Papers
27 Papers found:
The Planets Approach to Migration Tools
Eld Zierau (Royal Library of Denmark) and Caroline van Wijk (National Library of the Netherlands)
Posted on 11th February 2010
This paper discusses the Planets approach to migration tool development. The approach consists of enhancing existing migration tools rather than developing tools from scratch. This pragmatic approach is based on the Planets view of the current situation for migration tools and two claims. The first claim is that the market will cover the required tools for commonly used formats. The second claim is that in the long term less tools will be required due to growing use of archiving standard formats. The Planets view on the current situation, the scope of tool development and the claims stated are, however, open for discussion and re-evaluation.
The paper was presented at the IS&T Archiving 2008 conference in Bern, Switzerland. [PDF, 205KB]
The paper was presented at the IS&T Archiving 2008 conference in Bern, Switzerland. [PDF, 205KB]
Emulation: From Digital Artefact to Remotely Rendered Environments
Dirk von Suchodoletz (University of Freiburg), Jeffrey van der Hoeven (Koninklijke Bibliotheek)
Posted on 8th December 2009
Emulation used as a long-term preservation strategy offers the potential to keep digital objects in their original condition and experience them within their original computer environment. However, having just an emulator in place is not enough. To apply emulation as a fully fledged strategy, an automated and user-friendly approach is required. This cannot be done without knowledge and contextual information of the original software. This paper combines the existing concept of a view path, which captures the contextual information of software, together with new insights into improving the concept with extra metadata. It provides regularly updated instructions for archival management to preserve and access its artefacts. The view-path model requires extensions to the metadata set of the primary object of interest and depends on additionally stored secondary objects for environment recreation like applications or operating systems. This article also addresses a strategy of rendering digital objects by running emulation processes remotely. The advantage of this strategy is that it improves user convenience while maximizing emulation capability.
The paper was presented by Dirk von Suchodoletz (University of Freiburg) at iPRES 2008 in September 2008 in London, and was published in IJDC, Issue 3, vol. 4, 2009. [PDF, 458KB]
The paper was presented by Dirk von Suchodoletz (University of Freiburg) at iPRES 2008 in September 2008 in London, and was published in IJDC, Issue 3, vol. 4, 2009. [PDF, 458KB]
Implementing Metadata that Guides Digital Preservation Services
Angela Dappert and Adam Farquhar (The British Library)
Posted on 26th October 2009
Effective digital preservation depends on a set of preservation services that work together to ensure that digital objects can be preserved for the long-term. These services need digital preservation metadata, in particular, descriptions of the properties that digital objects may have and descriptions of the requirements that guide digital preservation services.
This paper analyzes how these services interact and use this metadata and develops a data dictionary to support them.
The paper was presented by Angela Dappert (The British Library), at iPres2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 291KB]
This paper analyzes how these services interact and use this metadata and develops a data dictionary to support them.
The paper was presented by Angela Dappert (The British Library), at iPres2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 291KB]
A Framework for Distributed Preservation Workflows
Rainer Schmidt, Ross King (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria), Andrew Jackson, Carl Wilson (British Library, UK), Fabian Steeg and Peter Melms (Universität zu Köln, Germany)
Posted on 21st October 2009
This paper describesa service-oriented environment develped by Planets for the definition and evaluation of preservation strategies for human-centric data. It focuses on the question of logically preserving digital materials, as opposed to the physical preservation of content bit-streams. This includes the development of preservation tools for the automated characterization, migration, and comparison of different types of digital objects as well as the emulation of their original runtime environment in order to ensure long-time access and interpretability.
The Planets integrated environment provides a number of end-user applications that allow data curators to execute and scientifically evaluate preservation experiments based on composable preservation services. Focus of this paper is on the middleware and programming model and on showing how it can be utilized in order to create complex preservation workflows.
The paper was presented by Rainer Schmidt, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 1004KB]
The Planets integrated environment provides a number of end-user applications that allow data curators to execute and scientifically evaluate preservation experiments based on composable preservation services. Focus of this paper is on the middleware and programming model and on showing how it can be utilized in order to create complex preservation workflows.
The paper was presented by Rainer Schmidt, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 1004KB]
Systematic Characterisation of Objects in Digital Preservation: The eXtensible Characterisation Languages
Christoph Becker and Andreas Rauber (both Vienna University of Technology, Austria), Volker Heydegger, Jan Schnasse, and Manfred Thaller (all University at Cologne, Germany)
Posted on 21st October 2009
This paper describes the eXtensible Characterisation Languages (XCL) that support the automatic validation of document conversions and the evaluation of migration quality by hierarchically decomposing a document and representing documents from different sources in an abstract XML language. The description language XCDL provides an abstract representation of digital content in XML, while the extraction language XCEL allows an extraction engine to create such an abstract description by mapping file format structures to XCDL concepts.
