Digital continuity and Digital Sustainability: current problems, ongoing trends and [Archives New...
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Transcript of Digital continuity and Digital Sustainability: current problems, ongoing trends and [Archives New...
Digital continuity and Digital Sustainability: current problems, ongoing trends and [Archives
New Zealand’s] solutions
Presentation for Christchurch Recordkeeping Forum
Mick Crouch
Business Analyst
Digital Sustainability
“Preservation can be thought of as communication with the future. Information that is understood today is transmitted to an unknown system in the future where it will be interpreted and displayed.”
Toward a Theory of Digital Preservation
Reagan Moore, San Diego Supercomputer Center
A Brief History of Digital Continuity
1960s Early digital archive programmes
1990s Research (InterPARES I, Pittsburgh, Monash, etc.)
Post-custodialism and paradigm shifts
Awareness raising: “The lost decades”, “digital amnesia”
2000s Digital recordkeeping programmes
Collaborative, intensified research (ErpaNet, PLANETS, InterPARES II & III, DELOS)
Standards (OAIS, PREMIS, ADRI etc)
Where Are We Now?
• Digital preservation = community
• Many examples of digital archives systems:• Korea, Malaysia,
Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Australia, etc
• Useful experiences to share• Shift of focus to practice
Collaborative Research and Practice
• Archives, libraries, science / research sectors, arts, academics
• Preservation planning services
• Methodologies, tools and services
• Preservation action tools• Testbeds and prototypes• Aim for dissemination and
take-up
Interesting Trends
• Out of the box software• E.g. Safety Deposit Box (Tessella Support Services
and The National Archives UK)• Malaysia• Switzerland• Netherlands and others
• Further developments for each implementation
• Open source add-ons
Obstacles
• Transfer a problematic concept• Slow rates of transfer to established digital archives• Most common transfers from last resort context• Agencies keeping copies of records
• Mixed approaches to access• Still an afterthought, with focus on preservation? (e.g. Swiss
handling of databases)• Often access is through existing finding aids systems• Agency access interface for direct transfers (e.g. France)
What is Archives New Zealand doing?
• Digital Continuity Action Plan• Interim Digital Archive (IDA) development• Work on file formats• Digital Archaeology• Community of Practice / Practical Implementers Guild• Guidance – ERKSS Review, Web, TC/DRM• Research – datasets, web, legacy records, TC/DRM
How the Interim Digital Archive Works
Refer PRONOM
format registry,TNA
Digital Record
Analyse & prepare
Manage &preserve inrepository
NormaliseIdentify &validate
IdentifyIngest
Assign archival
metadata
DROIDJHOVE
XENA
The Digital Archaeology Project
Hands-on experience with records held at Archives NZ
What do we hold?
• 297 floppy disks • 113 CDs or DVDs • 21 9-track tapes • 16 data cartridges• 2 ZIP disks
Practical Implementers Guild
• Archives New Zealand• National Library New Zealand• Statistics New Zealand• Victoria University• Te Papa
Research
• Datasets across the public sector – collaboration with Statistics New Zealand
• Web Information Continuity Project • TC / DRM• Legacy records
Research findings
• Agencies hold information which is at risk and/ or inaccessible
• Retrieval of legacy information is expensive and takes a long time
• Twenty-eight public sector agencies hold digital records over 25 years old; nearly a third of these offices hold more than 100 gigabytes of digital records each
Digital Continuity Action Plan: Key Messages
• There when you need it. Information will be maintained as long as needed. Some is needed only for a few months, some forever.
• Authentic and reliable. Information is tamper-proof and free of technological rights restrictions. It can be trusted to be authentic and reliable.
• Trusted access. New Zealanders can be confident they can find and use information that is publicly available, and that their sensitive information will be protected from unauthorised access.
• Do nothing, lose everything. If no action is taken, public sector digital information will be lost. We need a proactive approach to maintain information for the future.
Digital Continuity Action Plan Consultation
• 206 public offices and 76 local authorities were asked to provide feedback
• 63 written submissions were received from 55 different organisations
• Local government now in scope• The term ‘information’ replaces ‘records’ and ‘documents’
Next steps • Consultation wrapped up Nov 2008
• Reviewed by Strategic Advisory Group Dec 2008
• Rewritten into an Action Plan Feb 2009
• Sent to Minister March 2009• Two weeks of further
consultation • The action plan goes to cabinet
through the Officials Committee April 2009
• Cabinet approves it as official Government policy
• Action point projects in July 2009
Don’t forget!
• It’s all about digital: The public records and archives of today and tomorrow will be in digital formats. Archives New Zealand is supporting digital continuity across the broader public sector.
• Do nothing, lose everything: if we don’t actively manage digital records and archives, we will have nothing in the future.
• We need to work together: Archives New Zealand is looking for partners to help trial new systems with real data – are you interested?