long-term preservation of internet publications

8/7/2019 Long-term preservation of internet publications

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Long-term Preservation of Internet Publications

Abstract

Electronic formats are the latest in a long line of media that humankind has used to record

knowledge and experience. Gradually the amount of e-books increases and on Internet a

vast amount of digital information is being published. Electronic publishing offer great

opportunities for dissemination and access but at the same time, it imposes a new

challenge to libraries and other deposit institutes in charge of preserving countries

cultural heritage. The challenges that have to be addressed are preservation of the

electronic publication and at the same time, an increasing attention is also paid to the

problem of long-term digital preservation of electronic publication. This paper was

prepared to better understand the challenges, identify the background of the preserving

electronic publication and discuss about the solutions of long-term preservation and

accessibility of electronic publications.

Introduction

Paper materials have proven to be truly long lasting. Manuscripts from older age

continue to survive by archivists. However today the worlds cultural, educational,

scientific, public and administrative resources are increasingly produced, distributed and

accessed mostly in digital format. In fact the world total yearly production of print, film,

optional and magnetic formats would require more that 1.5 billion Gigabytes of storage,

or the equivalent of 250 Megabytes for every man, woman and child on earth. Over 93%

of new information produced is created directly from digital format (Smith 2002, p.134).

It is now evident that the computer has changed forever the way information is created,managed, archived and accessed, and that digital information is now an integral part of

our cultural and intellectual heritage. When deposit libraries consider preservation of an

item of national heritage, it is not just a matter of ensuring it is available for five, ten or

fifty years. Such libraries work in terms of hundreds, even thousands, of years. That is a

difficult enough brief in relation to traditional library materials such as works on paper,


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microfilm, and film. For works in digital formats, it is even more difficult, and the

libraries and archival communities have not yet clearly established how it might be done.

Human information is not intelligible to humans without the assistance of machines, and

its survival is threatened by the constant upgrading of computer hardware and software

which does not allow for retrospective operability; by the lack of software comparability;

and the precariousness of storage media longevity. As the technologies used for the

storage and presentation of digital information change rapidly, digital collections and

digital preservation has faced enormous challenges when comes to guaranteeing in

permanent access to them.

Challenges and problems

Digital systems are sprinters whereas history is a marathon runner (Smith, 2002).

The rapid changes in hardware and software make digital media short-lived and

inherently fragile. Unlike the paper records whose continued existence does not rely

upon sophisticated preservation procedures, electronic records need to be strategically

managed to ensure their preservation. In the case of printed publications, e.g., scientific

journals, a library as a rule will keep the volumes of previous years for some time in its

stacks, or, in the case of deposit library, keep the back-volumes for long term. It is

obvious that in the case of electronic journals, a library or archives will have to guarantee

their users access to a back-file of the publications. Guaranteeing continual access to

electronic publications appears to be an issue that affects both the publishers and the

libraries.

The technologies used for the storage and presentation of digital information change

continuously. Removable disks have evolved through many formats over the past 20

years. From the 5 inch single-density floppy disks that held 360KB of data to recently

CD-ROMs, there are not many computers are equipped with drives that can read the 5

inch floppy disk. Even the 3inch disk drives are facing out in this high technology

society. CD-ROMs have been a main stay for many years, but DVD is catching up as a

stronghold now. Given the history of technology, we can only assume that any particular

method of storing information will be transient and that the cycles of life expectancy for


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any particular format may become even shorter as time goes by (Breeding, 2002, para 5).

Digital information is easily created, cheaply disseminated and quickly accessed and

bring significant convenient to users, but this versatility brings to a new level of volatility

and fragility. Therefore the task of preserving digital records is formidable, and raises

social and technical challenges of a fundamentally new form. It is vitally important that

digital formats are extremely fragile media for preserving the cultural heritage of the

world (smith, 2002).

