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Use It or Lose It! Preserving Your Digital Documents

Rob Spindler, University Archivist
Arizona State University Libraries ECURE 2004

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Eight Challenges of Electronic Document Preservation

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Eight Challenges — Storage Media

1. Physical Degradation of Storage Media

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Eight Challenges — Storage Media

Physical Obsolescence of Storage Media

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Eight Challenges — Storage Media

Obsolescence of Media Recording or Playback Devices

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Eight Challenges — Storage Media

Four Types of Recordable DVD

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Eight Challenges — Software

Migration Failure

Three kinds of migration:

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Eight Challenges — Software

Migration Failure — (Software, Operating System or Encoding Incompatibility)

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Eight Challenges — Software

Migration Failure — (Software, Operating System or Encoding Incompatibility - Continued)

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Eight Challenges — Software

Migration Failure — (Software, Operating System or Encoding Incompatibility - Continued)

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Eight Challenges — Human Factors

Human Error / Vandalism

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Eight Challenges — Backups

Backups and Snapshots

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Eight Challenges — Metadata

Lost or Absent Metadata

Data about Data

Two Types:

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Eight Challenges — Metadata

Administrative Metadata

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Eight Challenges — Metadata

Descriptive Metadata

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Eight Challenges — Metadata

Linkage/Addressing Failure

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What to Do? Recommendations...

  1. Actively manage your files!
  2. Select Carefully!
  3. Refresh and/or migrate to new storage media on a regular schedule
  4. Consider redundant and/or offline storage

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What to Do? Recommendations...

  1. If you can, use standards:
    • ASCII text
    • Unicode (supports foreign languages)
    • For HTML web documents, use W3C standards and verification service
    • For encoded text: TEI, XML

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What to Do? Recommendations...

  1. If you must, select robust software:
    • Use widely adopted software with "large installed base"
    • Look for proven export capabilities
    • Ask about backwards compatibility

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What to Do? Recommendations...

  1. Plan for migration and emulation:
    • Migrate legacy and active content:
      • to new release of same software
      • to compatible different software
    • Test migrations w/sample data
    • Retain obsolete software and files

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What to Do? Recommendations...

  1. Address Human Factors:
    • Provide adequate training
    • Conduct audits and quality control checks
    • Create, maintain and document procedures
    • Maintain secure systems and virus protection

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What to Do? Recommendations...

  1. Create and Maintain Metadata:
    • Label your storage media
    • Create descriptive filenames and file folder titles
    • Make Data Dictionaries — consider paper or offline
    • Use Dublin Core for Webstuff

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