Robin Rice

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Curation preservation of online resources the
DCC and options for resource creators

• Robin Rice
• Phase One Project Co-ordinator
• Manchester 16 Dec 2004

Funded by
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Overview

• A bit about the Digital Curation Centre
• A bit about digital preservation
• Some options for resource creators
• More about the DCC (if theres time)

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Digital curation a definition

• The actions needed to maintain digital research
  data and other materials over their life-cycle,
  for current and future generations.
• These actions include digital archiving and
  preservation, and good practice in data creation
  and management.
• Also, providing the capacity for adding value to
  data to generate new sources of information and
  knowledge.

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Why a national centre?

• Scientists and researchers across the UK
  generate increasingly vast amounts of digital
  data, with further investment in digitisation and
  purchase of digital content and information. The
  scientific record and the documentary heritage
  created in digital form are at risk from
  technology obsolescence and by the fragility of
  digital media.
• - JISC press release, 3/04

• Long-term curation and preservation of digital
  resources is seen as a challenge which is
  difficult if not impossible for individual
  institutions to resolve on their own due to the
  complexity and scale of the challenges involved.
  
• - JISC circular, 6/03

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Aims Objectives of the DCC

• continuing quality improvement in data curation
  digital preservation practice
• initial focus data as evidence for scholarly
  conclusions
• wider remit scholarly communication eLearning
• excellence in research excellence in service
• working with repositories, rather than being one
• connecting communities via Associates Network
• universities research institutes
• scientific data tradition document tradition
• international cross-sectoral

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The Life-cycle approach

• Term originated with records managers
• Creation
• Acquisition / Appraisal
• Identification and cataloguing
• Storage
• Preservation
• Access
• Disposal
• Metadata associated with each purpose

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OAIS Reference Model Function of a digital
archive
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Digital preservation methods

• Document Format Specification
• e.g. put everything in PDF
• file format registry may be required in long-term
• Migration Refreshment
• preserve usability rather than original bitstream
• copy onto new software media
• Emulation or Encapsulation
• re-creating the IT environment
• preserves the look and feel of original object
• Digital Archaeology Rescue
• urgent action to save key resources

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Preservation options for the online resource
creator

• Personal custodianship (lifetime limit?)
• Deposition in a trusted repository
• discipline-based repository
• object-type based repository
• institutional-based repository
• Share your data LOCKSS
• Be captured in a web archive
• www.archive.org, Wayback machine
• UK Web Archiving Consortium (BL, JISC )

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JISC Digital Repositories Programme Initial
Announcement

• Call for projects early in 2005 for 2-3 years,
  2.5 million GBP per annum.
• Explore the role of digital repositories within
  learning and research and related cultural
  issues, impediments.
• Piloting new technologies and software tools in a
  practical testbed.
• Reviewing and developing standards,
  specifications, protocols and frameworks.
• Evaluation, review and supporting studies.

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www.dcc.ac.uk

• Watch this space for a range of new services and
  outputs!
• Join the DCC Associates Network and participate
  in the discussion forum!