositoryaudit.eu/participate/docs/DCC_and_DPE_Approach.pdf
DCC (2007) Frequently Asked Questions about
DRAMBORA. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/FAQs/self-auditing/
DCC DIFFUSE Standards Registry: This
resource provides information on standards for digital preservation.
The database is browseable and contains links to tools and all relevant
documentation. DIFFUSE can be found at the DCC website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/diffuse/
Dioscuri: Under the umbrella of the
European project Planets, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek continued
development of Dioscuri, the first modular emulator for digital
preservation. A new version of the software has been released in
February 2008. This new version is capable of running 32-bit
applications like MS Windows 3.0 and has support for a wider range of
peripherals. With these new extensions Dioscuri can authentically
render old documents and programs from DOS and early Windows era. More
information can be found at the Dioscuri website. Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://dioscuri.sourceforge.net
An update article on the Dioscuri tool is also available in D-Lib
Magazine.
Van der Hoeven, J. (2007) 'Dioscuri: emulator for digital
preservation' D-Lib Magazine (13) 11/12
November/December 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november07/11inbrief.html#VANDERHOEVEN
DatKeurmerk: The first stage of
this 'seal of approval' tool has become available for use by social
sciences and humanities researchers. The tool is developed by the Dutch
Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) and contains seventeen
guidelines that data producers, data consumers and data archives must
follow in order to merit the label 'future-proof'. DANS intends to
publicise the Datakeurmerk widely and evoke responses in order to
create support for it. More information can be found from the tool's
website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.datasealofapproval.org/
2.11 Film Preservation
The film community in the US has had some interesting debates
about the long term preservation of digital film. The Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences published a report in November 2007 (not yet
available online) about how to tackle the problem of long term digital
archiving in the industry; the report includes case studies of films
that are entirely digital and how this impacts on future preservation.
It also touches on recent research in the field. The New York Times
also recently published an article as a result of the above report,
highlighting the risks of the film industry moving entirely to digital
production. It quotes costs for the digital preservation of a "born
digital" film as opposed to the lower cost of preserving traditional
film.
Cieply, M. (2007) "The Afterlife is Expensive for Digital
Movies" The New York Times, 23 December, 2007.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/business/media/23steal.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in Archiving
and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials Fall, 2007.
Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences. Not available online yet, but see the Academy's website
for more information. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.oscars.org/council/digital_dilemma.html
Another article considers the rise in online video and
archiving procedures. It takes into account the concept of creators of
image collections who may be located outside the boundaries of memory
institutions who are traditionally responsible for their longevity.
These creators might establish their own digital archives in internet
environments such as YouTube.
Gracy, K. (2007) "Moving Image Preservation and Cultural
Capital" Library Trends 56(1), Summer 2007. N.B
this article is available to Muse online journal subscribers only.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/toc/lib56.1.html
3. Other
publications
The OpenDoc Society was launched in October 2007. The
organisation is member-based and promotes and supports the Open
Document Format, an ISO-standardised, vendor neutral file format, which
a number of world-wide organisations, including governmental, are
moving towards using. More information can be found the OpenDoc
website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.opendocsociety.org/
On the same theme, an article on open office file formats is
available via the JISC website. These new formats don't come without
controversy and this paper explains some of the recent developments and
indicates that the development of open file formats is now at a crucial
stage of development.
Ditch, W. (2007) XML-based Office Document
Standards (TSW0702). Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/services/services_techwatch/ techwatch/techwatch_ic_reports2005_published.aspx
A book has been published offering principles for effective
environmental data management, including preservation. It is a
comprehensive overview of the challenges that environmental data
collectors face and a structured account of how they might apply the
principles put forward.
Environmental Data Management at NOAA: Archiving,
Stewardship and Access.
Committee on Archiving and Accessing Environmental and Geospatial Data
at NOAA, National Research Council. 2007. Available freely online.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12017
Oya Rieger's paper "Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale
Digitization" discusses the impact of large-scale digitisation and
possible preservation strategies in the light of the increasing number
of digitisation projects that are primarily driven by access
considerations. The author touches on quality control issues and
digitisation requirements. The report is available from the Council on
Library and Information Resources (CLIR) website.
