Weekly readings - 29 September 2006

Imaging technology restores 700-year-old sacred Hindu text. Physics.org. September 19, 2006.

Imaging techniques are being used to preserve an ancient Hindu text that is deteriorating due to age and improper storage and handling. The images are then being processed and stitched together. This will make opening the fragile book unnecessary in the future. The images are being stored electronically, in printed form, and etched on silicon wafers.

Brother, Can You Spare a Terabyte? Jennifer Schiff. Computerworld. September 28, 2006.

The San Diego Supercomputer Center is making available more than 400 TB of disk space and even more archival tape space for academic and scientific data. The center has a large production-level infrastructure and 24/7 staff that monitors the system. They can scale to be host large collections over a long period of time in a reliable environment. The center can also easily handle data migration. The resources that a person would need to acquire, such as equipment, staff, and a location, can be handled by the center. The current cost estimate is about $1,500 per terabyte per year . The cost for archival tape is much less, about $500 per terabyte per year, with retrieval time in minutes. "Our focus is on large-scale collections and nonprofit university scientific researchers as well as the digital preservation community."

Digital archiving gains new tool. BBC News. 26 September 2006.

The National Library of New Zealand and the British Library have created a tool that makes it easier to gather and store digital web sites. The web curator tool automates the process of collecting and storing information. It will be available to other organizations as open source by the end of the year. Web harvesting will become more important as more people try to preserve web pages, which is often difficult to do. One obstacle to digital archives is current copyright legislation.

Fujitsu announces petabyte-size disk array with encryption. Sharon Fisher. Computerworld. September 25, 2006.

Fujitsu Computer Systems Corp. has announced a petabyte-size storage array with native encryption. They use 128-bit AES keys, which are also encrypted and stored on the disk drive. The arrays are available now starting at $24,500. Some users with high security needs are uneasy about the possibility of losing access to their data once it is encrypted.

British Library shouts out against unfair DRM. Alun Williams. 26 September 2006.

The British Library is continuing its campaign against the threat of digital rights management technology to the management of UK cultural data. The technology is unforgiving for libraries and public bodies, and threatens innovation, research and our digital heritage. The law does not permit copying of sound or film items for preservation. Without the right for libraries and archives to make copies, she maintained, the UK risks losing a large part of its recorded culture. The recommendations include: existing limitations and exceptions to copyright law should be extended to the digital environment; licenses to digital material should not undermine fair use and preservation purposes. Also, the copyright term for sound recordings should not be extended 'without empirical evidence of the benefits and due consideration of the needs of society as a whole', and that the copyright term for reproducing unpublished works should be the same as for published works. Contracts for digital material generally are more restrictive than existing copyright law and can prevent copying, archiving and access by the visually impaired.

British Library calls for digital copyright action. Tom Espiner. CNET News. September 25, 2006.

The British Library has called for a "serious updating of copyright law to recognize the changing technological environment”. Digital rights management technologies and licensing agreements can impose restrictions that go beyond copyright law. The technology is overriding exceptions to copyright law and can't be circumvented for disabled access or preservation; the technology doesn't expire as does traditional copyright. These restrictions can be particularly damaging for academic research.

Weekly readings - 22 September 2006

Preserving Information, Not Formats. Bonita Wilson. D-Lib Magazine. September 2006.

In one library there is a concern about staff and patrons about what to do with materials for which there is no more space. Just because an item has not circulated for a time does not mean it is not valuable. If the item is digitized can that be as reliably retained as the print copy? Deciding what to digitize and what to discard must be looked at carefully. “In many ways, dealing with materials that have existed solely in digital format is easier than contemplating what to do with print materials for which there is no longer space or budget available for maintenance. In the end, however, the critical consideration is how to preserve the information, not the format in which it exists.”

Repository Librarian and the Next Crusade: The Search for a Common Standard for Digital Repository Metadata. Beth Goldsmith, Frances Knudson. D-Lib Magazine. September 2006.

There are a lot of metadata standards within the digital and repository communities. The metadata from different sources can be difficult to use and combine. This example is of a team trying to decide what metadata standard to use. They decided it should be XML-based. Three requirements for a uniform standard for digital repository metadata include:

1. Granularity: the ability to differentiate data elements and maintain context between them

2. Transparency: interoperability

3. Extensibility: ability to grow and meet unseen needs

Other desired features were: support for hierarchical data structures, cooperative management of the standard, support for simple and complex use, and simplicity training or existing experience with the standard. MARCXML was selected as a uniform metadata standard for the digital repository because of its relative maturity in the XML standards world, its familiarity in the library community, and its ability to blend well with modern mark-up technologies.

USB flash drives are failing. Bruce Hoard. Computerworld. September 15, 2006.

Failures of USB flash memory drives are increasing because of quality-control problems. The drives may have additional fragmentation problems. These drives are expected to last for an average of 100,000 read-write cycles. However the fragmentation problems may become more of a threat with the increased size of the flash memory.

Cornell University and Publishers announce new copyright guidelines governing use of digital course materials. Press release. September 19, 2006.

The Association of American Publishers and Cornell announced a new set of copyright guidelines to govern the use of electronic course materials on the campus system. The joint guidelines make it clear that faculty must obtain permission to distribute electronic works in the same way as they do with hard-copy formats. Instructors should use technical means to limit access to copyrighted electronic course content. These works should include appropriate copyright statements.

Inventors try single disc for both new DVD formats. Jeffrey Goldfarb. Computerworld. September 20, 2006.

Three Warner Bros. employees have filed a patent application for a disc that would play the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Information on the DVD would be stored at different depths, depending on the technology. Blu-ray discs store information only 0.1mm from the surface while HD-DVDs store it at 0.6mm. By using reflective films, the lasers could read the top layer and "see through" to the lower one if needed. Additional information could also be stored on the other side of the disc.