Another problem relate to the various file formats have been used to store electronic file

information and the software to use to create and view their formats. The ways in which

the texts, images, sound and video are stored and accessed by computers have gone

through many transitions. For instance, the hardware and software required to read

electronic documents is developing fast, and the technology in ten years time may not be

relevant to view the older documents, which kept ten years ago. The software and

hardware that used to create the Web documents may become obsolete as new versions

and models are brought to market. In additional, documents from the Internet are

particularly ephemeral, with frequent changes of content and location, or often they

disappear altogether. Digital media fall prey to physical deterioration. Its a common

misconception that once digital information is recorded onto standard media and it will

last forever. Magnetic tape, optical discs, and hard disk drives all have limitations on

their life span if left unattended. So the real problem is obsolescence rather than

deterioration (Breeding, 2002). Therefore even if the media was to stay undamaged for

200 years, there would not be a compatible equipment be able to read or playback of it.

Preserving Digital Content

To ensure that important information published electronically is preserved for future use,

it is important that digital materials are preserved for long-term and to ensure the

accessibility of the documents. Therefore long-term preservation of digital materials are

required to go through a set of commitment to an ongoing set of processes that will move

it through each generation of technology. As there is no permanent and durable medium

for storing digital information, so this leads to a need to test and refresh the information


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at appropriate intervals. For example, data are to be copied from the original media to a

fresh media to restart the life-expectancy clock. New media options continues to emerge,

with each successive new generation with more capacity offered at a lower cost. Given

this trend, it is not likely to refresh the information from the original media to the same

kind of media, instead, it has to migrate to a newer generation of media. For example, it

does not make sense if to migrate the information from the 3inch diskettes to any same

kind of media, rather, it should be more practical if to copy the data onto a CD-ROM or

DVD. Today digital preservation is incompatible with the short-term market orientation

of commercial services, and this is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. Thus

publicly funded institutions such as archives, libraries and museums are the only ones

that can provide such a long-term commitment.

Requirement for Preserving Electronic Publication

To preserve electronic publication, it is useful if to examine from the anatomy of an

electronic publication. In simple, electronic publication consists of three components: the

bit stream, the logical format in the bit stream and the functionality needed to decode the

logical format (Steenbakkers, 2002). In order to preserve the electronic publications and

keeping them accessible in long-term, there are some of the problem, which cause the

task to be complicated.

Firstly, the medium or carrier on which the publication, i.e., the bit stream stored will

deteriorate and as a consequence bits will be lost and the storage technology will

eventually be obsolete. The second problem is that the logical format will in due time to

become obsolete as well. For instance, Word has replaced by Word Perfect and there are

many more examples of major changes in formats during the past few years. So even if

we save the bit steam of electronic publications, at the long-term, we will not able to get

back the information, as we no longer understand the format used. To overcome this, the

most commonly approach is by format migration. However format migration will result

in loss of information as time goes by and is definitely not a suitable solution of long-

term preservation of digital material. In addition to this drawback, there is the practical


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problem that deposit libraries will have to deal with a large and continuously growing

variety of data formats (Steenbakkers, 2002, para 6).

The last problem arises from the fact that we will need an interpreter to translate the bit

stream into information, which is readable to our human eye. An interpreter is a software

that provides the functionality for decoding the logical format and data embedded in the

bit stream. The problem remains as the interpreter will no longer be available after years

or it has become obsolete or has been replaced by new non-compatible technologies.

Strategy Consideration

Online publication has the characteristic of most traditional library materials usually do

not have and that the present libraries and deposit communities are with new challenges

in attempting to manage them. Foremost among these is their dynamic nature: They are

subject to changing content, changing location, or disappearance altogether from the

Internet. While some online publications undergo an editorial process or peer review,

many more do not go through any quality. With the unique characteristics of online

publication, it has importantly implications of long-term access. Technically, it will be

more complicated and complex, and therefore it will be costly to collect, store, provide

access to, maintain, and ultimately preserve online publications. The cost will not only

from the day-to-day operationally work but also to the building of sophisticated technical

infrastructure. Beside this, sensitive issue like copyright and privacy, will arise as

electronic publications are easier to copy and alter than print publications, therefore there

is a necessary to be dealt with the intellectual property right and authenticity. The

volatility of online publications will require mechanisms for version control and at the

same time unique identifiers and permanent naming to locate the site from the Internet.

