Overview of digital curation and sustainability issues

1. SUSTAINABILITY:+SOME+
MORALITY+TALES+
Early+Modern+Digital+Agendas+
29+June+2015

2. TALE+NO.+1:+THE+WEB+IS+LOST
Brian+Herzog,+404+Error+page+for+Chelmsford+Public+Library

3. 3
Earliest+surviving+web+page.+A+backup+made+by+Paul+Jones+(UNC)+of+a+
demonstration+by+Tim+BernersXLee+for+the+1991+Hypermedia+conference.+
BernersXLee’s+paper+had+been+rejected+for+the+conference.++
http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/old.page.html+

4. • Brewster+Kahle+(founder+of+Internet+Archive):+the+
average+life+expectancy+of+a+web+page+is+100+days+
• Jim+Boulton:+Printed+in+1455,+fortyXeight+copies+of+the+
Gutenberg+bible+exist,+yet+not+one+copy+of+a+website+
made+twenty+three+years+ago+survives.+
• Yet+already+the+complexity+of+the+archaeology+of+the+
early+web+starts+to+rival+that+of+printed+incunables+
• How+valuable+would+it+be+to+have+that+first+page,+since+
it+was+always+updated+daily?+
• Is+it+more+significant+that+it+is+impossible+to+
reconstruct+that+early+experience+of+using+the+web?
4

5. 5
One+of+the+earliest+mentions+of+the+World+Wide+Web,+in+a+Usenet+posting+by+Tim+
Berners+Lee+in+August+1991.+NB+Usenet+archives+were+acquired+by+Google,+so+we+
now+access+this+text+in+Google+Groups:+does+that+affect+our+engagement+with+it?++

6. 6
Snapshot+of+the+CERN+website+as+it+appeared+in+November+1992+
http://www.w3.org/History/19921103Xhypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

7. 7
Reconstruction+of+first+web+page:+info.cern.ch+
Shown+in+a+restoration+of+the+lineXmode+browser,+the+first+readily+available+
web+browser,+launched+in+1992

8. 8
BernersXLee’s+original+WWW+browser+running+on+a+NeXT+computer+in+1993

9. 9
How+I+first+saw+the+World+Wide+Web:+Cello+browser,+popular+because+it+ran+on+PCs

10. • Do+we+need+the+starting+point,+or+is+it+more+
important+to+have+a+sense+of+the+movement?+
• If+so,+what+do+we+throw+away?+PaperXbased+
decision+making+systems+may+not+be+
appropriate+here.+
• Authority?+How+do+we+know+which+is+
authentic?+Does+it+matter?+
• D.+F.+Mackenzie:+‘Form+is+content’,+but+can+we+
ever+recapture+digital+form?+Should+we?
10

11. TALE+NO.+2:+SHUTDOWN
Information+courtesy+of+Simon+Tanner’s+blog,+‘When+the+Data+
Hits+the+Fan’:simonXtanner.blogspot.co.uk

13. http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/metsXschemadocs.html

14. http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/profiles/00000024.xml

18. Government/Shutdown:/the/morals
• Problems+can+be+unexpected+
• They+may+not+be+technical+
• The+weakness+may+be+in+our+very+
connectivity

19. TALE+NO.+3:+WHAT+HAPPENS+WHEN+I’M+NO+
LONGER+HERE?

21. 21
Robin Alston (1933-2011). Lecturer in philology at the University of New Brunswick
(1958–60) and the University of Leeds (1964–76). Founder of the Scolar Press. In 1977 he
became a consultant to the British Library and from 1978 to 1989 he was editor-in-chief
of the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue, now called the English Short Title Catalogue .
He was Professor of Library Studies at the University of London from 1990 to 1998.
Among Alston’s many publications were A Bibliography of the English Language !om the
Invention of Printing to the Year 1800 (18 vols, 1965–2006).

22. http://www.rXalston.co.uk,+as+it+appeared+on+7+March+2001,+the+Wayback+Machine

30. What/Happens/When/I’m/No/Longer/Here?/The/
Morals
• A+great+deal+depends+on+continued+
intervention+by+the+individual,+regardless+of+
standards+
• Even+then,+without+strong+institutional+
support,+it’s+difficult+to+ensure+that+resources+
will+continue+to+be+there+if+you+have+moved+on

31. TALE+N0.+4:+UNDERSTAND+YOUR+BLACK+BOX

32. Google+NXgram+viewer+shows+an+apparent+rise+in+the+use+of+‘politeness’+and+
‘courtesy’+from+about+1760.+
However,+this+apparent+shift+may+simply+reflect+the+decline+of+the+long+‘s’+form+
in+printing

35. Understand+Your+Black+Box:+The+Morals
• Understand+what+external+tools+are+doing+
• As+we+become+more+dependent+on+corporate+
services+and+clouds,+there+are+more+risks,+often+
completely+outside+our+control+
• Increasingly,+it+will+be+difficult+to+assume+that+
results+can+be+replicated+by+others+(e.g.+as+
Google+searches+become+more+personalised)

36. TALE+NO.+5:+TURN+SETBACKS+TO+ADVANTAGE

38. Screengrabs+from+Electronic+Beowulf+2.0

39. Electronic+Beowulf+3.0

42. Turning/Setbacks/to/Advantage:/The/Morals
• Importance+of+continued+curation+and+
involvement+by+the+lead+investigator+
• Kiernan’s+editorial+role+has+involved+continued+
revamping+and+improvement+through+3.1+
versions+
• With+intervention+and+collaboration,+
apparently+devastating+problems+can+seem+to+
be+opportunities+
• But+how+do+we+keep+that+going?++

43. The+Most+Important+Moral+of+All:+Open+Up+
Your+Data

46. http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/hartlib/

47. http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

48. • Follow+Golden+Rules:+use+open,+accepted+
standards;+avoid+proprietary+software;+
document;+archive+and+share+
• Migration+is+a+vital+strategy+
• Emulation+another+possible+technique+
• But+many+risks+are+not+technical+and+can+only+
be+addressed+by+accepting+that+digital+
resources+need+continued+and+unceasing+TLC

50. 50

51. Useful+Addresses
• JISC+Guide+to+Research+Data+Management:+
www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/researchXdataX
management+
• Digital+Curation+Centre:+www.dcc.ac.uk+
• Digital+Preservation+Coalition:+
www.dpconline.org+
• University+of+Cambridge+Research+Data+
Management+guide:+www.data.cam.ac.uk+
51