Migration
The migration of digital information refers to the "periodic transfer of digital materials from one hardware/software configuration to another, or from one generation of computer technology to a subsequent generation." (see: Preserving Digital Information: Final Report and Recommendations) This term is sometimes used to refer to the transfer of information to non-digital media.
Migration includes refreshing, that is, copying digital information without changing it. However, while refreshing will overcome the problem of media instability, it usually isn't enough to keep abreast of technological obsolescence. Migration to new operating environments often means that the copy is not exactly the same as the original piece of information. Decisions need to be made about what aspects of the material to be migrated (eg functionality, presentation) need to be preserved (see also authenticity on this site).
Providing information about successive migrations in the form of metadata will assist in determining what changes have occurred to the digital object.
The complexity of the migration process will depend on the nature of the digital resource which may vary from simple text to an interactive multimedia object.
At its simplest, migration may entail copying digital information to a more stable non-digital medium, such as paper or microfilm. While these media have better proven long-term reliability, frequently they provide inadequate representations of the original object and result in severe loss of the functionality and presentation of the original digital object. Transfer to a more stable digital medium (eg from floppy disk to CD-R) offers a short- to medium-term strategy for preserving access, but still requires the CD-R to be migrated when the technology changes.
Another approach to preserving access to digital information entails initially migrating it to standard formats which are expected to be less volatile than the wide array of formats in which digital material may originally be accessible. However, it is important to realise that technical standards are in a state of rapid flux and this strategy cannot be solely relied upon to ensure that digital information remains accessible. The selection of a format for preserving digital information will depend upon what aspect of the resource will be required in the future. For example, decisions need to be made as to whether there will be a need to process or edit a digital resource in the future or if the visual presentation needs to be preserved.
Using software which is 'backwards compatible', that is, a later version of the software can decode files created on an earlier version, will simplify migration. Interoperability of systems will also facilitate migration by obviating the need to run a specific program in order to be able to access a digital resource which was created using it. However, these features become harder to achieve with greater software complexity and cannot be relied upon as the software manufacturer may consider that the associated costs are not worthwhile.
While it is difficult to predict the frequency at which digital information will need to be migrated, or to accurately predict the costs, the Yale Project Open Book planned for data to be migrated each five years. Costs will vary depending on the nature of the digital resource and the aspects which must be maintained. Migration of information raises intellectual property issues and there may be costs associated with this.
Migration may be undertaken in a variety of ways: in the most simple cases, migration methods have been well established. However, at its most complex, migration can be time-consuming and costly. In his paper, Intellectual Preservation and Electronic Intellectual Property, Peter Graham questions whether migration will be practical for large quantities of information, believing it will be possible for only a fraction of recorded information. Rothenberg points out that migration requires a unique solution for each new format and type of document that is to be converted and that costs are recurrent and unpredictable. Furthermore, it does not scale well (see: Avoiding Technological Quicksand). While further testing and investigation will be required to facilitate this approach, nevertheless, currently migration offers the most promising approach for preserving access to digital information.
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5th Joint Technical Symposium : Image and Sound Archiving and Access - the challenges of the 3rd Millennium: Abstracts
Joint Technical Symposium/Commission Superieure Technique de l'Image et du Son
(Date Created: Jan 2000)
(France)
- Abstracts of papers and posters presented at this meeting are available in pdf.
- http://web.archive.org/web/20041010230730/http://www.cst.fr/jts2000/en
/index.htm
- Full proceedings (book or CD-ROM) may be ordered from JTS Paris secretariat: http://www.cst.fr/jts2000/en/index.htm#actes Archived by Internet Archive
-
It Always Hurts the First Time: Experiences with Transferred Electronic Records
van Dijk, Marcel
In: Cultivate Interactive
(Date Created: Feb 2003)
(Netherlands)
- This case study notes the problems of transferring electronic records to the Amsterdam Public Record Office from a government agency. The study covers issues such as project planning, metadata, various file formats such as e-mails and text files.
- http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue9/amsterdammro/
-

Archiving and Preserving PDF Files
Ockerbloom, John Mark
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: Feb 2001)
- This article examines the long-term preservation of Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Possible migration strategies for PDF documents are outlined and appropriate techniques for archiving are discussed.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070513/viewer/file5
58.html#feature2
- Audiovisual Preservation Strategies, Data models and Value Chains
Addis Matthew; Wright, Richard
(Date Created: 11 Feb 2010)
- This report (101 p.) prepared for PrestoPRIME discusses preservation strategies, models and value-chains for digital file-based audiovisual content. It considers current and emerging value-chains and business-models for
audiovisual preservation, compares preservation strategies (including costs) and reviews current preservation metadata models and how they should be extended to support audiovisual files.
- https://prestoprimews.ina.fr/public/deliverables/PP_WP2_D2.1.1_preserv
ationstrategies_R0_v1.00.pdf
- PrestoPRIME Keeping Audiovisual Contents Alive: Deliverable D2.1.1
-

Avoiding Technological Quicksand : Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation
Rothenberg, Jeff
In: CLIR Reports
(Date Created: 15 Jan 1998)
Reviewed by: Reality and Chimeras in the Preservation of Electronic Records
- This report to the Council on Library and Information Resources discusses digital preservation strategies and recommends emulation as the best possible solution to the digital preservation challenge. Rothenberg advocates the development of specifications to build an emulator for a digital document and its associated software, which are stored with the document. The work of building the emulator is not done until the document needs to be accessed.
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/rothenberg/contents.html
- Born Again Bits : a Framework for Migrating Electronic Literature
Durand, David; Liu, Alan; Montfort, Nick
(Date Created: Aug 2005)
- This report was published as part of the Preservation, Archiving, and Dissemination (PAD) project. The report outlines issues that need to be address before migration can occur, including defining the object of migration, who will migrate the e-literaure, specific challenges and main migration strategies. The majority of the document deals with two specific approaches, the Interpreter Initiative and X-Literature Initiative. Each initiative is described inclduing technical analyses of issues and conclusions with implementation recommendations.
- http://eliterature.org/pad/bab.html
-

