□ archiving in context □ principles & processes □ examples DocLing 2016 David Nathan Archiving

Archiving in context

Where does archiving fit in?  “traditionally”: archives museums galleries libraries education/research institutions libraries, archives, museums and galleries are “memory institutions”

Archiving skill inputs Sources speakers/performers authors historical and “legacy” providers Recordists audio and video experts data collectors/annotators/analysts Curators content/area specialists cataloguers Data managers data scientists Co-ordinators managers governance Technical practitioners IT, media & communications IT systems & software cataloguing, storage, preservation & access systems IT practitioners programmers, installers THE ARCHIVE

A definition of archiving :  a commitment by an organization to:  appraise the value of a resource  preserve the resource  make known the existence of the resource  enable access to the resource (or its ‘content’)  a commitment by an organization to:  appraise the value of a resource  preserve the resource  make known the existence of the resource  enable access to the resource (or its ‘content’)  a commitment by an organization to:  appraise the value of a resource  preserve the resource  make known the existence of the resource  enable access to the resource (or its ‘content’)  a commitment by an organization to:  appraise the value of a resource  preserve the resource  make known the existence of the resource  enable access to the resource (or its ‘content’)  a commitment by an organization to:  appraise the value of a resource  preserve the resource  make known the existence of the resource  enable access to the resource (or its ‘content’)  a commitment by an organization to:  appraise the value of a resource  preserve the resource  make known the existence of the resource  enable access to the resource (or its ‘content’)  a commitment by an organization to:  appraise the value of a resource  preserve the resource  make known the existence of the resource  enable access to the resource (or its ‘content’)

Archiving principles & processes

Archiving Acquisition & curation Storage & preservation Access & usage The virtuous loop we hope to achieve through serving community and through community participation

Archiving Acquisition & curation Storage & preservation Access & usage

Acquisition & curation creation evaluation & selection collaboration with providers & users description rights & protocol sharing & exhibiting promotion foster creation advice rights metadata completeness formats agreements work with providers community curation provenance content usages languages change history research collect & record implement good practice requirements seek resources reach & help users funding & sustainability audiences curation rights outcomes goals ▫ policies ▫ resourcing ▫ management ▫ documentation security ▫ usability ▫ organisation/technology changes ▫ evaluation & reporting

Archiving Acquisition & curation Storage & preservation Access & usage

goals ▫ policies ▫ resourcing ▫ management ▫ documentation security ▫ usability ▫ organisation/technology changes ▫ evaluation & reporting Storage & preservation analogue (things) A→DA→D digital catalogue storage integrity certification packing environment players carrier formats players digital formats identifiers file formats metadata formats migration filenames usability functions number of users media provider hardware locations copy/backup management integrity check migration

Archiving Acquisition & curation Storage & preservation Access & usage

catalogue relationships protocols delivery management → acquisition users usability accuracy completeness functions archive ↔ users, providers providers ↔ users communication negotiation share & exchange community stakeholding research formulation implementation manage responses user capabilities user needs access methods monitoring record keeping communications statistics & reports costs, business model... acquiring from users goals ▫ policies ▫ resourcing ▫ management ▫ documentation security ▫ usability ▫ organisation/technology changes ▫ evaluation & reporting

Managing data and preparing for archiving

Software to help manage data and prepare for archiving  checking file names, sizes, folder structures etc (Treesize, Everything)TreesizeEverything  changing or standardizing formats (especially of media files) Handbrake (video), Audacity (audio), XnView or paint.net (images), MS or Libre Office and Notepad++ (text) HandbrakeAudacityXnViewpaint.netLibre OfficeNotepad++  creating and managing metadata  spreadsheets and databases  SIL’s SayMoreSayMore  TLA’s ArbilArbil  Miromaa Miromaa

File formats  audio  WAV  (what if original is not WAV??)  resolution: 16 bit, 44.1KHz, stereo or better  video  changing frequently  MP4/MPEG4 or MTS/H264/AVCH  aspect, resolution: depends on project  get advice from achive before depositing

File formats  images  TIFF **OR** original from device  resolution: archive quality is 300dpi or better

File formats  text  best is plain text  PDF/A often acceptable, but may pose problems  if MS-Word or ODF, check with archive  structured data (spreadsheets, databases  original format should be supplied  provide a preservable derivative as well (eg csv, PDF/A)  common linguistic software (ELAN, Transcriber, Toolbox, Praat etc)  their file formats are generally preservable

Can I still use MS Word?  most archives no longer accept MS Word files  but Word is still useful  quicker to type up  useful tables, functions, macros etc  solutions  think “text only”  tables as spreadsheets (are they bad too?)  (advanced) complex materials formatted as styles, then export as marked up  PDF/A – but not a perfect solution

Standards  we have already mentioned some standards – UTF-8, WAV etc  there are other relevant standards, eg  ISO (language/dialect names)  metadata systems – OLAC, CMDI, METS/MODS and others  you can also establish project-local standards, eg  to handle special characters (eg \e = schwa)  data field names  document them! – for your usage and for correspondence to wider standards

Approaches to small scale archive storage

Approaches to small scale archive storage/backup  work with a large institution that can support/sponsor your storage/backup needs  partner with a number of similar centres to achieve critical mass of materials and resources, set up replication or data centre  set up local storage/backup using creative “appropriate technology” approach (e.g. using NAS unit and offsite replication (HD, SSD, tape, or cloud)  use a commercial (cloud) provider (also hybrid version – “cloud gateway”)

Examples

Archive examples – Aboriginal languages/protocol emphasis  (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive) – research data related to Indigenous Australia emphasis on return of Indigenous knowledge; can assist communities with repatriation, hosting and distribution  an archive based on Mukurtu CMS emphasis on culturally appropriate and controlled access and usage (see also  (Endangered Languages Archive) - international language documentation archive with 20 Australia deposits ( emphasis on protocol-based and negotiated access to recordings and annotations

Archive examples – Aboriginal languages  (AIATSIS) - merged archive and library catalogues to “Mura” largest archive but limited operationally  (Paradisec) – Pacific and regional but much Australian content emphasis on digitization  (Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages) community-created literature gathered and “rescued” after the end of support for bilingual education emphasis on easy to use but powerful interface

Archive examples – records institutions  (State Records Office WA) - demographic, school and other records  missionary correspondence, records, registers archives  (Flint collection, UQ library) emphasis on providing awareness of (audio and written) materials

In development or not publicly available  created by Pitjatjantjatjara Council, to repatriate digital versions of cultural.community materials and to manage access to them (see also ) emphasis on usability by remote communities and detailed control of access  projects/our_story_version_2_project Community Stories, a version of Ara Irititja, enabling communities to establish a digital collections by creating, adding and repatriating content related to their own culture and history projects/our_story_version_2_project