1. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow What’s the problem? Some basics on risk ‘Whole class’ example Parallel your own example Some final thoughts William Kilbride william @dpconline.org Risk Management in digital preservation

2. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Digital preservation typically makes bleak reading …

3. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Let’s go back to first principles … Digital data has value. It is an asset. It has potential and creates new opportunities. Use gives rise to direct and indirect outcomes....but... Deployment depends on software, hardware and people. Software, hardware and people change....therefore... Access is not guaranteed without (some) action Value, opportunity, impact not guaranteed Potential outcomes – ie health or research – lost

4. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Digital preservation is not about ‘data’: Digital preservation is not about ‘access’: Digital preservation is not about ‘risk’: it’s about people and opportunity …and because people and technology continue to change it’s an ongoing process

5. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Risk management and preservation? Preservation is an ongoing process involving risks Most organisations have existing risk management processes...so... Formal risk management will help And can fit with operational management...in fact... There are some regulatory requirements that can help you get the ear of senior managers

6. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Simple Risk Assessment Identify a risk... Identify the consequences of that risk What is it’s likelihood? What is it’s impact? Risk Score: L x I How frequently does the risk occur? How often do we need to check? Who owns the risk? How will we respond to the risk? How does our response change likelihood and impact?

7. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Generic Digital Preservation Risks (there are more!) File format obsolesence Media degradation or failure Media obsolesence Barriers to access (eg encryption) Insufficient resource discovery metadata Insufficient representational metadata Insufficient control (eg copyright) Authenticity and provenance is unclear Multiple copies are not synchronised Virus, trojans etc (aka malware) Disruptive technologies Poorly understood service dependencies …

8. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow RISK LikelihoodImpactScoreFrequencyOwnerResponse Media will degrade 5525ongoingTechnology watch Good media storage Refreshment Routine checks of media Keep copies on different media... Media will fail outright 3515ongoingTechnology watch Careful procurement Warranties and liabilities Multiple copies Develop migration plan... Media obsolesence 5525ongoingTechnology watch Refreshment Routine checks of media Multiple media... Starting with risks....

9. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow RISK LikelihoodImpactScoreFrequencyOwnerActions to maintain mitigation Media will degrade 313ongoingTechnology watch Good media storage Refreshment Routine checks of media Keep copies on different media... Sudden media failure 144ongoingTechnology watch Careful procurement Warranties and liabilities Multiple copies Develop migration plan... Media obsolesence 133ongoingTechnology watch Refreshment Routine checks of media Multiple media... Post mitigation risks....

10. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Two Worked Examples A whole class example live on screen Get your notebooks and....... Write out TWELVE headings as follows: Risk, Consequence, Likelihood, Impact, Score, Proximity, Owner, Responses, New likelihood, New impact, New score, Frequency of review Do this twice, on two different pages. The first example we will do as a group, The second one you should do on your own or with colleagues

11. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Example 1: The Historic Parish Archive Archaeological Excavation: (closed) c. 1000 pages digitized text (TIFFS and PDFs) c. 500 photographs (TIFFS and JPEGS) c. 100 data tables (held as text) c. 25 Excel spreadsheets Architectural survey of building: (closed) c. 3000 images in JPEG format 25 CAD plans Parish newsletters and website: (ongoing) c. 500 document in variety of wp formats c. 150 web pages and images Oral History: (ongoing) c. 25 audio recordings Music performance: (ongoing) 10 hours of digital recordings Parish registers: (closed) Circa 1000 pages scanned (TIFFS) Based loosely on the Christ Church Spitalfields Archive, from ADS http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?spitalfields_var_2001

12. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Example 2: The collection that worries you Existing Digital Archives: Digitized text (TIFFS and PDFs) Photographs (TIFFS and JPEGS) Data tables and spreadsheets... Ongoing data flows: Outputs from EDRMS Document in variety of office formats Web pages and images... Things you know are coming: Digital sound and vision Outputs from digitzation Corporate databases...

13. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow RISK That Likelihood... Impact... Score... Frequency... Owner... Response... New Likelihood... New Impact... New Score.... Frequency of Review... So.... who’d like to start?

14. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow RISK That Likelihood... Impact... Score... Frequency... Owner... Response... New Likelihood... New Impact... New Score.... Frequency of Review... Any examples you’d like to share?

15. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow high risk low consequence high risk high consequence low risk low consequence low risk high consequence Consequences Risks low risk high consequence

16. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow

17. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Richard Blake, Archives Sector Development, The National Archives

18. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Risk Appetite Explosive Risks Toxic risks Risk and opportunity Project management (Prince2) Organisational risk register More Risk Management...

19. www.dpconline.orgOur digital memory accessible tomorrow Some basics on risk ‘Whole class’ example Parallel your own example Some final thoughts William Kilbride william @dpconline.org Risk Management in digital preservation