Converting floppy disks

Here is a company that converts floppy disks, including 8 inch floppy disks. They have a list of those formats that they can convert. It will be helpful to know what software was used to create the disks.

Review of the OAIS Reference Model

Announcement of a Comment Period for the Five Year Review of the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Standard

OAIS Overview

The “Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)” was developed for use in facilitating a broad, discipline independent, consensus on the requirements for an archive or repository to provide permanent, or indefinite long-term, preservation of digital information. It was also intended to support the development of additional digital preservation standards and to encourage digital preservation support by vendors.

An OAIS is an archive consisting of an organization of people and systems that has accepted the responsibility to preserve information and make it available to a designated community. The standard defines a set of responsibilities that an OAIS archive must fulfill and this allows an OAIS archive to be distinguished from other uses of the term ‘archive’.

Since its adoption as both Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) and ISO standards, the OAIS Reference Model has been welcomed and widely adopted by virtually all types of digital preservation communities. Most modern digital archiving initiatives reference the OAIS Reference Model standard. It has also been widely used by organizations to inform their implementations of new or upgraded archiving systems.

Five Year Review

In compliance with ISO and CCSDS procedures, a standard must be reviewed every five years and a determination made to reaffirm, modify, or withdraw the existing standard. The “Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)” standard was approved as CCSDS 650.0-B-1 in January 2002 and was approved as ISO standard 14721 in 2003. While the standard can be reaffirmed given its wide usage, it may also be appropriate to begin a revision process. Our view is that any revision must remain backward compatible with regard to major terminology and concepts. Further, we do not plan to expand the general level of detail. A particular interest is to reduce ambiguities and to fill in any missing or weak concepts. To this end, a comment period has been established.

Comment Process

We are soliciting recommendations for updates that will reduce ambiguities or improve missing or weak concepts. We also want to know if you prefer that no changes be made. Please categorized your comments for changes under one of the following:

• Updates needed for clarification
• Updates to add missing concepts or strengthen weak concepts
• Identification of any outdated material

Please be as specific as possible with your suggestions. For this consideration, comments must be received by 30 October, 2006.

Comments may be submitted to: OAIS-support@delight.gsfc.nasa.gov

Should the decision be taken to update the OAIS Reference Model, there should be an opportunity to participate in the process. Please also express your interest in participating and, if known, an indication of your expected level of effort.

Weekly Readings - 30 June 2006

The National Archives and the San Diego Supercomputer Center Sign Landmark Agreement to Preserve Critical Data. Press release. U.S. Newswire. June 28, 2006.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), with the National Science Foundation, signed an agreement that provides a way to preserve valuable digital data collections. "Preserving our most valuable digital assets is critical for leadership and competitiveness in research and education.” The agreement will allow SDSC to “expand and formalize its role as a national data repository, and provide a venue for the preservation of valued digital collections from federally sponsored research.”


EMC Plans to Bring Out Data Classification System. Bradley Mitchell. Computerworld. June 26, 2006.

EMC announced plans to ship data classification software later this year that will allow storage administrators set up policies automatically categorize data by its importance and store it using a hierarchical storage management system. Critical data will be more accessible and on faster devices; less frequently used data will be store on slower and less expensive devices. The system will initially work with unstructured information, but will eventually support databases as well, a company executive said last week.


PowerFile Introduces Permanent Storage Appliance. Computer Technology Review. June 19, 2006.

PowerFile, Inc., which develops archive appliances for permanent storage of digital content and assets, has introduced the Permanent Storage Appliance. The appliance is a network-attached storage system that uses a patented, highly scalable DVD-based subsystem with the capability to store files online for many years.


Toshiba to Launch World's First HD DVD Recorder. Kiyoshi Takenaka. eWeek. June 22, 2006.

Toshiba announced that in July it will launch its new high-definition optical disc recorder based on the HD DVD format. It will come with a 1TB hard drive. They will not be available outside of Japan at this time.

Sun, Microsoft answer Mass. call for ODF/Office converter. Eric Lai. Computerworld. June 29, 2006.

Several companies, including Sun and Microsoft, have responded to a call for software plug-ins to would allow Microsoft Office users to read and write files in the OpenDocument format (ODF). ODF is a free XML file international standard which is based on the open-source OpenOffice suite. Microsoft is supplying technical documents and intellectual property rights to third-party developers working on such a plug-in.

Weekly Readings - 23 June 2006

Foundations for a Successful Digital Preservation Program: Discussions from Digital Preservation in State Government: Best Practices Exchange 2006. Christy E. Allen. RLG DigiNews. June 15, 2006.

The State Library of North Carolina hosted Digital Preservation in State Government: Best Practices Exchange 2006. The sessions focused on nine aspects ofdigital preservation:
identification, selection, and appraisal of digital assets; repository systems; collection of digital assets; authentication; resources and workflows; access; metadata; preservation; and organization.
A successful digital preservation program requires a strong foundation which allows it to remain stable in a highly dynamic environment. Four essential elements for building a strong digital preservation program within any institutional framework:

1. support and buy-in from stakeholders;
   
2. “good enough” practices implemented now;
3. collaborations and partnerships; and
   
4. documentation for policies, procedures, and standards.

Education is important. Managerial commitment and IT support is critical. If you think digital preservation is expensive, look at the cost of not doing it. Good practices are important. We must work with the tools available to manage and preserve digital information as best we can. “Good enough” does not mean sub-standard; it means using the best solutions available today, knowing they aren’t perfect, but that they will evolve. Solutions must be flexible, modular, and interoperable. Digital preservation programs are most effective in partnerships. Policies should document the value of digital preservation within the institution and be included in the institution’s goals and objectives. Research all options before establishing standards, then document practices clearly; distribute the standards to partners.