The article presents the context of the development of these languages and tools and describes the overall concept and features of the languages. Furthermore examples are given and it is shown how the languages can be applied to the evaluation of digital preservation solutions in the context of preservation planning.
In: Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 14, no. 18 (2008), 2936-2952, © J.UCS [PDF, 161KB]
The article presents the context of the development of these languages and tools and describes the overall concept and features of the languages. Furthermore examples are given and it is shown how the languages can be applied to the evaluation of digital preservation solutions in the context of preservation planning.
In: Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 14, no. 18 (2008), 2936-2952, © J.UCS [PDF, 161KB]
Are you Ready? Assessing Whether Organisations are Prepared for Digital Preservation
Pauline Sinclair, James Duckworth, Lewis Jardine, Ann Keen and Robert Sharpe (all Tessella), Clive Billenness, Adam Farquhar and Jane Humphreys (all British Library)
Posted on 20th October 2009
This paper presents the results of a survey of national libraries, archives and other content-holding organisations in Europe which the Planets project undertook in early 2009 to better understand the organisations’ digital preservation activities and needs and to ensure that Planets’ technology and services are designed to meet them. Over 200 responses were received including a cross-section of major libraries and archives especially in Europe. The results provide a snapshot of organisations’ readiness to preserve digital collections for the future.
The survey revealed a high level of awareness of the challenges of digital preservation within organisations. Findings indicated that approximately half of those organisations surveyed have taken measures to develop digital preservation policies and to budget for it, while a majority have incorporated digital preservation into their organisational planning.
Organisations predict that within a decade they will need to store large quantities of data in a wide range of formats from a variety of sources; three quarters of them are looking to invest in a solution within the next two years. However, the findings also point to varying degrees of readiness.
Organisations with a digital preservation policy are significantly further advanced in their work to preserve digital collections for the long-term than others.
The paper was presented by Robert Sharpe, Tessella, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 194KB]
The survey revealed a high level of awareness of the challenges of digital preservation within organisations. Findings indicated that approximately half of those organisations surveyed have taken measures to develop digital preservation policies and to budget for it, while a majority have incorporated digital preservation into their organisational planning.
Organisations predict that within a decade they will need to store large quantities of data in a wide range of formats from a variety of sources; three quarters of them are looking to invest in a solution within the next two years. However, the findings also point to varying degrees of readiness.
Organisations with a digital preservation policy are significantly further advanced in their work to preserve digital collections for the long-term than others.
The paper was presented by Robert Sharpe, Tessella, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 194KB]
Digital Archaeology: Recovering Digital Objects from Audio Waveforms
Mark Guttenbrunner, Mihai Ghete, Annu John, Chrisanth Lederer, Andreas Rauber (all Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria)
Posted on 20th October 2009
Specimens of early computer systems stop working every day. It is necessary to prepare ourselves for the upcoming situation of having storage media and no working systems to read data from these carriers. With storage media residing in archives for already obsolete systems it is necessary to extract the data from these media before it can be migrated for long term preservation.
One storage medium that was popular for home computers in the 1980s was the audio tape. The first home computer systems allowed the use of standard cassette players to record and replay data. Audio tapes are more durable than old home computers when properly stored. Devices playing this medium (i.e. tape recorders) can be found in working condition or can be repaired as they are made out of standard components. By re-engineering the format of the waveform the data on such media can then be extracted from a digitized audio stream.
This paper presents a case study of extracting data created on an early home computer system, the Philips G7400.
The original data formats were re-engineered and an application was written to support the migration of data stored on tapes without using the original system. This eliminates the necessity of keeping an obsolete system alive for preserving access to data on storage media meant for this system. Two different methods to interpret the data and eliminate possible errors in the tape were implemented and evaluated on original tapes recorded 20
years ago. Results show that with some error correction methods parts of the tapes are still readable, even without the original system. It also becomes clear, that it is easier to build solutions now when the original systems are still available.
The paper was presented by Mark Guttenbrunner, Vienna University of Technology, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 241KB]
One storage medium that was popular for home computers in the 1980s was the audio tape. The first home computer systems allowed the use of standard cassette players to record and replay data. Audio tapes are more durable than old home computers when properly stored. Devices playing this medium (i.e. tape recorders) can be found in working condition or can be repaired as they are made out of standard components. By re-engineering the format of the waveform the data on such media can then be extracted from a digitized audio stream.
This paper presents a case study of extracting data created on an early home computer system, the Philips G7400.
