Category: Digital Curation & Digital Preservation

"Translating Theory to Practice: Defining Digital Preservation Planning in Museums"

Emma Palakika James has self-archived "Translating Theory to Practice: Defining Digital Preservation Planning in Museums."

Here's an excerpt:

In this thesis, digital preservation in museums is examined, specifically the development, planning, and implementation of digital preservation initiatives. First, a literature review of digital preservation basics, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and digital preservation policy is presented, followed by case studies of three best-practicing museums. Four key themes are discussed, including defining digital preservation, integration of digital preservation technology, collaboration, and policy development. Finally, several conclusions and recommendations are presented, most notably that digital preservation in a museum context must be viewed and implemented from a collections management perspective.

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Web Archiving Environmental Scan

The Harvard Library has released the Web Archiving Environmental Scan.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The purpose of the environmental scan was to explore and document current web archiving programs (and institutions desiring a similar capacity) to identify common concerns, needs, and expectations in the collection and provision of web archives to users; the provision and maintenance of web archiving infrastructure and services; and the use of web archives by researchers.

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"Humanities Data in the Library: Integrity, Form, Access"

Thomas Padilla has published "Humanities Data in the Library: Integrity, Form, Access" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Digitally inflected Humanities scholarship and pedagogy is on the rise. Librarians are engaging this activity in part through a range of digital scholarship initiatives. While these engagements bear value, efforts to reshape library collections in light of demand remain nascent. This paper advances principles derived from practice to inform development of collections that can better support data driven research and pedagogy, examines existing practice in this area for strengths and weaknesses, and extends to consider possible futures.

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UNESCO/PERSIST Guidelines for the Selection of Digital Heritage for Long-Term Preservation

UNESCO has released UNESCO/PERSIST Guidelines for the Selection of Digital Heritage for Long-Term Preservation.

Here's an excerpt:

The aim of the Guidelines is to provide an overarching starting point for libraries, archives, museums and other heritage institutions when drafting their own policies on the selection of digital heritage for long-term sustainable digital preservation. Existing institutional policies may be assessed against the Guidelines and revised if required. The Guidelines address a diverse audience.

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"The RADAR Project-A Service for Research Data Archival and Publication"

Angelina Kraft et al. have published "The RADAR Project-A Service for Research Data Archival and Publication" in the ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information.

Here's an excerpt:

The aim of the RADAR (Research Data Repository) project is to set up and establish an infrastructure that facilitates research data management: the infrastructure will allow researchers to store, manage, annotate, cite, curate, search and find scientific data in a digital platform available at any time that can be used by multiple (specialized) disciplines. While appropriate and innovative preservation strategies and systems are in place for the big data communities (e.g., environmental sciences, space, and climate), the stewardship for many other disciplines, often called the "long tail research domains", is uncertain. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the RADAR collaboration project develops a service oriented infrastructure for the preservation, publication and traceability of (independent) research data. The key aspect of RADAR is the implementation of a two-stage business model for data preservation and publication: clients may preserve research results for up to 15 years and assign well-graded access rights, or to publish data with a DOI assignment for an unlimited period of time. Potential clients include libraries, research institutions, publishers and open platforms that desire an adaptable digital infrastructure to archive and publish data according to their institutional requirements and workflows.

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CCAHA 2016 Preservation Needs Assessment Program

The Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts is accepting applications for its 2016 Preservation Needs Assessment Program.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

CCAHA is seeking applicants for its Preservation Needs Assessment Program. Through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), CCAHA is able to offer a limited number of subsidized preservation needs assessments. Awarded institutions will pay a total of just $350 for services valued at over $5,000.

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"Persistent URIs Must Be Used to Be Persistent"

Herbert Van de Sompel, Martin Klein, and Shawn M. Jones have self-archived "Persistent URIs Must Be Used to Be Persistent."

Here's an excerpt:

We quantify the extent to which references to papers in scholarly literature use persistent HTTP URIs that leverage the Digital Object Identifier infrastructure. We find a significant number of references that do not, speculate why authors would use brittle URIs when persistent ones are available, and propose an approach to alleviate the problem.

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Preserving Social Media

The Digital Preservation Coalition has released Preserving Social Media.

Here's an excerpt:

This report provides an overview of strategies for the archiving of social media for long-term access, for both policy and implementation. Specifically, it addresses social networking platforms and platforms with significant amounts of user-generated content, excluding blogs, trading, and marketing sites, which are covered in other Technology Watch Reports.

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Filling the Digital Preservation Gap: A Jisc Research Data Spring Project Phase Two Report—February 2016

Jenny Mitcham et al. have released Filling the Digital Preservation Gap: A Jisc Research Data Spring Project Phase Two Report—February 2016.

Here's an excerpt:

Phase 1 of the project investigated the need for digital preservation as part of a wider infrastructure for research data management and looked specifically at how the open source digital preservation system Archivematica could fulfil this function. . . .