Toshiba unveils HD-DVD recorder with 1 TB hard drive space. Humphrey Cheung. TG Daily. June 22, 2006.

Toshiba announced the RDD-A1 HD-DVD record with a one Terabyte worth of hard drive space. Up to 130 hours of high-definition video can be stored and up to 230 minutes of that content can be burned to a single HD DVD disc. will start selling in Japan on 14 July for around $3500.


Google announces U.S. government search site. China Martens. Computerworld. June 15, 2006.

Google has unveiled a search site to make it easier to locate U.S. government information. The site allows users to search content contained on U.S. federal, state and local government Web, particularly websites with the .gov and .mil domains, in addition to some government sites with the .com, .us and .edu domains. This may be expanded to other countries.


MRI systems: from life saver to disk killer. Robert L. Mitchell. Computerworld. June 21, 2006.

Georgia Tech has created a system which uses of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) magnetic field to remove every trace of data off a disk. The prototype was developed for military use, but they hope to create a unit that companies can use to remove sensitive data. In most cases, current disk erasure tools work fine if used properly.

Weekly Readings - 16 June 2006

National Archives Sidesteps Obsolescence. Image & Data Manager. June 7, 2006.
The Australian National Archives completed its digital document management tools. The application, called Xena, is an application that converts digital documents into two XML-based formats. This is an attempt to make sure that documents can be read in future. The two conversion formats are:

• - Bitstream: a metadata-wrapped bitstream version of the record, which is a secure original copy of the record. It contains the original information, but requires access to the original hardware, operating system and application software for performance.
• - Normalized version: the converted record in XML. This is not considered to be an original copy of the record as some information may be lost in the conversion.

Other applications include Quest, which creates and maintains links to other objects in the repository and their metadata; and Digital Preservation Recorder which captures an audit trail of the digital object through the processes of

1. Transfer: Collection of information about the context of the data object, including the objects that were sent to the archives in the same transfer.
2. Quarantine: Collection of information about the media, what virus definitions checked, and its checksum.
3. Preservation: Recording conversion details of the bitstream and normalized archival data formats.
4. Repository: Continued integrity checks and information about access requests for records held in the repository.

Preservation's Crumbling Future. Maria Blackburn. The Johns Hopkins Magazine. June 2006.

A large fallacy is that digital will take the place of books, but the number of books published every year is increasing. Paper books will always exist. And as more look to digital materials, traditional paper preservation efforts are being overlooked. "People misunderstood the limits of digital as a form of preservation." Many assume that digital is a way to preserve books, instead of a way to reformat content for access. "All preservation has to be balanced in terms of use." Efforts should be targeted at the materials that are of the most value to the users.


Digital cinematography. Scott Kirsner. Hollywood Reporter. June 13, 2006.

Producers, directors and cinematographers have reservations about digital cinematography, including the question of the long-term preservation of digital files. "With a negative, you have the security of something that is stored on film. What we don't know -- and won't know for some time -- is how well the digital masters survive."


Why keep downloads on the down-low? Victor Keegan. Guardian Unlimited. June 13, 2006.
Digital rights management (DRM) is a problem that threatens to tie up valuable assets and make them inaccessible to the public. The British Library is “deeply worried about the way restrictive digital rights contracts are being imposed”. There are materials in the library that should be made public, “yet less than one percent of its priceless archive has been digitised because of potential conflicts about digital rights and preservation.” The business models that have been used in the past, particularly with music, no longer make sense in the digital age.


PKI Implementation at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Nicholas Davis. EDUCAUSE Live! June 1, 2006. [PowerPoint] Audio portion.

An audio discussion of how the University of Wisconsin–Madison researched various PKI system models and established a method to issue digital certificates to encrypt and digitally sign e-mail and other sensitive information, and authenticate online identities. Also discusses topics such as comparing whether to build or buy a PKI system, integrating with other systems, success factors and lessons learned. Users like the ease of the system, and the ability to digitally sign emails. The system should be scalable. It is important to listen to the customers and find out what they want, rather than tell them what they should want. Many want to build their own PKI, but vendors, such as GeoTrust, can provide the same benefits. Administrators want to know the extended costs. Using a vendor can give lower upfront costs and a faster implementation. If the costs increase, they may choose to bring the implementation in house. There is enough to do that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel; don’t duplicate efforts, do new things. Keep it simple for users. Motivate the users, not obligate them. What matters most is what you do with PKI after a certificate is issued.

Weekly Readings - 9 June 2006

Networking for Digital Preservation - Current Practice in 15 National Libraries. Ingeborg Verheul. IFLA. 2006.

This is a 269 page book that describes the state of digital preservation in national libraries. Two national libraries have operational digital repositories and several others are developing them. It looks at planning digital preservation activities and issues. It starts with some standard definitions: Digital preservation is the general term for maintenance and care of digital or electronic objects. Long-term is 5 years or more. Digital archiving is the process of backing up and maintaining digital objects with the needed software and hardware. Permanent access indicates that preservation is only half the problem, and is one of the greatest challenges. Preservation strategies, like migration or emulations, are methods or techniques to keep the objects permanently accessible. Born digital means objects which are not intended to have an analogue equivalent.

Digital preservation will have to be a part of the library’s normal workflow activities in the future, and usually involves a number of people. Digital preservation always implies cooperative activity within the library, and IT always has a contribution, usually technical responsibility for the repository. The repository is built to retain digital objects in perpetuity, in a structure, scalable, environment. This may be done in a phased approach over time. There are both archiving and access services, and workflows must be as automated as possible. DSpace and Fedora are among the most standard systems, but there is a hesitancy about choosing one system over another. The general solution is not being sought in one single system; most expect to use a combination of systems. The most valuable aspect of the OAIS system is that it provides a shared vocabulary. The libraries currently accept all file formats, but the most common are: TIFF, PDF, XML, HTML, and WAV.