In order to ensure preservation and access to electronic publications for the long-term,

three steps are required. First, the materials have to be identified, collected and made

accessible in their current format (the archiving process) (Philips, 2002). By archiving, it

means of assigning an identifier, file the electronic publication in a controlled

environment, and produce descriptive and technical metadata. Second, the materials have

to be managed in such a way that they remain accessible as technology changes (the


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preservation process) (Philips, 2002). Similar to printed material, care will be taken to

ensure not to loose (part) of the information. For example, we fix loose pages and restore

books, or bind issues of journals. For electronic publications, we have to maintain the bit

stream complete and in its original structure. There should be regular procedures to make

sure that the bit stream is endangered and timely copy the bit stream and refresh the

storage medium. The final step will be to guarantee long-term accessibility. It should be

recognized that digital preservation is a major societal challenge. It is not only a problem

to those custodians who assure the maintenance, preservation and accessibility of cultural

and scientific collections, but it also affects information on long-term genetic research,

monitoring global environmental change, locating nuclear waste sites, establishing

property rights, storing and authenticating electronic criminal evidence, etc. Today no

one is able to provide such guarantees.

Solving the long-term digital preservation

The complexities of changing technologies and the need to create permanent digital

collections have sparked a number of initiatives from several major players. Some of the

important projects in this arena of long-term preservation are the CEDARS project in the

U.K. (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars); LOCKSS (Lot Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) project

(http://locks.Stanford.edu/); NEDLIB project (http://www.kb.nl/coop/nedlib/);

PANDORA (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia)

project (http://Pandora.nla.gov.au/Pandora/); and the National library of Australias PADI

(Berthon, 2002) initiative (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi). OCLC and the Research

Libraries Group (RLG) have been collaborating on this issue and have released a report

title Attributes of a Trusted Digital Depository: Meeting the Needs of Research

Resources (http://www.rlg.org/long term/attributes01.pdf).

Project NEDLIB, which stands for Networked European Deposit Library, is a

collaborative project of European national libraries. It was launched on 1st January 1998

with funding from the European commissions Telematics Application Programme, and

the project ends on December 31st, 2000. It aims to develop a common architectural

framework and basic tools for building deposit systems for electronic publications


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(DSEP). One important piece of work being carried out by the project is the functional

specification and overall design of a DSEP. The main objective is to identify functional

requirements that are common to all deposit libraries so as to arrive at a generic high-

level design of DSEP that can serve as a basis tool for local implementations by

individual deposit libraries. The second main objective of the project is to address the

issue of long-term digital preservation. The last and main objective of the project is to

build a demonstrator system, with tools and software already in use by project partners or

developed by NEDLIB, covering all functional aspects of a DSEP. Existing library

systems, such as the online public access catalogue (OPAC) and the library acquisition

and cataloguing systems, which are external to, but need to interact with a DSEP, will

interface with the demonstrator (Werf-Davelaar, 1999, para 7).

In order to achieve the long-term preservation of digital materials, one of the

requirements is to set up a deposit system. According to the NEDLIB Guidelines for

Setting up a Deposit System for Electronic Publications (Steenbakkers, 2001), it

mentions about these following points:

Free the publication from its original carrier or environment, meant for publishing

and not for archiving, and store the publication in a controlled archiving

environment. In this way it will be possible to handle a large variety and large

amount of electronic publications.

The controlled archive environment should be constructed in compliance with the

OAIS model (Open Archival Information System), a standard initially proposed by

NASA (Reference Model for an open Archival Information System, 2002).

