Cost modelling for cloud computing utilisation in long term digital preservation

The rapid increase in volume of digital information can cause concern among organisations regarding manageability, costs and security of their information in the long-term. As cloud computing technology is often used for digital preservation purposes and is still evolving, there is difficulty in determining its long-term costs. This paper presents the development of a generic cost model for public and private clouds utilisation in long term digital preservation (LTDP), considering the impact of uncertainties and obsolescence issues. The cost model consists of rules and assumptions and was built using a combination of activity based and parametric cost estimation techniques. After generation of cost breakdown structures for both clouds, uncertainties and obsolescence were categorised. To quantify impacts of uncertainties on cost, three-point estimate technique was employed and Monte Carlo simulation was applied to generate the probability distribution on each cost driver. A decision support cost estimation tool with dashboard representation of results was developed

Research on Digital Preservation: An empirical analysis

Digital preservation is an evolving area of research for libraries, archives, and museums across the globe over the last two decades. Due to the growing recognition of the need to address various issues dealt with digital preservation, this field of study has generated quite a range of scholarly communications on several aspects. The present paper aims to examine critically the extant literature on digital preservation and libraries for the period from 2001 to 2019 and to assess the evolving trajectory and trends. Out of a total of 1292 extracted records from the Scopus database, a total of 710 articles are considered for the study purpose after the exclusion of non-relevant articles. Employing bibliometric indicators the study primarily assessed the publication pattern, document types, the most prolific authors, most contributing institutions, and focus areas of study as well as the geographical distribution of publications. Along with this, the VOSviewer software is used for co-author network analysis. The findings of the current analysis reveal that the highest number of papers published in the source journal Lecture Notes in Computer Science while the U.S.A. is in the top spot among the countries and author Nelson, M. L. from the U.S.A. has published the maximum number of research papers. It also provides information on various forms of publication on digital preservation and the impactful papers. Though there are studies on the assessment of digital libraries and digital repositories, a bibliometric assessment of literature on digital preservation is a novel attempt. As a metric study, it reflects the relative position of a country, an institution, and a researcher

An open source approach to medium-term data archiving

Medium- to long-term archiving of digital documents, beyond the lifespan of the authoring software/hardware, is a challenging problem. Magnetic and optical media are susceptible to environmental influences and deteriorate over time, often to the point where the archived documents can no longer be retrieved. Previous attempts to address this problem include migration and emulation, both of which have their attendant difficulties. It is the contention of the present study that an Open Source approach offers several advantages. More specifically, by archiving the Open Source application programs (in source code, not executable form) along with the documents in question, in both plain and compressed form, significantly increases the likelihood of being able to retrieve such archives at some future time. The application source code can be recompiled to a form suitable for reading in (Open Source) viewers, thereby presenting to the user the archived document as the original author envisaged it. One set of experiments was undertaken distributing documents together with their (Open Source) authoring software via a Portable Virtual Machine (PVM) program to unused disk space on a network of SUN workstations. The success of this approach was evaluated using the following four measures: (i) lossiness of conversion, (ii) edit-ability, (iii) ability to save back to the original format, and (iv) functionality retention. Another series of experiments was conducted in which artificial (‘speckle’ or salt-and-pepper) noise was deliberately introduced to the archived documents in order to mimic degradation of the storage medium over time. It was found that survivability was heavily dependent on file type: simple text files and MPEG movies were impervious to even 18% introduced noise. Source code programs and JPEG images, by contrast, were intolerant to even the smallest noise levels (it has to be said however that straightforward re-editing of the former led to error-free compilation without much difficulty). Lastly, it was found that decompression (specifically the publicly available RAR decompressor) further enhanced the file recovery process. We conclude that an Open Source approach to the preservation of digital archives has considerable potential

Smart Objects and Open Archives

Within the context of digital libraries (DLs), we are making information objects first-class citizens . We decouple information objects from the systems used for their storage and retrieval, allowing the technology for both DLs and information content to progress independently. We believe dismantling the stovepipe of DL-archive-content is the first step in building richer DL experiences for users and insuring the long-term survivability of digital information. To demonstrate this partitioning between DLs, archives and information content, we introduce buckets : aggregative, intelligent, object-oriented constructs for publishing in digital libraries. Buckets exist within the Smart Object, Dumb Archive (SODA) DL model, which promotes the importance and responsibility of individual information objects and reduces the role of traditional archives and database systems. The goal is to have smart objects be independent of and more resilient to the transient nature of information systems. The SODA model fits well with the emerging Open Archives Initiative (OAI), which promotes DL interoperability through the use of simple archives. This paper examines the motivation for buckets, SODA and the OAI, and initial experiences using them in various DL testbeds

Digital Repository Adoption in New York City Research Institutions

As more scholarly and research materials are created in digital formats, institutions charged with managing, preserving, and disseminating these materials are increasingly adopting specialized software tools and environments created to fulfill these functions. Concurrently, subscriptions to serials databases provided by academic publishers are increasingly prohibitive and problematic. This paper surveys the adoption of digital institutional repositories by research institutions in the New York City region as of the Spring of 2009, and concludes that in spite of their potential advantages these systems are still not widely applied toward addressing the issues of preservation and access to their fullest potential

Conceptions of Emulation, Migration, and Related Concepts in Digital Preservation Literature

This study uses conceptual content analysis to examine and compare definitions of "emulation," "migration," and other key terms in the digital preservation literature. Eight terms were coded and analyzed including "digital object," "authenticity," and "significant properties." Particular attention is paid to definitions of emulation and migration, and arguments for and against each process are reviewed. Within the library science literature there is a significant consensus about the definitions of many of these key terms. However, there still exists some ambiguity and disagreement about how these fundamental concepts should be understood. Those undertaking digital projects must be deliberate about defining these foundational terms before they begin work