Work in phase 2 had the following aims:

  • Work with Artefactual Systems to develop Archivematica in a number of areas (highlighted in our phase 1 report) in order to make the system more suitable for fitting into our infrastructures for research data management
  • Develop our own detailed implementation plans for Hull and York to establish how Archivematica will be incorporated into our local infrastructures for research data
  • Consider how Archivematica could work as an above campus installation
  • Consider how digital preservation is addressed by the projects in phase 2 of Research Data Spring

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"Practical Digital Forensics at Accession for Born-Digital Institutional Records"

Gregory Wiedeman has published "Practical Digital Forensics at Accession for Born-Digital Institutional Records" in Code4Lib Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Archivists have developed a consensus that forensic disk imaging is the easiest and most effective way to preserve the authenticity and integrity of born-digital materials. Yet, disk imaging also has the potential to conflict with the needs of institutional archives – particularly those governed by public records laws. An alternative possibility is to systematically employ digital forensics tools during accession to acquire a limited amount of contextual metadata from filesystems. This paper will discuss the development of a desktop application that enables records creators to transfer digital records while employing basic digital forensics tools records' native computing environment to gather record-events from NTFS filesystems.

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Berkman Center Releases Amber, a Web Preservation Tool

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society has released Amber.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is pleased to release Amber, a free software tool for WordPress and Drupal that preserves content and prevents broken links. When installed on a blog or website, Amber can take a snapshot of the content of every linked page, ensuring that even if those pages are interfered with or blocked, the original content will be available.

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DuraSpace and LYRASIS Boards Approve "Intent to Merge"

The DuraSpace and LYRASIS Boards have approved an "Intent to Merge".

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The respective boards unanimously approved an "Intent to Merge", which means the organizations, having done a careful initial investigation, will move into a public phase to consider an official plan and pathway for the potential coming together, including a full analysis of member benefits. The decision to eventually come together is not yet final. In this public phase of investigation, each organization seeks feedback from members of their organizations and will investigate carefully the value of all services, projects, membership models and organizational cultures to ensure a smooth transition for members of both organizations should a merger agreement occur.

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"Forging Our Cultural Commonwealth: The Importance of Digital Curation in the Digital Humanities"

Alex Poole's dissertation "Forging Our Cultural Commonwealth: The Importance of Digital Curation in the Digital Humanities" is available from the Carolina Digital Repository.

Here's an excerpt:

This exploratory qualitative study centered on the salience of digital curation to the digital humanities. A case study predicated upon semi-structured interviews, it explored the creation, use, storage, and planned reuse of data by 45 interviewees involved with nineteen Office of Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant (SUG) projects. Similarly, the study sought to determine what digital curation skills had been employed in these projects and what digital curation skills project personnel felt were most important in doing such work. Interviewees grappled with challenges surrounding data, collaboration and communication, planning and project management, awareness and outreach, resources, and technology. This study sought to understand the existing practices and needs of those engaged in digital humanities work and how closely these practices and needs align with the digital curation literature. It established a baseline for future research in this area and suggested key skills for digital curation work in the digital humanities. Finally, it provided a learning model for guiding such education.

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"Reminiscing About 15 Years of Interoperability Efforts"

Herbert Van de Sompel and Michael L. Nelson have published "Reminiscing About 15 Years of Interoperability Efforts" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Over the past fifteen years, our perspective on tackling information interoperability problems for web-based scholarship has evolved significantly. In this opinion piece, we look back at three efforts that we have been involved in that aptly illustrate this evolution: OAI-PMH, OAI-ORE, and Memento. Understanding that no interoperability specification is neutral, we attempt to characterize the perspectives and technical toolkits that provided the basis for these endeavors. With that regard, we consider repository-centric and web-centric interoperability perspectives, and the use of a Linked Data or a REST/HATEAOS technology stack, respectively. We also lament the lack of interoperability across nodes that play a role in web-based scholarship, but end on a constructive note with some ideas regarding a possible path forward.

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Emulation & Virtualization as Preservation Strategies

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has released Emulation & Virtualization as Preservation Strategies.

Here's an excerpt:

n this report commissioned by the Foundation, David Rosenthal describes current technology frameworks for emulation and virtualization, and outlines the issues and challenges in deploying these technologies to preserve both digital artefacts from the past and current digital material that will age into legacy status.

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"Research Data Management: A Case Study"

Gary Brewerton has published "Research Data Management: A Case Study" in Ariadne.

Here's an excerpt:

In April 2014 Loughborough University launched an innovative cloud-based platform [1] to deliver long-term archiving and discovery for its research data. The platform was based upon the Arkivum/100 [2] digital archiving service from Arkivum and the figshare for institutions solution from Figshare [3]. This article discusses the background and implementation of this new platform at the University.

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"Data-Intensive Science and Campus IT"

Jerry Sheehan et al. have published "Data-Intensive Science and Campus IT" in EDUCAUSE Review.

Here's an excerpt:

Montana State University developed the Research Data Census to engage local research communities in dialogue about their data: size, sharing resources and behaviors, and interest in services. The census confirmed the need for a tight coupling of IT infrastructure to data and curation services in order to make those resources useful to the research community.