The archiving environment or deposit system should be a separate unit within the

institutions ICT (Information and Communication Technology) environment, with

clear interfaces. It is essential not take on board all sorts of functionality not related

to archiving, i.e., searching, authentication and authorization, etc. Do not include

then in the design of the deposit system. In this way the deposit system will be

durable and can be upgraded with new techniques in mass storage, mass handing and

preservation of electronic information, without affecting the rest of the ICT


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infrastructure. An additional, practical reason for this approach is that one unlikely

will find a provider to build a very complex and affordable system.

A major step forward in the conceptual design of a DSEP was agreed to adopt the Open

Archival Information System (OAIS) model as a Reference Model (Reference Model for

an open Archival Information System, 2002). The fact that the model was being used by

other similar projects such as CEDARS in the UK and PANDORA in Australia. In the

NEDLIB project all work has been related to OAIS: process design was done on the basic

of OAIS modeling, tools were described in terms of OAIS functional entities and tested

according to an OAIS based scorecard, metadata were specified in the context of the

OAIS data model. This has facilitated the consensus building process considerably. This

was proven to be true also during concentration meetings with non-NEDLIB deposit

libraries such as the British Library and the National library of Australia and other,

related initiatives and projects, such as CEDARS (NEDLIB, 2000).

OAIS Reference Model

From the start it was recognized that by applying the OAIS Model, deposit libraries can

benefit from the advantages of international standardization. By using a common

reference model, a common terminology and a common conceptual framework, it is

much easier to share ideas and exchange experiences. Not only between deposit libraries,

but also across institutional boundaries, for example, between libraries and archives

(NEDLIB, 2000).

The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model is a conceptual

framework for an archival system dedicated for preserving and maintaining access to

digital information over the long-term. The use of the word open in OAIS refers to the

fact that the model and future recommendations associated with the model are developed

in open forums; it does not make any presuppositions concerning the level of

accessibility of information in the archive. This is an initiative by NASAs Consultative

Committee for Space Data Systems. It is specifically applicable to organizations that

have a responsibility to provide long-term access to digital information. As such, the


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OAIS model is relevant to deposit libraries. The OAIS reference model is currently a

draft International Standardization Organization (ISO) standard and is expected to

become a full-fledged standard in the future (Lavoie, 2000).

An OAIS type archive is expected to meet certain minimum responsibilities (Lavoie,

2000):

Negotiate and accept appropriate information from information producers

Obtain sufficient control of the information to ensure long-term preservation

Determine the scope of the Designated Community

Ensure the information is understandable by the Designated Community without the

assistance of the information producers

Follow documented policies and procedures to ensure the information is preserved

against reasonable contingencies, and to enable the information to be disseminated as

authenticated copies of the original or as traceable to the original

Make the information available to the Designated Community

Description of OAIS environment

The OAIS model places great emphasis on the long-term maintenance of digital

collections. It recognizes that archives must deal with issues of changing technology and

standards, while taking into consideration the evolution of the computing environment.

OAIS doesnt dwell on specific technologies, but rather focuses on the various

relationships, concepts, and processes that apply to the overall challenge of digital

preservation. Its a comprehensive model that addresses the issue associated with

designing and operation an archive thats independent of any current, specific hardware

and software component. The reference models specification of the environment is

shown in Figure 1. The relationships defined in the model include the producers,

consumers, management, and the archive itself. The producers are the creators or owners

of the content that the archive will preserve. Consumers make use of the archives

content. While there may be a set of general users, special consideration is given to the

designated community, which comprises those who have direct interest in and


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understanding of the archives content. Managers have authority over the archive and

make decisions regarding its operation.

Figure 1

The following processes related to the creation and operation of an archive are outlined in

the framework (Reference model for an open archival information system, 2002):

Ingestion is the function of accepting information from producers and integrating

it into the archive, while taking any measures necessary to put it in the proper

form for permanent storage.

