RCAHMW National Monuments RecordDIGITAL ARCHIVE GUIDELINES: A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO DIGITAL PRESERVATION

The OAIS Reference Model – Open Archival Information System• SIP – Submission Information Package• AIP – Archive Information Package• DIP – Dissemination Information Package

Digital Archiving Package

Technical Metadata

Preservation Planning

Active Preservation

Automated Preservation Actions

Digital Instance

Archive Catalogue

CofleinDigital Archive Management

The Interface Between Producer and Custodian The key area the RCAHMW Digital Guidelines seek to control

Compliance with OAIS model

Allowing access, supply of data to consumerPreservation planning, active preservation, automated procedures

The Guidelines set out:

• A structured approach to organising records

• Mandatory metadata elements

• Preferred formats of digital file

Structure and ContentThe Guidelines supply general principles

• A comprehensive record of work undertaken

• structured to allow the information to be understandable and readily accessible by those unfamiliar with the project

Archives should be:

MetadataThe Guidelines stipulate mandatory elements

Archive information

File information

Technical documentation (where appropriate)

Archive Information Form

File Information Form

Technical Documentation – no formal data elements

Technical documentation is information about items, or groups of items, within the archive which will enable the data to be understood and reused by others.

It is the depositor’s responsibility to ensure that technical documentation is supplied when required to understand and use the data

• Text• Images• CAD• Spreadsheets• Databases• GIS• Geophysics• Video

File Format Additional Documentation (if

relevant/available)/Notes

Tex

t

Preferred Adobe Portable Document Format ISO Standard for Archiving

(PDF/A) - .pdf Microsoft Word - .doc

• Documents must not be locked to editing or password protected.

• HTML, XHTML – include any relevant CSS files

• XML – include relevant schema/DTD/XSLT

Accepted

Adobe Portable Document Format - .pdf Microsoft Word - .docx

OpenDocument Text - .odt TXT, HTML, XHTML, XML, SGML

Imag

es (

see

bel

ow

fo

r fu

rth

er d

etai

ls)

Preferred Tagged Image File Format (Uncompressed) - .tif • Uncompressed .tif files are required as mandatory for any new work. We will only accept .jpg files from historic archives where .tiffs are not available.

• Captions must be included for all image files

• Images must be at least 1200 pixels along longest edge.

• Images must have a resolution of at least 72dpi.

Accepted

Joint Photographic Expert Group - .jpg JPEG2000 - .jp2

Tagged Image File Format (Compressed) - .tif Portable Network Graphics - .png

CA

D

(Vec

tor

Gra

ph

ics)

Preferred Scalable Vector Graphic - .svg

Adobe Illustrator - .ai AutoCAD - .dxf

• Relationships to other files • Captions must be included for all

graphics files Accepted

CorelDraw - .cdr AutoCAD - .dwg

Sp

read

shee

ts

Preferred Comma Separated Value - .csv

Excel - .xls • Column/Rows should have clear labels

describing their contents • A key should be provided for any codes

with the data • Spreadsheets must not be locked to

editing or password protected Accepted

Microsoft Office - .xlsx OpenDocument Spreadsheet - .ods

Dat

abas

es

Preferred Microsoft Access - .mdb

Delimited Text

• A data dictionary should be included where available

• For delimited text the delimiters should be listed

• Databases must not be locked to editing or password protected

Accepted Microsoft Access - .accdb

OpenDocument Database - .odb

GIS

Preferred ESRI Shapefile - .shp, .shx and .dbf

ESRI Geodatabase - .xml

Information should be provided on: • The purpose of the GIS • The function of each layer • Coordinate system used • Method of capture • Data source • Scale/resolution • Assessment of data quality • Date of capture

Accepted Flat file data as Microsoft Excel, Comma Separated Values or

Microsoft Access formats - .xls, .csv or .mdb MapInfo - .mid and .mif

Geo

ph

ysic

s Preferred Raw xyz data: .txt, .csv, .xyz

Rendered Images: .tif

For raw xyz data: • Location of the survey • Conditions • Instrumentation For rendered images: • Details of data processing and

interpretation

Accepted Rendered Images: .jpg, .png (see above)

V

ideo

Preferred Mpeg-1, Mpeg-2 • Shorter clips of submitted video films

should also be submitted for dissemination purposes.

• Shorter clips should be web optimised where possible. Accepted Mpeg-4

Formats

•Implement at start of project

•Contact us with any queries

•See our website for most up-to-date version

Principles to Keep in Mind

Promulgating the Guidelines

• Mandatory part of planning and development control regime

• Through the National Standards for Wales for Collecting and Depositing Archaeological Archives

• Through training events and promotion

CiFA Wales Group/RCAHMW Training 17th March at RCAHMW, Aberystwyth