A multi-agent approach for autonomous digital preservation

A multi-agent approach for autonomous digital preservation. J. Pellegrino,  M. Maggiora, W. Allasia. Multimedia & Expo Workshops, 2015 IEEE International Conference. June 29 2015-July 3 2015. 
     Digital obsolescence is caused by the ongoing development of new software and new formats, so the risk of obsolescence can be estimated from a global environment.The model described in the article
presents two main strategies to cope with digital obsolescence: migration and emulation, and then focuses on migration. Migration consists in converting digital objects into a new and more recent format and is the process we are going to focus on in this work.

An agent can be defined as a computer system that is capable of autonomous actions to meet its  objectives. The environment and all the agents that interact together to share information constitute a multi-agent system. The agents interact together in a variety of ways to meet the objectives. An agent-based model could be set up to deal with digital preservation issues; they can acquire, evaluate and share information in order to understand obsolescence risks and the best preservation action to perform. This will require a trust relationship between archive entities. There are some tools that perform obsolescence identification and metadata extraction, such as AONS (Automated Obsolescence Notification System), DROID (Digital Record and Object Identification), and JHOVE (JSTOR/Harvard Object Validation Environment).

Preservation processes require institutions to define a preservation plan. PLANETS (Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services) and Scout (developed within the SCAPE Project) are tools that help with identifying preservation issues and managing digital repositories. None of the tools discussed so far use the described model which aims to emulate a distributed environment where  archive entities can share information to find solutions to the digital preservation issues.

The model is self updating from preservation actions taken, and is made up of three main parts:

1. Global: it includes all those variables accessible to every agent. 
2. Entities: contains the declarations of all the species of agents that take part in the model. 
3. Experiment: dedicated to the experimental setup.

The work presented in this paper provides a novel approach to the decision processes concerning one of the most common digital preservation issues such as the migration process. The agents in this migration process have the capability of communicating, cooperating and propagating information about the performed actions in order to help each of the other agents find the best solution to a given preservation issue. The goal is to provide a framework so users can simulate different digital preservation scenarios and approaches. The model has show the stability of the framework under various use cases.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Libraries could outlast the internet, head of British Library says

Libraries could outlast the internet, head of BritishLibrary says. Hannah Furness. The Telegraph. 25 May 2015.
Roly Keating, director of the British Library, said he was shocked at how many "smart people" still questioned whether libraries were still viable in the modern age.

Stop worrying about whether libraries will survive the digital age, that they could outlast the internet.
Libraries have countless values worth defending, including trust, that pre-dated the internet. Libraries have a vital place in communities and could prove the most "powerful and resiliant network yet". "And what we collectively believe libraries are and are for will determine what form they survive in."

 "But the time frame we think on, centuries back and centuries into the future, allows us to think about trust in its highest sense, and authentication and provenance of information, and digital information in particular.

"Those are hard-won privileges and values and they're worth defending."

"And in some ways they are the most powerful and resiliant network of all, if we continue to believe in them."

"With all our fascination of and love for the internet in the age of data, these values and the values and idea of the library predated the internet and if we get it right may yet outlast it.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Trustworthiness of Preservation Systems

Trustworthiness  of  Preservation Systems. David  Minor. PASIG Presentation. March 11, 2015. [PDF]
We  all  want  to  trust  systems, especially preservation  systems. Trust is an iterative process to verify and clarify. The principles of trust include:

•  Institutional commitment to collections
•  Infrastructure demands
•  Technical system and staffing capabilities
•  Sustainability (particularly funding, technology, collaboration)
•  Identify and communicate risks to content, examining “what if” questions

There are three levels of auditing

•  "Basic certification” is a simple self assessment
•  "Extended certification" represents a plausibility checked assessment
•  "Formal certification" is an audit driven by external experts

Major auditing frameworks include:

•  Data Seal of Approval (Basic)
•  nestor (Extended)
•  TRAC/ISO 16363 (Formal)
•  DRAMBORA (Range)

The DRAMBORA Stages

1.  Identify organizational context
2.  Document policy and regulatory framework
3.  Identify activities, assets, and their owners
4.  Identify risks
5.  Assess risks
6.  Manage risks

In the future, we need to know how these audit frameworks apply to distributed digital preservation environments, and how flexible the questions and the audit models are.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Building Productive and Collaborative Relationships at the Speed of Trust

Building Productive and Collaborative Relationships at the Speed of Trust. Todd Kreuger. Educause Review. March 2, 2015.
To make projects successful, it is important to create trust and collaboration among IT, staff, and campus groups. To create that trust, the staff must establish highly productive relationships with the school's departments, faculty, and students. Collaboration, design thinking, and innovation go hand-in-hand. Many projects fall short of customer needs, fail or achieve less than satisfactory results, including plenty of finger pointing and wasted time, money, and opportunity. Some of the lessons learned:

• Get on the same page
• Build and establish trust
• Provide the tools and expectations for success
• Focus on both strategic and operational needs
• Clarify process ownership and the associated responsibilities
• Recognize the desired performance and celebrate success

It is critical to have an open dialogue with various customer groups and to attempt to exceed their expectations. Another challenge is to ensure that people recognize the past as the past and not as an indicator of future performance. The best way to begin a change in culture is to identify issues and challenges that you can immediately address. The reservoir of trust is built one action at a time and emptied in a hurry. To steadily build trust, you must say what you are going to do and do what you say. Communication is the heart and soul of trust. It is imperative that you ask appropriate questions and listen to gain understanding. Collaboration should not be a project in and of itself, but the way in which we work.

Cycle of Productivity model. Processes and tasks must have a defined owner and be documented and published, and change must be managed to ensure that everyone is aware of the new expectations. The basic premise is that training, assessment of effectiveness, and feedback all must occur to ensure the process or task is completed as expected.

The end result "is one in which a culture of collaboration, coupled with a relentless focus on challenging the status quo, results in our encouraging, pushing, and helping each other innovate, transform, and differentiate."  

Digital Preservation Matters.