The original data formats were re-engineered and an application was written to support the migration of data stored on tapes without using the original system. This eliminates the necessity of keeping an obsolete system alive for preserving access to data on storage media meant for this system. Two different methods to interpret the data and eliminate possible errors in the tape were implemented and evaluated on original tapes recorded 20
years ago. Results show that with some error correction methods parts of the tapes are still readable, even without the original system. It also becomes clear, that it is easier to build solutions now when the original systems are still available.
The paper was presented by Mark Guttenbrunner, Vienna University of Technology, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 241KB]
Modelling Organizational Preservation Goals to Guide Digital Preservation
Angela Dappert and Adam Farquhar (The British Library)
Posted on 20th October 2009
This paper is an extended and updated version of the work reported at iPres 2008. Digital preservation activities can only succeed if they go beyond the technical properties of digital objects. They must consider the strategy, policy, goals, and constraints of the institution that undertakes them and take into account the cultural and institutional framework in which data, documents and records are preserved. Furthermore, because organizations differ in many ways, a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be appropriate. Fortunately, organizations involved in digital preservation have created documents describing their policies, strategies, work-flows, plans, and goals to provide guidance. They also have skilled staff who are aware of sometimes unwritten considerations. Within Planets (Farquhar & Hockx-Yu, 2007), a four-year project co-funded by the European Union to address core digital preservation challenges, we have analyzed preservation guiding documents and interviewed staff from libraries, archives, and data centres that are actively engaged in digital preservation. This paper introduces a conceptual model for expressing the core concepts and requirements that appear in preservation guiding documents. It defines a specific vocabulary that institutions can reuse for expressing their own policies and strategies. In addition to providing a conceptual framework, the model and vocabulary support automated preservation planning tools through an XML representation.
In: The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 4 | 2009, pp. 119-134 [PDF, 618KB]
In: The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 4 | 2009, pp. 119-134 [PDF, 618KB]
Planets: Integrated Services for Digital Preservation
Adam Farquhar and Helen Hockx-Yu (The British Library)
Posted on 20th October 2009
The Planets Project is developing services and technology to address core challenges in digital preservation. This article introduces the motivation for this work, describes the extensible technical architecture and places the Planets approach into the context of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model. It also provides a scenario demonstrating Planets’ usefulness in solving real-life digital preservation problems and an overview of the project’s progress to date.
The article was published in International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 2 | 2007, pp. 88-99
[PDF, 290KB]
The article was published in International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 2 | 2007, pp. 88-99
[PDF, 290KB]
Developing practical approaches to active preservation
Adrian Brown (The National Archives, UK)
Posted on 20th October 2009
The National Archives has been actively collecting, preserving, and making available electronic records for nearly 10 years. They are therefore developing a range of practical solutions to the active preservation of electronic records, using an extensible service oriented architecture and a central technical registry (PRONOM).
This paper describes TNA’s methodologies for characterisation, preservation planning, and preservation action, the technologies being adopted to implement them, and the role of PRONOM in supporting these services. It describes how this approach fits with international research programmes, and the types of preservation service which TNA may be able to provide externally in future.
The paper was presented at the 2nd International Digital Curation Conference Digital Data Curation in Practice held on November 21-22 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland.
In: The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 1, Volume 2 | 2007, pp. 3-11 [PDF, 382KB]
This paper describes TNA’s methodologies for characterisation, preservation planning, and preservation action, the technologies being adopted to implement them, and the role of PRONOM in supporting these services. It describes how this approach fits with international research programmes, and the types of preservation service which TNA may be able to provide externally in future.
The paper was presented at the 2nd International Digital Curation Conference Digital Data Curation in Practice held on November 21-22 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland.
In: The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 1, Volume 2 | 2007, pp. 3-11 [PDF, 382KB]
The Strategic Impact of Service Oriented Architectures
Philipp Liegl (Austrian Research Centers (ARC))
Posted on 20th October 2009
It has not been since the advent of the client/server architecture break through that an architectural concept has changed the face of enterprise systems so significantly as it has been done by service oriented architectures (SOA). The service oriented approach provides plenty of vantages for companies in regard to flexible system integration and adoption of new business cases. However, the adoption of SOA in an actual enterprise system brings along a couple of problems as well. Especially the integration into the existing infrastructure, applications and the innovation, sourcing and investment policies is challenging. A solution can be provided by establishing a SOA roadmap unveiling possible traps and pointing out the foibles and flaws still existing in the SOA approach. In this paper the SOA approach will be reviewed critically and the different sections affected within an enterprise will be examined. Possible problems during the transition and use of SOA will be identified. Where already possible, solutions will be provided.