CAMiLEON : Migration on Request
CAMiLEON (Creative Archiving at Michigan and Leeds: Emulating the Old on the New)
(Date Created: 2002)
- This resource notes the concepts behind "Migration on Request", an alternative to conventional migration, and describes the design and development of a Migration on Request tool, in this case a tool for transforming vector graphics files for rendering by contemporary software. Executable files, source code and developer documentation are available for the tool exemplar.
- http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20080408134827/http://www
.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/reports/mor/index.html
- Archived by the UK Web Archive
-

Canonicalization : A Fundamental Tool to Facilitate Preservation and Management of Digital Information
Lynch, Clifford
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Sep 1999)
- This paper describes how canonical formats and canonicalization algorithms for various types of digital objects may be applied to help support the management of digital objects.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september99/09lynch.html
-

Carrying Authentic, Understandable and Usable Digital Records Through Time
Bikson, T.; RAND-Europe; Rothenberg, J.
(Date Created: 6 Aug 1999)
- This report to the Dutch National Archives and Ministry of the Interior presents the results of a study to define a strategy and framework for the long-term management and preservation of digital governmental records. A "testbed" in which specific digital preservation techniques can be prototyped and evaluated is proposed.
- http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/bibliotheek/docs/final-report_4.pdf
-

CEDARS Project Report: April 1998 - March 2001
CEDARS Project Team
(Date Created: Jun 2001)
(United Kingdom)
- The report of the first three years of the CEDARS project, a focussed investigation into digital preservation issues. The report comprises an overview of the CEDARS demonstrator archive established across the CEDARS partners, the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Leeds, and contains case studies for a variety of deposited digital materials and basic recommendations for use of migration and emulation as preservation strategies. The report also provides guidance and recommendations on organisational and management issues. The full report is available for download as PostScript or PDF.
- http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20050410120000/http://www
.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/pubconf/papers/projectReports/cedarsrepmar01exec.h tml
- Archived by the UK Web Archive
-

CEDARS: Long-term Access and Usability of Digital Resources: The Digital Preservation Conundrum
Russell, Kelly
(Date Created: Dec 1998)
(United Kingdom)
- This article examines the meaning of the task of digital preservation, some strategies for preserving digital material, and provides background to the Cedars project.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue18/cedars/
-

Challenge of Preserving Digital Maps
Stenvall, Jani
(Date Created: 2003)
(Finland)
- This article discusses the revision of the Finnish legal deposit legislation to include digital publications. It also discusses strategies in the preservation of digital maps at the Helsinki University Library, which is the National Library.
- http://liber.library.uu.nl/publish/articles/000007/index.html
- Also available in PDF version and in LIBER Quarterly, 13(2003)1-4, pp. 57-63, ISSN 1435-5205
-

Change the Metaphor : The Archive as an Ecosystem
Coleman, David; Martin, Julia
In: JEP - The Journal of Electronic Publishing
(Date Created: Apr 2002)
- This article introduces a new metaphor for the processes in managing the preservation of digital archives, that of the ecosystem, and likens the survival of data against technological change to the processes of evolutionary adaptation - "an ongoing process of selection -- of media platforms, of preservation structures, of migratory patterns " to avoid "data extinction".
- http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3336451.0007.301
-

Collection-Based Persistent Digital Archives - Part 1
Baru, Chaitan; Gupta, Amarnath; Ludaescher, Bertram; Marciano, Richard; Moore, Reagan; Rajasekar, Arcot; San Diego Supercomputer Center; Schroeder, Wayne; Wan, Michael
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Mar 2000)
- This article, from the San Diego Supercomputer Center, "defines an approach for maintaining digital data for hundreds of years through development of an environment that supports migration of collections onto new software systems." "The ultimate goal is to preserve not only the bits associated with the original data, but also the context that permits the data to be interpreted." See also Part 2 of this article which describes the creation of a one million message persistent email collection.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march00/moore/03moore-pt1.html
-

Collection-Based Persistent Digital Archives - Part 2
Baru, Chaitan; Gupta, Amarnath; Ludaescher, Bertram; Marciano, Richard; Moore, Reagan; Rajasekar, Arcot; San Diego Supercomputer Center; Schroeder, Wayne; Wan, Michael
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Apr 2000)
- This article, from the San Diego Supercomputer Center, describes a project to create a one million message persistent email collection. Following on from Part 1 , which describes the development of an environment that supports migration of collections onto new software systems, this article discusses the four parts of a persistent archive system: "support for ingestion, archival storage, information discovery, and presentation of the collection."
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april00/moore/04moore-pt2.html
- In D-Lib Magazine, Vol 6, No. 4
-

Comparison Between Migration and Emulation in Terms of Costs
Kol, Nada; Oltmans, Erik
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: 15 Apr 2005)
(Netherlands)
- This extensive article discusses the major digital preservation strategies of emulation and migration and how they relate to lifecycle management issues and costs. Cost calculation formulae and cost components for both migration and emulation are canvassed. The example of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek's e-Depot is used to contexualise these issues.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070519/viewer/file9
59.html#article0
-

Data Recovery and Providing Access to Digital Manuscripts
Woodyard, Deborah
In: Information Online 2001: Digital Dancing: New Steps, New Partners
(Date Created: 2001)
(Australia)
- Presented at the Information Online conference 2001, this paper describes the issues and the development of procedures for the management, access and preservation of manuscripts in digital formats. The project deals with the many obsolete floppy discs and word processing formats in the National Library of Australia's manuscript collection. Issues include format selection, authenticity, maintaining layout of the original text and preservation metadata.
- http://192.102.239.53/openpublish/index.php/nlasp/article/view/1321/16
07
-

Database Preservation Issues
Verdegem, Remco
(Date Created: 2003)
(Netherlands)
- This paper, based on the the work of the Digital Preservation Testbed, was presented at the ERPANET workshop on Long-term preservation of databases in Bern, Switzerland in April 2003. The progress in developing strategies for database preservation is discussed within the context of migration, emulation and in particular, XML conversions. XML, identified as an approach in its own right, is compared to alternate strategies. The Digital Preservation Testbed's XML conversion tool and schema is considered.
- http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/bibliotheek/docs/longterm_preservat
ion_of_databases.pdf
-

