OCLC Online Computer Library Center

“HTTP 404: Not Found”Incentives to Preserve Government

InformationBrian Lavoie

OCLC Research

Sixth Annual State GILS Conference, April 3, 2004

RoadmapRoadmapBackground: Digital preservation and sustainability

Step 1: Incentives

Framework for thinking about incentives

Implications for preserving government information

Strategies for overcoming incentive gaps

Rising Digital TideRising Digital Tide

Equivalent of 5 exabytes of new information created in 2002; 92 percent stored on magnetic or optical media

Rush to digitize:– Cultural artifacts (images, audio, video, text)– Electronic publishing (books, journals, databases)– Communication (listservs, blogs, chat rooms)– Government information (reports, data, forms,

records, legislation, proceedings, ...)

Growing proportion of society’s record exists exclusively in digital form

Opportunities and ChallengesOpportunities and Challenges

Digital technologies offer new opportunities to create, share, re-purpose, and link information …

… but introduce new challenges in managing information

Immediate, ongoing commitment required to secure long-term retention of digital materials

Building sustainable digital preservation solutions ...– Technical issues– Economic/organizational issues

Fundamental Economic QuestionsFundamental Economic Questions

“IF we preserve, how much will it cost?”

But: “WILL we preserve?” ... or, “What are the incentives to preserve?”

Particularly important in digital realm:– Expensive, sustained commitment– Decision-makers with no formal mandate to preserve

Imperative to preserve increasing; preservation resource requirements increasing ...– But incentives to preserve less assured

Incentives to PreserveIncentives to Preserve(1) Recognition of value/benefit in preserving set ofdigital materials ... i.e., “Need to preserve”

(2) Willingness to implement and carry outprocesses necessary to preserve digitalmaterials ... i.e., “Willingness to preserve”

Decision-Making RolesDecision-Making Roles

Rights Holder

BeneficiaryArchive

Public domain: has or can obtain custodyof materials Proprietary: holds right to preserve;can grant right to another entity

Benefits from preservationDirectly: as end userIndirectly: on behalf of end-users

Implements and managespreservation process

Roles and IncentivesRoles and IncentivesDecision-makers are roles, not distinct entities– Multiple roles can reside with one entity– Multiple entities can share the same role

Beneficiary: embodies need to preserve

Archive: embodies willingness to preserve

Rights Holder: empowers incentives

Core Scenarios of Digital PreservationCore Scenarios of Digital Preservation

Beneficiary 1

2

5

3

4

ArchiveRightsHolder

RightsHolder

RightsHolder

RightsHolder

RightsHolder

Archive

Archive

Archive

Archive

Beneficiary

Beneficiary

Beneficiary

Beneficiary

Back to Incentives ...Back to Incentives ...Core scenarios highlight:– Relationships among decision-making roles associated with

digital preservation– Relationships between need to preserve, willingness to

preserve, and right to preserve

Can map any digital preservation activity to one of the core scenarios

Provides context for thinking about preservation incentives

Rights Holder Distinct From BeneficiaryRights Holder Distinct From Beneficiary

Right to preserve separate from need to preserve

Rights holder of digital materials does not benefit from long-term preservation

Diminishes incentive for Rights Holder to participate in preservation process

Example:– Content on government agency Web sites

Models 2, 3, and 5

Rights Holder, Beneficiary Same EntityRights Holder, Beneficiary Same Entity

Right to preserve combined with need to preserve

AND multiple entities fill this dual role in regard to a particular set of digital materials

“Free-rider” problem:– Preservation for one is preservation for all– Who wants to be “the one” to preserve?– Diminishes willingness to preserve

Example:– Content on government agency Web sites (again!)

Models 1 and 4

Back to Core Scenarios …Back to Core Scenarios …

Unrecognized Benefits

“Free-riding”

Model 1

Model 2

Model 3

Model 4

Model 5

“Textbook Solutions”“Textbook Solutions”Rights Holder obtains no benefit from preservation(1) Legal Environment (legislation, directives, mandates):– Force Rights Holder to undertake activity– Force Rights Holder to grant right to preserve to another

entity(2) Negotiation/Bargaining:– Beneficiary persuades Rights Holder to undertake

preservation, or grant right to preserve to another entity– Distribution of costs determined through relative bargaining

power

“Free-Rider” problemGovernment Intervention:– Provide the activity directly– Subsidize private provision of activity

SummarySummaryIncentives to preserve fundamental to developing economically sustainable digital preservation programs

To understand incentives:– Map digital preservation activity to core scenarios– Identify relationships between incentives to preserve (need

to preserve, willingness to preserve) and right to preserve– Use these relationships to identify potential misalignment

of preservation incentives and objectives

This informs:– Organization of digital preservation activities a priori– Policies to enhance incentives ex post

More Information …More Information …Lavoie, B.F. (2003) “The Incentives to Preserve Digital Materials: Roles, Scenarios, and Economic Decision-Making” OCLC Research White Paper, available at:

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/digipres/incentives-dp.pdf

Lavoie, B.F. (2004) “Of Mice and Memory … Economically Sustainable Preservation for the 21st Century” (CLIR publication, forthcoming)

lavoie@oclc.org