Week 9 - Reading Notes

Hedstrom - Research Challenges in Digital Archiving and Long-term Presernvation

This short essay summarizes the main challenges to digital preservation:  (a) the collections are heterogeneous and ever-growing; (b) one must digitally preserve for the long-term; (c) both infrastructure and technologies must be affordable.

Because this was so short, I wonder whether this was an old paper given at a workshop before the advent of OAI.

Lavoie - The Open Archival Information System Reference Model: Introductory Guide

This has to be one of the best pieces I have read this semester. It clearly sets forth how OAI got started. Second, it explains to a would-be architect the different steps and components one may need to build an OAI-compliant archive. I give two examples below:

"The first responsibility of an OAIS-type archive is to establish criteria for determining which materials are appropriate for inclusion in the archival store." (page 4)

"The second responsibility emphasizes the need for the OAIS to obtain sufficient intellectual property rights [ . . . ]" (page 4)

"Another responsibility of an OAIS-type archive is to determine the scope of its primary user community."

I especially appreciated the visual diagrams which showed the actors and different stages on page eight.

Preservation Management of Digital Materials: The Handbook

I felt that this reading seemed to repeat much of the material covered in the lecture and in previous readings. Because I actually studied Digital Preservation in an Archives context before, I already knew much of the material.

Littman - Actualized Preservation Threats

Muddiest Point - I know MODS in passing, but I would appreciate a more in-depth explanation and demonstration. Thank you!

I find it very helpful to know in advance some of the failures that took place. However, I wonder whether the utility of this paper is limited, because it was published in 2007, and most technology has now moved on.