Digital Preservation : a Time Bomb for Digital Libraries
Hedstrom, Margaret
(Last Updated: 16 Oct 1995)
- This paper discusses the challenges and requirements of digital preservation, some current preservation strategies and their limitations and four areas for research and development: storage media, migration, conversion, and management tools.
- http://www.uky.edu/%7Ekiernan/DL/hedstrom.html
-
Digital Preservation : an Introduction to the Standards Issues Surrounding the Deposit of Non-Print Publications
Bide, M., Potter, E. J. , Watkinson, A.
(Date Created: Sep 1999)
(United Kingdom)
- This study aims to focus attention on the issues surrounding legal deposit of electronic publications in the United Kingdom. The report defines electronic publications, how they should be selected for legal deposit and provides an outline of digital preservation strategies. The study provides a good summary of relevant digital preservation issues, focussing on legal deposit.
- ISBN: 1873671253
- http://www.bic.org.uk/files/pdfs/digpres.pdf
-

Digital Preservation Strategy
Davis, Simon
(Date Created: Nov 2002)
(Australia)
- This presentation looks at the National Archives of Australia (NAA) Digital Preservation Policy, devised from its Agency to Researcher Digital Preservation Project. As well as touching on digital preservation problems such as obolesence and restriction on the use of proprietary technology, the article explores data formats used by the NAA as a means of providing digital preservation solutions. These include data formats developed by the NAA, such as dataset, emailmessage, webpackage and XML and Java-based tools, as well as dataformats already in existence, such as XHTML, Portable Network Graphics (PNG) and Open Office.
- http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/49635/20050510-0000/www.naa.gov.au/recor
dkeeping/rkpubs/fora/02nov/digital_preservation.pdf
-
Digital Reality II: Preserving our Electronic Heritage
NELINET
(Date Created: 05 Jun 2000)
(United States of America)
- This page contains links to conference papers from a seminar held on Monday June 5, 2000 at John F. Kennedy Library, Boston MA which was co-sponsored by NELINET Preservation Advisory Center, John F. Kennedy Library and the Northeast Documentation Center.
- http://web.archive.org/web/20071026114309/http://www.nelinet.net/edser
v/conf/digital/dr_2000/digital.htm
- Site archived by the Internet Archive.
-

Domesday Redux: The Rescue of the BBC Domesday Project Videodiscs
Darlington, Jeffrey; Finney, Andy; Pearce, Adrian
In: Ariadne
(Date Created: 30 Jul 2003)
(United Kingdom)
- This article describes the re-engineering and recreation of the 1986 BBC Domesday Project to run on a modern Windows platform. The re-engineering project involved migration of image content from the original analogue videotapes used for the 1986 Project, decipherment of the data structures from the videodisc and recreation of the application within a new interface. This re-engineering approach differs from the CAMiLEON Project's emulation approach, which involved running the original application under an emulation of the BBC microcomputer, the 1986 Project's original platform. The article also includes a detailed history of the 1986 BBC Domesday Project.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue36/tna/intro.html
-

Emulation vs. Migration: Do Users Care?
Hedstrom, Margaret; Lampe, Clifford
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: Dec 2001)
- This article describes the findings of a user needs analysis investigating emulation and migration as digital preservation strategies. Performed as part of the CAMiLEON project, users were asked to evaluate a game running on its original platform, in emulation and as a migrated version rewritten for a later platform. The findings suggest little difference between the approaches from a user perspective, but draw attention to user sensitivity and the usefulness of user needs analysis.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070513/viewer/file1
628.html#feature1
-

Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Information
Rothenberg, Jeff
(Last Updated: 22 Feb 1999)
- This paper is an expanded version of the article "Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Documents" that appeared in the January 1995 edition of Scientific American (Vol. 272, No. 1. pp 42-7). It discusses the fragility of digital material and strategies for preserving access.
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/archives/ensuring.pdf
-

