Criteria for the Trustworthiness of Data Centres

Criteria for the Trustworthiness of Data Centres. Jens Klump. D-Lib Magazine. January/February 2011.
The rapid decay of URLs for research resources is an important reason to use persistent identifiers. The use of persistent identifiers implies that the data objects are persistent themselves. The rapid obsolescence of the technology to read the information, along with the physical decay of the media, represents a serious threat to preservation of the content. Since research projects only run for a relatively short time, it is advisable to shift the responsibility for long-term data curation from the individual researcher to a trusted data repository or archive.

We need criteria for the assessment of trustworthiness of digital archives. Some of the methods presented have been:

•     Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist (TRAC)
•     Catalogue of Criteria for Trusted Digital Repositories (nestor Catalogue)
•     DCC and DPE Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment (DRAMBORA)
•     DINI-Certificate Document and Publication Services
•     Data Seal of Approval (Sesink et al., 2008)

These provide useful feedback on developing additional criteria and auditing procedures to certify  trusted digital archives.