Rieger, O. (2008) Preservation in the Age of
Large-Scale Digitization. A White Paper.
CLIR Publication No 141. Council on Library and Information Resources,
Washington, DC. Freely available online from the CLIR website.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub141/pub141.pdf
A new blog has been started by the University of London
Computing Centre [ULCC] to discuss preservation issues. 'DaBlog' is
available via the ULCC website. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://dablog.ulcc.ac.uk/
4. Events
4.1 Recent events
11th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology
for Digital Libraries (ECDL) Conference, 16-21 September 2007,
Budapest, Hungary.
Presentations available from the ECDL website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.ecdl2007.org/index.php
DPE, PLANETS and Caspar Second Annual Conference: Progress
towards Addressing Digital Preservation Challenges, 5-6 September 2007,
Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais, Torre do Tombo Lisbon, Portugal.
Presentations available from WePreserve website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.wepreserve.eu/events/fp6-2007/
A write up of this event can be found in Ariadne.
Hockx-Yu, H. (2007) 'Progress towards Addressing Digital
Preservation Challenges' Ariadne (53) October
2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue53/fp6-2007-rpt/
Libraries without Walls 7: Exploring 'anytime, anywhere'
delivery of library services. 14-18 September 2008. Lesvos, Greece.
Presentations available from conference website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: from: http://www.cerlim.ac.uk/conf/lww7/programme.php
Principles of Digital Preservation: a hands on approach' 1-5
October 2007. Vilnius, Lithuania.
Presentations available from WePreserve website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.wepreserve.eu/events/dpe-planets-vilnius-2007/
PV2007: "Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation and Value Adding
to Scientific and Technical Data," 9-11 October 2007,
Oberpfaffenhofen/Munich, Germany.
Presentations available from conference website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.pv2007.dlr.de/index.htm
International conference on Preservation of Digital Objects
(iPRES 2007): "Digital Preservation: Sustainable Programs and Best
Practice," 11-12 October 2007, Beijing, China.
Presentations available from conference website. Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://ipres.las.ac.cn/program.jsp
"Tools and Trends International Conference on Digital
Preservation at the occasion of the retirement of Johan Steenbakkers,"
1-2 November 2007, The Hague, the Netherlands.
Conference presentations available from the KB website.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.kb.nl/hrd/congressen/toolstrends/programme-en.xml
3rd International Digital Curation Conference: "Curating our
Digital Scientific Heritage: a Global Collaborative Challenge," 12-13
December 2007, Renaissance Washington Hotel, Washington DC, USA.
Full programme presentations available at the DCC website.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/dcc-2007/
NISO Digital Preservation Forum: Planning Today for
Tomorrow's Resources. 14 March 2008. Washington DC, USA.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.niso.org/news/events/2008/digpres08/agenda/
DCC/RIN Research Data Management Forum - Inaugural workshop.
19-20 March 2008, Manchester.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/data-forum-2008/
4.2 Current and
forthcoming events
April
"Open Repositories Conference 2008: The third international
conference on open repositories." 1-4 April 2008. Southampton,
UK.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://or08.ecs.soton.ac.uk/
"What to preserve? Significant properties of Digital
Objects." 7 April 2008. British Library, London, UK.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/events/080407workshop.html
May
TAPE Workshop on the curation and preservation of
audiovisual collections. UK. 12-16 May 2008. University of Glasgow.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/news/tape.html
Access to Archival Heritage; International Symposium. 16 May
2008. Netherlands, location not yet announced.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.archiefschool.nl
IASSIST 2008 Technology of Data: Collection, Communication, Access and
Preservation. May 27-30 2008. Stanford University, Palo Alto,
California, USA.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://stanford.edu/group/ADS/cgi-bin/drupal/
June
ETD 2008 "Spreading the Light: 11th International Symposium
on Electronic Theses and Dissertations." 04 - 07 Jun 2008, Aberdeen
Scotland (United Kingdom).