Farewell my Floppy: a strategy for migration of digital information
Woodyard, Deborah
(Last Updated: 29 Apr 1998)
(Australia)
- This paper describes a survey of National Library of Australia collection material stored on disk and reports on the practical aspects of migrating floppy disks to CD-R.
- http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/nlasp/article/view/1072
- Foundation for Automatic Digital Preservation
Baptista, Ana Alice ; Ferreira, Miguel; Ramalho, José Carlos
In: Ariadne
(Date Created: Jul 2006)
- This article proposes a service orientated architecture for automatic migration that will enable cultural heritage institutions to preserve collections of digital material with minimum human intervention.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue48/ferreira-et-al/
- Generic XML Language for Characterising Objects to Support Digital Preservation
Becker, Christoph; Heydegger, Volker; Rauber, Andreas; Schnasse, Jan; Thaller, Manfred
(Date Created: 20 Mar 2008)
- This paper was presented at SAC’08 (March 16-20,
2008, Fortaleza, Cear´a, Brazil). It describes the development of languages and tools and the concept and features of the eXtensible Characterisation Languages (XCL) and their application to the evaluation of digital preservation solutions. These languages support the automatic validation of document conversions and the evaluation of migration quality by hierarchically decomposing a document and representing documents from different sources in an abstract XML language
- http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~becker/pubs/becker_sac08.pdf
- Government Information in Legacy Formats: Scaling a Pilot Project to Enable Long-Term Access
Gano, Gretchen; Linden, Julie
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Jul 2007)
(United States of America)
- This article describes a pilot project at Yale Library's Government Documents & Information Center to address and document the challenges of providing long term access to government information on CD-ROMS by migrating a sample set to a more stable server environment.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july07/linden/07linden.html
- An Intelligent Decision Support System for Digital Preservation
Baptista, Ana Alice; Ferreira, Miguel; Ramalho, José Carlos
(Date Created: 17 May 2007)
(Portugal)
- This paper describes a Service Oriented Architecture based on web technologies which assists in the implementation of migration based preservation interventions. The proposed system is able to produce preservation metadata and can also be used for comparing file formats and evaluating the performance of conversion applications.
- http://www.springerlink.com/content/x1q0n64176372125/
- International Journal on Digital Libraries ISSN 1432-5012, Vol 6 No 4, July 2007 pp 295-304
- KB and Migration : Working Document
van Wijk, Caroline
(Date Created: 07 Aug 2006)
(Netherlands)
- The project by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) to examine migration as a preservation strategy started in January 2006. This working document is part of this project. The document covers the e-Depot, including an example of the functional characterisation of an e-Depot article, and the possibilities and consequences of the use of migration at the KB.
- http://www.kb.nl/hrd/dd/dd_projecten/KB%20and%20Migration.pdf
- KB and Migration Test Plan
van Wijk, Caroline
(Date Created: 08 Aug 2006)
(Netherlands)
- The migration project conducted by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) will examine migration as a preservation strategy. The one year project began in January 2006. This document outlines the scope and strategy of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek's (KB) migration project. It includes information on conversion tools, test cases and test files such as version migration, pdf to xml and word to xml.
- http://www.kb.nl/hrd/dd/dd_projecten/KB%20and%20Migration%20Test%20Pla
n.pdf
- From Legacy Documents to XML : a Conversion Framework
Chanod, Jean-Pierre; Chidlovskii, Boris; Dejean, Herve; Fambon, Olivier; Fuselier, Jerome; Jacquin, Thierry; Meunier, Jean-Luc
(Date Created: Oct 2005)
- Digital archives are often faced with large quantities of formats that are unsuitable for preservation. This is particularly the case in institutions that collect text-based documents for long-term preservation, yet lack influence on the publishing process. The authors of this paper have developed an approach to converting text-based formats - such as PDF or Microsoft Word - into XML. The approach aims to identify structural information in the conversion process and allows for semantic annotations.
- http://www.springerlink.com/content/5xnqptg4hrdqmy3g/?p=92854330c8c041
1b8e5772deb4c9ef5e&pi=8
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 3652/2005 - Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries: 9th European Conference, ECDL 2005, Vienna, Austria, Sept 18-23, 2005. Proceedings.pp 92-103
- Long-Term Accessibility of Packaged Digital Publications (NDL Research Report No. 6)
National Diet Library
(Date Created: Mar 2006)
(Japan)
- This report details studies undertaken in 2003 and 2004 at the National Diet Library to investigate long term access and usability of CD Roms. The 2004 study evaluated emulation and migration tests.
- http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/aboutus/preservation_02_01_2006.html
- Long-Term Preservation of Web Archives - Experimenting with Emulation and Migration Methodologies: IIPC Project to Evaluate Emulation and Migration as Long-Term Preservation Solutions for Web Archives
Long, Andrew Stawowczyk
(Date Created: 10 Dec 2009)
(Australia)
- This project report (54 p.) describes a study undertaken for the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) Preservation Working Group at the National Library of Australia. The study considers the pros and cons of emulation and migration as preservation strategies for web archives and presents the results of experiments undertaken with content from the PANDORA web archive.
- http://www.netpreserve.org/publications/NLA_2009_IIPC_Report.pdf
-

Metadata for Digital Preservation : An Update
Day, Michael
In: Ariadne
(Date Created: 21 Dec 1999)
- In this article, Michael Day reviews recent activities related to the development of metadata schemes for digital preservation. He outlines the emulation and migration-based strategies for digital preservation and the role that preservation metadata is poised to play in both these approaches. He reviews both library and archives-based initiatives in this area. He describes the OAIS model and its implications for the development of preservation metadata.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue22/metadata/
- In Ariadne, Issue 22
- Migrating Content in WARC Files
Beran, Peter Paul; Rauber, Andreas; Strodl, Stephan
In: 9th International Web Archiving Workshop (IWAW 2009) Corfu, Greece, September/October, 2009: Workshop Proceedings
(Date Created: 01 Oct 2009)
- This paper given at IWAW 2009 ( 9th International Web Archiving Workshop, Corfu, Greece; 30.09.2009 - 01.10.2009) presents a workflow to apply digital preservation
strategies on the content of WARC archives and presents a set of tools that support the extraction, migration and injection of objects
in WARC files.
- http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_181115.pdf
-
Migrating Records From Proprietary Software to RTF, HTML and XML
Reuben, Elizabeth
(Date Created: Jun 2003)
(Australia)
- This article describes a digital preservation project at the Australian Department of Family and Community Services. The Department's Guides to Social Security Law had to be extracted from the its proprietary software format, Epublish, then the data had to be migrated to other formats that would increase accessibility and enable preservation of the guides. Topics covered include data conversion, testing, metadata schemes and archival formats.
- http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun03/reuben.shtml
- in Computers in Libraries, (ISSN 1041-7915) Vol. 23, no. 6, June 2003, p30-33
-

Migration : a CAMiLEON discussion paper
CAMiLEON Project; Wheatley, Paul
In: Ariadne
(Date Created: 02 Oct 2000)
- A paper by Paul Wheatley considering the different options for migration as a digital preservation technique.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue29/camileon/
- Also available from University of Leeds website: http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~issprw/camileon/migration.htm
-