The article was presented at the 14th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshop on the Engineering of Computer Based Systems, ECBS, in Tucson, AZ.
In: Proceedings of the 14th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshops on the Engineering of Computer-Based Systems (ECBS'07), 0-7695-2772-8/07, © 2007 IEEE [PDF, 258KB]
The article was presented at the 14th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshop on the Engineering of Computer Based Systems, ECBS, in Tucson, AZ.
In: Proceedings of the 14th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshops on the Engineering of Computer-Based Systems (ECBS'07), 0-7695-2772-8/07, © 2007 IEEE [PDF, 258KB]
Opening Schrödingers Library: Semi-automatic QA Reduces Uncertainty in Object Transformation
Lars R. Clausen (State and University Library, Denmark)
Posted on 20th October 2009
Object transformation for preservation purposes is currently a hit-or-miss affair, where errors in transformation may go unnoticed for years since manual quality assurance is too resource-intensive for large collections of digital objects.
We propose an approach of semi-automatic quality assurance (QA), where numerous separate automatic checks of “aspects” of the objects, combined with manual inspection, provides greater assurance that objects are transformed with little or no loss of quality. We present an example of using this approach to appraise the quality of OpenOffice’s import of Word documents.
The paper was presented at the 11th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, ECDL2007, on 16-21 September 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.
In: L. Kovács, N. Fuhr, and C. Meghini (Eds.): ECDL 2007, LNCS 4675, pp. 186–197, 2007, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 [PDF, 286KB]
We propose an approach of semi-automatic quality assurance (QA), where numerous separate automatic checks of “aspects” of the objects, combined with manual inspection, provides greater assurance that objects are transformed with little or no loss of quality. We present an example of using this approach to appraise the quality of OpenOffice’s import of Word documents.
The paper was presented at the 11th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, ECDL2007, on 16-21 September 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.
In: L. Kovács, N. Fuhr, and C. Meghini (Eds.): ECDL 2007, LNCS 4675, pp. 186–197, 2007, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 [PDF, 286KB]
Long-term Preservation of Electronic Theses and Dissertations: A Case Study in Preservation Planning
Christoph Becker, Stephan Strodl, Robert Neumayer and Andreas Rauber (all Vienna University of Technology), Eleonora Nicchiarelli and Max Kaiser (both The Austrian National Library)
Posted on 20th October 2009
An increasing number of institutions throughout the world face legal obligations to collect and preserve digital objects over years. A range of tools exist today to support the variety of preservation strategies such as migration or emulation. Yet, different preservation requirements across institutions and settings make the decision on which solution to implement very difficult. The Austrian National Library will have to preserve electronic theses and dissertations provided in PDF. It is thus investigating potential preservation solutions. The preservation planning approach taken in the Planets project is used to evaluate various alternatives with respect to specific requirements. It provides an approach to make informed and accountable decisions on which solution to implement in order to preserve digital objects for a given purpose. We analyse the performance of various preservation strategies with respect to the specified requirements for the preservation of master’s theses and dissertations and present the results.
This paper was presented at the Ninth Russian National Research Conference, RCDL'07, held on October 15-18 2007 in Pereslawl, Russia.
In: Proceedings of the Ninth Russian National Research Conference on Digital Libraries: Advanced Methods and Technologies, Digital Collections (RCDL'07). Pereslavl, Russia, October 15-18, 2007. [PDF, 168KB]
This paper was presented at the Ninth Russian National Research Conference, RCDL'07, held on October 15-18 2007 in Pereslawl, Russia.
In: Proceedings of the Ninth Russian National Research Conference on Digital Libraries: Advanced Methods and Technologies, Digital Collections (RCDL'07). Pereslavl, Russia, October 15-18, 2007. [PDF, 168KB]
Emulation for digital preservation in practice: The results
Jeffrey van der Hoeven (The National Library of the Netherlands), Bram Lohman, (Tessella Support Services plc., United Kingdom), and Remco Verdegem (The Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands)
Posted on 20th October 2009
In recent years a lot of research has been undertaken to ascertain the most suitable preservation approach. For a long time migration was seen as the only viable approach, whereas emulation was looked upon with scepticism due to its technical complexity and initial costs. In 2004, the National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) and the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands acknowledged the need for emulation, especially for rendering complex digital objects without affecting their authenticity and integrity. A project was started to investigate the feasibility of emulation by developing and testing an emulator designed for digital preservation purposes. In July 2007 this project ended and delivered a durable x86 component-based computer emulator: Dioscuri, the first modular emulator for digital preservation.
