Interpreting digital preservation

How is digital preservation typically presented to attract the interest of the mainstream audience? We select some recurring themes from a typical recent article (there will be another along soon) and try to

interpret the meaning for non-specialists (in this case, repository managers).

Slides to prompt discussion at

the first KeepIt project meeting, 2 June 2009

by Steve Hitchcock, KeepIt project manager

http://preservation.eprints.org/keepit/

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/features/2241165/managing-digital-information

Digital preservation article du jour, or see

At Libraries, Taking the (Really) Long View

insidehighered.com, July 23, 2008

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/23/preservation

Etc.

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“But in the digital world, 10 years is pushing it, and after 10 years you can’t

read those files any more.”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“But in the digital world, 10 years is pushing it, and after 10 years you can’t

read those files any more.”

It’s scary

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“This year there’s just about 30 terabytes in the British Library’s digital library

system. By the end of the financial year that’s just started, we’re planning to be

over 200 terabytes.”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“This year there’s just about 30 terabytes in the British Library’s digital library

system. By the end of the financial year that’s just started, we’re planning to be

over 200 terabytes.”

There’s a data explosion

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“you can’t simply turn Word files into more stable PDFs, for example. “What if

they’re Word files where Display Changes is switched off, and all those change histories show who edited the

dodgy dossier?”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“you can’t simply turn Word files into more stable PDFs, for example. “What if

they’re Word files where Display Changes is switched off, and all those change histories show who edited the

dodgy dossier?”

It’s endlessly

complex

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“The challenges multiply again when it comes to voluntary deposit – people of standing donating what

would have been their lab notebooks or their jottings to the library. “Electronically what that means is: ‘Here’s my

hard drive; I’m sure there’s something interesting on there,’ and that generates a vast array of files,”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

“The challenges multiply again when it comes to voluntary deposit – people of standing donating what

would have been their lab notebooks or their jottings to the library. “Electronically what that means is: ‘Here’s my

hard drive; I’m sure there’s something interesting on there,’ and that generates a vast array of files,”

Everyone’s dumping

stuff on us

OR

They haven’t got a clue

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

Green sees “the glimmerings of an understanding” within industry that you need to be able to access data over a

five or 10-year period. “But nobody has grasped the central problem that we’re

looking at 50, 100 years,” he adds.

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries

Green sees “the glimmerings of an understanding” within industry that you need to be able to access data over a

five or 10-year period. “But nobody has grasped the central problem that we’re

looking at 50, 100 years,” he adds.

We need money

"Digital Preservation" term considered harmful?

in the digital domain, we should be selling the outcomes. … terms that reflect the outcomes are more persuasive. So I would argue that outcome-related phrases like "long term accessibility" or "usability over time" are better than the process-oriented phrase "digital preservation".

Chris Rusbridge DCC blog, July 29, 2008 http://digitalcuration.blogspot.com/2008/07/digital-preservation-term-considered.html

Summary

• Define outcomes not processes

• Base decisions on plans, policy

• Plan for massive data increases

• Plan to reduce complexity and control data dumping

• Be realistic about timescales

• Don’t leave it to someone else to define your problem at your cost