Preservation Options
Bitstream Copying- backing up your data. Will be beneficial in the case of hardware or media failure, but is not a long term maintenance technique.
Refreshing- "to copy digital information from long-term storage medium to another of the same type" without changing the digital object itself.
Persistent Media- this method helps diminish losses from media deterioration. It does not help in the case of "catastrophic physical loss," or media obsolescence.
Digital Archaeology- explicitly an emergency recovery strategy
Analog Backups- converts digital objects into analog form with the use of analog media. Can preserve content and protect from obsolescence, but sacrifices digital qualities such as share ability.
Migration- "to copy data or convert data from one technology to another, preserving the essential characteristics of the data." Critics say that migration does not ensure the authenticity nor the integrity of the digital document.
Replication- "to copy in order to enhance the longevity of digital documents while maintaining their authenticity and integrity through copying and the use of multiple storage location."
Standards- adhering to well-recognized standards will aid in problems of compatibility.
Normalization- "is a formalized implementation of reliance on standards."
Canonicalization- can determine if the essential characteristics of a document have remained intact through conversion from one format to another-this method has yet to be implemented.
Emulation- "Combines software and hardware to reproduce the performance of another computer of a different design." This allows programs to operate in a different environment than what it was created for. This has been successful in computer games, but widespread use as a long-term digital preservation strategy, it has not been tested.
Encapsulation- a technique of grouping together a digital object and the meta data necessary to provide access to that object
Hendley, T. (1998). Comparison of Methods & Costs of Digital Preservation. British Library Research & Innovation Centre
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/tavistock/hendley/hendley.html
British Library iPres 2008
http://www.bl.uk/ipres2008/
Digital Preservation Management
http://www.icpst.umich.edu/dpm/
Atlanta Foodie
8 years ago
1 comment:
I work in IT and the need for backups of all this digitized info is something that I see overlooked and underestimated constantly. The librarians in the school where I work think since the stuff they digitized is all backed up on CD, that is all they need to do. Problem is, some of their back ups are 10 years old and CDs have a finite life--of about 10 years for the early ones. So those old CDs of theirs are not completely readable. They weren't happy when I demonstrated that.
Also fascinating to me in digital backups is how to back up things like Internet sites that are constantly changing. Who's to say that each iteration of a web site doesn't have historical value? If it does, how do we preserve that?
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