Digital Preservation and working toward its success. Defining

Digital Preservation is... Long-term, error-free storage of digital information. Creating and managing methods for retrieving and interpreting digital information. Particularly geared toward documents which are born-digital as opposed to those that have been migrated from analog formats. Accessing preserved files successfully without fear of data corruption or interpretation errors. An ongoing process that must maintain an awareness of up and coming technology, and adapt fluidly to frequently changing formats.

Long-term, error-free storage of digital information.

Creating and managing methods for retrieving and interpreting digital information.

Particularly geared toward documents which are born-digital as opposed to those that have been migrated from analog formats.

Accessing preserved files successfully without fear of data corruption or interpretation errors.

An ongoing process that must maintain an awareness of up and coming technology, and adapt fluidly to frequently changing formats.

The Open Archival Information System is the core standard for most current digital preservation systems throughout the world.

Current preservation efforts are focused on several strategies: Refreshing Migration Emulation Metadata

Refreshing

Migration

Emulation

Metadata

Refreshing is the transfer of data between two types of the same storage medium so that the data is not changed in any way. Copying a CD-ROM is an example of data refreshing. It is likely that refreshing will always be necessary due to physical deterioration. Refreshing is often combined with migration when the software or hardware required to access it is no longer available....

Migration is the transfer of data to new systems. This may include converting/changing file formats, programming languages, and operating systems. Converting a Word .doc file to an Adobe .pdf file is an example of migration.

Emulation is replicating the function of an obsolete system. One popular function of emulation programs has allowed users to play video games from old systems using their desktop or laptop computer.

Metadata is attached to a digital object and contains information about its author, preservation history, access permissions, and copyright. The chart below is a basic ASCII table of codes for characters. ASCII is considered the most durable format for metadata.

Digital Preservation is crucial to saving our heritage for the future. Without proper methods and standards in place, we stand to lose much of today's electronic information to a “digital Dark Age.” To learn more about current digital preservation projects, visit my website @ http://clementmunns.com/libr240/students/certo/finalproject/ We're also blogging the latest news @ http://stuckinthestacks.blogspot.com