The Archival Storage function involves the actual storage of the material,

including capabilities to accept new items through ingestion and to retrieve itemsas needed. This part of the model takes responsibility for the ongoing

maintenance of the material, such as migration to new media, error checking,

disaster recovery, etc.

The Administrative function manages the routine operation of the archive.

The Data Management function deals with metadata that describe each item and

performs requests that are typically associated with a database, such as queries,

result sets, and reports.

The Access function allows consumers, especially those in the designated

community, to find and use items held in the archive.

For further detail on the OAIS reference model, please refer to the official document that

presents the OAIS reference model (http://www.ccsds.org/documents/pdf/CCSDS-650.0-

R-2.pdf).

ProducerOAIS

(archives) Consumer

Management


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Metadata for Digital Preservation

This is a lately activities carried out by the OCLC and RLG working group. The project

is focus in the development of an overall metadata framework that supports the processes

associated with digital preservation. More specifically, it is the information necessary to

maintain the viability, renderability, and understandability of digital resources over the

long-term. Viability requires that the archived materials bit stream intact and readable

from the digital media upon which it is stored. Renderability means the translation of the

bit stream into a form that can be viewed by human users, or processed by computers.

Understandability involves providing enough information such that the rendered content

can be interpreted and understood by its intended users. Preservation metadata can serve

as input to preservation process, and also record the output of these same processes

(Lavoie, 2002). The working group has chosen to review concepts and issues associated

with the information model embedded within the OAIS framework. The reason is to use

OAIS model as a starting point for the identification of the types of information required

to manage preservation in an archival system and to develop an implementation of the

information model that would accommodate the needs of the library and deposit

institutions tasked with long-term management of information in digital form. The work

of the OCLC and RLG Working group will be a great step forward to the further

development of preservation metadata standards.

Possible recommendations and concerns

Policy development

A written policy framework is needed for the identification, protection, conservation and

transmission to future generations of digital heritage. All policies should have digital

longevity as an explicit goal. The principles for the preservation and continuing

accessibility of the ever growing digital heritage of the world must be developed in close

co-operation with all the actors involved including libraries, archives and museums, and

with the associated professional and international organizations, and must respect both

legal and institutional principles. All model policies, strategies and standards for the


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long-term preservation of authentic digital objects and electronic records must have

international recognition (Gilliland, 2000).

Issues of costs

Today there are no proven techniques for estimating the costs on long-term digital

information preservation. The metrics of digital archival depends upon economic and

social models, storage and software costs, and human resource costs as well as the data

policies and practices applied by stakeholders. Funding and other agencies will need to

exercise a strategic influence over the financial, business and legal environment in order

to facilitate long-term preservation considerations. The belief by some industrial sectors

that the cost for digital preservation is in the ten of billions (Smith, 2002).

Intellectual property right (IPR)

IPR is another issues, in collaboration with publishers and other rights owners, remains

an important problem that needs to be addressed by libraries and other cultural heritage

organizations.

Staff expertise

The skill level of staff will need to have specific education and training in order for the

requirement of digital preservation activity, especially the creation of technical metadata,

e.g., Representation Information in OAIS terminology. (OCLC & RLG, 2001).

Conclusion

The OAIS framework is important as it provides a comprehensive and well-accepted

methodology for creating digital collections in a way that it ensures permanence. Its not

possible for all organizations that create digital collections will be able to address or

implement every aspect of the deposit system. It does serve as a benchmark that can be

used to access current efforts when building digital archives and to guide the design of

future ones. Whether or not to use the OAIS model, the issue of digital preservation is

vital. We all want the works like art, words and other creations of our age to be surviving

for future generation. With careful planning and on ongoing commitment of resources,


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the ideal of long-term access to digitized collections can be realized. The challenge will

continue to be the cycle of technologies increasingly shorter and the future is definitely

longer.

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long-term preservation of internet publications

Documents