This paper was published in The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 2, 2007, pp. 123-132 [PDF, 363KB]
This paper was published in The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 2, 2007, pp. 123-132 [PDF, 363KB]
Preserving Interactive Multimedia Art: A Case Study in Preservation Planning
Christoph Becker, Andreas Rauber (Vienna University of Technology), et. al.
Posted on 20th October 2009
Over the last years, digital preservation has become a particularly
active research area. While several initiatives are dealing with the preservation of standard document formats, the challenges of preserving multimedia objects and pieces of electronic art are still to be tackled. This paper presents the findings of a pilot project for preserving born-digital interactive multimedia art. We describe the specific challenges the collection poses to digital preservation and the results of a case study identifying requirements on the preservation of interactive artworks.
The paper was presented at the Tenth International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries, ICADL 2007, held on December 10-13 2007 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In: D.H.-L. Goh et al. (Eds.): ICADL 2007, LNCS 4822, pp. 257–266, 2007, © Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2007 [PDF, 1005KB]
active research area. While several initiatives are dealing with the preservation of standard document formats, the challenges of preserving multimedia objects and pieces of electronic art are still to be tackled. This paper presents the findings of a pilot project for preserving born-digital interactive multimedia art. We describe the specific challenges the collection poses to digital preservation and the results of a case study identifying requirements on the preservation of interactive artworks.
The paper was presented at the Tenth International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries, ICADL 2007, held on December 10-13 2007 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
In: D.H.-L. Goh et al. (Eds.): ICADL 2007, LNCS 4822, pp. 257–266, 2007, © Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2007 [PDF, 1005KB]
Novel Workflows for Abstract Handling of Complex Interaction Processes in Digital Preservation
Klaus Rechert, Dirk von Suchodoletz, Randolph Welte (all University of Freiburg), Maurice van den Dobbelsteen, Bill Roberts (both National Archives of the Netherlands), Jeffrey van der Hoeven (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Netherlands), and Jasper Schroder (IBM Netherlands B.V.)
Posted on 16th October 2009
The creation of most digital objects occurs solely in interactive graphical user interfaces available at the particular time period. Archiving and preservation organizations are posed with large amounts of such objects of various types. At some point they will need to, if possible, automatically process these to make them available to their users or convert them to a valid format.
A substantial problem in creating an automated process is the availability of suitable tools. In this paper a new method is suggested, which uses an operating system and application independent interactive workflow for the migration of digital objects using an emulated environment. Success terms for the conception and functionality of emulation environments are therefore devised which should be applied to future long-term archiving methods.
The paper was presented by Klaus Rechert, University of Freiburg, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 225KB]
A substantial problem in creating an automated process is the availability of suitable tools. In this paper a new method is suggested, which uses an operating system and application independent interactive workflow for the migration of digital objects using an emulated environment. Success terms for the conception and functionality of emulation environments are therefore devised which should be applied to future long-term archiving methods.
The paper was presented by Klaus Rechert, University of Freiburg, at iPres 2009, 5-6 October 2009, in San Francisco, California. [PDF, 225KB]
Just One Bit in a Million: On the Effects of Data Corruption in Files
Volker Heydegger (Universität zu Köln, Germany)
Posted on 15th October 2009
So far little attention has been paid to file format robustness, i.e., a file formats capability for keeping its information as safe as possible in spite of data corruption. The paper reports on the first comprehensive research on this topic. The research work is based on a study on the status quo of file format robustness for various file formats from the image domain. A controlled test corpus was built which comprises files with different format characteristics. The files form the basis for data corruption experiments which are reported on and discussed.
The paper was presented by the author, Volker Heydegger, Universität zu Köln, at ECDL 2009, Sept. 27 - Oct. 2 in Corfu, Greece, and published in the proceedings from the conference, LNCS, by Springer-Verlag.
In: M. Agosti et al. (Eds.): ECDL 2009, LNCS 5714, pp. 315–326, 2009, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009
More info on Volker Heydegger [PDF, 201KB]
The paper was presented by the author, Volker Heydegger, Universität zu Köln, at ECDL 2009, Sept. 27 - Oct. 2 in Corfu, Greece, and published in the proceedings from the conference, LNCS, by Springer-Verlag.
In: M. Agosti et al. (Eds.): ECDL 2009, LNCS 5714, pp. 315–326, 2009, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009
More info on Volker Heydegger [PDF, 201KB]
Adding Quality-Awareness to Evaluate Migration Web-Services and Remote Emulation for Digital Preservation
Christoph Becker, Hannes Kulovits, Michael Kraxner, Riccardo Gottardi,
Andreas Rauber (all Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria), and Randolph Welte (University of Freiburg, Germany)
Posted on 15th October 2009
Digital libraries are increasingly relying on distributed services to support increasingly complex tasks such as retrieval or preservation.
