Digital Preservation: From
Projects to Infrastructure
Margaret Hedstrom
University of Michigan

Outline of the Presentation
 Recent Developments in Digital

Preservation
 Current Approaches and Solutions
 Infrastructure Requirements
 Bridging the Gaps
 Conclusion

Digital Preservation Challenges
 Keeping information alive and accessiblein spite of changing technology
 Ensuring that information is credible
and understandable so that it is not
used inappropriately
 Sustaining information with an adequate
flow of revenue over many decades

Emerging Standards
and Best Practices
 Framework and Models for Trusted

Repositories
 Standards for Metadata and DataFormats
 Some Tools Managing Technology
Dependencies

New Challenges
 Need for digital preservation repositories

and services in new environments
 Scientific Data
 Entertainment and New Media Personal Archives

 Need for interoperability across repositories
 Need for integration of data and publications

New Challenges
 Scalability of current methods
Diversity of data, formats, production
environments
Quantity of ubiquitous data
Appraisal and Selection
Costs of digital preservation
 Need for approaches that generalize

and scale gracefullyMoment of opportunity The pieces of a global network are falling

into place Computation
 Communication Content

 Or are they?
 Diversity of content?
 Content exploitation?
 Comprehension?
 New knowledge generation?

What is missing?
 Comprehensive content
 Across disciplines, language, location
 Tools for analysis
 Sharing and exchange of content, data,results Acceleration in the generation of newknowledge
 Fundamental, not incremental, newdiscoveries
 Infrastructure to enable all of the above

Moving from Projects toInfrastructure Digital Preservation Projects haveproduced useful models, tools, andpractices for specific types of content
in specific environments
 How can we build on these projects
and shift toward building digitalpreservation infrastructure?

What is infrastructure?
 Structures, systems, and social agreementsthat all allow disparate components of asystem to work together on a grand scale.
 Effective infrastructure allows people tointeract with systems easily.
 Useful infrastructure allows people toaccomplish goals that would be impossible toachieve without it.

Digital Preservation
Infrastructure Components
 Technical Aspects
 Interoperable hardware, software, andnetworking components

 Intellectual Components
 Interoperable metadata schema, ontologies, andknowledge representation
 Social Components
 Agreement on roles and responsibilities,incentives and rewards

Characteristics ofInfrastructure Embeddedness
 Transparency
 Reach or scope Linked with conventions of practice Embodiment of standards
 Built on an installed base
 Becomes visible upon breakdown Is fixed in modular increments, not all at

once or globally

Karen Ruhleder and Susan Leigh Star

Infrastructure Requirements
GlobalReach/
Scope
Transparency
Embodiment ofStandards

TechnicalBuild on an
Installed base
Visible onbreakdown

Links with conventions of practiceSocialLearned as partof membership
Embeddedness

Local

Source: Florence Millerand,
Cyberinfrastructure along socialand technical dimensions

Infrastrcture: Some Concrete
Examples The power system The transportation system

Cyber-infrastructure
Initiatives
 Digital Projects and Digital Libraries
 [US] National Science Foundation (NSF) Blue

Ribbon Panel on Cyberinfrastructure for
Science and Engineering
 E-Science and Information Society Initiatives
 ACLS Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for
Humanities and Social Science CASPAR ProjectBarriers Can’t we free ride on cyber-infrastructure for e-science?
 Won’t Google do this for us?
 Won’t the Semantic Web fix all ofthese problems?
 How do we move from isolated
projects to infrastructure?

Identifying Gaps
 Most digital preservation research and development

is centered on repositories
 Architecture Metadata Tools Developments focus on the technical axis
 Many digital preservation efforts focus on activities

within repositories
 Outreach to producers is limited to a subset of
producer communities

Gaps in Infrastucture
GlobalReach/
Scope
Transparency
Embodiment ofStandards

Technical

Build on an
Installed base
Visible onbreakdown

Links with conventions of practiceSocialLearned as partof membership
Embeddedness

Scope of OAIS Activities
Preservation Planning

PRO
DUC
E
R

Descriptive
Info.

Data
Management

Descriptive
Info.
queriesresult sets

IngestAccessordersSIP
AIPArchival
Storage

AIP

Administration

MANAGEMENT
SIP = Submission Information Package
AIP = Archival Information Package
DIP = Dissemination Information Package

DIP

CO
N
S
U
M
ER

Repository-Centered View ofMetadata Creation
ProducerPrimary
Concernof
Repository
Developers

Submission
Information
Packages

OAIS
Archival
Information
Packages

Dissemination
Information
PackagesqueriesresultsetsordersConsumer

Repository-Centric Viewof Workflow

Identifying Gaps
 Interoperability between tools,

standards and practices in producer
communities and repository standards,
tools and practices
 Two different workflows
Data production
Digital preservation

Identifying Gaps Social side of infrastructure Reaching into more producer communities Reaching more deeply into the data production
process Provision for preservation becomes part ofnormal workflow
 Awareness and skill needed for preservationis learned as a part of collecting data, doingresearch, etc.

Bridging the Gaps How can we build infrastructure thatunites the production of scientific datawith long-term preservation?
 Technical Issues
Tools the interoperate between

production and preservation environments
Workflows that begin in the productionenvironment

Bridging the Gaps Social Issues
Can we embed preservation awareness inthe scientific production environment?
Can we teach/learn good data practices
as part of learning good research practice?
Can we extend models of good practicefrom one lab to the next? One discipline tothe next?

Conclusion
 Building digital preservation

infrastructure will require: A long view of the information life cycle

beginning at the point of creation (or before) Embedding digital preservation requirements into
systems and tools for producing information
 Close attention to the fit between conventions ofpractice and preservation requirements