Digital Preservation: "How will I read this conference content in 25 years time"- A strategic role for HEAnet in digital preservation Marie Reddan Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference

Overview Data Stewardship - Digital Preservation and Curation Issues in digital preservation Current activity in Ireland in creating digital content Challenges arising from digitisation projects Lifecycle management of data - advantages of a co- ordinated approach Advocacy and progress to date Advancing a national strategy for digital preservation Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Data Stewardship Preservation Curation “ …Preservation entails standards-based, active management practices that guide data throughout the research life cycle, as well as ensure the long-term usability of these digital resources…” “ …Curation involves ways of organising, displaying, and repurposing preserved data…” To stand the test of time: long-term stewardship of digital data sets in science and Engineering …ARL / National Science Foundation …2006 www.arl.org/pp/access/nsfworkshop.shtml Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Issues in digital preservation Preservation of the object in itself not enough Speed of technological change BBC Domesday project http://www.atsf.co.uk/dottext/domesday.html Volume of digital content National heritage / national importance Importance of national strategies and infrastructure Digital preservation will not happen by chance Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Current activity in Ireland in creating digital content Huge investment in research and resultant digitised output Academic Research Government funded Research Projects Libraries and Archives Research Institutions Not just print …multimedia Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Challenges arising from digitisation projects Nature and Lifecycle of projects Awareness of research work in progress Technical support issues Funding problems Importance of Standards Issues of selectivity for long-term preservation Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Lifecycle management of data - advantages of a co-ordinated approach Generally accepted and applied standards Ability to aggregate and organise content created Ability to build on content created – innovation and creativity Centralised or distinct sources of expertise Promotion, education and training Technical support Active management of data Preservation for long term usability Curation of data / re-purposing of preserved data Security of content Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Advocacy and progress to date Irish Manuscripts Commission Royal Irish Academy/ DHO Funding Bodies Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Irish Manuscripts Commission Digitisation Policy 2007 http://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/downlo ads/IMC%20DTF%20report%20210607 .pdf Develop a comprehensive, inter-departmental framework to implement a national strategy for a digital infrastructure linked to a trusted digital repository; Devise a national strategy that is flexible enough to respond to the dynamic nature of digitisation projects and the technology underpinning them; it must also aim to ensure that digitised resources/ objects are openly accessible, and developed using internationally recognised protocols for data capture and long-term digital preservation; This policy submitted to Department of Arts Sports and Tourism (DAST) Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Royal Irish Academy ADVANCING HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES RESEARCH IRELAND a report by the Royal Irish Academy 2007 http://www.ria.ie/policy/pdfs/website.pdf Digital Humanities Observatory DHO The DHO was established to manage and co-ordinate the increasingly complex e- resources created in the arts and humanities. It will enable research and researchers in Ireland to keep abreast of international developments in the creation, use, and preservation of digital resources. Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Funding Bodies Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) “ …Suitable repositories should make provision for long-term preservation of and free public access to, published research findings …” Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Advancing a national strategy for digital preservation Need for a policy Need for a trusted digital repository Distributed and harvested centrally or ….? Need for a co-ordinating body Importance of leveraging the investment in what is already there Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Role for HEAnet? Key role How? Why HEAnet? Implementing and supporting a national Digital Preservation strategy at the technical level How? In collaboration with key stakeholders Why HEAnet? Data storage is a key strategy of HEAnet Is the Irish national academic and research network - working with all Irish HE and Research Institutions Is a major player in international networking Technical expertise Is responsible for the shared infrastructure which is built, maintained and updated Storage is part of that infrastructure which can be maintained and preserved Building on what we already have Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Like the Librarian in the Book … Finally …. Like the Librarian in the Book … –”… it is not for us ordinary monks to know where the information is actually kept: it is enough that we can be given access to it when we need it …” Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Digital Preservation: "How will I read this conference content in 25 years time” - Part 2: DHO Preservation Strategies Don Gourley, IT Manager, Digital Humanities Observatory Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference

Digital Humanities Observatory Part of the Humanities Serving Irish Society (HSIS) consortium to develop an all-island inter-institutional research infrastructure for the humanities Defining, promoting and implementing best practices for… Digitisation Archival Curation Discovery Presentation 3 years funding under cycle four of the Programme of Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Addressing preservation in 3 years Work with partners Exploit national infrastructure and services Create interoperable and shared services Promote and deploy best practices Implement specific preservation strategies Create preservable digital content Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

HSIS partners: digital content creation and use An Foras Feasa National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUI Maynooth) Dublin City University (DCU) Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT) St. Patrick's College The Global Ireland Institute University College Dublin (UCD) Institute of Technology, Tallaght (ITT) Queen’s University Belfast Texts, Contexts, Cultures National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) Trinity College Dublin University College Cork Unaffiliated HSIS Partners National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Royal Irish Academy University of Ulster Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

e-INIS partners: technical support and infrastructure ICHEC, Grid-Ireland, HEAnet Systems development support Web hosting National federated data store Data management and preservation services Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

DHO infrastructure for digital preservation “View digital preservation as a series of holding positions, or perhaps as a relay. Make your dispositions on the basis of the timescale you can foresee and for which you have funding. Preserve your objects to the best of your ability, and hand them on to your successor in good order at the end of your lap of the relay. In good order here means that the digital objects are intact, and that you have sufficient metadata and documentation to be able to demonstrate authenticity, provenance, and to give future users a good chance to access or use those digital objects.” Chris Rusbridge, 2006 Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Best practices for digital preservation Take care of the bits (backup, refresh, etc.) Keep content discoverable, accessible, usable & re-usable Implement strategies to ensure content is “in good order” Standards Migration Encapsulation Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

DHO preservation strategies: standards Application profiles Object structures Metadata schemas Data formats Encoding formats community-specific DC Education METS RDF TEI Dublin Core TIFF XML JPEG WAV PCM ISO-8859-1 generic Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

DHO preservation strategies: migration Application profiles Object structures Metadata schemas Data formats Encoding formats DC Education METS RDF TEI Dublin Core TIFF JPEG2000 XML JPEG WAV PCM ISO-8859-1 Unicode Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

DHO preservation strategies: encapsulation Structured digital objects Persistent digital object identifier Representation documentation Provenance information Context Fixity Content datastreams Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

“How will I read this conference in 25 years time?” ASXWMV PDF PHP HTML PPT Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008

Questions? I have a few . . . Selection? Funding? Access rights? Authenticity? …? Lighting the Future: Strategies for Education and Research Networking. HEAnet’s National Networking Conference 13th November 2008