Approaches to preserving digitized taxonomic data

Approaches to preserving digitized taxonomic data: Prints, manuscripts & specimens Chris Freeland Director, Center for Biodiversity Informatics Technical Director, Biodiversity Heritage Library 28 October 2011 @chrisfreeland

Prints / Manuscripts / Specimens Different objects, similar management http://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/6257859557 http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisfreeland/6018724034 http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34045915

Overview of Talk
Why worry about digital preservation?
Considerations for preservation
Collaboration
File formats
Metadata standards
Views to the future
Preservation Panic!

WHY WORRY? http://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/6008902662

Do it once, do it right
Costs more to get object to scanner than to scan

Conversion / Compost / Corruption
Longevity of digital objects
File changes
Media obsolescence
Cautionary Tales

CONSIDERATION: COLLABORATION

LOCKSS
L ots O f C opies K eeps S tuff S afe
LOCKSS is both a software platform & a concept
Software: http://www.lockss.org

Rule of 3 Museum X Library Y Archive Z 1. Geographic Locations 2. Administrations 3. Technology Platforms

CONSIDERATION: FILE FORMATS

JPEG2000
Wavelet compression, lossless encoding
12 Parts
Of particular interest to documents & specimens:
Part 1: Core Coding System, ISO/IEC 15444-1
Part 6: Compound image file format
Part 10: JP3D, Volumetric images
http://www.jpeg.org/jpeg2000/

http://www.tropicos.org/ImageFullView.aspx?imageid=62182

JPEG2000 (Hurrahs & Hisses)
Advantages
Store a single file for access & preservation
Standards-based
Saves drive space (important at museum scale)
Disadvantages
Doesn’t have wide native support in many apps
Requires an intermediary app to decode & serve
But, there’s an open source option: djatoka http://djatoka.sourceforge.net
Reports of data loss

PDF/A
ISO-standardized version of PDF suitable for long-term preservation
Identifies a "profile" for electronic documents that ensures the documents can be reproduced exactly the same way in years to come.*
Makes the file self-contained (and therefore larger)
Embeds fonts
Graphics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/A

CONSIDERATION: METADATA

The Great Thing About STANDARDS Is That There Are SO MANY To Choose From

Metadata Preservation
Descriptive information (metadata) provides content & context for indexing, reuse
Can bundle metadata within files
EXIF: images, common in digital cameras
Adobe XMP: docs, images
Should commit metadata to file system
Should not manage just in DB or other management system
Filesystem <DwC> XML JP2

THE FUTURE

Electronic Publications
Happening now, has been for years
Should take same care in ensuring heterogeneity & diversity in digital management systems as with printed, bound books
Monolithic libraries have failed over time
Monolithic electronic archives will, too

http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/22681143 Need a meadow…

… not a monoculture.

There is no silver bullet
Make best decision today
Stay up with technology changes & best practices
<insert library & archive professionals here>
Evaluate, experiment, document, lead
Move to stable new technologies when necessary

Questions? Chris Freeland Director, Center for Biodiversity Informatics Technical Director, Biodiversity Heritage Library 28 October 2011 Email: [email_address] Twitter: @chrisfreeland

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Approaches to preserving digitized taxonomic data

by Chris Freeland on Oct 28, 2011

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Approaches to preserving digitized taxonomic data — Presentation Transcript