Assignment 4 - Digitization & Preservation

Digitization and Preservation

In our Web 2.0 environment the public is no longer just a consumer of information, but a creator. Blogs, forums, comments, websites, and other forms of social media are casual ways the Internet community is adding to the already vast amount of content available on the web. People are no longer just consumers of information but creators and contributors. The amount of digital content is growing. People all over the world are using technology for the creation of digital items in various media that are meant to be used and shared in a purely digital format. Meanwhile, archivists, organizations, and companies are creating digital versions of print materials to aid in the sharing, assimilation, and preservation of items. However, what is not in the process of being digitized has metadata that is being made digitally available. This metadata is already digitized into OPACS, databases, and other searchable platforms. All this amounts to an abundance of digital content that requires not just organization, but preservation as our technologies continue to evolve. The purpose of digital preservation, as described by Caplan, is to “ensure continued and reliable access to authentic digital objects for as long as they are deemed to be of value,” (Caplan, 2008, p. 7). Having access to digital objects is crucial from a preservation standpoint.

Threats to digital items

The literature offers two main threats to our digital preservation efforts: physical deterioration and technological obsolescence (Caplan, 2008). Physical deterioration is a concern among new technologies that have not yet stood the test of time. Where paper has been around, been tested, and proven itself, the life expectancies of the various forms of digital media, such as CDs and hard drives, have fallen short. Technological obsolescence occurs when data is unreadable due to either outdated hardware or outdated software. In this case the digital information still exists, but it is no longer accessible and is, therefore, useless (Kastellec, 2012). Preservation efforts have to overcome both of these obstacles.

Preservation solutions

To combat losing precious digital items, Kastellec suggests media migration, data redundancy, format normalization, and format emulation as some of the most successful ways to combat technological obsolescence, with “data redundancy emerg[ing] as the gold standard in recent years,” (Kastellec, 2012, p. 64). Maintaining digital copies of a resource on varying platforms and in a variety of formats ensures that when one form becomes obsolete, the item may still be copied to the most recent technology. This seems to be the safest way to ensure that the information will be available in the foreseeable future. This also ensures that the original, physical item (if the information wasn’t, in fact, born digital) will last longer because handling of the material is brought to a minimum. On the other hand, Kastellec outlines some of the negative aspects of data redundancy. The most prevalent holdback to successful data redundancy projects is budget restraints. Without proper funds, resources such as bandwidth, disk access, processing speeds, and staff time won’t be available to properly store the needed versions of the copied data, (Kastellec, 2012, p. 64). Another concern of preservation and digitization efforts is ownership of materials. If copyrights limit what a repository or library can do with an item, then preservation efforts may be thwarted. The success of preservation depends on open access to the material so it may be copied to different platforms to ensure accessibility into the future.

Continued access

Digitization and preservation are closely linked, and Brewster Kahle’s digitization project is a good example of this. As a digital librarian, Kahle is working to digitize all the world’s print materials. This is, indeed, a lofty goal, but he has already experienced great success and much encouragement since the beginning of his endeavor (Kahle, 2007). Beginning with out-of-copyright items, Kahle has begun to bring the world’s knowledge to the world. Part of his plan involves a bookmobile that travels to places without access to information and prints physical books from a digitized version of the item from his digitized collection on demand. This is just an example of how digitization and preservation efforts can increase access and help to bridge the digital divide (Kahle, 2007).

Another endeavor that deserves mention when discussing preservation and digitization is the Wayback Machine internet archive. According to the Internet Archive website, the Wayback Machine can be described as a “time capsule” or “history of the internet,” (Internet Archive). Created by the Internet Archive, the Wayback Machine is a “nonprofit that was founded to build an internet library,” (Internet Archive). It began in 1996 and has been capturing snapshots of over 200 million websites ever since, (Internet Archive). It has singlehandedly preserved a snapshot of the internet culture of the past and will continue to do so into the future. It’s a unique resource that is an example of what future digital preservation efforts may look like.

Conclusion

Preservation, digitization, digitization for preservation, and digital preservation are all activities that feed off each other. Simple preservation of physical items creates metadata that requires digitization to promote access. Digitization of an item greatly increases its availability and use. Digitization for preservation increases the life expectancy of the physical item while promoting accessibility of the information. Finally, digital preservation is the act of preserving all the information that has just been digitized to ensure that it lasts through many upgrades, technological changes, and updates. Digitizing and preserving all the digitization is a daunting task in itself. The task of preserving all the digital information grows even larger when born digital information is taken into account. With Web 2.0 have emerged greater and greater amounts of information. More people are creating, contributing, and sharing their thoughts, ideas, stories, and work in a digital environment. If we want to preserve all the information that is being created in a formal preservation setting and an informal Web 2.0 environment, then more efforts like Kahle’s Wayback Machine must be put into action. Preserving, like digitizing, everything is impossible, but the effort has got to start somewhere to ensure that a snapshot of digital life as we know it is preserved for the future.

References

Caplan, P. (2008). What is digital preservation? Library Technology Reports, 44(2), 7-9.
Kahle, B. (2007). Brewster Kahle builds a free digital library vodcast. TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/brewster_kahle_builds_a_free_digital_library.html
Kastellec, M. (2012). Practical limits to the scope of digital preservation. Information Technology & Libraries, 31(2), 63-71.
Internet Archive. Wayback Machine. http://archive.org/