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/library_edocs/etd08/home.htm
Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference.
"Stemming the Tide: Archives and the Digital World." 11-14 June.
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.archivists.ca/conference/
Joint Conference on Digital Libraries [JCDL 2008] 16-20 June
2008 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.jcdl2008.org/
LIFE2 Project Conference. 23 June 2008. British Library,
London, UK. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.life.ac.uk/2/
IS&T and the Imaging & Media Lab of the
University of Basel "Archiving 2008". 24-27 June 2008. Bern,
Switzerland.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.imaging.org/conferences/archiving2008/
July
The JISC/CNI Meeting: Transforming the User Experience.
10-11 July 2008. Manchester, UK.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/jisc-cni-2008/
August
World Library and Information Congress: 74th IFLA General
Conference and Council. "Libraries without borders: Navigating towards
global understanding" 10-14 August 2008, Quebec, Canada.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla74/index.htm
2008 Annual Conference of the Australian Society of
Archivists. 6-9 August 2008. Perth, Western Australia (Australia).
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.archivists.org.au/2008-conference-perth
September
Workshop E-Government and Digital Archives. 11 September
2008. Munich, Germany.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.hauptstaatsarchiv.hessen.de/egovda
12th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology
for Digital Libraries (ECDL2008) 14-19 September 2008. Aarhus, Denmark
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.ecdl2008.org
IWAW 2008: 8th International Web Archiving Workshop, 18 - 19
Sep 2008, Aarhus Denmark (Denmark).
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.iwaw.net/08/
CIDOC 2008. The Annual Conference of the International
Documentation Committee of the International Committee of Museums: "The
Digital Curation of Cultural Heritage" 15 - 18 Sep 2008, Athens, Greece
(Greece).
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.cidoc2008.gr/
DC 2008 - International Conference on Dublin Core and
metadata applications. "Metadata for Semantic and Social Applications"
22-26 September 2008. Berlin, Germany.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://dc2008.de/
International Conference on the Preservation of Digital
Objects (ipres2008). 29-30 September 2008. British Library, London, UK.
November
Globalisation and the Management of Information Resources.
12-14 November 2008, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://slim.emporia.edu/globenet/Sofia2008/index.htm
December
4th International Digital Curation Conference. 1-3 December
2008. Edinburgh, Scotland.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/dcc-2008/
4.3 Training Events
April
Digital Futures "From digitisation to delivery" King's
College
London 5-day training event. 7-11 April 2008. London, UK.
Retrieved 30
March 2008 from: http://www.digitalconsultancy.net/digifutures/
The
University of Arizona runs a new Graduate Certificate Programme in
Digital Information Management. More information on the course can be
found from the University's website. The preservation of Digital
Collections module is run in Spring.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from:
http://sir.arizona.edu/digin
The State Academy of Fine Arts in
Stuttgart, Germany Graduate Programme [MA] "Conservators for New Media
and Digital Information" covers many preservation issues such as the
long-term preservation of photographs, video records and digital
objects in museums, libraries and archives.
Retrieved 30 March 2008
from: http://www.mediaconservation.abk-stuttgart.de/home_e.htm
"Planning
the future with Planets: a preservation planning tutorial", 14-15 April
2008. Austrian Computer Society, Vienna, Austria.
Retrieved 30 March
2008 from: http://www.planets-project.eu/events/pp-vienna-2008/
May
OCLC is holding a digital preservation webinar which will
focus on
selection the most appropriate preservation strategies. More
information is available from the OCLC website.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.oclc.org/western/training/courses/descriptions/W385.htm
October
Web Archiving Training Session, 16-17
October 2008, Paris. France. More information is available from the
European Archive Wiki.
Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://service.europarchive.org/confluence/display/PU/Web+Archiving+Training+Session
Last updated: 30 March 2008
Links last checked: 30 March 2008
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