While there is a growing body of services for migrating digital objects into safer formats to ensure their long-term accessability, the quality of these services is often unknown. Moreover, emulation as the major alternative preservation strategy is often neglected due to the complex setup procedures that are necessary for testing emulation. However, thorough evaluation of the complete set of potential strategies in a quantified and repeatable way is considered of vital importance for trustworthy decision making in digital preservation planning.
This paper presents a preservation action monitoring infrastructure that combines provider-side service instrumentation and quality measurement of migration web services with remote access to emulation.
Tools are monitored during execution, and both their runtime characteristics and the quality of their results are measured transparently. The architecture of the presented framework is described and the results from experiments on migration and emulation services are discussed.
Christoph Becker, Vienna University of Technology, presented the paper at ECDL 2009, Sept. 27 - Oct. 2 in Corfu, Greece. The paper is published in the proceedings from the conference, LNCS, by Springer-Verlag.
In: M. Agosti et al. (Eds.): ECDL 2009, LNCS 5714, pp. 39–50, 2009, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 [PDF, 1089KB]
While there is a growing body of services for migrating digital objects into safer formats to ensure their long-term accessability, the quality of these services is often unknown. Moreover, emulation as the major alternative preservation strategy is often neglected due to the complex setup procedures that are necessary for testing emulation. However, thorough evaluation of the complete set of potential strategies in a quantified and repeatable way is considered of vital importance for trustworthy decision making in digital preservation planning.
This paper presents a preservation action monitoring infrastructure that combines provider-side service instrumentation and quality measurement of migration web services with remote access to emulation.
Tools are monitored during execution, and both their runtime characteristics and the quality of their results are measured transparently. The architecture of the presented framework is described and the results from experiments on migration and emulation services are discussed.
Christoph Becker, Vienna University of Technology, presented the paper at ECDL 2009, Sept. 27 - Oct. 2 in Corfu, Greece. The paper is published in the proceedings from the conference, LNCS, by Springer-Verlag.
In: M. Agosti et al. (Eds.): ECDL 2009, LNCS 5714, pp. 39–50, 2009, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 [PDF, 1089KB]
Significance is in the Eye of the Stakeholder
Angela Dappert and Adam Farquhar (British Library)
Posted on 15th October 2009
The concept of significant characteristics has become prominent within the digital preservation community to capture the key goal of preserving the most relevant aspects of the content of a digital object, even at the cost of sacrificing less important ones. However, the term has become over-loaded and very often it remains ill-defined. In this paper, the domain of significant characteristics is analyzed, and a clear terminology is introduced.
The paper was presented at ECDL 2009, Sept. 27 - Oct. 2 in Corfu, Greece, and published in the proceedings from the conference, LNCS, by Springer-Verlag.
In: M. Agosti et al. (Eds.): ECDL 2009, LNCS 5714, pp. 297-308, 2009, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 [PDF, 160KB]
The paper was presented at ECDL 2009, Sept. 27 - Oct. 2 in Corfu, Greece, and published in the proceedings from the conference, LNCS, by Springer-Verlag.
In: M. Agosti et al. (Eds.): ECDL 2009, LNCS 5714, pp. 297-308, 2009, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 [PDF, 160KB]
A Generic XML Language for Characterising Objects to Support Digital Preservation
Christoph Becker and Andreas Rauber (Vienna University of Technology, Austria); Volker Heydegger, Jan Schnasse and Manfred Thaller (University of Cologne, Germany)
Posted on 17th April 2008
The dominance of digital objects in today’s information landscape has changed the way humankind creates and exchanges information. However, it has also brought an entirely new problem: the longevity of digital objects. Due to the fast changes in technologies, digital documents have a short lifespan before they become obsolete. Digital preservation, i.e. actions to ensure longevity of digital information, thus has become a pressing challenge. Different strategies such as migration and emulation have been proposed; however, the decision between available tools for format migration is very complex. Preservation planning supports decision makers in reaching accountable decisions by evaluating potential strategies against well-defined requirements. Especially the evaluation of different migration tools for digital preservation has to rely on validating the converted objects and thus on an analysis of the logical structure and the content of documents.
This paper presents the eXtensible Characterisation Languages (XCL) that support the automatic validation of document conversions and the evaluation of migration quality by hierarchically decomposing a document and representing documents from different sources in an abstract XML language. We present the context of the development of these languages and tools and describe the overall concept and features of the languages and how they can be applied to the evaluation of digital preservation solutions.
