Acquiring Born-Digital Material at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

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Museum Computer Network ConferenceMontreal, Quebec

November 23, 2013

Martien de Vletter and David Stevenson

Acquiring Digital Material at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

Archaeology of the Digital

Acquiring Digital Material at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

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Acquisition and ingest of digital material into our collection is a

multi-step process

References herein to a “Digital Archivist” are for a newly emerging role at CCA

Our process is largely self-directed and is based on the evolving assessment of our needs; a work-in-progress

Open Archives Information System (OAIS):

Ideas guidance definitions

OVERVIEW

SIP : Submission Information Package What we select for acquisition

AIP : Archival Information Package What we preserve

DIP : Dissemination Information Package What we provide access to

OAIS

? ?

? ?

Long-Term Preservation

Authenticity

Access

DIGITAL MATERIAL:PRIORITIES

THE WORKFLOWTeamwork

Knowledge

Pre-selection of files

Pre-reception of files

Reception of files

Harvesting media and files, and reporting

SIP production

ESTABLISHED WORKFLOW

STAGES (in practice)

Ingest Management and Storage including file migration and TMS linking

Archival Information Package (AIP) preparation and management Work with Cataloguers

Long-term preservation: submission to Dark Archive with offsite backups Work with IT department

Access to Dissemination Information Package (DIP)

FUTURE WORKFLOW

STAGES (currently in

development)

OUR PROCESS

Ideally, the Digital Archivist reviews materials in the native environment: the donor’s location

Digital Archivist identifies the projects or content of interest

Identification of linked or dependent files

Provide the Questionnaire to the donor

Staff at donor’s office puts files onto portable digital media (HDD, optical disk).

PRE-SELECTION

The Questionnaire

Addresses issues:

The organization/firm Staff/roles The projects The files Computing environment Software Design methodology

The Questionnaire

The Questionnaire

Digital Archivist: Creates Processing Plan for expected receipt of materials (versement)

Registrar creates versement Record in our collections management system “The Museum System” (TMS)

Digital Archivist creates folder for digital donation in Shipping Space

PRE-RECEPTION

Processing Plan

Basic Project Details Details of receipt Harvesting Preservation SIP Archival Arrangement

Processing Plan

Registrar: Receive Files by File Transfer Service (No physical Media), or, receive portable media

Registrar: updates TMS and Processing Plan with Record of Receipt

Registrar: Transfers Digital Media to Digital Archivist

Digital Archivist: Copy/transfer files to folder in Shipping Space from original media

RECEPTION

Review Content; Make sure that contents reflect extent of what was expected

Digital Archivist Notifies Registrar Of Files copied to Shipping space and returns portable media

Registrar Updates TMS with New location in Shipping Space

RECEPTION

Digital Archivist: Reads the physical media, analyzes the files themselves, and generates harvest reports

WHAT’S THE HARVESTING TOOL WE USE?

HARVESTING

…well, not quite.

Our harvesting tool is software that was developed in-house.

It extracts files from a piece of digital media (CD, HDD, DVD, USB DRIVE), and performs a series of analyses on the files.

Over time, the functionalities of our harvesting tool have grown. It now includes elements that lean towards making it a “SIP preparation tool”.

What’s our harvesting

tool?

Our harvesting tool: Interface

Our harvesting tool: Reports

Reports File quantities File sizes File identification based on file

extension and signature Checksum Temporary/junk files Duplicate files Corrupted files File dependencies (links to

other files)

KEY OUTPUTS FROM OUR

HARVESTING TOOL

Digital Archivist: Creates BLS

Later, BLS files may be further organized into a classification scheme for archiving and cataloguing purposes

SIP PRODUCTION

Basic Logical Schema (BLS) Category

Examples of Original File Content that should be placed into BLS category

Documentation and Research Site surveys, prototypes, road maps, etc.Design Exports, diagrams, design development,

construction drawings.

Presentation Material Models, competition Drawings, bid packagesPromotion Publications, websites, brochures, etc.

Administration Financing, schedule, textual documentsSoftware SoftwareUnclassified Material Everything that is not contained in the other

categories

Basic Logical Schema

Basic Logical Schema

Conservator/Digital Archivist: Migrate files (if not normalized by harvester) as Required for Preservation and Access

Digital Archivist: Link files to TMS

INGEST MANAGEMENT AND STORAGE

Digital Archivist: Reviews BLS & develops a Classification Scheme if necessary

Cataloguers, Digital Archivist & Conservator: AIP Requirements are applied

AIP PREPARATION

AND MANAGEMENT

SIPs, AIPs, are put into permanent archival storage. This includes the original bitstream and a handful of associated and relevant data and the AIP.

One-way repository, no access is permitted except in very rare cases

LONG-TERM PRESERVATIO

N/DARK ARCHIVE

Availing derivative files created from originals, for the purpose of access

Possibility of using the virtual computer workstation

Access through CCA-produced Digital Asset Management Software, ADAPT

DISSEMINATION & ACCESS

We are still charting our course and evaluating our technological and staff role requirements

The role of metadata in preservation and resource description

preferred formats for preservation and access

Preserving Significant Properties in migration

File processing tools

CONCLUSION

And much more… CONCLUSION

MerciThank You