The cost of doing nothing

The cost of doing nothing. Barbara Sierman. Digital Preservation Seeds. maart 11, 2013.

There has been much discussion on the fact that over the years the digital preservation community has created more than a dozen cost models, which may increase the confusion in digital preservation even bigger. May be this is part of the way things are going: everyone sees his own situation as something special with special needs.

The solution? Creating an existing model or developing a new one. We can expect help from the recently started European project 4C ,”The Collaboration to Clarify the Costs of Curation”. In their introduction they state that “4C reminds us that the point of this investment [in digital preservation] is to realise a benefit”. Less emphasis on the complexity of digital preservation, and more on the benefits. If we have better figures of the benefits of preserving digital material, we are in a better position to estimate what it will cost us if digital materials are not preserved.

Digital Preservation Matters.