Digital Curation at Work: Modeling Workflows for Digital Archival Materials

This paper describes and compares digital curation workflows from 12 cultural heritage institutions that vary in size, nature of digital collections, available resources, and level of development of digital curation activities. While the research and practice of digital curation continues to mature in the cultural heritage sector, relatively little empirical, comparative research on digital curation activities has been conducted to date. The present research aims to advance knowledge about digital curation as it is currently practiced in the field, principally by modeling digital curation workflows from different institutional contexts. This greater understanding can contribute to the advancement of digital curation software, practices, and technical skills. In particular, the project focuses on the role of open-source software systems, as these systems already have strong support in the cultural heritage sector and can readily be further developed through these existing communities. This research has surfaced similarities and differences in digital curation activities, as well as broader sociotechnical factors impacting digital curation work, including the degree of formalization of digital curation activities, the nature of collections being acquired, and the level of institutional support for various software environments

“Tell Us about Your Digital Archives Workstation”: A Survey and Case Study

Archival staff in the Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) at Princeton University Library lacked a fully-equipped digital processing workstation to capture, transfer, and secure born-digital and digitized archival content for long-term preservation and access. Staff recently conducted a survey that included information about the digital processing workstations of twenty institutions. The results of this survey informed a successful proposal to acquire a Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device (FRED) to serve as our digital processing workstation. The article will share details about the survey and considerations that went into our decision-making process, as well as introduce a collaborative tool to assist archivists in sharing specifications about their workstations across the field

Working with Legacy Media: A Lone Arranger\u27s First Steps

[Excerpt] In 2013, a naked hard drive from Fiji arriving in my small religious archives (an equivalent full-time staff of 2.5 – one archivist and two archives’ assistants) started me off on the path of digital preservation and, in particular, the digital forensics practices that are beneficial for archivists. With such a small staff, outsourced IT services, and no digital preservation policy in sight, it was time to start exploring how institutions of my size could manage legacy media and start planning for the born-digital archives that will continue to arrive. Since I hold a part-time position, I was able to undertake this exploration in my own time through the support provided by a scholarship from the Ian McLean Wards Memorial Trust in 2015

Outfitting a Born-Digital Archives Program

Archival repositories that intend to develop programmatic solutions for managing and preserving born-digital holdings will need to establish a dedicated computer workstation (and related devices) to support responsible capture, transfer, appraisal, and preservation steps. This brief examination provides baseline recommendations for implementing and equipping a dedicated Windows-based PC workstation

Integrating Digital Forensics Techniques into Curatorial Tasks: A Case Study

In this paper, we investigate how digital forensics tools can support digital curation tasks around the acquisition, processing, management and analysis of born-digital materials. Using a real world born-digital collection as our use case, we describe how BitCurator, a digital forensics open source software environment, supports fundamental curatorial activities such as secure data transfer, assurance of authenticity and integrity, and the identification and elimination of private and/or sensitive information. We also introduce a workflow diagram that articulates the processing steps for institutions processing born-digital materials. Finally, we review possibilities for further integration, development and use of digital forensic tools

From Bitstreams to Heritage: Putting Digital Forensics into Practice in Collecting Institutions

This paper examines the application of digital forensics methods to materials in collecting institutions – particularly libraries, archives and museums. It discusses motivations, challenges, and emerging strategies for the use of these technologies and workflows. It is a product of the BitCurator project. The BitCurator project began on October 1, 2011, through funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. BitCurator is an effort to build, test, and analyze systems and software for incorporating digital forensics methods into the workflows of a variety of collecting institutions. It is led by the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland, and involves contributors from several other institutions. Two groups of external partners are contributing to this process: a Professional Expert Panel (PEP) of individuals who are at various levels of implementing digital forensics tools and methods in their collecting institution contexts, and a Development Advisory Group (DAG) of individuals who have significant experience with software development.2 This paper is a product of phase one of BitCurator (October 1, 2011 – September 30, 2013). The second phase of the project (October 1, 2013 – September 29, 2014) continues the development of the BitCurator environment, along with expanded professional engagement and community outreach activities

Innovative Tools for Records Management in Electronic Era

Abstract The influx of modern technologies and their peripherals in the electronic world cannot be undermined. The focus of this paper is on innovative tools for managing records in the electronic era. In a bid to understand these tools, the author divided this article into various sections. Following the introductory section, the author described art of managing records in the electronic era as well as highlighted different modern tools (software and techniques) adopted for record management in modern organizations. Other issues addressed in this article include the opportunities created for the use of these tools for electronic records management and the challenges associated with managing records in an electronic environment. However, the author concluded that despite the changes in records management brought about by innovations and application of ICTs and their tools, it is yet to be felt completely in the traditional African organizational settings especially libraries and information centers. She further recommended that more attention should be placed on keeping abreast with new innovations with regards to records management since development in this field is dynamic and organizations around the globe are seeing the need to imbibe them in their processes and activities for optimal performance

"The Way We Do It Here": Mapping Digital Forensics Workflows in Collecting Institutions

This paper presents the findings of semi-structured interviews with archivists and curators applying digital forensics tools and practices to the management of born-digital content. The interviews were designed to explore which digital forensic tools are in use, how they are implemented within a digital forensics workflow, and what further challenges and opportunities such use may present. Findings indicate that among interview participants these tools are beneficial in the capture and preservation of born-digital content, particularly with digital media such as external hard drives, and optical or floppy disks. However, interviews reveal that metadata generated from the use of such tools is not easily translated into the arrangement, description, and provision of access to born-digital content.Master of Science in Library Scienc

The Time-Cost of Digital Forensics for Archival Collections

This study describes an experiment in which I performed a series of digital forensics tasks on different forms of digital media. The experiment was conducted in order to determine the time needed to complete these digital forensics tasks. Findings indicate that disk images and forensic reports can be generated quickly, often within seconds, for media of small storage sizes, such as floppy disks. However, for media with large amounts of storage, such as an external hard drive, a single task (generating a disk image) can take several days to complete.Master of Science in Library Scienc