1. Preservation strategies
ARK2200
Digital recordkeeping and preservation II
2017
Thomas Sødring
P48-R407

2. Preservation strategies
From an archives perspective, the main preservation strategies are
technology preservation
printing on paper
emulation
encapsulation
virtual machine
migration
XML and the use of standard formats

3. Technology preservation
Preserve the technology required to access original documents as long as access to the documents is required
Both costly and technologically complex
The amount of technical knowledge required would be massive
Support for both software and hardware expires
Where do you find support for DOS 1.0, Win 3.1, Win 95, TRS-DOS

4. Technology preservation
Preserve the technology required to access original documents as long as access to the documents is required
When the market for a product ends it manufacturers stop making components
Standardisation can offset this
Difficult to obtain spare parts for the hardware
How long will we be able to buy spare parts for a Nokia 5110

5. Technology preservation
Sony J30 Multiformat Analog And Digital Betamax Player
(New price) about NOK ,-
Sony Super Betamax VTR Model SL-HF400 (Used price) about NOK 450,-
Migration from Betamax to a more modern standard* is really the only way to preserve something if we wish to avoid technological obsolescence
The move to cloud will likely see the end of DVD players as well *

6. Technology preservation
Fra Can still be bought on finn.no

7. Technology preservation
A BIOS does not have an unlimited lifetime
It may also be difficult to get a harddisk to spin again in the future

8. Technology preservation
The number of machines that are able to read files on older media decreases over time
The skills needed to use the hardware and software slowly die out over time and eventually disappear
Windows 3.1
IBM PC DOS 2.1
The skills required to understand how legacy software is coded gradually disappears
ALGOL, COBOL, Fortran

9. Windows 95 (support from) :
24/8/ /12/2001
Windows 2000 Server (support from):
31/3/2000 – 30/6/2005 extended to (13/7/2010)

10. What about updates The previous examples were only operating systems
Microsoft has something known as 'patch Tuesday'
The second Tuesday of each month Microsoft releases an large bundle of security updates
In addition to important updates
Computers will also have various software products provided by various vendors
Several recordkeeping vendors roll out updates quarterly
Recordkeeping is becoming more distributed
Systems using central log-on services

11. Technology preservation
Technology preservation is currently not a sustainable solution
But 3D printing, standardisation could help
But this is in the future
There are too many 'what if' questions
We no longer work 'stand alone', we work in a distributed fashion
If these arguments are not enough, you could also have problems trying to index all documents that are part of the system

12. Printing to paper
A preservation strategy that previously has been used and still is in use
However, the printing of all documents to paper is not a feasible method for long-term preservation documents
But better than losing documents
Some documents can lose important information when printed on paper
Typically when some sort of functional information is included in the document
formulas in a spreadsheet

13. Printing to paper Databases are not designed to be printed out
A printed version is only a selective view of the database
Think about the relational model
Some electronic documents are not printable
Text and images can be printed on paper without loss of data
e.g. important metadata
Printing to paper is often seen as a temporary solution to the long term preservation problem as long as a digital solution is lacking

14. Emulation
Emulation is a method by which one computer can imitate another
Hardware emulation gave a new life to Nintendo games
even get Nintendo emulators for mobile phones
Differentiate between emulation of hardware and software

15. Emulation
From a preservation perspective, emulation could allow documents exist in an 'imitation' of their original environment
i.e. operating system and software
A document can be presented in its original form
The context, structure, etc. are preserved
Only works to a certain degree as some context might be in the database
Emulate database and documents?
In many ways this is achieved in PDF/A anyway
There are projects that attempt to create emulators for various document formats

16. Emulation
Windows Emulator (wine) is a program that lets you run Windows programs on the Linux operating system (OS)
It emulates parts of the Windows OS
You can get emulation programs that emulate the hardware of a mobile phone
Useful for iPhone and Android development

17. Emulation
Emulation is both complicated and costly and there is a great potential for errors
Reduced if it is based on a ubiquitous technology
There is no guarantee that we will be able to recreate a full computing environment for documents on future computers
You still have to deal with
Software that needs to verify licenses on a server
Links to external resources
SharePoint links in MS Word file?
Ultimately you may have to emulate an entire computing network

18. Virtualisation
Virtualisation is a technique that allows one operating system to run within another
It is also an alternative that could address some of the inherent limitations with technology preservation
Technology has also evolved and virtualisation is a commonly used technology

19. Virtualisation
Virtualisation allows an operating system (called host) to run on another operating system (called guests)
The guest operating system does not (necessarily) know that it is running on a virtual machine
This is often done by installing software on a machine that creates an abstraction layer (hypervisor) that allows another OS access the hardware on your computer
CPU / memory / storage / network

20. Virtualisation Traditional Virtualised Application (MS Office)
(LibreOffice)
Program
(MS Office)
Program
(MS Office)
Program
(MS Office)
Application
(MS Office)
Operativsystemet ditt
(Windows 7)
Operativsystemet ditt
(Windows 7)
Operatingsystem
(Windows 7)
Operativsystemet ditt
(Windows 7)
Operatingsystem
(Linux)
Operatingsystem
(Windows 7)
Virtual machine
Virtual machine
Virtuellmaskin
Virtuellmaskin
Virtuellmaskin
Hardware
(x86)
Hypervisor
Hardware
(x86)
Traditional
Virtualised

21. Virtualisation and preservation
As opposed to preserving hardware, with virtualisation we just preserve software (OS and applications)?
Especially useful if the software is free
Even if we were able to develop a "Universal Virtual Computer" (UVC) that allows your records to live for a long span
You still have issues related to licensing and third party dependencies like single sign-on
Reduced problem with open source

22. Migration
Migration (including using standard formats) is the best known and most widely used preservation method
It is also the most criticised method
A simple definition of migration is
Migration is the transfer of records/files from one
machine/configuration to another
application to another

23. Migration
A simple example of this is the migration of a file from Microsoft Word 2007 (.doc) to Word (.docx)
A more complex example is the migration of a file that can only be read correctly on an Apple machine to one that can be read correctly on a Windows machine
Criticisms against migration is that the results are often unpredictable
Especially if part of an automated process
Often due to a lack of testing

24. Migration
When new versions of software come to market, it is common to carry out an update of documents to the latest version of the software
Sometimes this can lead to a loss of information
content, context, structure, appearance
The new software may not be able to read the file in the same way as the old software
With a consequence that content and/or functionality can be lost

25. Migration
The results of a migration process can be difficult to predict
Before conversion, a lot of work may have to be undertaken in order understand issues relating to both the source and destination (file) formats
Migration can have an influence on the authenticity of a document
The archive may have to preserve documents without the ability to prove that the documents are authentic
Integrity and authenticity must be preserved

26. Encapsulation
Encapsulation does not retain records in their original form, but encapsulates the records with a set instructions on how they should be interpreted
We will look at representational information in the OAIS model
A formal, detailed description of the file format and what the information means is required
XML can be used for this
Very much dependent on the complexity of the original software

27. XML XML stands for Extensible Markup Language
A language that can be used to describe information about the structure and meaning of data
An open standard, defined by the World Wide Web Consortium and is platform independent
Converting records to XML format is a type of migration
XML is also considered as the most promising format for preservation and interoperability

28. Preservation in Norway
In Norway preservation standards set by the National Archive and enshrined in law
In many ways Norways uses a combination of migration, XML and encapsulation
Migration is the chosen technique
Records are converted to XML
Records are described in a way that it could be encapsulation
Preservation has to be cost-effective, robust and sustainable over time