Migration On Request : A Practical Technique for Preservation
Mellor, Phil; Sergeant, Derek; Wheatley, Paul
(Date Created: Sep 2002)
- This paper proposes "Migration On Request" as an alternative to the traditional view of format migration. The concept shifts the burden of preservation to a single tool, which must be preserved over time. The paper discusses the design, construction and testing of a software tool for On-Request migration of a digital drawing format.
- http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20080408134837/http://www
.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/reports/migreq.pdf
- Archived by the UK Web Archive
- Migration Performance for Legacy Data Access
Brown, Geoffrey; Woods, Kam
(Date Created: Sep 2008)
(United States of America)
- This article focuses on the in-depth analysis of file migration data gathered from testing software on 1,885 CD-ROMS and DVDs in a collection of legacy media distributed by the USGPO under the Federal Depository Library Program. Also included is an overview of the software systems architecture.
- http://www.ijdc.net/ijdc/article/view/88/106
- International Journal of Digital Curation, Vol 3 No 2 (2008) pp 74- 88
-
Moving Beyond Manual Media Migration
Lindner, James; Rosner, Gilad
(Date Created: 14 Feb 2005)
- This white paper discusses movement away from manual methods of migration for magnetic tape.
- http://www.media-matters.net/docs/WhitePapers/Moving%20Beyond.pdf
-
National Archive of Datasets
Darlington, Jeffrey
In: Ariadne
(Date Created: 30 Apr 2004)
(United Kingdom)
- This article describes The National Archives (United Kingdom) development of a national collection of datasets titled National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD) with intention to preserve it permanently. Datasets are safe-kept on a high-capacity automated tape library system. Each dataset is stored in a simple linear format based on open standards with forward migration of standards assured. More complex historic datasets were converted to the NDAD standard preservation format.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue39/ndad/
-

National Archives Green Paper : An Approach to the Preservation of Digital Records
Davis, Simon; Heslop, Helen; Wilson, Andrew
(Date Created: Dec 2002)
(Australia)
- This paper discusses the National Archives approach to digital preservation, specifically in relation to the Agency to Researcher Digital Preservation Project. Areas covered include the fundamental nature of digital records, problems of digital preservation, approaches to preservation such as migration and emulation and XML as an archival data format.
- http://www.naa.gov.au/Images/An-approach-Green-Paper_tcm2-888.pdf
- Available as PDF from this URL
- Novel Workflows for Abstract Handling of Complex Interaction Processes in Digital Preservation
Rechert, Klaus; von Suchodoletz, Dirk; Welte, Randolph; van den Dobbelsteen, Maurice; Roberts, Bill; van der Hoeven, Jeffery; Schroder, Jasper
(Date Created: Oct 2009)
- This paper given at iPRES 2009 (5-6 October 2009, San Francisco, California) presents a novel methodology using an operating system and application independent interactive workflow for the migration of digital objects using an emulated environment.
- http://planets-project.eu/docs/papers/Rechert_NovelWorkflows_iPres2009
.pdf
-

Part of Our Culture is Born Digital : On Efforts to Preserve it for Future Generations
Aschenbrenner, Andreas ; Rauber, Andreas
(Date Created: Jun 2001)
(Austria)
- This English version of a paper presented at the 'Knowledge Networking in Cultural Studies' conference in May 2001, examines the challenges for the long-term preservation of digital cultural heritage. The authors discuss some of the main technical issues involved in archiving the Internet, and evaluate possible solutions such as emulation and migration of data. The paper concludes with a report on the AOLA pilot project to create an Austrian On-Line Archive.
- http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/%7Eaola/publications/trans10.html
- Published in Trans - Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften, 10. Nr. / Juni 2001
-
Preservation of Digital Data with Self-Validating, Self-Instantiating Knowledge-Based Archives
Ludaescher, Bertram; Marciano, Richard; Moore, Reagan
(Date Created: 2001)
(United States of America)
- This article depicts a fully XML-based archival infrastructure and seeks to show how this architecture can be extended to further include information about the archived information. The notions of self-validating and self-instantiating archives are given precise meanings based on a formalization of the ingestion process. The article includes a case study from a collaboration with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
- http://www.sdsc.edu/NARA/Publications/Web/kba.pdf
-

