A methodology and system for preserving digital data

ABSTRACT

This paper refers to a previous proposal made at the 1st Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, on a novel approach to the problem of the long-term archiving of digital data. It reports on ongoing work in refining the methodology and building an initial prototype. The method is based on the use of a Universal Virtual Computer (UVC) to specify the process that needs to be applied to the archived data in order to make it understandable for a future client. There is a certain amount of information (a Convention) that must be preserved for an indefinite time, to make sure that the client will be able to recover the information. A first version of this Convention is given here; it includes the architecture of the UVC. The paper also briefly mentions our current activities in implementation and evaluation.

REFERENCES

• 1: Jeff Rothenberg, Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation, Council on Library & Information Resources, 1999
• 2: Holdsworth, D. and Wheatley, P.: Emulation, Preservation, and Abstraction, DigiNews, Research Library Group, 5-4/2001, www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/diginews5-4.html#feature2
• 3: Lorie. R.: Preserving Digital Information, an Alternative to Full Emulation, in Zeitschrift für Bibiothekswesen und Bibliographie, Frankfurt, Germany, 3--4/2001
• 4: Raymond A. Lorie, Long term preservation of digital information, Proceedings of the 1st ACM/IEEE-CS joint conference on Digital libraries, p.346-352, January 2001, Roanoke, Virginia, United States [doi>10.1145/379437.379726]
• 5: C. Wayne Brown , Barry J. Shepherd, Graphics file formats: reference and guide, Manning Publications Co., Greenwich, CT, 1995
• 6: Elliotte Rusty Harold, XML: Extensible Markup Language, IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., Foster City, CA, 1998

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.4 Electronic Publishing

General Terms:
Languages, Standardization

Keywords:
archiving, digital documents, digital information, digital library, emulation, preservation, virtual machine