Interpreting digital preservation propaganda

Interpreting digital preservation How is digital preservation typically presented to attract the interest of the mainstream audience? We select some recurring themes from a typical recent article (there will be another along soon) and try to interpret the meaning for non-specialists (in this case, repository managers). Slides to prompt discussion at the first KeepIt project meeting, 2 June 2009 by Steve Hitchcock, KeepIt project manager http://preservation.eprints.org/keepit/

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/features/2241165/managing-digital-information Digital preservation article du jour, or see At Libraries, Taking the (Really) Long View insidehighered.com , July 23, 2008 http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/23/preservation Etc.

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “ But in the digital world, 10 years is pushing it, and after 10 years you can’t read those files any more.”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “ But in the digital world, 10 years is pushing it, and after 10 years you can’t read those files any more.” It’s scary

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “This year there’s just about 30 terabytes in the British Library’s digital library system. By the end of the financial year that’s just started, we’re planning to be over 200 terabytes.”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “ This year there’s just about 30 terabytes in the British Library’s digital library system. By the end of the financial year that’s just started, we’re planning to be over 200 terabytes.” There’s a data explosion

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “ you can’t simply turn Word files into more stable PDFs, for example. “What if they’re Word files where Display Changes is switched off, and all those change histories show who edited the dodgy dossier?”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “ you can’t simply turn Word files into more stable PDFs, for example. “What if they’re Word files where Display Changes is switched off, and all those change histories show who edited the dodgy dossier?” It’s endlessly complex

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “ The challenges multiply again when it comes to voluntary deposit – people of standing donating what would have been their lab notebooks or their jottings to the library. “Electronically what that means is: ‘Here’s my hard drive; I’m sure there’s something interesting on there,’ and that generates a vast array of files,”

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries “ The challenges multiply again when it comes to voluntary deposit – people of standing donating what would have been their lab notebooks or their jottings to the library. “Electronically what that means is: ‘Here’s my hard drive; I’m sure there’s something interesting on there,’ and that generates a vast array of files,” Everyone’s dumping stuff on us OR They haven’t got a clue

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries Green sees “the glimmerings of an understanding” within industry that you need to be able to access data over a five or 10-year period. “But nobody has grasped the central problem that we’re looking at 50, 100 years,” he adds .

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries Green sees “the glimmerings of an understanding” within industry that you need to be able to access data over a five or 10-year period. “But nobody has grasped the central problem that we’re looking at 50, 100 years,” he adds . We need money

"Digital Preservation" term considered harmful?

in the digital domain, we should be selling the outcomes. … terms that reflect the outcomes are more persuasive. So I would argue that outcome-related phrases like "long term accessibility" or "usability over time" are better than the process-oriented phrase "digital preservation".