ensuring enduring access: a forum on digital preservation, july 21, 2009
TRANSCRIPT
That which survives
Ensuring Enduring Access: A Forum on Digital Preservation, July 21, 2009
The Good, The Bad & The Missing
The Good, The Bad & The Missing
Scan-converted Broadcast Image
Original SSTV Image
The Good, The Bad & The Missing
“Nafziger, who was in charge of the live TV recordings back in the Apollo years, said they were mostly thought of as data tapes. It wasn't his job to preserve history, he said, just to make sure the footage worked. In retrospect, he said he wished NASA hadn't reused the tapes.”
-- Associated Press
Those who do not learn from history…
Good News: Collaboration
Good News: Standards/Models
Open Archival Information System – Reference Model
Good News: Standards/Models
Open Archival Information System – Reference Model
Good News: Standards/Models
Open Archival Information System – Reference Model
Good News: Standards/Models
PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata
Good News: Standards/Models
Object Identifier
Object Category
Preservation Level
Significant Properties
Object Characteristics
Creating Application
Original Name
Storage
Environment
Signature Information
Relationship
Linking Event Identifier
Linking Intellectual Entity Identifier
Linking Permission Statement Identifier
PREMIS Data Dictionary: Object
Good News: Standards/Models
Event Identifier
Event Type
Event Date/Time
Event Detail
Event Outcome
Linking Agent Identifier
Linking Object Identifier
PREMIS Data Dictionary: Event
Good News: Standards/Models
Agent Identifier
Agent Name
Agent Type
Rights Statement Identifier
Rights Basis
Copyright Information
License Information
Statute Information
Rights Granted
Linking Object Identifier
Linking Agent Identifier
PREMIS Data Dictionary: Agent & Rights
Good News: Standards/ModelsContent Sustainability Factors:
DisclosureAdoptionTransparencySelf-documentationExternal dependenciesImpact of patentsTechnical protection mechanisms
Content Quality
Good News: Infrastructure
RepositoriesDSpaceFedoraDAITSSArchivists’ ToolkitArchon
Format RegistriesGDFRPronom
Format Identification JHOVEDROID
DuraSpace
UDFR
Good News: Evaluation
Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification (TRAC) Organizational Infrastructure
Governance & Organizational Viability Organization Structure & Staffing Procedural Accountability & Policy Framework Financial Sustainability Contracts, Licenses & Liabilities
Digital Object Management Ingest: Acquisition of Content Ingest: Creation of the Archival Package Preservation Planning Archival Storage & Preservation Information Management Access Management
Technologies, Technical Infrastructure & Security System Infrastructure Appropriate Technologies Security
Good News: Evaluation
Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment (DRAMBORA)Organizational Context -- identify the repository’s
role, and chart its goals and objectivesPolicy & Regulatory Framework – provide evidence
that the repository is aware of the societal, ethical, juridical and governance frameworks to which it is subject and that it operates appropriately within them
Activities, Assets & Owners -- develop a conceptual model of what the repository does and how it does it by examining work processes, key assets & staff
Identify, Assess & Manage Risks – Based on preceding, identify pertinent risks faced by repository, assess their likelihood and potential impact, and develop plans to eliminate or minimize them
Bad News: Collaboration
Too littleBetween cultural memory sectorsBetween content creators, publishers &
cultural memory organizationsBetween cultural memory organizations
& users
Too much?The costs of collaboration
Bad News: Standards/Models
“I love standards, there are so many of them.”
E.g., here is a partial list of packaging formats being employed by preservation repositories today: BagItMETSXFDUOAI-OREIMS-CPSCORMMPEG-21 DIDLFOXML
Bad News: Standards/Models
OAIS Reference Model – Libraries are not data archives; our users are not data scientists
Bad News: Standards/Models
PREMIS – Devil in the missing details
Bad News: Standards/Models
Content – You don’t always get what you want
Bad News: Infrastructure
NLM tested 10 different digital preservation repository systems (DLib May/June 2009), evaluating Fedora as the best. “The best” at this point includes:No work flow for submission reviewNo virus checking on submitted contentNo format validation on ingestNo coordination between deletion of content and
deletion of associated metadataNo file migrationExtremely limited reportingWeak maintenance facilities for adding new content,
editing metadata, troubleshootingNo support for Z39.50, SRU/SRW, OpenURL or Z39.87
Bad News: Infrastructure
Bad News: Infrastructure
Bad News: Infrastructure
Format registries provide some useful technical information about file formats but they do not at the moment provide access to representation information in the OAIS sense of the word.
The UDFR will be based on the existing PRONOM technical infrastructure, which provides even less support for representation information than the GDFR did.
And you won’t see it until next year.
Bad News: Infrastructure
Reflections on Trusting Trust, Ken Thompson, Communication of the ACM, Vol. 27, No. 8, August 1984, pp. 761-763.
Current systems assume that metadata will be the basis on which people will evaluate the authenticity and integrity of preserved digital information. This assumes that you can trust the metadata to have maintained its authenticity and integrity. Which means you need metadata for your metadata. But to trust that metadata’s authenticity and integrity, you need metadata….
Lesson: Technology can’t solve everything.
Bad News: Evaluation
TRAC – demonstrates whether others should trust your organization, but not whether you’re actually being successful in your mission.
DRAMBORA – helps you identify potential risks to materials and develop plans to address them, but doesn’t actually measure your performance.
We don’t have any longitudinal data on long-term maintenance costs and on data preservaton/loss to develop metrics for what constitutes success
Future Directions
Thank you!Jerome McDonough
Graduate School of Library & Information ScienceUniversity of Illinois at Urbana Champaign