bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Review of Standards for Surface and Dermal Sampling
Authors: Ashley Kevin , Brisson Michael J. , White Kenneth T.
Published: December 2011

This article summarizes the body of available standards for sampling of chemical and biological agents on workplace surfaces, including skin. These standards consist of voluntary consensus standards such as those promulgated by ASTM International, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), as well as methods produced by U.S. Federal agencies such as the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Gaps in availabilities of standards are discussed along with activities underway to address needs in the field of occupational and environmental hygiene. In many cases, the available standards have been developed largely in response to regulatory requirements. For example, ASTM International standards, which describe requirements for wiping surfaces and methodologies for determining metals and metalloids such as lead and beryllium, were produced primarily in response to regulatory requirements for sampling settled dust for these elements in the United States. Methods for collection of asbestos samples, vacuum sampling, dry wipe sampling, and bulk sampling have also been promulgated. Standardized methods for non-metal contaminants and biological agents are more limited in availability. In particular, there is a lack of standardized methodologies for dermal sampling and limited standard guidance on selection of appropriate surface sampling methods and data evaluation. Activities are currently ongoing within ASTM International and ISO to address some of the gaps, but additional activity is needed to address remaining requirements for consensus standards.
Evaluation of a Handwipe Disclosing Method for Lead
Authors: Ashley Kevin , Wise Tamara J. , Esswein Eric J.
Published: December 2011

A qualitative chemical screening method for lead in wipe samples was evaluated for its utility in detecting the presence of lead in collected dust; preliminary evaluation of the performance of the method is reported here. In evaluating the method on pure lead compounds, the observed intensity of the characteristic color change due to the presence of lead was generally consistent with the relative solubilities of the tested compounds. Some pure (non-lead) metal compounds (e.g., those of Ag, Ba, Bi, Ca, Cd, Hg, and Sr) were found to give false positive results. Several representative lead-containing reference materials were also tested, and the qualitative test results differed for different materials. For materials collected on wipes, the method was found to be effective for detecting lead in several sample matrices commonly found in occupational settings. The technique was also applied on-site on dermal samples collected at field locations.
Development of a Method for Screening Spill and Leakage of Antibiotics on Surfaces Based on Wipe Sampling and HPLC-MS/MS Analysis
Authors: Nygren Olle , Lindahl Roger
Published: December 2011

A screening method for determination of spill and leakage of 12 different antibiotic substances has been developed. The method is based on wipe sampling where the sampling procedure has been simplified for screening purposes. After sample processing, the antibiotic substances are determined by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Twelve antibiotic substances can be determined in the screening method: Cefadroxil, Cefalexin, Ciprofloxacin, Demeclocyklin HCl, Diaveridin, Doxycyklin, Enrofloxacin, Flukonazol, Metronidazol, Norfloxacin, Ofloxacin, and Trimetoprim. These substances are active components in antibiotic drugs frequently used in Sweden. For screening investigations using collection of wipe samples, good or acceptable performance was obtained for ten substances on three or more surface materials. Although not fully acceptable, useful performance for screening purposes was also obtained on the other surface materials and for the other substances, except Demeclocyklin HCl, on all surface materials. By employing a classification procedure, where the samples are divided into groups according to increasing contamination of the sample surfaces, screening samples and the contamination level can simply be compared. This classification procedure will also help to circumvent any deficiency in recovery performance for some substances and surface materials.
Screening of Spill and Leakage of Antibiotics in Hospital Wards
Authors: Nygren Olle , Lindahl Roger
Published: December 2011

This paper presents a two-phase study of spill and leakage of antibiotics in hospitals. The first phase was a screening of spill and leakage at 21 hospital wards in 16 hospitals. Phase two was an extended investigation, where different measures to reduce spill and leakage were implemented and a follow-up screening was made to evaluate the effect of the measures. At the screening, 206 samples were collected. The result was used to classify the wards into four classes: Low, Mean, High, and Very high. Spatial distribution patterns and the effect of compounding systems were also investigated. The screening showed that spill and leakage occur at all wards. Eleven of the 21 wards had High or Very high contamination level. This result also showed that the substances were distributed according to three possible patterns. The compounding systems also had an impact on the spill and leakage. All four wards that used a closed system were found among the six wards with the lowest spill and leakage, while all three wards that used open venting systems were found among the six wards with the highest spill and leakage. The result also showed that it is possible to handle antibiotics with only insignificant spill and leakage, i.e., by using closed systems. Three wards, classified as Very high, were included in the second phase. Measures to decrease spill and leakage and reduce the distribution the substances were implemented. After two month, a follow-up screening was carried out. The result showed lower contamination levels at all three wards and the implemented measures had some effect. Simple and easy-to-do measures can contribute to reduce the spill and leakage that occur. There is still, however, a need to discuss how to handle antibiotics in a safe way to reduce possible spill and leakage and to prevent the distribution of this spill and leakage.
Why Don't Taxpayers Maximize their Tax-Based Student Aid? Salience and Inertia in Program Selection
Authors: Turner Nicholas
Published: December 2011

