digital preservation coalition supporting digital preservation nof-digi preservation workshop senior...

Digital Preservation Coalition

Supporting Digital Preservation

NOF-digi Preservation Workshop

Senior Managers’ Brief

Maggie Jones

DPC Co-ordinator

[email protected]

18th November 2003



Overview

Definition of digital preservation

Opportunities and challenges of digital technology

Advantages and disadvantages of projects

Things to think about

The Digital Preservation Coalition



Terminology

Digital Preservation

“…all of the actions required to maintain access to digital materials beyond the limits of media failure or technological change.”

Preservation Management of Digital Materials: A Handbook, 2001. p.10



Opportunities of digital technology

Meet increasing demands of clients • Users look increasingly to the web for their information

Take advantage of enhanced functionality • Linking different resources; virtual reality

Can be a powerful educational tool• Can make education more fun as well as informative, e.g.

virtual tours of timescapes

Make rich resources from variety of domains and content widely available



Challenges of Digital Technology

Rapid change and obsolescence

Unclear roles and responsibilities for long-term• Lifecycle management

Infrastructure for long-term management not yet fully developed

Scale of digital resource creation is vast – and growing all the time



Advantages of Projects

Injection of funds to enable more rapid development of quality digital content

Can explore new and innovative approaches

Develops skills

Facilitates a more focused approach, rather than piecemeal development



Disadvantages of projects

They come to an end!

What happens when project staff have moved on?

How can the investment in digitisation be protected?

Unless the long-term management of project resources is planned for before the end of the project – there’s a high probability that it will disappear



The Bigger Picture

Coordinating Digitisation in Europe<http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/globalreport.htm>

“There is increasing recognition that the introduction of new technologies into the world of culture must be seen as an investment, and not just a cost. And such an investment must be both productive and sustainable over time.”



The Lund principles and Action Plan

Meeting in Lund, April 2001 Recognises need for improved co-ordination where

there is such rich and varied sources of content creation

Attempt to ensure the significant value of digitisation programmes are not compromised by identified barriers (e.g. fragmentation of approach, obsolescence)



The NOF Programme

Has established good precedence in providing technical standards

Emphasis on accountability and value for money

£50m is a significant investment

Ambitious scale and scope



A Preservation Plan

Adherence to technical standards alone won’t be enough to maintain content over time

Will need active management over time

Someone will need to be assigned responsibility for this

It will need to be in pace before the project ends so that those with most knowledge of the content can communicate with those entrusted with its maintenance



Things to consider

Is all the relevant documentation prepared?

What strategy will be used for moving the content across different technical platforms?

What needs to be preserved?

What can be preserved?

What parts of the project will need to be disabled/changed (e.g. interactive components, contact details, dates)



Preservation Plan

Must include succession planning (particularly important for projects)

Doesn’t need to have solved all the preservation challenges

Is about buying time to enable the most cost-effective long-term management




•Established July 2001•26 Members•Working collaboratively to preserve digital heritage•Cross-sectoral membership



The Digital Preservation Coalition

Advocacy Campaign – PR consultancy appointed• Much greater media coverage as a result

DPC Forums – three each year focussing on specific aspects of digital preservation• Free to DPC members/open to non members for a fee

• Provides informal mechanism for information sharing and networking

‘What’s New in Digital Preservation? Quarterly newsletter

DPC Training Workshops



Assessment of Need

Key initiative for 03/04 Work Programme

We need to quantify the problem and develop an action plan– how much digital material is out there?

– How much is at serious risk of loss?

– What are the priorities for action?



Survey of DPC Members

First stage in assessment exercise

Has revealed rich source of data

Gap between stated importance of digital preservation and policy and planning documents

Preliminary results discussed at a Workshop, November 03



Action Plan

Follow up work on dp projects reported by DPC members

Follow-up work to clarify scale and volume of digital resources

Develop log of examples of losses; scenarios; and case studies

Sample survey of digitisation projects

Sample survey of digital materials held in smaller institutions



Assessment Exercise

We need to be able to quantify exactly what the risks are and how to deal with them cost-effectively

The assessment of need will help to flesh out precisely what the threat is and how it can be dealt with

We need to accelerate the development of infrastructure able to cope with anticipated demand• Legal deposit legislation

• E-science

• Digitisation programmes



DPC Assessment Exercise Timeframe

Project timeline

Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

03 04

Seminar andconclusions

grant applicationsand approval

DPC follow-up on survey

Final projectreport

and peer review

Develop PRcampaign

Sample local survey

DPC Board

approval

Launch

ITT training package

Log of losses consultancy



Summary

There are no clear-cut or definitive solutions

Progress depends on a mix of individual institutional responsibility combined with improved coordination at national, regional, and local level as well as internationally

Good practice is evolving and support mechanisms (e.g. DCC) are being developed

Good planning and documentation offer the best prospects in the interim

digital preservation coalition supporting digital preservation nof-digi preservation workshop senior...

Documents

local level

project timelinenov

approvaldpc followup

improved coordination

definitive solutions

good planning

internationallygood

best prospects