Preserving Digital Information : Final Report and Recommendations
Garrett, John (co-chair); Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information; Waters, Donald (chair)
(Date Created: 20 May 1996)
- This report arose from a decision at the end of 1994 by the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA) and the Research Libraries Group (RLG) to create a Task Force charged with investigating and recommending means to ensure "continued access indefinitely into the future of records stored in digital electronic form." This was a watershed exercise which generated thoughtful discussion on this topic worldwide.
- http://www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/past/digpresstudy/final-report.pd
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- Preserving the Scholarly Side of the Web
Green, Cody; Leggett, John; Maslov, Alexey; Mikeal, Adam; Phillips, Scott
(Date Created: 26 Oct 2006)
(United States of America)
- This paper given at LA Webb 2006 (4th Latin American Web Conference, 25-27 October 2006, Puebla Cholula Mexico), presents results of a case study (migration of the Journal of Digital Information- JoDI hosted by the Texas Digital Library) addressing the issues around preservation in a digital library. It focuses on issues applying to the preservation of scholarly articles encoded in current web standards, discusses emulation and migration, and compares the strengths and weaknesses of automatic and manual migration.
- http://txspace.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/5680/LA%20WEB%202006%2
0Paper.pdf?sequence=1
-
Public Opinion Polls and Digital Preservation : an Application of the Fedora Digital Object Repository System
Jantz, Ronald
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Nov 2003)
(United States of America)
- This article describes the Eagleton Archive Project, a partnership between the Scholarly Communication Centre (SCC) at Rutgers University Libraries (RUL) and Eagleton Centre for Public Interest Polling. The Fedora management system provides the basic technological infrastructure for digital preservation for the Eagleton Archive Project. This article provides an overview of the Fedora management system including the digital preservation framework and archiving processes, the archiving philosophy of the RUL and management issues.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november03/jantz/11jantz.html
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Reality and Chimeras in the Preservation of Electronic Records
Bearman, David
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: 15 Apr 1999)
- This magazine column is a response to the report to CLIR by Jeff Rothenberg "Avoiding Technological Quicksand". Bearman gives a critique of the solution described by Rothenberg and suggests that migration is still the preferred solution for the preservation of electronic records.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april99/bearman/04bearman.html
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Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS)
(Regularly Updated)
- Developed by the CCSDS, OAIS is a model for an archival system for the long-term preservation of and access to digital information. The reference model is now an ISO standard (ISO 14721). This site provides access to the final blue book CCSDS 650.0B-1 version of the standard.
- http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/650x0b1.pdf
- All drafts available from http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.html
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Researching Long Term Digital Preservation Approaches in the Dutch Digital Preservation Testbed (Testbed Digitale Bewaring)
Potter, Maureen
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: 15 Jun 2002)
(Netherlands)
- Maureen Potter describes the work and progress to date of the Digital Preservation Testbed (Testbed Digitale Bewaring) belonging to the Dutch government's Digitale Duurzaamheid (Digital Longevity) programme aimed at retaining long term accessibility to government information. The article describes the Testbed's focus on four document types (text documents, email, spreadsheets and databases) using three preservation approaches (migration, emulation, XML), outlines the experimental methodology and provides some preliminary findings for text documents and emails.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070511/viewer/file1
521.html#feature2
- Reviving Digital Projects
Dietrich, Dianne; Doty, Jennifer; Green, Jen; Scholtz, Nicole
(Date Created: 15 Dec 2008)
(United States of America)
- This article describes and provides general advice for the process of reviving digital projects based on the specific case study of the Online Atlas of Michigan Plants at the University of Michigan. The process of digital archaeology to investigate requirements and produce documentation, migration and project life-cycle management are considered.
- http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/685
- Code4Lib Journal ISSN 1940-5758 Issue 5, 15 Dec 2008
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Risk Management of Digital Information : A File Format Investigation
Arms, Caroline R.
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: 15 Jun 2000)
(United States of America)
- This article is a review of the CLIR sponsored Cornell University Library study of the same name. The study concentrated on migration as a digital preservation strategy. There were seen to be three different categories of risk related to the infrastructure, file format and conversion process. Different methods and tools were applied to assess risk included workbooks, reader software and test migrations. It was found that risk could be quantified and access to the original file format specifications was crucial to evaluating risks.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070513/viewer/file1
579.html#technical1
- RODA and Crib: A Service-Oriented Digital Repository
Barbedos, Francisco; Castro, Rui; Corujo, Luis; Faria, Luis; Ferreira, Miguel; Ramalho, Jose Carlos
(Date Created: 30 Sep 2008)
(Portugal)
- This paper presented at iPres 2008 (29-30 September 2008, British Library Conference Centre) describes how the integration of RODA a project of the Portuguese National Archives and CRiB a project of the University of Minho may provide a standards based digital preservation solution. CRiB delivers a set of preservation services in the planning and execution of migration-based preservation interventions and may fulfill the preservation planning requirements for RODA.
- http://www.bl.uk/ipres2008/presentations_day2/37_Ramalho.pdf
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State of the Art and Practice in Digital Preservation
Lee, Kyong-Ho ; Lu, Richang ; McCrary, Victor ; Slattery, Oliver ; Tang, Xiao
(Date Created: Jan 2002)
- This paper published in the Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 93-106, Jan-Feb 2002) is a survey of ideas and practice in digital preservation as of late 2001. It first elaborates the various proposed strategies for digital preservation (including emulation and migration) before introducing a number of projects from Australia, Europe and North America. A final section recommends the development of preservation standards based on XML, and outlines some critical issues that still need to be resolved.
- http://nvl.nist.gov/pub/nistpubs/jres/107/1/j71lee.pdf
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Survey and Assessment of Sources of Information on File Formats and Software Documentation : Final Report
Representation and Rendering Project, University of Leeds
(Date Created: 2003)
(United Kingdom)
- This report was published by the UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) as part of their Digital Preservation and Records Management programme. The report canvasses issues of rendering, migration and obsolescence; identifies sources of information for file format and software documentation; and lists a series of recommendations to combat software and hardware obsolescence.
- http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/FileFormatsreport.pdf
- From TIFF to JPEG 2000? Preservation Planning at the Bavarian State Library Using a Collection of Digitized 16th Century Printings
Beinert, Tobias; Brantl, Markus; Kugler, Anna; Kulovits, Hannes; Rauber, Andreas; Schoger, Astrid
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Nov 2009)
(Germany)
- This article describes the use of PLATO, the preservation planning tool developed by the PLANETS project, in assessing the suitability of migration of images in TIFF format to JPEG 2000 by the Bavarian State Library. After examining the proposal and taking into consideration the Library's specific preservation requirements and policies and results of experiments with available migration tools, it was decided not to undertake the proposed migration at this point in time. Using PLATO assisted in the identification and documentation of the factors which contributed to the decision making process. The article emphasises the need for individual organisations to make preservation decisions based on their individual situation.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november09/kulovits/11kulovits.html
- Towards a Curation and Preservation Architecture for CAD Engineering Models
Ball, Alexander; Ding, Lian; Patel, Manjula
(Date Created: 29 Sep 2008)
- This paper given at iPRES 2008 (British Library Conference Centre, 29-30 Sept. 2008) discusses preservation requirements of CAD models and presents two proof of concept tools developed to aid in their curation and preservation. RRoRIfe - Registry/Repository of Representation Information for Engineering - uses Representation Information, as defined by the OAIS Reference Model to advise on suitable migration strategies for migrating CAD models to archival or exchange formats. It is a simple preservation planning tool incorporating a registry of format characteristics and a registry of migration software. The second tool LiMMA -Lightweight Models with Multilayered Annotations - is an architecture for layering non-geometric information on top of a geometric model. It is a series of individual tools based around a common XML schema and workflow.
- http://www.bl.uk/ipres2008/presentations_day1/17_Ball.pdf
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Transparent Format Migration of Preserved Web Content
Lipkis, Thomas; Morabito, Seth; Robertson, Thomas; Rosenthal, David S. H.
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Jan 2005)
- The LOCKSS digital preservation system collects content by crawling the web and preserves it in the format supplied by the publisher. As standards and formats evolve over years, browsers will presumably lose the ability to handle content in old formats. The process of converting old content to a newer format that browsers can render accurately is called format migration. The LOCKSS system has designed and tested an initial implementation of format migration for Web content that is transparent to readers, building on the content negotiation capabilities of HTTP.
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1045/january2005-rosenthal
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january05/rosenthal/01rosenthal.html
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XML and Digital Preservation
Testbed Digitale Bewaring
(Date Created: Sep 2002)
(Netherlands)
- This paper describes XML and how it is useful for preserving digital information. A summary of current knowledge and research into XML is also provided.
- http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/bibliotheek/docs/white-paper_xml-en
.pdf
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Comparison of Methods & Costs of Digital Preservation
Hendley, Tony
(Date Created: 1998)
- British Library Research and Innovation Report 106. This report was commissioned as part of the British national strategy for digital information. It includes a decision model to assess ten categories of digital resources to determine the most appropriate method of long-term preservation for each; and a cost model for comparing the costs of the preferred methods of preservation for each category of digital resource.
- ISSN: 1366-8218
- ISBN: 0 7123 9713 2
- http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/tavistock/hendley/hendley.
html
- May be purchased as a photocopy or microfiche from the British Thesis Service, British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshore, LS23 7BQ, UK.
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Preserving the Whole : A Two-Track Approach to Rescuing Social Science Data and Metadata
Dennis, Martin; Dionne, JoAnn; Green, Ann
In: CLIR Reports
(Date Created: Jun 1999)