Tax-based federal student aid is designed to increase postsecondary attendance and ease the financial burden of higher education enrollment by offering students and their families a menu of tax incentives. However, many taxpayers who are eligible for more than one tax-based aid program, and who are limited to one program per student each year, fail to select the single program that offers the largest reduction in taxes. Analyzing a panel dataset of individual income tax returns, I find that in roughly one out of four returns taxpayers and paid preparers fail to select the tax-minimizing tax-based aid program. I find evidence that greater salience of federal tax effects, and inertia in program selection, leads some taxpayers and paid preparers to make non-tax-minimizing selections. Streamlining the set of tax-based aid programs into a single tax incentive is likely to be a more effective way of lowering the costs of postsecondary attendance for students and their families.
Digital Data Preservation for Scholarly Publications in Astronomy
Authors: Choudhury Sayeed , DiLauro Tim , Szalay Alex , Vishniac Ethan , Hanisch Robert , Steffen Julie , Milkey Robert , Ehling Teresa , Plante Ray
Published: December 2011

Astronomy is similar to other scientific disciplines in that scholarly publication relies on the presentation and interpretation of data. But although astronomy now has archives for its primary research telescopes and associated surveys, the highly processed data that is presented in the peer-reviewed journals and is the basis for final analysis and interpretation is generally not archived and has no permanent repository. We have initiated a project whose goal is to implement an end-to-end prototype system which, through a partnership of a professional society, that society’s scholarly publications/publishers, research libraries, and an information technology substrate provided by the Virtual Observatory, will capture high-level digital data as part of the publication process and establish a distributed network of curated, permanent data repositories. The data in this network will be accessible through the research journals, astronomy data centers, and Virtual Observatory data discovery portals.
Graduate Curriculum for Biological Information Specialists: A Key to Integration of Scale in Biology
Authors: Palmer Carole L. , Heidorn Bryan P. , Wright Dan , Cragin Melissa H.
Published: December 2011

Scientific data problems do not stand in isolation. They are part of a larger set of challenges associated with the escalation of scientific information and changes in scholarly communication in the digital environment. Biologists in particular are generating enormous sets of data at a high rate, and new discoveries in the biological sciences will increasingly depend on the integration of data across multiple scales. This work will require new kinds of information expertise in key areas. To build this professional capacity we have developed two complementary educational programs: a Biological Information Specialist (BIS) masters degree and a concentration in Data Curation (DC). We believe that BISs will be central in the development of cyberinfrastructure and information services needed to facilitate interdisciplinary and multi-scale science. Here we present three sample cases from our current research projects to illustrate areas in which we expect information specialists to make important contributions to biological research practice.
Digital Preservation Theory and Application: Transcontinental Persistent Archives Testbed Activity
Authors: Watry Paul
Published: December 2011

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and EU SHAMAN projects are working with multiple research institutions on tools and technologies that will supply a comprehensive, systematic, and dynamic means for preserving virtually any type of electronic record, free from dependence on any specific hardware or software. This paper describes the joint development work between the University of Liverpool and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego on the NARA and SHAMAN prototypes. The aim is to provide technologies in support of the required generic data management infrastructure. We describe a Theory of Preservation that quantifies how communication can be accomplished when future technologies are different from those available at present. This includes not only different hardware and software, but also different standards for encoding information. We describe the concept of a â€œdigital ontologyâ€ to characterize preservation processes; this is an advance on the current OAIS Reference Model of providing representation information about records. To realize a comprehensive Theory of Preservation, we describe the ongoing integration of distributed shared collection management technologies, digital library browsing, and presentation technologies for the NARA and SHAMAN Persistent Archive Testbeds.
Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model
Authors: Higgins Sarah
Published: December 2011

