Time for a round-up:
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Always keep the original bitstream of a digital resource, no matter what application it was created in, proprietary or not.
- Never let the user consult the original. She can consult a copy. This copy does not have to be in the same format as the original, unless the user herself demands it.
- When the time comes to migrate the data, migrate it to an open, XML-based format, if possible. But still keep the original.
- Keep metadata separate from the original data object.
- Store everything on a dedicated server, with backups, rather than offline media.
And remember the two laws of digital preservation, which follow irrefutably from the fact that no one has or will ever come back in time from the future to tell us what will work:
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No one knows anything.
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No one will ever know anything.
That’s the position today, at least.
4 comments
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February 26, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Sous la poussière
About “Keep metadata separate from the original data object”. Some repositories have adopted this strategy: storing the AIP as a ZIP file which holds the archived data (e.g. PDF files) and a METS file which links them with metadata (METS and/or PREMIS and/or EAD, embedded or in separate files). Keeping them together allows a complete recovery even if you loose everything but the AIP backup.
February 27, 2008 at 11:46 am
alanake
Ah, a middle way. I will read some more on this.
March 13, 2008 at 11:37 am
Jeffrey van der Hoeven
Dear Alan,
Thanks for the enthousiastic article about Dioscuri! I think it reflects very well the ideas behind the project and the current state of development. As I’m working at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) and also one of the main developers in this emulation project, I can say that we’ll continue development of Dioscuri. Indeed, our aim is to be able to emulate the environment for running very complex objects (like multimedia applications, databases, games, scientific applications and even migration tools). However, that’s still a long way 😉
The current version is a first step into the 32-bit area that shows already promising results running applications like MS Windows 3.0. However, it is far from perfect and we’re aware that many other functionalities (mouse, sound, network) should be included as well. We’re planning to do that and hope to continue releasing successive versions in the near future.
BTW: great blog!
Regards,
Jeffrey
March 24, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Jorge
I would be very interested in you posting about private companies (finance, insurance, etc.) and their issues when meeting compliance requirements that make them store data for 100+ years.
Nice blog.