- This is the second publication of the Digital Library Federation and reflects the Federation's interests both in advancing the state of the art of social science data archives and in building the infrastructure necessary for the long-term maintenance of digital information. The paper (53 pp.) is especially valuable as a meticulously detailed case study of migration as a preservation strategy. It explores the options available for migrating both data stored in a technically obsolete format and associated documentation stored on paper.
- ISBN: 1-887334-68-8
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub83abst.html
- Also available as PDF: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub83/pub83.pdf
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Risk Management of Digital Information : A File Format Investigation
Gregory W. Lawrence, William R. Kehoe, Oya Y. Reiger, William H. Walters and Kenney R. Anne
(Date Created: Jun 2000)
(United States of America)
Reviewed by: Risk Management of Digital Information : A File Format Investigation
- This report is based on investigations by Cornell University Library with support from CLIR on the identification of risks to digital file formats during migration. A work book for risk assessment was developed, identifying risk categories, measuring risk using worksheets, matrixes and evaluation of conversion comparison software. Two migration case studies are also discussed: one for image files and one for numeric files.
- ISBN: 1-887334-78-5
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub93abst.html
- Available on CLIR's website or paper copy for US $20.00
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Organisations and Websites
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- CRiB : Conversion and Recommendation of Digital Object Formats
Universidade do Minho. Dept. of Information Systems
(Regularly Updated)
(Portugal)
- CRiB is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) designed to assist cultural heritage institutions in the implementation of migration-based preservation interventions. Functionalty includes recommending optimal migration alternatives that take into consideration the preservation requirements of the client institution; conversion of digital objects to up-to-date encodings; evaluating the migration outcomes by comparing the original digital object with its converted counterparts and identifying the significant properties that have not been correctly preserved; and the generation of migration reports for inclusion in the preservation metadata of migrated objects. The web site also has links to demonstrators, evaluation taxonomies and related articles.
- http://crib.dsi.uminho.pt/
- Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
ICPSR
(Regularly Updated)
(United States of America)
- Forming part of the University of Michigan, the ICPSR acquires and preserves social science data on behalf of 400 member colleges and universities in the US and abroad. To ensure continuing access to the archived records, the Consortium uses migration methods to keep abreast of technological change.
- http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/index.html
- Video Preservation Website
Messier, Paul; Vitale, Timothy
(Date Created: 2007)
(United States of America)
- This website encourages preservation of historic video using digital capture to create individual video files, which would be stored on mass storage media such as hard drives (HDD) or data tape (DT). The site includes images and documentation for historic videotape equipment.
- http://videopreservation.stanford.edu/index.html
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Policies, Strategies & Guidelines
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Archiving Smithsonian Websites : an Evaluation and Recommendation for a Smithsonian Institution Archives Pilot Project
Smithsonian Institution Archives Records Management Team
(Date Created: May 2003)
(United States of America)
- This report outlines a proposal for a pilot project to archive Smithsonian websites and is the result of the evaluation and testing of Dollar Consulting's report Archival Preservation of Smithsonian Web Resources: Strategies, Principles, and Best Practice Archival Preservation of Smithsonian Web Resources: Strategies, Principles, and Best Practice, published in 2001. It includes proposed recommendations for archival management, access to archived websites, processing dynamic websites and cost estimates, and notes the results of test migrations of HTML to XHTML, which were based on Dollar Consulting's earlier recommendations.
- http://siarchives.si.edu/pdf/websitepilot.pdf
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Cedars Guide To: Digital Preservation Strategies
University of Leeds
(Last Updated: 02 Apr 2002)
(United Kingdom)
- This guide includes recommendations about technical approaches to digital preservation based on the Cedars experience.
- http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20050410120000/http://www
.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/guideto/dpstrategies/index.html
- Archived by the UK Web Archive
- Digital Preservation Guidance Note 1 : Selecting File Formats for Long-Term Preservation. Issue 2.
Brown, Adrian
(Date Created: Aug 2008)
(United Kingdom)
- This guidance note issued by The National Archives (TNA) Digital Preservation Department sets out a range of criteria t to help data creators and archivists make informed choices about file format issues and selecting file formats for use.
- http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/selecting-file-formats.pd
f
- DPGN-01 Available in PDF and RTF version from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/advice/digital.htm
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Digital Preservation Guidance Note 1: Selecting File Formats for Long-Term Preservation
Brown, Adrian
(Date Created: 19 Jun 2003)
(United Kingdom)
- Produced by the Digital Preservation Department of the National Archives (UK) as part of its series of guidance notes on issues relating to the preservation of electronic records, this document focuses on the selection of file formats for long-term preservation. It describes various criteria that need to be considered when dealing with file format issues and selection. Superseded by Version 2 August 2008.
- http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/selecting_file_formats.pd
f
- This document is the first in a series of guidance notes developed by the Digital Preservation Department, National Archives, UK. It is also available as an RTF document.
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Framework for the Preservation of and Permanent Public Access to USDA Digital Publications
Uhlir, Paul, Project Consultant, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council
(Date Created: Nov 1997)
(United States of America)
- "This plan developed by the National Agricultural Library in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Information Officer, all other Departmental agencies, and representatives of key stakeholder and customer groups, addresses the preservation of all publications in digital form that are not restricted in their public distribution, that are created by or under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, and that meet the retention criteria established under this plan. The plan also provides guidelines and procedures for addressing the technical requirements and user access and retrieval needs for the Department's digital publications that are made available through the NAL."
- http://web.archive.org/web/20021213215556/www.nal.usda.gov/preserve/US
DADigiPubPresProg/framework.shtml
- ISO Archiving Standards : Overview
NASA
(Regularly Updated)
- This site contains links and background information to the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) and other archival standardization efforts.
- http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/overview.html
- Library and Archives Canada Audiovisual Migration Strategy
Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
(Date Created: Sep 2009)
(Canada)
- This Library and Archives Canada (LAC) strategy document "identifies the principles and priorities to be employed to migrate LAC's audiovisual collection, offering a joint solution to preservation and access problems by stabilizing technological dependency through the creation of audio and video digital preservation masters in standardized file formats and the automated generation of digital access copies."
- http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/preservation/003003-1100-e.html
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Managing Electronic Records - A Shared Responsibility
National Archives of Australia
(Last Updated: 12 Feb 1999)
(Australia)
- This paper defines what constitutes an electronic Commonwealth record in Australia and provides a guide to the roles of individual agencies and the Archives in preserving them.
- http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/22378/20011102-0000/www.naa.gov.au/recor
dkeeping/er/manage_er/summary.html
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Projects and Case Studies
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It Always Hurts the First Time: Experiences with Transferred Electronic Records
van Dijk, Marcel
In: Cultivate Interactive
(Date Created: Feb 2003)
(Netherlands)
- This case study notes the problems of transferring electronic records to the Amsterdam Public Record Office from a government agency. The study covers issues such as project planning, metadata, various file formats such as e-mails and text files.
- http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue9/amsterdammro/
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Archiving Smithsonian Websites : an Evaluation and Recommendation for a Smithsonian Institution Archives Pilot Project
Smithsonian Institution Archives Records Management Team
(Date Created: May 2003)
(United States of America)
- This report outlines a proposal for a pilot project to archive Smithsonian websites and is the result of the evaluation and testing of Dollar Consulting's report Archival Preservation of Smithsonian Web Resources: Strategies, Principles, and Best Practice Archival Preservation of Smithsonian Web Resources: Strategies, Principles, and Best Practice, published in 2001. It includes proposed recommendations for archival management, access to archived websites, processing dynamic websites and cost estimates, and notes the results of test migrations of HTML to XHTML, which were based on Dollar Consulting's earlier recommendations.
- http://siarchives.si.edu/pdf/websitepilot.pdf
- CRiB : Conversion and Recommendation of Digital Object Formats
Universidade do Minho. Dept. of Information Systems
(Regularly Updated)
(Portugal)
- CRiB is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) designed to assist cultural heritage institutions in the implementation of migration-based preservation interventions. Functionalty includes recommending optimal migration alternatives that take into consideration the preservation requirements of the client institution; conversion of digital objects to up-to-date encodings; evaluating the migration outcomes by comparing the original digital object with its converted counterparts and identifying the significant properties that have not been correctly preserved; and the generation of migration reports for inclusion in the preservation metadata of migrated objects. The web site also has links to demonstrators, evaluation taxonomies and related articles.
- http://crib.dsi.uminho.pt/
-
Migrating Records From Proprietary Software to RTF, HTML and XML
Reuben, Elizabeth
(Date Created: Jun 2003)
(Australia)
- This article describes a digital preservation project at the Australian Department of Family and Community Services. The Department's Guides to Social Security Law had to be extracted from the its proprietary software format, Epublish, then the data had to be migrated to other formats that would increase accessibility and enable preservation of the guides. Topics covered include data conversion, testing, metadata schemes and archival formats.
- http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun03/reuben.shtml
- in Computers in Libraries, (ISSN 1041-7915) Vol. 23, no. 6, June 2003, p30-33
- Reviving Digital Projects
Dietrich, Dianne; Doty, Jennifer; Green, Jen; Scholtz, Nicole
(Date Created: 15 Dec 2008)
(United States of America)
- This article describes and provides general advice for the process of reviving digital projects based on the specific case study of the Online Atlas of Michigan Plants at the University of Michigan. The process of digital archaeology to investigate requirements and produce documentation, migration and project life-cycle management are considered.
- http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/685
- Code4Lib Journal ISSN 1940-5758 Issue 5, 15 Dec 2008
-