Estado da arte em preservação digital

Relatório sobre o estado da arte em preservação digital desenvolvido no âmbito do projeto Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP).O presente estudo está inscrito no plano de atividades de 2011 do projeto Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) e assinala o início do interesse do RCAAP no domínio da preservação digital na esfera dos repositórios de acesso aberto. Para além de recolher informação atualizada sobre o tema e as iniciativas mais relevantes relacionadas com a preservação digital, o objetivo deste documento é também o de informar e orientar futuras atividades e desenvolvimentos relacionados com a preservação digital no âmbito do RCAAP em anos vindouros. Na sua introdução, o documento começa por contextualizar a crescente importância e interesse do tema da preservação digital na agenda dos repositórios de acesso aberto, e que tem sido objeto de debate nos últimos anos. Independentemente das diversas opiniões quanto à sua centralidade na atividade dos repositórios parece claro que a preservação digital será uma preocupação crescente dos repositórios nos próximos anos, a nível internacional e também em Portugal. Na segunda secção do estudo intitulada: “Preservação Digital” é apresentada uma panorâmica geral do tema, definindo os conceitos mais relevantes e apresentando as principais técnicas preservação digital utilizadas na atualidade. Na terceira secção designada: “Repositórios de Acesso Aberto e preservação digital”, o relatório procura contextualizar a preservação digital no âmbito dos repositórios de acesso aberto e identificar os projetos, as arquiteturas e as estratégias mais relevantes neste domínio. Nas conclusões, que constituem a última secção do documento, constata-se que a preservação digital, no âmbito dos repositórios de acesso aberto, tem evoluído significativamente, como se comprova pelas múltiplas atividades, iniciativas e projetos, que se têm vindo a conhecer nos últimos anos. No entanto, apesar da crescente consciencialização e interesse no que concerne às questões relacionadas com a preservação digital, o número de repositórios com políticas, estratégias e ações consolidadas ainda é residual. Também em Portugal, dos 35 repositórios atualmente registados no portal RCAAP, nenhum destes repositórios possuirá uma política de preservação formal. Haverá instituições com procedimentos no que concerne aos formatos admissíveis ou que realizam, como normativo interno, migrações de formatos aquando do depósito de documentos, mas ainda sem uma sistematização desejável. O estudo termina com a exposição de um conjunto de ações e linhas de orientação que poderão integradas no projeto RCAAP, ou desenvolvidas por instituições que nele participam, com o intuito de promover e facilitar o processo de preservação e curadoria digital nos repositórios de acesso aberto em Portugal.Ministério da Ciência e TecnologiaUMIC - Agência para a Sociedade do ConhecimentoFCCN - Fundação para Computação Científica NacionalUniversidade do MInhoPOS_ConhecimentoUnião Europei

Dependency Analysis of Legacy Digital Materials to Support Emulation Based Preservation

Emulation has been widely discussed as a preservation strategy for digital documents that depend upon proprietary executables, as well as for legacy programs. The fundamental assumption of this strategy is that an artifact (document or program) will be bundled with any required contemporaneous software in an archival information package (AIP) which can be loaded and executed in an emulation environment by patrons wishing to access the preserved artifact, yet little has been written about how to identify the required components for such an AIP. Even where a digital document was distributed with a binary viewer, there may be dependencies on other software libraries. In this paper we discuss a pilot study that performed dependency analysis for digital materials originally distributed on CD-ROM. In particular, we show how to utilize a small number of existing off-the-shelf libraries to build a tool that can analyze executables within ISO (CD-ROM) images, and then examine the results of applying this tool to a body of archived images

Preservasi digital warisan budaya: Sebuah ulasan

Digital preservation plays an important role in safeguarding cultural heritage. Along with the development of the times, cultural heritage as a valuableassetcannot be separated from potential threats in the form of damage and loss. Digital preservation is an aspect of opportunity in maintaining the sustainability of cultural heritage values. Through a qualitative approach with the literature study method, this research seeks to provide an overview of aspects of digital preservation in relation to efforts to protect cultural heritage. The results of the study illustrate that digital preservation has strong relevance in terms of protecting cultural heritage values from damage and loss. The involvement of technology in digital preservation results in convenience in efforts to save cultural heritage by representing cultural material in digital formats. Digital preservation has various challenges including technological obsolescence, loss or damage to data, intellectual property rights, preservation costs, metadata and contextual information, skills and expertise, social and ethical considerations, utilization, and various other things according to the context of implementation. A digital preservation strategy that includes aspects of technological environmental conservation for future use and handling of technical limitations is an integral part of overcoming existing challenges. By implementing various strategies and actively participating in the realm of digital preservation activities, the existence of cultural heritage with its noble values can be maintained and gain long-term accessibility for the sustainability of future generations

Preservación de objetos de aprendizaje en repositorios digitales

El propósito de este artículo es analizar los diferentes procesos en la conservación de objetos de aprendizaje en un repositorio digital. Como caso de estudio se presenta un prototipo de repositorio basado en una colección de materiales de e-learning sobre estadística, usados en las asignaturas respectivas de la Universitat oberta de Catalunya. Estos materiales tienen el propósito de servir a toda la comunidad, no tan solo a la universidad. Para ello, se ha creado este repositorio en una plataforma abierta basada en DSpace. El propósito es promover tanto la reutilización como la conservación digital de dichos materiales de e-learning, aunque ambos objetivos son, en ciertos aspectos, contradictorios. En este artículo se analizan los requerimientos de los objetos de aprendizaje depositados en un repositorio y las necesidades de los diferentes roles que intervienen en su manipulación y su conservación a largo plazo