The paper was presented at the 23rd Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, held on March 16-20 2008 in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
Read the paper
This paper presents the eXtensible Characterisation Languages (XCL) that support the automatic validation of document conversions and the evaluation of migration quality by hierarchically decomposing a document and representing documents from different sources in an abstract XML language. We present the context of the development of these languages and tools and describe the overall concept and features of the languages and how they can be applied to the evaluation of digital preservation solutions.
The paper was presented at the 23rd Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, held on March 16-20 2008 in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
Read the paper
Emulation for digital preservation in practice: The results
Jeffrey van der Hoeven, The National Library of the Netherlands; Bram Lohman, Tessella Support Services plc., United Kingdom; Remco Verdegem, The Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands
Posted on 21st January 2008
Abstract: "In recent years a lot of research has been undertaken to ascertain the most suitable preservation approach. For a long time migration was seen as the only viable approach, whereas emulation was looked upon with scepticism due to its technical complexity and initial costs. In 2004, the National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) and the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands acknowledged the need for emulation, especially for rendering complex digital objects without affecting their authenticity and integrity. A project was started to investigate the feasibility of emulation by developing and testing an emulator designed for digital preservation purposes. In July 2007 this project ended and delivered a durable x86 component-based computer emulator: Dioscuri, the first modular emulator for digital preservation."
The paper was published in The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 2, 2007.
More info
The paper was published in The International Journal of Digital Curation, Issue 2, Volume 2, 2007.
More info
Preserving Interactive Multimedia Art: A Case Study in Preservation Planning
Christoph Becker, Andreas Rauber (Vienna University of Technology), et. al.
Posted on 17th January 2008
Abstract: "Over the last years, digital preservation has become a particularly
active research area. While several initiatives are dealing with the preservation of standard document formats, the challenges of preserving multimedia objects and pieces of electronic art are still to be tackled. This paper presents the findings of a pilot project for preserving born-digital interactive multimedia art. We describe the specific challenges the collection poses to digital preservation and the results of a case study identifying requirements on the preservation of interactive artworks."
The paper was accepted for presentation at the Tenth International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries, ICADL 2007, held on December 10-13 2007 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
D.H.-L. Goh et al. (Eds.): ICADL 2007, LNCS 4822, pp. 257–266, 2007.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007
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active research area. While several initiatives are dealing with the preservation of standard document formats, the challenges of preserving multimedia objects and pieces of electronic art are still to be tackled. This paper presents the findings of a pilot project for preserving born-digital interactive multimedia art. We describe the specific challenges the collection poses to digital preservation and the results of a case study identifying requirements on the preservation of interactive artworks."
The paper was accepted for presentation at the Tenth International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries, ICADL 2007, held on December 10-13 2007 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
D.H.-L. Goh et al. (Eds.): ICADL 2007, LNCS 4822, pp. 257–266, 2007.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007
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Long-term Preservation of Electronic Theses and Dissertations: A Case Study in Preservation Planning
Christoph Becker, Stephan Strodl, Robert Neumayer, and Andreas Rauber (Vienna University of Technology), Eleonora Nicchiarelli and Max Kaiser (The Austrian National Library)
Posted on 17th January 2008
Abstract: "An increasing number of institutions throughout the world face legal obligations to collect and preserve digital objects over years. A range of tools exist today to support the variety of preservation strategies such as migration or emulation. Yet, different preservation requirements across institutions and settings make the decision on which solution to implement very difficult. The Austrian National Library will have to preserve electronic theses and dissertations provided in PDF. It is thus investigating potential preservation solutions. The preservation planning approach taken in the Planets project is used to evaluate various alternatives with respect to specific requirements. It provides an approach to make informed and accountable decisions on which solution to implement in order to preserve digital objects for a given purpose. We analyse the performance of various preservation strategies with respect to the specified requirements for the preservation of master’s theses and dissertations and present the results."
The paper was accepted for presentation at the Ninth Russian National Research Conference, RCDL'07, held on October 15-18 2007 in Pereslawl, Russia.
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The paper was accepted for presentation at the Ninth Russian National Research Conference, RCDL'07, held on October 15-18 2007 in Pereslawl, Russia.
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Opening Schrödingers Library: Semi-automatic QA Reduces Uncertainty in Object Transformation
Lars R. Clausen (State and University Library, Denmark)
Posted on 6th November 2007
Abstract: "Object transformation for preservation purposes is currently a hit-or-miss affair, where errors in transformation may go unnoticed for years since manual quality assurance is too resource-intensive for large collections of digital objects.
We propose an approach of semi-automatic quality assurance (QA), where numerous separate automatic checks of “aspects” of the objects, combined with manual inspection, provides greater assurance that objects are transformed with little or no loss of quality. We present an example of using this approach to appraise the quality of OpenOffice’s import of Word documents."