The complexity and volume of digital objects are growing, so there needs to be an emphasis on developing selection methods. Every stored object must have structured metadata, which must contain details on format, structure, and use of the content; history of actions performed; authenticity information and custody history; and rights information. Depositors should submit metadata with the object. Access is often provided through the library catalogue, which is usually separate but linked. Strategies include migration, emulation, and bit level preservation. Digital preservation activities usually start as a project, and as that is finished, all departments get involved. New working structures are being set up to make it as smooth as possible. The distinction between library material and archiving material is fading. Currently the only accepted standard is OAIS. There are also overviews of each national library and the organizational charts.


Microsoft rings last bell for Windows 98, ME. Jeremy Kirk. Computerworld. June 09, 2006.

Support and security updates for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows Millennium Edition will end on July 11. Microsoft warned that customers face security risks if they use these after it ends support for them next month. Support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 will end on Oct. 10. More information on Microsoft Support Lifecycle is available at: http://www.microsoft.com/lifecycle.


Taming the Digital Beast. Andy Patrizio. Campus Technology. June 6, 2006.

Schools are moving to digital media as a means of archiving and accessing their information and putting it in repositories. In order to get faculty and students to participate, you need to convince them that putting collections on line is part of scholarship and it is of value to others. Getting faculty to allow their publications in an institutional repository is not easy, because publishers have them convinced not to do it. So you must build trust. Repositories are to share knowledge that others may not be aware of. Most institutions are using only public domain or non-copyrighted information. Proper planning and the use of metadata will make the repository easily searchable as it grows. Librarians are information experts, but they’re not database administrators, so it is important to have technology experts as well. “A repository should have the capability to grow constantly, with only one maintenance concern: ‘We’re running out of storage.” “If you’re not giving it that organization and metadata capability, it’s just a pile of junk.”

DSpace is in use at 138 universities and institutions worldwide, including at Rice. It is becoming a more mature platform. It is also designed with digital media and structured for an academic environment. It does need programmers to support it, which can be costly. Access and submission can be controlled in a number of ways and levels. The choices of software are not as important as the data formats stored. Use open formats and lots of metadata. Acquisitions decisions can be a big task. Some institutions use lifecycle - off line storage, but their faculty want the data easily available.


Name That Tune. Campus Technology. June 9, 2006.

UC Berkeley has joined a growing group of schools who distribute video and audio recordings of course lectures and other content through Apple’s iTunes Music Store. “Berkeley on iTunes U” is open to the general public, at itunes.berkeley.edu. http://pdf.101com.com/CampusTech/2006/CAM_606DG.pdf


DRM causing difficulties for libraries. Amber Maitland. Pocket-lint. 07 June 2006.

The British Library's Chief Executive, Lynne Brindley, warms that Digital Rights management DRM systems are creating unintended consequences that affect how digital material can be stored and disseminated by libraries, which have traditionally been protected by special exceptions under IP law. The digital material usually has a contract that is almost always more restrictive than existing copyright law. It frequently prevents copying, archiving, and access by the visually impaired. Of a small sample of 30 licenses offered to the library, only two allowed privileges available in fair use materials. Only two allowed archiving of the material. None of the licenses permitted copying of the whole work for the visually impaired. If this isn’t resolved, it could affect institutions who have traditionally held archival copies of material. As digital archiving methods becomes obsolete, DRM could prevent the library from transferring material to another preservation media. The library also recommends that IP law clarify that fair use applies to digital as well as print items.

Weekly Readings - 2 June 2006

Scholarly Publishing Practice: Academic journal publishers’ policies and practices in online publishing. John Cox, Laura Cox. Press Release. 2 June 2006.
This online study has a number of interesting findings, including:
- More journals are now available online: 90% of journals, compared with 75% in 2003.
- The number of journals continues to grow. 174 publishers have launched 1,048 new journal titles from 2000 to 2005, , while discontinuing 185 titles.
- The availability of back issues online has increased to 91% in 2005.
- Access to journal back volumes is becoming an integral part of the online product; 63% of publishers provide active subscribers with access at no extra cost.
- About a fifth of publishers are experimenting with open access journals.
- All categories of publishers are now extending usage rights to be ‘library friendly’.

Library Newspaper Cooperative. Managing Information. 30 May 2006.
NewsArchivePlus announced an initiative to provide online access to every historic (18th, 19th & early 20th Century UK national & regional) newspaper and library archive in the UK. They are asking members to provide digitized content that can be made available to all. Organizations can scan, archive and retrieve their material online which will increase the content available to them.

Microsoft shows off JPEG rival. Joris Evers. CNET News. May 24, 2006.
Microsoft intends to replace the JPEG image format with Windows Media Photo. The new image format will be made available with Vista, and will also be available for XP. Managing "digital memories" is one of the key features of Vista. The format should offer better pictures in half the size of JPEG images. The compression technology will make it possible to take part of a large image to display a smaller version. Images can be rotated without decoding and encoding. There is a different approach to color space and compression. Success will depend on how many use it, and Microsoft has not addressed the licensing issues.

Samsung Readies Hybrid Hard Drive. Martyn Williams. PC World. May 18, 2006.
Samsung plans to sell a hybrid hard drive which includes flash memory storage as well as a regular hard disk. The flash memory acts as a storage buffer to hold data until it is written to disk, which should extend disk life and increase performance.

Why OpenURL? Ann Apps and Ross MacIntyre. D-Lib Magazine. May 2006.
This article looks at the evolution of linking technologies, especially OpenURL, which is now a NISO standard. It looks at how OPENURL works, who will benefit from it, the current status or it and what is missing, and ways to use it. It has become a part of electronic publishing services provided by both libraries and publishers. It can provide access to more than just the full text article.

Weekly readings - 26 May 2006

Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata.  OCLC/RLG.  May 2006.

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/pmwg/premis-final.pdf

This is the final report of the PREMIS Working Group that examines preservation metadata.  The 237 page document includes the PREMIS Data Model and Data Dictionary; examples, methodology, and implementation considerations. The report defines preservation metadata as “the information a repository uses to support the digital preservation process. Specifically, the group looked at metadata supporting the functions of maintaining viability, renderability, understandability, authenticity, and identity in a preservation context.” 

 

Aftermarket Inks Fading Fast? Hard Copy Supplies Journal Announces Wilhelm’s Surprising Test Results.  PRWeb.  Press Release.  May 25, 2006.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/5/prweb390347.htm

Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR) 6 that the image permanence of photos printed with aftermarket ink jet cartridges and photo papers is far inferior to that of photos printed with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ink jet cartridges and photo papers.  The image permanence is an intrinsic part of product quality.  In some cases they see a difference of 70 years of permanence ratings between OEM and aftermarket products.   Making ink jet dye is simple if they ignore permanence.  But it is more difficult to make print products with both high quality and high permanence.   “As a group, the aftermarket inks and premium photo papers in this study had among the lowest WIR display-permanence ratings of any products ever tested by our lab.”  Early print products would degrade in under a year.  Now high quality products can last decades, and some have exceeded the 100 year mark.  Once manufacturers have the image quality right, they can move on to image permanence.  “It is clear that consumers have no idea just how poor the permanence—and thus the overall quality—of these products actually is.” 

 

User survey reveals ILM reality.  James E. Short.  Infostor.  May 24, 2006.

http://www.infostor.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ARTCL&SubSection=Display&PUBLICATION_ID=23&ARTICLE_ID=255966

A recent survey showed that managers in data storage, IT, and records management have widely differing views about information lifecycle management (ILM).  There are multiple definitions of what it is, and if it will create more problems that it will solve.  A majority of those who responded defined ILM as “a policy-based approach to improving records and information management”.  Others saw it as “a technical and systems management issue.”  Part of the concern is that technology is seen as the solution, where others see it as management agreement / control over data across functions departments and people.  Respondents felt that there were more drawbacks than advantages, but also felt that if it is properly defined and implemented, ILM could potentially improve management control over data and reduce storage costs.

 

Canon Considers Halt to Film Camera Development.  Reuters.  May 25, 2006. 

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1967639,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

Canon has said that it would consider stopping development of new film cameras as it focuses on digital cameras and because the market is shrinking.  A final decision will be made in the future while they monitor market demand.  Nikon has already stopped producing most of its film cameras;  Konica Minolta has decided to exit the camera and photo film markets because of losses and low demand.

 

Heritage Microfilm Introduces New Archival and Subscription Program.  PRWeb.  Press Release.  May 25, 2006

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/5/prweb389560.htm

Starting in June 2006, Heritage Microfilm will release a new program aimed at bridging the gap between traditional and digital archiving.  The program is built around the ideas of “Preserve,” “Protect” and “Prepare.” Focusing It is designed to bring libraries and historical societies together with newspaper publishers, and has two separate components. One is designed for newspaper organizations and involves the microfilming and digitization of newspaper pages. The other enables libraries to access this content in both microfilm and web-based digital format.  “While microfilming, a stable and analog technology, will never be superseded by digital technologies for long-term preservation, the digital component allows access on a scale never before breached by microfilm."   It will also release a product called DigitalMicrofilm which is billed as an alternative to traditional microfilm subscriptions. Publisher pre-press files, uploaded weekly into the Heritage system, will be delivered through a digital archive website to the subscribing library. This allows librarians and their patrons to access fully-searchable newspaper content previously available on microfilm.

 

Weekly readings - 19 May 2006

Apago Introduces PDF Appraiser for Creating and Validating PDF/A Documents. Press Release. Business Wire. May 16, 2006.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060516005392&newsLang=en

A software developer has introduced PDF Appraiser, the first program to support both validation and automatic correction of documents in accordance with PDF/A, the new international standard for long-term archiving of digital documents. PDF/A is the much-anticipated standard for long-term archiving of digital documents, and it is expected to become the preferred archival method for governments and industry segments, including corporations, legal, libraries, regulated industries, and others. The vendor is offering PDF/A validation capabilities at no cost. This allows users can easily check documents for PDF/A compliance. The full version is required to correct any problems within the file. http://www.apagoinc.com/pdfappraiser

The End User: From France, video for all. Victoria Shannon. International Herald Tribune. May 17, 2006.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/17/business/ptend18.php

The French national audiovisual institute, which has been digitizing its film and audio collection, and has created the "Archives Pour Tous" - archives for all. About 80% of the archive, which contains thousands of hours of radio and television recordings, is on the Internet for free. It contains historic footage of Charles de Gaulle, Marc Chagall, and many others. The site is receiving about five million visits a day. "To us at INA, preserving archives would be pointless if that was to keep them only for a 'happy few.' It is INA's mission to communicate and make this vast wealth of archive images as widely accessible as possible using the latest digital technology, yet preserving them as the nation's heritage for future generations."

IBM researchers extend magnetic tape density. Sharon Fisher. Computerworld. May 16, 2006.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9000532&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1

IBM and FujiFilm announced a new technology that could hold as much as 8TB of uncompressed storage in the future. With the new technology, their tape library would be able to hold 48 petabytes. There was no availability date, but it is projected to be a few years away. The intent is to show users that tape has a long life ahead. It is cheaper than disk storage, and provides other options. A 1TB tape cartridge should be available next year.

Micron prepares to sample 8-Mpixel image sensor. Peter Clarke. EE Times. May 18, 2006.

http://eet.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml%3Bjsessionid%3DGXYJDIMFMJTYEQSNDBESKHA?articleID=188100013

Micron Technology Inc. has made an 8-Mpixel image sensor in a 1/2.5 inch optical format suitable for digital still cameras and mobile phones. The sensor can capture images that can be displayed at 11-inch by 14-inch size and is capable of taking 10 full resolution pictures per second. The sensor can also take 2-Mpixel images at 30 pictures per second for capturing video at 30 frames per second.

Weekly Readings - 12 May 2006

Cultural heritage in danger. heise online. 12 May 2006.
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/73037

Increasingly, research publications are only available in digital form. But the formats used are becoming outdated. A "memorandum for the preservation of digital information in Germany" calls on the government, producers of information, hardware and software vendors, libraries, and archives, to pay more attention to the preservation of such data. The memorandum presented recommendations on what needs to be done in general to create a German "long-term archive policy." There needs to be clear selection criteria. Digital archives would have to preserve the content and functionality of this data as completely as possible. Specialized depot systems should be developed to prevent the loss of data through redundancy and mirroring. It also recommends the use of non-proprietary, open, well documented formats to ensure readability over the long-term; wherever possible, such formats should be used to create the data. (http://www.langzeitarchivierung.de/downloads/memo2006.pdf)


Could the future of storage be all wet? Lucas Mearian. Computerworld. May 12, 2006.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9000446&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1

Researchers have found a way to use barium titanium oxide nanowires suspended in water to create digital storage. Experiments show they can hold 12.8 million GB per square centimeter. This is early-stage research which will be interesting to watch. One limitation with today's tape and disk magnetic storage is that a magnetic domain is not stable at molecular levels. "The magnetization will spontaneously flip back and forth because of [temperature] fluctuations."


Sony Delivers HD Quality With Blu-Ray Disc Media. Computer Technology Review. May 9, 2006.
http://www.wwpi.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1161
Sony Electronics has begun shipping its 25GB single layer Blu-ray Disc recording media. The dual layer 50GB capacity disc is set to debut in June. The disc features include:
- Scratch Guard -- hard coating that resists scratches, dust and static
- Archival Reliability -- special material design that prevents data and image corruption and deterioration to ensure quality playback
- Stable Writing -- a uniform and precise cover layer that reduces fluctuation as the disc spins
- Temperature Durability -- a high-precision disc structure helps prevent warping during severe changes in temperature and humidity.
Sony will soon offer a wide range of Blu-ray Disc devices.


An ad agency warning: ignore digital at your peril. Francesca Newland. Media Bulletin. 12 May 2006.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/bulletins/media/article/558855/an-ad-agency-warning-ignore-digital-yourperil/

“Getting to grips with digital is not about setting up an online division and handing over the briefs, it's about making digital solutions as front of mind….”

Weekly readings - 28 April 2006

The Digital Black Hole. Jonas Palm. National Archives of Sweden. April 27, 2006.

http://www.tape-online.net/docs/Palm_Black_Hole.pdf

Without long-term planning, digitization projects can be like black holes. Information is only retrievable through technology which has a cost. The more information that is converted, the higher the maintenance costs. If funding fades, the files may soon be obsolete and would be lost. For large projects, the life cycle must be planned, which includes a financial commitment. The archive has asked the questions: once materials are digitized, is it cheaper to maintain the digital files over time, or rely for long-term storage on

images on microfilm produced from the digital files with the use of COM (Computer Output Microfilm). It was expensive to preserve digital files, and the cost is more than generally believed because it involves much more than most people realize. The idea that media storage capacity gets cheaper because it doubles each year is true in the short term, but not in the long term, since the costs of management will keep going up. The real cost of storage is management.; the labor cost accounts for 39% of the total storage cost. The cost of long term storage also depends on how much it is used and accessed. The cost of digitization is also high. Digitizing audiovisual information is very time consuming and it also creates huge amounts of digital information. It is also the only possibility to preserve materials for the future. A third of the cost goes to scanning. A Swedish study states that for AV: “Due to condition and technical circumstances transfer should be made within the next ten years.” It must be digitized in the near future as media deteriorate and equipment becomes obsolete. The archive is looking at the possibility of using COM for preservation. Whichever strategy is chosen it must include a long-term financial commitment.

Library Holds Strategy Session on "Preserving Creative America". Managing Information. 28 April 2006.

http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=4866

A Library of Congress strategy meeting with leading producers of commercial content has shown that the content creators are very interested in preserving their digital materials for archival and other purposes. “We are faced with the potential disappearance of our cultural heritage if we don’t act soon and act together to preserve digital materials.” Preserving content long-term depends on influencing content providers from the moment of creation. They are focused on potential partnerships between the Library and the private sector. This year the Library plans to issue a request to private industry for cooperative projects to catalyze preservation in the private sector. The Library will support the establishment of preservation activities that span content owners and distributors, as well as technology companies.

Preserving the Past. Anna Bengel. backstage.com. April 28, 2006.

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/features/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002425082

The Women's Film Preservation Fund was founded to preserve early silent and color pictures, experimental and documentary films, and "orphans," films without a clear copyright holder, that are by or about women. “Preserving film is a relatively simple process, but not necessarily an easy one.” Preserving a film means making new negatives and prints from the existing film, which can then be duplicated without ever having to touch the original film. It is a costly process. There is a push to get preserved performances in videotape or digital format, which can be borrowed and accessed by companies or private institutions. “It's impossible to preserve everything; the volume is staggering and there is not enough time and money.

Seagate's huge hard drive performs well. Melissa Perenson. Computerworld. April 27, 2006.

http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,110934,00.html?source=NLT_DIS&nid=110934

Seagate has launched a 750GB drive, the largest hard drive to date. It excelled in capacity, price and performance. It can write a 3GB file in about 2 minutes. It is available now and is priced under $600.

HD-DVD & Blu-Ray: Dead Formats Walking. David Morgenstern. eWeek. April 20, 2006.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1951445,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000606

One of the problem with the optical formats is the lack of ability to recycle the discs. Because of the large number of discs that are discarded each year, some are calling for a recycling surcharge and stricter rules on disposal. This may even affect future adoption of similar media. The future trend may be more towards networks than optical discs.

Weekly Readings - 21 April 2006

MIC (Moving Image Collections). Jane D. Johnson. RLG DigiNews. Apr 15, 2006.
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20916#article1

Moving Image Collections was created as a partnership between the Library of Congress and the Association of Moving Image Archivists and began as a preservation initiative, a collaborative effort to promote discovery, preservation, and educational use of moving image materials. It provides a union catalog, archive directory, and informational resources and support for collaborative preservation, access, digitization, exhibition, and metadata initiatives. It raises awareness about preservation issues and risks to our film, television, and video heritage by telling readers how to care for home collections, the role of archives, and the preservation process. It is not just a tool for archivists, but provides access for the public and educators which is the key to a sustainable preservation strategy. The directory can take users to the organization’s records in the Union Catalog, to the organization’s own catalog, or to its website. Central to the database is the metadata elements that provide descriptions of the items. There are mappings to MARC, Dublin Core, MPEG-7 and others, plus the ability to map other schema into the collection.


Six Lessons Learned: An (Early) ARTstor Retrospective. Max Marmor. RLG DigiNews. Apr 15, 2006.
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20916#article0
ARTstor is a digital library of images for educational and scholarly use. Here are some of the lessons learned:
- the importance of building a campus-wide resource instead of discipline-specific collections;
- the importance of digital images in teaching and research;
- the ramifications of such a resource for “buy vs. build” decision
- the trade-offs of building “user-driven” collections
Users want to do things with digital images, to change them and assemble in different ways. They need tools in order to integrate the materials into teaching and research.


Library of Congress, British Library to Support Common Archiving Standard for Electronic Journals. Guy Lamolinara. April 19, 2006.
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-097.html

The Library of Congress and the British Library have agreed to support the migration of electronic content to the NLM DTD standard. The libraries hope that their support of this standard will help ensure long-term access to electronic journals. The standards for digital materials are still evolving. By supporting this, they hope it will lead to an internationally recognized standard.

Weekly Reading Notes 14 April 2006

Corporate Alzheimer's: Coping With Forgotten File Formats. John K. Waters. Law.com. April 4, 2006.
http://www.law.com/jsp/ltn/pubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1144067962734
What if the file formats of our text documents, spreadsheets, charts and presentations were not supported by future versions of the programs used to create them today, or by other future products? Could the inability to read file formats cause a kind of corporate Alzheimer’s that threatens our ability to recall contracts, insurance policies, financial records, payroll data and other critical documents? In some ways, this is happening today. Some documents that are only 10 years old are inaccessible now. If the baseline file format continues to evolve as it has done, formats may be unusable in 10 or 11 years. We need a standard for documents that need to be kept indefinitely, and two are being discussed: OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (ODF), which was developed by the OASIS standards consortium, and Microsoft's Office Open XML. Both are based on XML. Microsoft has promised that their version will be compatible with their older document formats, that they would give it away, and that it would be controlled by an international standards body.

Sony reveals more details of Blu-ray Disc PC. Martyn Williams. IDG News Service. 13 April 2006.
http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id%3B571802279%3Bfp%3B256%3Bfpid%3B56735
Sony has released some details about its first desktop PC to include a Blu-ray Disc drive. It will include reader/writer Blu-ray Disc drives that support single-layer 25G-byte discs or double-layer 50G-byte discs. They plan to make them available in "early summer" in the U.S.

Library of Congress preserves Motown recordings. Alison Bethel. The Detroit News. April 12, 2006.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060412/ENT04/604120411/1033/ENT01
Library of Congress selected 50 sound recordings for preservation because of their cultural, historical or esthetic significance. The National Recording Registry was established by the Library of Congress as part of the 2000 National Recording Preservation Act to preserve the most significant recordings and to highlight the need to preserve the country's sound recording legacy before it deteriorates.

Microsoft to Make Virtual Server Free. Peter Galli. April 3, 2006.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1945069,00.asp
Microsoft has announced that it will make its Virtual Server product available on the internet for free. They also plan to incorporate this into the server operating system.

Weekly Readings - 7 April 2006

Institutional Repositories: An Opportunity for CIO Campus Impact. Marilu Goodyear and Richard Fyffe. EDUCAUSE Review. March/April 2006.
http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm06/erm0626.asp?bhcp=1

“The importance of the research enterprise calls for paying significant attention to the stewardship and preservation of the institution’s digital assets, particularly those that are unique to the campus.” Often, current systems do not provide short-term access, nor long-term access, well. The collections are mostly uncurated collections of important and trivial information, current and superseded work, hosted on platforms with no checks for data integrity, minimal metadata for provenance, little encoding for version or access control, and no support for format migration. In reality, they have none of the structures and functions provide assurance of ongoing accessibility and usability for digital files. Repositories can be more than tools for sharing information, they can be tools for preservation. Currently there is no repository that can do all the digital preservation functions. They mostly provide a way to select, describe, and depository materials in a central location. This can encourage understanding and discussion of the conditions that make digital preservation possible. Involving the IT organization can provide a number of benefits:
 It can serve faculty in all disciplines
 It can demonstrate the value of research contributions to the institution
 The CIO can stay ahead of issues of academic research and digital preservation
Maintaining digital assets should be a matter of concern to the CIO


Surveying the E-Journal Preservation Landscape. Anne R. Kenney. March 23, 2006.
www.clir.org/pubs/archives/ejournal.htm

"Digital preservation represents one of the grand challenges facing higher education." Preserving electronic publications has become a critical matter as e-publication increases and user communities depend more on electronic publications. A number of initiatives acknowledge preservation responsibility for e-journal archiving.


A faster, denser hard drive debuts. Jon L. Jacobi . Computerworld. March 31, 2006.
http://www.computerworld.com/newsletter/0,4902,110111,00.html?nlid=ST

The first hard drives to use the perpendicular storage technology show that the drives hold more, but are faster. They are projecting that 2TB disks will be available before long. The cost will be about the same per gigabyte and existing disks.


Sony's Universal Media Disc facing last rites. Thomas K. Arnold. Computerworld. March 30, 2006.
http://www.computerworld.com/newsletter/0,4902,110083,00.html?nlid=ST

After only one year, Sony's Universal Media Disc is being phased out. Disappointing sales and lack of support have caused retailers to discontinue selling the disc. One executive compared this failure to blu-ray.


Holographic disk hits 300GB mark. Chris Mellor. Computerworld. March 28, 2006.
http://www.computerworld.com/newsletter/0,4902,109994,00.html
InPase Technology Inc. has announced that it has created a holographic disc which can store more data than any other disc. It plans to release the 300GB later this year. A holographic disc stores data inside the disc, not just on the surface. It is also faster for retrieving data.

Weekly readings - 24 March 2006

Digital Curation and Preservation: Defining the Research Agenda for the Next Decade.  Philip Pothen.  Ariadne.  February 2006.

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue46/warwick-2005-rpt/

It is clear that accessing and preserving digital data is increasingly important across a wide range of scientific, artistic and cultural activities.  We need more information about deciding ‘how’ to preserve that ‘if’ we preserve.  Fewer than one software package in ten lasts beyond 10 years.   Overcoming the protectiveness of data is one of the highest priorities in this area.  We need to see spending decisions more as investments with a clear view of the costs and benefits.  It is important to examine the social and organizational benefits of preservation.  While the barriers between libraries, archivist and technical specialists are breaking down slowly, we must address the broader question of training and education.  We need to keep the knowledge to be preserved independently from the underlying systems.  We need to develop certification criteria, checklists to determine complexity and cost, and new research. 

---

Capturing Analog Sound for Digital Preservation: Report of a Roundtable Discussion of Best Practices for Transferring Analog Discs and Tapes.  National Recording Preservation Board.  March 2006.

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub137/pub137.pdf

The National Recording Preservation Board was created to sustain sound records for future generations.  “Authoritative manuals on how to create preservation copies of analog audio recordings do not yet exist.”  This report will investigate procedures to reformat analog sound to digital media. It summarizes discussions and recommendations from leading audio preservation engineers concerning the present standards and best practices for migrating analog recordings. It gives an overview of the problems encountered and the needs.  There are some recommendations for actions, competencies that should be developed, and a call to share expertise to help in this area.  Some of these include:

·       For discs: Clean the disc when possible;  choose the correct stylus size and playback speed
·       For tapes: identify and clean the tape; address splices and damage;
·       Know the medium
·       Note all metadata with the original
·       Identify the core competencies needed
·       Develop a web-based clearinghouse for information
·       Identify experts to consult
·       Develop project guidelines and best practices within the organization

The second half of the document outlines recommended practices, competencies, and commentary from the meeting participants for transferring audio to digital media.  They also list resource documents that we should create, especially suggested equipment to perform digital audio archiving tasks, sources of equipment and supplies. 

---

Fed up with tape, hospital moves to storage jukebox . Lucas Mearian.  Computerworld.  March 24, 2006.

http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,109880,00.html?source=NLT_PM&nid=109880

This article gives an example of a hospital which installed a new image and records archiving system late last year.  It chose an optical disk jukebox with spinning disk arrays over magnetic tape because it had stopped trusting magnetic tape.  “If you can’t access the data, then whatever you spent on the tape was a waste.” They had tapes go bad after only 50 uses.  They chose a “near-line” storage system, a 13TB optical jukebox  model containing 30GB platters.  It has a two-tier storage infrastructure, where all data is stored in an array for the first two years and then migrated to optical disk, where it’s copied to two platters; one off-site for disaster recovery and the other on-site for near-line storage.

---

Archaic Sounds Reach Modern Ears.  Rachel Metz.  Wired. 20 March 2006.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70378-0.html?tw=wn_index_5

Curators at the UC Santa Barbara Library have digitized 6,000 19th- and 20th-century wax and plastic cylinder recordings of music, vaudeville routines and presidential speeches.  Preserving the sounds is vital because the cylinders are deteriorating.  This area has been neglected for many years.  Until recently it was not possible to create quality digital copies of cylinder recordings because cylinders running at different speeds each required different equipment.  Now a system has been created that can play cylinders of various sizes and speeds and transfer the sound to a computer through a patch bay.  It encodes cylinder music as original-sounding WAV files or cleaned-up MP3 versions.  Since November when the site started, over 700,000 recordings have been downloaded.  The recordings on the site are in the public domain and cleaned-up MP3 versions hold a Creative Commons license.