Future Access to the Scientific and Cultural Heritage – A shared Responsibility

Birte Christensen-DalsgaardState and University Library

bcd@statsbiblioteket.dk

WESS-ALA June 30 2008

Outline of talk

• Staging the challenges data and their representation

• Preservation focus• EU Projects:

• Planets, CASPAR and DPE

• National initiatives • Alliance for permanent access to

scientific information

• Summary

Data – From Bits to Interpretation

Level 2 GOME Satellite instrument data

From CASPAR

New Media

• We establish collections to give future generations access to cultural heritage – but how will they access and use it?

• The answer will influence preservation strategies and quality measures

Information is the important thing

• What information?– Documents……– Data…….

• Original bits?• Look and feel?• Behaviour?• Performance?• Explicit/ Implicit

Information:

Any type of knowledge that can be exchanged. In an exchange, it is represented by data.

Long Term is long enough to be concerned with the impacts of changing technologies, including support for new media and data formats, or with a changing user community. Long Term may extend indefinitely.

Ensure that the information to be preserved is Independently Understandable to (and usable by) the Designated Community.

CASPAR and Planets

• CASPAR – focus on developing framework and methodology for capturing relevant information as part of the process

• Planets – focus on creating framework and methodology for common, existing objects

CASPAR Project

See: www.casparpreserves.eu

CASPAR information flow architecture

•Rep

•Info

Virtualisation techniques

PLANETS – Preservation and Long-term access through Networked Services

See: www.planets-project.eu

Project Architecture Reflects Problem Structure

PreservationPlanningServices

CharacterisationServices

PreservationAction

Services

Test Bed:evaluation and

validationservices

DisseminationTake-up

&Training

UserCommunity

SupplierCommunity

Interoperability Framework

See: www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu

DPE

• HATII, University of Glasgow• Technische Universität Wien• Statsbiblioteket• Nationaal Archief van Nederland• Národní knihovna Ceske republiky• Ministero Per I Beni E Le Attività Culturali• Fondazione Rinascimento Digitale• Vilnius University Faculty of Communication• FernUniversität Hagen (representing nestor)

DPE visions

• Create a coherent platform for proactive cooperation, collaboration, exchange and dissemination of research results and experience in the preservation of digital objects.

• To increase prevalence of preservation services and their viability and accountability.

• Improve awareness, skills, and available resources

www.wepreserve.eu

Summary

• Focus on sharing the effort involved in Digital Preservation

• Collaboration between different sectors• Forward looking: Digital Preservation should be

an integrated part of information creation• Retrospective: Hard work – good progress

Photo: Seamus Ross, DPE