cRIsp: Crowdsourcing Representation Information to Support Preservation

In this paper, we describe a new collaborative approach to the collection of representation information to ensure long term access to digital content. Representation information is essential for successful rendering of digital content in the future. Manual collection and maintenance of representation information has so far proven to be highly resource intensive and is compounded by the massive scale of the challenge, especially for repositories with no format limitations. This solution combats these challenges by drawing upon the wisdom and knowledge of the crowd to identify online sources of representation information, which are then collected, classified, and managed using existing tools. We suggest that nominations can be harvested and preserved by participating established web archives, which themselves could obviously benefit from such extensive collections. This is a low cost, low resource approach to collecting essential representation information of widespread relevance

Hybrid Paper/Electronic Archival Collecting, Processing, and Reference: A View from SLAC

Real-time archiving of mixed paper and digital collections presents challenges not encountered in the primarily paper environment. A few recent examples from the archives of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center highlight obstacles encountered, and attempted and contemplated solutions

Metadata in support of subject gateway services and digital preservation

This paper provides an introduction to two of the metadata-related projects in which UKOLN has been a partner. It first describes the development of services known as quality controlled subject gateways and looks in more detail at the Resource Discovery Network and the EU Renardus project. It then provides an outline of recent preservation metadata initiatives and describes the way the OAIS model has been used in the Cedars project

Cedars guide to preservation metadata

This document is an attempt to provide some background on preservation metadata for those interested in digital preservation. It first attempts to explain why preservation metadata is seen as an essential part of most digital preservation strategies. It then gives a broad overview of the functional and information models defined in the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) and describes the main elements of the Cedars outline preservation metadata specification. The next sections take a brief look at related metadata initiatives, make some recommendations for future work and comment on cost issues. At the end there are some brief recommendations for collecting institutions and the creators of digital content followed by some suggestions for further reading

"That's a Good Question...": Asking Information Professionals About Digital Preservation at a University's Digital Institutional Repository

This study addresses some of the issues surrounding the preservation of digital objects within a digital repository. The issues of how to determine the significant properties of digital objects and how digital repository infrastructures are developed to foster preservation are specifically addressed. Semi-structured interviews with information professionals and researchers working with a university's digital institutional repository were conducted to gather professional opinions on these issues. Results show the need for a clearly defined goal, concrete policies, and a sustainable repository model as some of the most important factors when creating a trustworthy digital repository

Living Legacies: Recovering Data from 5¼” Floppy Disk Storage Media for the Commodore 64

In an attempt to investigate the challenges of recovering and preserving digital objects from legacy systems this case study focuses on working with a particular storage medium and computing hardware. This study illustrates the physical and representational challenges that result from recovering data created with a Commodore 64 computer and stored on 5¼" floppy disks. A system for classifying types of digital objects found in the sample of recovered data was developed. This study contributes to the discourse of collecting institutions engaged in digital preservation and provides examples of ad hoc solutions for working through the challenges of recovering meaningful information from legacy systems. The issues that come to light in this study can be extended beyond the context of the Commodore 64 to include other types of digital resources and computing artifacts that will potentially cross the archival threshold in the near future

DEFINING DIGITAL PRESERVATION WORK: A CASE STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REFERENCE MODEL FOR AN OPEN ARCHIVAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

I report on a multi-method case study of the development of a standard called the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS), which describes components and services required to develop and maintain archives in order to support long-term access and understanding of the information in those archives. The development of the OAIS took place within a standards development organization called the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), whose formal purview is the work of space agencies, but the effort reached far beyond the traditional CCSDS interests and stakeholders. It has become a fundamental component of digital archive research and development in a variety of disciplines and sectors. Through document analysis, social network analysis and qualitative analysis of interview data, I explain how and why the OAIS development effort, which took place within a space data standards body, was transformed into a standard of much wider scope, relevant to a diverse set of actors. The OAIS development process involved substantial enrollment of resources from the environment, including skills and expertise; social ties; documentary artifacts; structures and routines; physical facilities and proximity; and funding streams. Enrollment from the environment did not occur automatically. It was based on concerted efforts by actors who searched for relevant literature, framed the process as open, and promoted it at professional events. Their acts of participation also helped to enroll resources, contributing to what structuration theory calls the signification and legitimation of the Reference Model, i.e. enactment of what the document means, and why and to whom it is important. Documentary artifacts were most successfully incorporated into the OAIS when they were perceived to support modularity and to be at an appropriate level of abstraction. The content of the Reference Model was subject to stabilization over time, making changes less likely and more limited in scope. A major factor in the success of the OAIS was the timing of its development. Actors within several streams of activity related to digital preservation perceived the need for a highlevel model but had not themselves developed one. At the same time, several actors now felt they had knowledge from their own recent digital archiving efforts, which could inform the development of the OAIS. This study has important implications for research on standardization, and it provides many lessons for those engaged in future standards development efforts.Ph.D.InformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39372/2/dissertation_callee.pd