Digital disaster: are you prepared?, University College London, 23 June 2000 Michael Day, UKOLN Overview UKOLN is funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives & Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISCs Electronic Libraries Programme and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Aims of this talk think about the ways in which software interfaces to a metadata registry consider simple metadata editor tool consider high-level architecture of the tool list the kinds of requests tools will need to make of metadata registries requirements rather than specifications some general conclusions about registries

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Presentation Outline Introduction –Digital preservation The Cedars project –Contexts –Aims and objectives –Relationship with the OAIS model –The Cedars outline metadata specification Related initiatives

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Digital preservation (1) Definition: –... The planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and technologies necessary to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable - Margaret Hedstrom (University of Michigan) Not: –The creation of digital surrogates of rare or fragile materials as part of a preservation strategy

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Digital preservation (2) Technical problems: Media longevity –Magnetic and optical storage media deteriorate (and can be re-used) Software dependence –Information is often stored in formats that are dependent upon particular software Hardware obsolescence –Machines (computers, disk drives, etc.) rapidly become obsolete and non- repairable

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Digital preservation (3) Other problems: Intellectual property rights –Does an organisation have the legal right to preserve an object? If not, how should this be negotiated? Authenticity –Is a digital object what it claims to be? (intellectual preservation) Developing preservation policies –RLG Needs and Requirements Collection management

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Digital preservation (4) Preservation strategies (none perfect): Creating hard copy Technology preservation –Museums of obsolete hardware Migration –The periodic transfer of digital materials from one generation of technology to a subsequent one Emulation –Programs that mimic the behaviour of the original technical environment

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars - CURL exemplars in digital archives

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June General context (1) Task Force on the Archiving of Digital Information (1996) –Commission on Preservation and Access –Research Libraries Group UK responses: –co-ordinated by the Joint Information Systems Committee, the British Library and the National Preservation Office –Warwick strategy workshops (1995, 1999) –Digital Archiving Working Group –Digital Preservation Focus (2000)

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June General context (2) Electronic records: Public Record Office –Electronic Records in Office Systems (EROS) –National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) IMOSA Pittsburgh Project UBC Project DLM-Forum

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars project (1) Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) –interested in the roles and responsibilities of research libraries with regard to digital preservation. JISC eLib Phase 3 –Hybrid Libraries, Large Scale Resource Discovery and Digital Preservation Cedars project –funded by JISC through the CURL libraries from April 1998 for 3 years

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars project (2) A CURL project led by the universities of Cambridge, Leeds and Oxford –Mixture of libraries and computing services –Three broad groups: –Data preservation strategies (Leeds) –Content issues (Cambridge) –Access issues - metadata (Oxford + UKOLN) In collaboration with: –Arts and Humanities Data Service, British Library, National Preservation Office, Research Libraries Group, publishers, etc.

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars project (3) Objectives: To promote awareness To identify and disseminate –appropriate strategies for collection management –appropriate strategies for long-term preservation Based on a realistic sampling of current digital resource collections

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars metadata review (1) Metadata for preservation (AIW01) Produced by UKOLN (August 1998) Reviewed relevant metadata initiatives: –PANDORA Project (National Library of Australia) –RLG Working Group –Pittsburgh Project / UBC Project –OAIS Reference Model –MPEG-7, SMPTE-EBU Task Force –Digital Rosetta Stone, UPF, etc. ml

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars metadata review (2) Four main types of metadata: –Technical metadata –Recording technical details about the original hardware and software environment to support preservation strategies –Rights management metadata –Recording intellectual property rights ownership, deposit agreements, etc. –Intellectual preservation metadata –Preserving integrity and authenticity –Resource discovery metadata

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June The OAIS model (1) ISO Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS): –Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems (CCSDS) –Draft Recommendation (May 1999) –Establishes a common framework of terms and concepts which comprise an OAIS –Facilitates the description and comparison of archives –A basis for further standardisation –A basis for conformance

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June The OAIS model (2) Administration Ingest Archival Storage Access Data Management Descriptive info. AIP PRODUCERPRODUCER CONSUMERCONSUMER SIP DIP MANAGEMENT requests other info. Descriptive info.

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Information Packages Archival Information Package (AIP): –Content Information –The information that is the primary object of preservation. Containing a Digital Object and any Representation Information (technical metadata) needed to transform this object into meaningful information –Preservation Description Information (PDI) –other information (metadata) which will allow the understanding of the Content Information over an indefinite period of time –Terms defined in CPA/RLG report

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Preservation Description Information Preservation Description Information Reference Information Provenance Information Context Information Fixity Information

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars and OAIS The Cedars project... –has adopted the OAIS taxonomy as a means of thinking about metadata and for the preliminary structure of the draft outline specification of preservation metadata –the data preservation strategies group has developed a model based on OAIS and outlined a blueprint for Representation Information. nasa2000/nasa2000.html

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars metadata (1) Process: –List of elements identified from selected initiatives described in metadata review –Initial version, structured according to the OAIS taxonomy (February 1999) –First review draft of outline specification (December 1999) –Public consultation draft (March 2000) –Walk-through meeting (Birmingham, April 2000) –Final version (June 2000)

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Cedars metadata (2) Each element definition includes: Name Identifier Definition Obligation Sub-elements Comment –(A subset of ISO/IEC 11179)

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Preservation description (1) Reference Information Resource Description –Dublin Core Existing metadata Context Information Related Information Objects – Other information objects judged to be related to the digital object, e.g. documentation

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Preservation description (2) Provenance Information History of Origin – Records information about the digital object prior to ingest, includes the reason for its creation (where known), its custody history, information about its original technical environment, etc. Management History –Records decisions made about (and changes made to) the digital object after ingest

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Preservation description (3) Provenance Information (cont.) Rights Management –Records information about intellectual property rights embodied in the digital object, both to help manage access and the preservation process itself Fixity Information Authentication Indicator

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Representation information Structure Information –Mechanisms for transforming the byte- stream of a digital object into a structured set of digital components Underlying Abstract Form Description Transformer Objects Render/Analyse/Convert Objects Semantic Information –Mechanisms that allow the specific object in an AIP to be rendered Render/Analyse Objects

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Related projects NEDLIB –Networked European Deposit Library National Library of Australia British Library RLG & OCLC National Archives of Australia SPIRT Recordkeeping Metadata CAMiLEON –Creative Archiving at Michigan and Leeds: Emulating the Old on the New

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Conclusions Deliverable version of Cedars metadata specification (June 2000) - will include some examples Implementation as XML DTD as part of project demonstrators Generated much interest: –Contact with NEDLIB project partners and NLA working group –British Library Digital Services Project –OAIS Still a work in progress

Digital disaster: are you prepared? - UCL, 23 June Web pages Cedars Web pages: UKOLN Metadata Web pages: The OAIS Model: /ref_model.html