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Re: [dm-l] Question about preservation of digital content
by Ana Krahmer 04 Aug '10

04 Aug '10

Hi Daniel, I have been haunting this listserv for six years now, and this is one question that I can help answer! I am the digital initiatives coordinator at a special collections library, and the field and theory of digital preservation is changing rapidly. Terms you'll want to define and liberally use in your article include, but are not limited to: Bitstream copying: this is what you do when you back up your files onto an external hard drive; bitstream copying is the most basic level of digital preservation, and although it is necessary, it misses a lot about information itself. -Digital sustainability: incorporates a number of actions intended to preserve digital artifacts to be accessible to an nth year. The best rule of thumb I've heard someone use is 10 years: "If I create this JPEG now, will its format be sustainable and readable ten years from now?" -Digital encapsulation: this refers to two things, the digital artifact itself and its descriptive information. For instance, what good is a JPEG image of a cuneiform tablet if there is no descriptive information--metadata--attached to it? Encapsulation is the idea that information must always accompany the item. (In addition encapsulation includes preservation metadata, which tracks file integrity information (like checksums). -Migration: implies copying information from one technology to another; this copying includes both the digital artifact itself and any metadata attached to it. -Emulation: If you have that doc file, and you need a system that reads it, you eventually will find an emulator to be useful. Emulation provides a simulacrum of a digital object's original software environment, which not only allows access to the file, but it also preserves the original digital experience. Emulation and migration are often discussed as oppositional ideas, but they both play an important role in digital preservation. -Standards and normalization, consistency: Standards are key to good digital preservation strategy. Normalization is the dedicated adherence to those standards. Consistency is always key to digital repositories and their preservation. This will get you started. I'd recommend taking a listen to the new(ish) Library of Congress digital preservation podcast series: http://www.loc.gov/podcasts/digitalpreservation/index.html Best of luck. Best, Ana Krahmer Dear Digital Medievalists and TEI members, >> >> >> I have a question about preservation of digital content >> especially medieval manuscripts. I am writing a small article on >> the topic and I have consulted a lot sources (papers, handbooks) >> but most of them do not say anything about the “life span” of the >> data in specific formats. To clarify this – a .doc file crated in >> 1995. Will be most likely unreadable in 2010. What about other >> formats? Has anyone done some research on “life span” of a >> specific version of digital formats and when it becomes clear >> that the new version and the old one are not compatible anymore? >> And here I am talking about pdf, rtf, doc (and all office files), >> djvu, tiff, jpg , mpg etc. (texts and images especially) >> >> In my work I am also making a small remark on XML as a data >> container since it is, in my opinion, the best way to go and the >> standard will surely be around for years. But what kind of steps >> do you make to ensure the preservation of documents that have >> been encoded in xml >> >> I would also like to hear if there are opposing views on xml. >> >> I also have the same question about the media. I found some >> research about the longevity of CDs and DVDs but I am also >> interested in other media like older hard disks, zip drives and >> magnetic media. >> >> I am sorry to bother you with this, but I can use any help I can get >> >> Thank you in advance >> >> Daniel Mondekar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Is this really the time for Donkey Kong?" ~~Buffy, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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TEI 2010 Conference, Meeting, and Workshops: Registration opens
by Digital Medievalist » News: robertordt 02 Aug '10

02 Aug '10

1 0

Call for papers: International seminar on the Care and Conservation of Manuscripts
by Digital Medievalist » News: robertordt 30 Jul '10

30 Jul '10

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Zotero metadata for DM Journal?
by Dot Porter 29 Jul '10

29 Jul '10

A public note to the DM Editors: I am just starting to use Zotero and I'd like to include my favorite online sources, including the DM journal. However, I don't have the option of automatically adding it. I assume you need some kind of metadata in the site header? Perhaps you all could look into adding this? Preferably for the individual articles, as well as the full issues. Thanks! Dot -- *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Dot Porter (MA, MSLS) Digital Medievalist, Digital Librarian Email: dot.porter(a)gmail.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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Shameless self promotion
by O'Donnell, Dan 21 Jul '10

21 Jul '10

Hi all, An op-ed I'd written for the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences in response to the Canadian government's consultations on the digital economy was just placed by them today in the Edmonton Journal: http://bit.ly/aApodN The argument is that today's internet is as much or more about use applications than engineering--and that Humanists and Social Scientists have played a pretty surprising role in its development and success. Michael Everson: if you're on this list, I mention you by name ;) -dan -- Daniel Paul O'Donnell Professor of English University of Lethbridge Chair and CEO, Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org/) Co-Chair, Digital Initiatives Advisory Board, Medieval Academy of America President-elect (English), Society for Digital Humanities/Société pour l'étude des médias interactifs (http://sdh-semi.org/) Founding Director (2003-2009), Digital Medievalist Project (http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/) Vox: +1 403 329-2377 Fax: +1 403 382-7191 (non-confidential) Home Page: http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/

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seminar: On-demand Virtual Research Environments: a case study from the Humanities
by Digital Medievalist » News: digitalmedievalistnews 19 Jul '10

19 Jul '10

1 0

Eadui font
by Peter Baker 17 Jul '10

17 Jul '10

Many thanks to those who tested my Eadui font, which tries to faithfully reproduce the English Caroline Minuscule hand of the eleventh-century Canterbury scribe Eadui Basan. I've released version 1.0 under the Open Font License on the Open Font Library website: http://openfontlibrary.org/files/psb6m/177 Happy summer to all, Peter Baker

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Call for Papers: Marco Manuscript Workshop, University of Tennessee, February 4-5, 2011
by Digital Medievalist » News: robertordt 15 Jul '10

15 Jul '10

1 0

Music Encoding Initiative Council announces the release of MEI
by Digital Medievalist » News: robertordt 13 Jul '10

13 Jul '10

1 0

DM Lunch at DH2010, July 7
by Digital Medievalist » News: digitalmedievalistnews 07 Jul '10

07 Jul '10

1 0

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