The paper was accepted for and presented at the 11th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, ECDL2007, on 16-21 September 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.
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We propose an approach of semi-automatic quality assurance (QA), where numerous separate automatic checks of “aspects” of the objects, combined with manual inspection, provides greater assurance that objects are transformed with little or no loss of quality. We present an example of using this approach to appraise the quality of OpenOffice’s import of Word documents."
The paper was accepted for and presented at the 11th European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries, ECDL2007, on 16-21 September 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.
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The Strategic Impact of Service Oriented Architectures
Philipp Liegl (Austrian Research Centers (ARC))
Posted on 7th September 2007
Abstract: "It has not been since the advent of the client/server architecture break through that an architectural concept has changed the face of enterprise systems so significantly as it has been done by service oriented architectures (SOA). The service oriented approach provides plenty of vantages for companies in regard to flexible system integration and adoption of new business cases. However, the adoption of SOA in an actual enterprise system brings along a couple of problems as well. Especially the integration into the existing infrastructure, applications and the innovation, sourcing and investment policies is challenging. A solution can be provided by establishing a SOA roadmap unveiling possible traps and pointing out the foibles and flaws still existing in the SOA approach. In this paper the SOA approach will be reviewed critically and the different sections affected within an enterprise will be examined. Possible problems during the transition and use of SOA will be identified. Where already possible, solutions will be provided."
The article was accepted for and presented at the 14th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshop on the Engineering of Computer Based Systems, ECBS, in Tucson, AZ.
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The article was accepted for and presented at the 14th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshop on the Engineering of Computer Based Systems, ECBS, in Tucson, AZ.
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How to Choose a Digital Preservation Strategy: Evaluating a Preservation Planning Procedure
Stephan Strodl, Christoph Becker, Robert Neumayer and Andreas Rauber (Vienna University of Technology)
Posted on 7th September 2007
Abstract: "An increasing number of institutions throughout the world face legal obligations or business needs to collect and preserve digital objects over several decades. A range of tools exists today to support the variety of preservation strategies such as migration or emulation. Yet, different preservation requirements across institutions and settings make the decision on which solution to implement very difficult.
This paper presents the Planets Preservation Planning approach. It provides a way to make informed and accountable decisions on which solution to implement in order to optimally preserve digital objects for a given purpose. It is based on Utility Analysis to evaluate the performance of various solutions against well-defined requirements and goals. The viability of this approach is shown in a range of case studies for different settings. We present its application to two scenarios of web archives, two collections of electronic publications, and a collection of multimedia art. This work focuses on the different requirements and goals in the various preservation settings."
The paper was accepted for a presentation at the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries 2007, which was held on June 18-23 2007 in Victoria, Canada
In: JCDL’07, June 18–23, 2007, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Copyright 2007 ACM 978-1-59593-644-8/07/0006
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This paper presents the Planets Preservation Planning approach. It provides a way to make informed and accountable decisions on which solution to implement in order to optimally preserve digital objects for a given purpose. It is based on Utility Analysis to evaluate the performance of various solutions against well-defined requirements and goals. The viability of this approach is shown in a range of case studies for different settings. We present its application to two scenarios of web archives, two collections of electronic publications, and a collection of multimedia art. This work focuses on the different requirements and goals in the various preservation settings."
The paper was accepted for a presentation at the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries 2007, which was held on June 18-23 2007 in Victoria, Canada
In: JCDL’07, June 18–23, 2007, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Copyright 2007 ACM 978-1-59593-644-8/07/0006
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Developing practical approaches to active preservation
Adrian Brown (The National Archives UK)
Posted on 7th September 2007
Abstract: "The National Archives has been actively collecting, preserving, and making available electronic records for nearly 10 years. They are therefore developing a range of practical solutions to the active preservation of electronic records, using an extensible service oriented architecture and a central technical registry (PRONOM).
This paper describes TNA’s methodologies for characterisation, preservation planning, and preservation action, the technologies being adopted to implement them, and the role of PRONOM in supporting these services. It describes how this approach fits with international research programmes, and the types of preservation service which TNA may be able to provide externally in future."
The paper was accepted for presentation at the 2nd International Digital Curation Conference Digital Data Curation in Practice held on November 21-22 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland
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This paper describes TNA’s methodologies for characterisation, preservation planning, and preservation action, the technologies being adopted to implement them, and the role of PRONOM in supporting these services. It describes how this approach fits with international research programmes, and the types of preservation service which TNA may be able to provide externally in future."
The paper was accepted for presentation at the 2nd International Digital Curation Conference Digital Data Curation in Practice held on November 21-22 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland
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