Part 1. Research Material: What is Digital Preservation?

Before we go into the definition of digital preservation, first, we have to know what digital object is.

·         We can easily understand what digital object is by looking at the type of it. Many types of digital objects/digital information are rather straight forward transcriptions of traditional documents, such as books, reports, correspondence, and lists. ·         Some other types of digital objects which cannot be expressed in traditional hard-copy or analog media. Such as, interactive WebPages, geographic information systems, and virtual reality models.

Now, we should have a little idea about what actually digital preservation is trying to preserve. Let’s move on to the definition of digital preservation:

1.       Series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as necessary. (Digital Preservation Coalition. 2008) 2.       Planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and technologies to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable. 3.       Regardless of the challenges of media failure and technological change. 4.       Accurate rendering of authenticated content over time. (Evans, Mark; Carter, Laura. 2008)

We can also categorize digital preservation into 3 different categories regarding their preserve duration:

1.       Long-term preservation: Continued access to digital materials, or at least to the information contained in them, indefinitely. 2.       Medium-term preservation: Continued access to digital materials beyond changes in technology for a defined period of time but not indefinitely. 3.       Short-term preservation: Access to digital materials either for a defined period of time while use is predicted but which does not extend beyond the foreseeable future and until it becomes inaccessible because of changes in technology.

There are 3 preservation techniques which can be used to preserve digital information.

1.       Emulation: The process of setting up a system to perform in the same way as another system of a different type in order to run its programs. 2.       Encapsulation: A technique grouping together a digital object and anything else necessary to provide access to that object. 3.       Migration: The periodic transfer of digital materials from one hardware/software configuration to another or from one generation of computer technology to a subsequent generation. The purpose of migration is to preserve the integrity of digital objects and to retain the ability for clients to retrieve, display, and otherwise use them in the face of constantly changing technology.

A schematic diagram for selection of preservation techniques of digital information