Lifecycle management of digital materials can help conceptualisation of the stages required to successfully curate digital material. A number of discipline specific models, and more generally applicable standards, have been developed which can be used as a basis when planning and implementing organisational management of digital material. The generic Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model identifies curation actions applicable either across the whole digital lifecycle or sequentially throughout it. Domain specific models, with greater granularity, will be developed to ensure readily accessible advice.
Planets: Integrated Services for Digital Preservation
Authors: Farquhar Adam , Hockx-Yu Helen
Published: December 2011

The Planets Project is developing services and technology to address core challenges in digital preservation. This article introduces the motivation for this work, describes the extensible technical architecture and places the Planets approach into the context of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model. It also provides a scenario demonstrating Planets’ usefulness in solving real-life digital preservation problems and an overview of the project’s progress to date.
Some Challenges for eScience Liaison
Authors: Pryor Graham
Published: December 2011

The Digital Curation Centre’s promotion of expertise and good practice in digital data curation is no mere exercise in theory. Through its new eScience Liaison initiative the DCC has kept a close eye on its founding principle, that the necessity for the physical and life sciences to share access to digital research resources is due mainly to issues characteristic of eScience. This article describes some of the principal liaison activities that have been addressed within that community since the summer of 2007.
The UK LOCKSS Pilot Programme: A Perspective from the LOCKSS Technical Support Service
Authors: Rusbridge Adam , Ross Seamus
Published: December 2011

Over the last decade libraries have increasingly shifted journal access from print to digital. The preference of users for online content, the demand of readers for a broader range of content, and the rising costs of library shelf space all contributed to bringing about this change. A variety of approaches has emerged to support access to these digital journals. The common ones require libraries to access content through publishers, which invariably means libraries lose long-term control of the journals to which they have subscribed. As an alternative, the Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe (LOCKSS) approach enables libraries to regain custody of journal assets while maintaining the access and licence terms stipulated by the publisher. This article describes the UK LOCKSS Pilot Programme; a two-year JISC/CURL (Joint Information Systems Committee/Consortium of Research Libraries in the British Isles)-funded initiative to explore issues associated with the practical implementation of LOCKSS in the UK Higher Education institutions. It examines the pilot from the perspective of the LOCKSS Technical Support Service, a core component of the Pilot Programme.
Evolving a Network of Networks: The Experience of Partnerships in the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program
Authors: Anderson Martha
Published: December 2011

The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) was initiated in December 2000 when the U.S. Congress authorized the Library of Congress to work with a broad range of institutions to develop a national strategy for the preservation of at-risk digital content. Guided by a strategy of collaboration and iteration, the Library of Congress began the formation of a national network of partners dedicated to collecting and preserving important born-digital information. Over the last six years, the Library and its partners have been engaged in learning through action that has resulted in an evolving understanding of the most appropriate roles and functions for a national network of diverse stakeholders. The emerging network is complex and inclusive of a variety of stakeholders; content producers, content stewards and service providers from the public and private sectors. Lessons learned indicate that interoperability is a challenge in all aspects of collaborative work.
Toward Distributed Infrastructures for Digital Preservation: The Roles of Collaboration and Trust
Authors: Day Michael
Published: December 2011

This paper first explores some of the reasons why collaboration is becoming increasingly important in supporting scientific data curation, digital preservation initiatives and institutional repository development. It then investigates the concepts of trust and control used in the organisation science literature and attempts to apply them to the work on trustworthy repositories being carried out by various international initiatives.
Data Documentation Initiative: Toward a Standard for the Social Sciences
Authors: Vardigan Mary , Heus Pascal , Thomas Wendy
Published: December 2011

The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an emerging metadata standard for the social sciences. The DDI is in active use by many data specialists and archivists, but researchers themselves have been slow to recognize the benefits of the standards approach to metadata. This paper outlines how the DDI has evolved since its inception in 1995 and discusses ways to broaden its impact in the social science research community.
Moving Archival Practices Upstream: An Exploration of the Life Cycle of Ecological Sensing Data in Collaborative Field Research
Authors: Wallis Jullian C. , Borgman Christine L. , Mayernik Matthew S. , Pepe Alberto
Published: December 2011

The success of eScience research depends not only upon effective collaboration between scientists and technologists but also upon the active involvement of data archivists. Archivists rarely receive scientific data until findings are published, by which time important information about their origins, context, and provenance may be lost. Research reported here addresses the life cycle of data from collaborative ecological research with embedded networked sensing technologies. A better understanding of these processes will enable archivists to participate in earlier stages of the life cycle and to improve curation of these types of scientific data. Evidence from our interview study and field research yields a nine-stage life cycle. Among the findings are the cumulative effect of decisions made at each stage of the life cycle; the balance of decision-making between scientific and technology research partners; and the loss of certain types of data that may be essential to later interpretation.
The DCC Curation Lifecycle Model
Authors: Higgins Sarah
Published: December 2011

Lifecycle management of digital materials is necessary to ensure their continuity. The DCC Curation Lifecycle Model has been developed as a generic, curation-specific, tool which can be used, in conjunction with relevant standards, to plan curation and preservation activities to different levels of granularity. The DCC will use the model: as a training tool for data creators, data curators and data users; to organise and plan their resources; and to help organisations identify risks to their digital assets and plan management strategies for their successful curation.
Recycling Information: Science Through Data Mining
Authors: Lesk Michael
Published: December 2011

An article considering the changes afoot in the world of Science and how the exponentially increasing amounts of recorded data are affecting the way in which scientists now work, for example with data mining. Changes in the way that resources become obsolete are also discussed and how more value must be placed on the work of professionals in digital curation.
Meeting Curation Challenges in a Neuroimaging Group
Authors: Whyte Angus , Job Dominic , Giles Stephen , Lawrie Stephen
Published: December 2011

The SCARP project is a series of short studies with two aims; firstly to discover more about disciplinary approaches and attitudes to digital curation through ‘immersion’ in selected cases; secondly to apply known good practice, and where possible, identify new lessons from practice in the selected discipline areas. The study summarised here is of the Neuroimaging Group in the University of Edinburgh’s Division of Psychiatry, which plays a leading role in eScience collaborations to improve the infrastructure for neuroimaging data integration and reuse. The Group also aims to address growing data storage and curation needs, given the capabilities afforded by new infrastructure. The study briefly reviews the policy context and current challenges to data integration and sharing in the neuroimaging field. It then describes how curation and preservation risks and opportunities for change were identified throughout the curation lifecycle; and their context appreciated through field study in the research site. The results are consistent with studies of neuroimaging eInfrastructure that emphasise the role of local data sharing and reuse practices. These sustain mutual awareness of datasets and experimental protocols through sharing peer to peer, and among senior researchers and students, enabling continuity in research and flexibility in project work. This “human infrastructure” is taken into account in considering next steps for curation and preservation of the Group’s datasets and a phased approach to supporting data documentation.
Editorial
Authors: Rusbridge Chris
Published: December 2011

Chris Rusbridge, Chief Editor, introduces the Winter, 2008 issue of the International Journal of Digital Curation. This issue contains five peer-reviewed papers, most from the 3rd International Conference on Digital Curation held in Washington, December 2007, together with a selection of general articles on a range of topics of interest.
Sustaining Engineering Informatics: Toward Methods and Metrics for Digital Curation
Authors: Lubell Josh , Rachuri Sudarsan , Mani Mahesh , Subrahmanian Eswaran
Published: December 2011

Ensuring the long-term usability of engineering informatics (EI) artifacts is a challenge, particularly for products with longer lifecycles than the computing hardware and software used for their design and manufacture. Addressing this challenge requires characterizing the nature of EI, defining metrics for EI sustainability, and developing methods for long-term EI curation. In this paper we highlight various issues related to long-term archival of EI and describe the work towards methods and metrics for sustaining EI. We propose an approach to enhance the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) functional model to incorporate EI sustainability criteria, Digital Object Prototypes (DOPs), and end user access requirements. We discuss the end user’s requirements from the point of view of reference, reuse and rationale – the “3Rs” – to better understand the level of granularity and abstractions required in the definition of engineering digital objects. Finally we present a proposed case study and experiment.
Migration Performance for Legacy Data Access
Authors: Woods Kam , Brown Geoffrey
Published: December 2011

We present performance data relating to the use of migration in a system we are creating to provide web access to heterogeneous document collections in legacy formats. Our goal is to enable sustained access to collections such as these when faced with increasing obsolescence of the necessary supporting applications and operating systems. Our system allows searching and browsing of the original files within their original contexts utilizing binary images of the original media. The system uses static and dynamic file migration to enhance collection browsing, and emulation to support both the use of legacy programs to access data and long-term preservation of the migration software. While we provide an overview of the architectural issues in building such a system, the focus of this paper is an in-depth analysis of file migration using data gathered from testing our software on 1,885 CD-ROMs and DVDs. These media are among the thousands of collections of social and scientific data distributed by the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) on legacy media (CD-ROM, DVD, floppy disk) under the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) over the past 20 years.
The Fifth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPRES 2008)
Authors: Ball Alexander , Day Michael , Patel Manjula
Published: December 2011

The Fifth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects was held at the British Library on September 29â€“30, 2008, with the theme â€œJoined Up and Working: Tools and Methods for Digital Preservationâ€. Topics ranged from the technical foundations of digital preservation through preservation system architectures to the organizational and policy issues facing the custodians of digital resources. There were also sessions dedicated to dealing with particular types of content, training needs, and methods for auditing needs and services.
The Data Audit Framework: A First Step in the Data Management Challenge
Authors: Jones Sarah , Ball Alexander , Ekmekcioglu Ã‡una
Published: December 2011

The Data Audit Framework provides organisations with the means to identify, locate and assess the current management of their research data assets. Armed with this information they are in a position to improve ongoing data management. In this article we share our experiences of implementing the Framework and report back on the kind of data issues researchers commonly face. We also indicate how the Framework will be further developed before being released for widespread adoption.
Bringing Self-assessment Home: Repository Profiling and Key Lines of Enquiry within DRAMBORA
Authors: McHugh Andrew , Ross Seamus , Innocenti Perla , Ruusalepp Ravio , Hofman Hans
Published: December 2011

As repositories of various shapes and sizes continue to appear across the digital preservation landscape, means are urgently required to facilitate their evaluation. In what remains an immature discipline there are seldom any assurances of the viability of individual preservation infrastructures, and a pragmatic, risk-averse approach is critically important. The Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment (DRAMBORA) provides repository administrators with a flexible self- audit methodology and online tool, facilitating the validation of their objectives and methods and the management of intrinsic and extrinsic threats. This article introduces DRAMBORA, outlining its respective strengths and describing where it fits into a wider evaluation context.
3rd Annual WePreserve Conference 2008: A New Generation of Preservation Tools and Services
Authors: Nimmo Emily , Boi Sylvia
Published: December 2011

This is a report from the third annual WePreserve conference held in Nice, France on October 28-30, 2008. The WePreserve consortium is currently made up of three Digital Preservation projects funded by the European Commission, DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE), Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services (Planets) and Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval (CASPAR), but is in the process of expansion to include other relevant projects. The theme for 2008 was ‘a new generation of tools and services’ and was designed to showcase the tools and services available now for use in tackling the digital preservation challenge.
Editorial
Authors: Rusbridge Chris
Published: December 2011

Chris Rusbridge, Director of the Digital Curation Centre and Chief Editor, introduces Issue 1 of Volume 4, 2009, of the International Journal of Digital Curation.
ARCHER â€“ e-Research Tools for Research Data Management
Authors: Androulakis Steve , Buckle Ashley M. , Atkinson Ian , Groenewegen David , Nicholas Nick , Treloar Andrew , Beitz Anthony
Published: December 2011

With new scientific instruments growing exponentially in their capability to generate research data, new infrastructure needs to be developed and deployed to allow researchers to effectively and securely manage their research data from collection, publication, and eventual dissemination to research communities.Â  In particular, researchers need to be able to easily acquire data from instruments, store and manage potentially large quantities of data, easily process the data, share research resources and work spaces with colleagues both inside and outside of their institution, search and discover across their accessible collections, and easily publish datasets and related research artefacts.Â  The ARCHER Project has developed production-ready generic e-Research infrastructure including: a Research Repository; Scientific Dataset Managers (both a web and desktop application); Distributed Integrated Multi-Sensor and Instrument Middleware; and a Collaborative Workspace Environment.Â  Institutions can selectively deploy these components to greatly assist their researchers in managing their research data.
Relay-supporting Archives: Requirements and Progress
Authors: Janée Greg , Frew James , Moore Terry
Published: December 2011

We characterize long-term preservation of digital content as an extended relay in time, in which repeated handoffs of information occur independently at every architectural layer: at the physical layer, where bits are handed off between storage systems; at the logical layer, where digital objects are handed off between repository systems; and at the administrative layer, where collections of objects and relationships are handed off between archives, curators, and institutions.Â  We examine the support of current preservation technologies for these handoffs, note shortcomings, and argue that some modest improvements would result in a "relay-supporting" preservation infrastructure, one that provides a baseline level of preservation by mitigating the risk of fundamental information loss.Â  Finally, we propose a series of tests to validate a relay-supporting infrastructure, including a second Archive Ingest and Handling Test (AIHT).
Design and Implementation of the Australian National Data Service
Authors: Treloar Andrew
Published: December 2011

This paper will describe the genesis and realisation of the Australian National Data Service (ANDS). It will commence by outlining the context within which ANDS was conceived, both in the international research and Australian research support domains. It will then describe the process that brought about the ANDS vision and the principles that informed the realisation of that vision. The paper will then outline each of the four ANDS programs (Developing Frameworks, Providing Utilities, Seeding the Commons, and Building Capabilities) while also discussing particular items of note about the approach ANDS is taking. The paper concludes by briefly examining related work in the UK and US.
The Third DCC-RIN Research Data Management Forum
Authors: Donnelly Martin
Published: December 2011

A report on the third meeting of the Research Data Management Forum which was held in Manchester, UK on April 30 and May 1, 2009, with an overarchingÂ  theme entitled "Value and Benefits". The event was co-sponsored by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) and the Research Information Network (RIN).
Data Without Meaning: Establishing the Significant Properties of Digital Research
Authors: Knight Gareth , Pennock Maureen
Published: December 2011

It is well recognised that the period of time in which digital research may remain accessible is likely to be short in comparison to the period in which it will continue to hold intellectual value. Although many digital preservation strategies are effective for simple resources, it is not always possible to confirm that all of the significant properties - the characteristics that contribute to the intended meaning - have been maintained when stored in different formats and software environments. The paper outlines methodologies being developed by InterPARES, PLANETS and other projects in the international research community to support the decision-making process and highlights the work of four recent JISC-funded studies to specify the significant properties of vector images, moving images, software and learning objects.
Mining Contextual Information for Ephemeral Digital Video Preservation
Authors: Shah Chirag
Published: December 2011

For centuries the archival community has understood and practiced the art of adding contextual information while preserving an artifact. The question now is how these practices can be transferred to the digital domain. With the growing expansion of production and consumption of digital objects (documents, audio, video, etc.) it has become essential to identify and study issues related to their representation. A curaÂ­tor in the digital realm may be said to have the same responsibilities as one in a traditional archival domain. However, with the mass production and spread of digital objects, it may be difficult to do all the work manually. In the present article this problem is considered in the area of digital video preservation. We show how this problem can be formulated and propose a framework for capturing contextual inforÂ­mation for ephemeral digital video preservation. This proposal is realized in a system called ContextMiner, which allows us to cater to a digital curator's needs with its four components: digital video curation, collection visualization, browsing interfaces, and video harvesting and monitoring. While the issues and systems described here are geared toward digital videos, they can easily be applied to other kinds of digital objects.
Letter to the Editor: Authentic Digital Objects
Authors: Wilson Andrew
Published: December 2011

Long-term preservation of digital objects requires curators to be able to guarantee the archival authenticity of the objects in a digital repository. In IJDC 4(1), Ronald Jantz suggested that a digital certificate is sufficient to ensure authenticity. The letter writer takes issue with this view and points out some of the archival misinterpretations in the Jantz article. He maintains that the archival literature is a rich source for discussions of authenticity that has been ignored to the detriment of Jantz’s arguments.
Letter to the Editor: Re: Authentic Digital Objects
Authors: Jantz Ronald
Published: December 2011

This letter responds to Andrew Wilson’s concerns regarding my article in IJDC 4(1) entitled “An Institutional Framework for Creating Authentic Digital Objects”. This response clears up some of the issues regarding my assertions about digital certificates, metadata, and the roles of librarians in the digital environment.
Modelling Organizational Preservation Goals to Guide Digital Preservation
Authors: Dappert Angela , Farquhar Adam
Published: December 2011

This paper is an extended and updated version of the work reported at iPres 2008. Digital preservation activities can only succeed if they go beyond the technical properties of digital objects. They must consider the strategy, policy, goals, and constraints of the institution that undertakes them and take into account the cultural and institutional framework in which data, documents and records are preserved. Furthermore, because organizations differ in many ways, a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be appropriate. Fortunately, organizations involved in digital preservation have created documents describing their policies, strategies, work-flows, plans, and goals to provide guidance. They also have skilled staff who are aware of sometimes unwritten considerations. Within Planets (Farquhar & Hockx-Yu, 2007), a four-year project co-funded by the European Union to address core digital preservation challenges, we have analyzed preservation guiding documents and interviewed staff from libraries, archives, and data centres that are actively engaged in digital preservation. This paper introduces a conceptual model for expressing the core concepts and requirements that appear in preservation guiding documents. It defines a specific vocabulary that institutions can reuse for expressing their own policies and strategies. In addition to providing a conceptual framework, the model and vocabulary support automated preservation planning tools through an XML representation.
Report on the “Digital Preservation - The Planets Way” Workshop
Authors: Knight Gareth
Published: December 2011

A report on the Planets a “Digital Preservation – The Planets Way” workshop, which took place on June 22-24, 2009 at the Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark. The workshop brought together representatives from archives, libraries, museums, academia, media and other institutions to consider the activities necessary to maintain content in the long-term and establish the methodologies and software tools developed by the EU-funded PLANETS project as a potential solution for preservation concerns. The event was the first of a series of three-day workshops that the Planets (Preservation and Long-term Access through NETworked Services) project is organizing across Europe during 2009-2010.
Skilling Up to Do Data: Whose Role, Whose Responsibility, Whose Career?
Authors: Pryor Graham , Donnelly Martin
Published: December 2011

What are the roles necessary to effective data management and what kinds of expertise are needed by the researchers and data specialists who are filling those roles?Â  These questions were posed at a workshop of data creators and curators whose delegates challenged the DCC and RIN to identify the training needs and career opportunities for the broad cohort that finds itself working in data management – sometimes by design but more often by accident.Â  This paper revisits previous investigations into the roles and responsibilities required by a “data workforce”, presents a representative spectrum of informed opinion from the DCC Research Data Management Forum, and makes some recommendations for raising capability, capacity and status.
Comparison of Strategies and Policies for Building Distributed Digital Preservation Infrastructure: Initial Findings from the MetaArchive Cooperative
Authors: Halbert Martin
Published: December 2011

This paper discusses the importance of a particular approach to building and sustaining digital content preservation infrastructures for cultural memory organizations (CMOs), namely distributed approaches that are cooperatively maintained by CMOs (rather than centralized approaches managed by agencies external to CMOs), and why this approach may fill a gap in capabilities for those CMOs actively digitizing historical and cultural content (rather than scientific data). Initial findings are presented from an early organizational effort (the MetaArchive Cooperative) that seeks to fill this gap for CMOs. The paper situates these claims in the larger context of selected exemplars of DP efforts in both the United States and the United Kingdom that are seeking to develop effective DP models in an attempt to recognize those organizational aspects (such as the governmental frameworks, cultural backgrounds, and other differences in emphasis) that are UK and US-specific.
Data Curation in Climate and Weather: Transforming Our Ability to Improve Predictions through Global Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Jacobs Clifford A. , Worley Steven J.
Published: December 2011

Climate and Weather are of increasing interest to the scientific community and the general public. Data curation and stewardship are essential building blocks in the science community’s quest to better understand how natural climate and weather systems behave and how activities of human civilization are altering the natural system. Rudimentary observations of the atmosphere and ocean have been collected for over one hundred years and proxity measurements of the climate can trace our planet’s climatic history for millions of years. These observations coupled with the rapid advances in technology, such as powerful computers, rapid access to massive amounts of data, and satellite observations, have allowed innovative techniques to be used to understand and predict the planet’s climate and weather.
One for Many: A Metadata Concept for Mixed Digital Content at a State Archive
Authors: Naumann Kai , Keitel Christian , Lang Rolf
Published: December 2011

The Landesarchiv (State Archive) of Baden-WÃ¼rttemberg has designed and implemented a metadata concept for digital content covering a heterogenous range of digital-born and digitised material. Special attention was given to matters of authenticity and to economic ingest and dissemination methods under the requirements of a public archive. This paper describes the outcome of metadata discussions during the implementation period of the DIMAG repository. It treats integration of the repository’s architecture with the archival classification concept, measures for long-term accessibility, the creation of adapted metadata placement, and provisions for exchange with other applications for ingest and use. The deliberately short list of metadata elements is included in this paper. Some existing standards have been evaluated under a real use environment; this paper also introduces modifications applied to them in the project context.
Editorial
Authors: Rusbridge Chris
Published: December 2011

Chris Rusbridge, Chief Editor, introduces Volume 4, Issue 2 (2009) of the International Journal of Digital Curation.
Data Curation Program Development in U.S. Universities: The Georgia Institute of Technology Example
Authors: Walters Tyler O.
Published: December 2011

The curation of scientific research data at U.S. universities is a story of enterprising individuals and of incremental progress. A small number of libraries and data centers who see the possibilities of becoming “digital information management centers” are taking entrepreneurial steps to extend beyond their traditional information assets and include managing scientific and scholarly research data. The Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) has had a similar development path toward a data curation program based in its library. This paper will articulate GT’s program development, which the author offers as an experience common in U.S. universities. The main characteristic is a program devoid of top-level mandates and incentives, but rich with independent, “bottom-up” action. The paper will address program antecedents and context, inter-institutional partnerships that advance the library’s curation program, library organizational developments, partnerships with campus research communities, and a proposed model for curation program development. It concludes that despite the clear need for data curation put forth by researchers such as the groups of neuroscientists and bioscientists referenced in this paper, the university experience examined suggests that gathering resources for developing data curation programs at the institutional level is proving to be a quite onerous. However, and in spite of the challenges, some U.S. research universities are beginning to establish perceptible data curation programs.
â€œWhat? So Whatâ€: The Next-Generation JHOVE2 Architecture for Format-Aware Characterization
Authors: Abrams Stephen , Morrissey Sheila , Cramer Tom
Published: December 2011

The JHOVE characterization framework is widely used by international digital library programs and preservation repositories. However, its extensive use over the past four years has revealed a number of limitations imposed by idiosyncrasies of design and implementation. With funding from the Library of Congress under its National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program (NDIIPP), the California Digital Library, Portico, and Stanford University are collaborating on a two-year project to develop and deploy a next-generation architecture providing enhanced performance, streamlined APIs, and significant new features. The JHOVE2 Project generalizes the concept of format characterization to include identification, validation, feature extraction, and policy-based assessment. The target of this characterization is not a simple digital file, but a (potentially) complex digital object that may be instantiated in multiple files.
Designing for Discovery and Re-Use: the ‘ANDS Data Sharing Verbs’ Approach to Service Decomposition
Authors: Burton Adrian , Treloar Andrew
Published: December 2011

This paper describes how the Australian National Data Services (ANDS) is designing systems to support data sharing and Re-use. The paper commences with an overview of the setting for ANDS, before introducing ANDS itself. The paper then structures its discussion of ANDS services for Re-use in terms of the ANDS Data Sharing Verbs: Create, Store, Describe, Identify, Register, Discover, Access and Exploit. For each of the data verbs, a rationale for its importance is provided together with a description of how it is being implemented by ANDS. The paper concludes by arguing for the data verbs approach as a useful way to design and structure flexible services in a heterogenous environment.
The Significance of Storage in the “Cost of Risk” of Digital Preservation
Authors: Wright Richard , Miller Ant , Addis Matthew
Published: December 2011

As storage costs drop, storage is becoming the lowest cost in a digital repository – and the biggest risk. We examine current modelling of costs and risks in digital preservation, concentrating on the Total Cost of Risk when using digital storage systems for preserving audiovisual material. We review the vital role of storage and show how planning for long-term preservation of data should consider the risks involved in using digital storage technology. Gaps in information necessary for accurate modelling – and planning – are presented. We call for new functionality to support recovery of files with errors, to eliminate the all-or-nothing approach of current IT systems, which in turn reduces the impact of failures of digital storage technology and mitigates against loss of digital data.
Curating the CIA World Factbook
Authors: Buneman Peter , Müller Heiko , Rusbridge Chris
Published: December 2011

The CIA World Factbook is a prime example of a curated database – a database that is constructed and maintained with a great deal of human effort in collecting, verifying, and annotating data. Preservation of old versions of the Factbook is important for verification of citations; it is also essential for anyone interested in the history of the data such as demographic change. Although the Factbook has been published, both physically and electronically, only for the past 30 years, we appear in danger of losing this history. This paper investigates the issues involved in capturing the history of an evolving database and its application to the CIA World Factbook. In particular it shows that there is substantial added value to be gained by preserving databases in such a way that questions about the change in data, (longitudinal queries) can be readily answered. Within this paper, we describe techniques for recording change in a curated database and we describe novel techniques for querying the change. Using the example of this archived curated database, we discuss the extent to which the accepted practices and terminology of archiving, curation and digital preservation apply to this important class of digital artefacts.