Risk Management of Digital Information : A File Format Investigation
Gregory W. Lawrence, William R. Kehoe, Oya Y. Reiger, William H. Walters and Kenney R. Anne
(Date Created: Jun 2000)
(United States of America)
Reviewed by: Risk Management of Digital Information : A File Format Investigation
- This report is based on investigations by Cornell University Library with support from CLIR on the identification of risks to digital file formats during migration. A work book for risk assessment was developed, identifying risk categories, measuring risk using worksheets, matrixes and evaluation of conversion comparison software. Two migration case studies are also discussed: one for image files and one for numeric files.
- ISBN: 1-887334-78-5
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub93abst.html
- Available on CLIR's website or paper copy for US $20.00
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-

Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS)
(Regularly Updated)
- Developed by the CCSDS, OAIS is a model for an archival system for the long-term preservation of and access to digital information. The reference model is now an ISO standard (ISO 14721). This site provides access to the final blue book CCSDS 650.0B-1 version of the standard.
- http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/650x0b1.pdf
- All drafts available from http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.html
Top
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Farewell my Floppy: a strategy for migration of digital information
Woodyard, Deborah
(Last Updated: 29 Apr 1998)
(Australia)
- This paper describes a survey of National Library of Australia collection material stored on disk and reports on the practical aspects of migrating floppy disks to CD-R.
- http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/nlasp/article/view/1072
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Related Topics: Emulation | Encapsulation
| Universal Virtual Computer (UVC)
Broader Topic:
Digital preservation strategies
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Telephone + 61 2 6262 1111; Facsimile +61 2 6257 1703; Telephone Typewriter
Number: 1800 026 372
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