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"Data Management Practices Across an Institution: Survey and Report"

Cunera Buys and Pamela Shaw have published "Data Management Practices Across an Institution: Survey and Report" in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt:

A 21-question survey was distributed to approximately 12,940 faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral candidates, and selected research-affiliated staff at Northwestern's Evanston and Chicago Campuses. Survey questions solicited information regarding types and size of data, current and future needs for data storage, data retention and data sharing, what researchers are doing (or not doing) regarding data management planning, and types of training or assistance needed. There were 831 responses and 788 respondents completed the survey, for a response rate of approximately 6.4%.

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"Do You Have an Institutional Data Policy? A Review of the Current Landscape of Library Data Services and Institutional Data Policies"

Kristin Briney et al. have published "Do You Have an Institutional Data Policy? A Review of the Current Landscape of Library Data Services and Institutional Data Policies" in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication,.

Here's an excerpt:

This study reviewed library data services efforts and institutional data policies of 206 American universities, drawn from the July 2014 Carnegie list of universities with "Very High" or "High" research activity designation. Twenty-four different characteristics relating to university type, library data services, policy type, and policy contents were examined.

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"Enduring Access to Rich Media Content: Understanding Use and Usability Requirements"

Madeleine Casad wt al. have published "Enduring Access to Rich Media Content: Understanding Use and Usability Requirements" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Through an NEH-funded initiative, Cornell University Library is creating a technical, curatorial, and managerial framework for preserving access to complex born-digital new media objects. The Library's Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art provides the testbed for this project. This collection of complex interactive born-digital artworks are used by students, faculty, and artists from various disciplines. Interactive digital assets are far more complex to preserve and manage than single uniform digital media files. The preservation model developed will apply not merely to new media artworks, but to other rich digital media environments. This article describes the project's findings and discoveries, focusing on a user survey conducted with the aim of creating user profiles and use cases for born-digital assets like those in the testbed collection.

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"Data Rights and Responsibilities: A Human Rights Perspective on Data Sharing"

Theresa L. Harris and Jessica M. Wyndham have published "Data Rights and Responsibilities: A Human Rights Perspective on Data Sharing " in the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics.

Here's an excerpt:

A human-rights-based analysis can be a useful tool for the scientific community and policy makers as they develop codes of conduct, harmonized standards, and national policies for data sharing. The human rights framework provides a shared set of values and norms across borders, defines rights and responsibilities of various actors involved in data sharing, addresses the potential harms as well as the benefits of data sharing, and offers a framework for balancing competing values. The right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications offers a particularly helpful lens through which to view data as both a tool of scientific inquiry to which access is vital and as a product of science from which everyone should benefit.

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Digital Preservation Librarian at University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is recruiting a Digital Preservation Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This position is responsible for creating, maintaining, and ensuring access to policies, procedures, workflows, and strategies related to digital preservation projects and practices. The employee in this position is expected to be current with the community of practice for digital preservation, as well as be a leader within the broader fields of preservation and digital libraries.

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"DPOE Interview with Danielle Spalenka of the Digital POWRR Project"

Barrie Howard has published "DPOE Interview with Danielle Spalenka of the Digital POWRR Project" in The Signal.

Here's an excerpt:

Our review of the landscape of digital preservation instruction was that it is largely aimed at an audience beginning to come to grips with the idea that digital objects are subject to loss if we don't actively care for them. There are lots of offerings discussing the theory of digital preservation—the "why" of the problem—and we found that there were limited opportunities to learn the "how" of digital preservation, both on the advocacy and technical sides. We also found that other great offerings, like the Digital Preservation Management Workshop Series based at MIT, had a tuition fee that was unaffordable for many prospective attendees, especially from under-funded institutions. Our goal in this phase is to make the workshops free to attend.

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"Data Stewardship in the Earth Sciences"

Robert R. Downs et al. have published "Data Stewardship in the Earth Sciences" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

In the Earth Sciences, for the past 15+ years, the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) has been working to make Earth science data more discoverable, accessible, and usable by more people. As a part of this effort, the ESIP Data Stewardship Committee has worked on a variety of recommendations, best practices, and guidelines that have significantly moved data stewardship in the Earth sciences forward, with impacts ranging from influencing how data management is done within government agencies and by other data stewards, to providing guidelines for citation of Earth science data used by publishers in the Earth sciences. Completed and ongoing activities of the committee are described. Interested readers are invited to join our community.

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"Articulating a Vision for Community-Engaged Data Curation in the Digital Humanities"

Lydia Zvyagintseva has self-archived "Articulating a Vision for Community-Engaged Data Curation in the Digital Humanities."

Here's an excerpt:

The purpose of this study was to identify critical elements in a conceptual model for a community-engaged data curation in the digital humanities, to propose a set of evaluation criteria that would act as guiding principles in pursuing such work in the future, and to explore ways in which community-engaged data curation practice can further the mission of public digital humanities.

| New: Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 5 | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap