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(A JISC/NPO Study within the Electronic Libraries (eLib)
Programme on the Preservation of Electronic Materials)
Purpose of the Study
Method of approaching the problem
PDF file with Executive Summary, Contents,
etc. from published report
PDF version of the full report
Purpose of the Study
The study will aim to examine the approaches to accessing digital
materials where the media has become damaged (through disaster
or age) or where the hardware and software is either no longer
available or unknown. The summary of the problem given in the
request for tender document under the Aim of the study provides
a good sketch of the issue. Other examples might have included
the rescue of the Stasii tapes by the German Archives where the
format of the information on the tapes was not readily known,
the documentation was limited, and the hardware and software had
to be identified (or constructed). The numerous examples of rescue
from media in post-crisis situations (after fires, flooding) provide
us with evidence as to the how the process of rescue needs to
be managed and some of the obstacles that are encountered during
a rescue. They also provide an indicate of the labour investment,
financial costs, and methods of working.
The project will examine the issues included among the objectives
listed in the request for tender in detail. It will:
- survey current activities, identify significant (both in terms
of information value, complexity of rescue, and quantity of
information recovered) rescue projects and describe how the
rescue issues were approached and what lessons were learned
during the rescue activities;
- examine the kinds of data formats and types that can be rescued
from the vantage of hardware and software;
- examine the issues rescue from media whose format is unknown,
where the hardware and software for reading the media no longer
exist and where the media has become damaged;
- identify the technology preservation (e.g. museums, commercial
retroconversion firms) and disaster recovery (or digital rescue)
(e.g. public sector and commercial) services and companies;
- description kinds of operation (technical and organisational)
which is necessary to carry out this work and to address the
question as to whether it can be done on an ad hoc basis or
whether it can only be done by an established institution in
an effective manner;
- identify the issues that make the need to rescue inevitable
and which increase the likelihood that rescue will not be successful;
- identify any guidelines which might help us to avoid having
to turn to the rescue path; and,
- investigate the kinds of possible pilots that might be undertaken,
if sufficient examples of rescue activities cannot be identified.
Method of approaching the problem
The project will begin with a literature review (including both
online and print resources, and where possible the grey-literature)
and a review of marketing literature from disaster recovery companies,
major storage vendors, and what limited information comes from
companies which provide these kinds of services the intelligence
and law enforcement communities. This will be complimented by
face-to-face discussions, telephone interviews and written exchanges
with selected representatives from these sectors. The main information
gathering exercise is likely to involve at least 20 face-to-face
discussions, at least twice as many telephone interviews, and
a full range of written exchanges. The initial port of call will
be colleagues at the National Media Laboratory in the US who have
experience in rescue activities. The project will also study the
limited work which has been undertaken by National Archives, such
as the work done by the Swedish National Archives and that undertaken
by the German Archives in Koblenz (to rescue information Stasii
materials).
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