Digital Preservation
Context
How can digitally encoded information still be understood and used in the future when software, systems, and everyday knowledge will have changed? Due to the ever increasing proliferation of digital content combined with the rapid pace of change of electronic devices and formats, digital curation and preservation has become a real challenge of today's information society.
EU-funding of research into digital preservation aims at supporting the development of efficient methodologies, techniques and tools for 'digital longevity'.
Objectives under the 7th Framework Programme (2006-2013)
In the current ICT Work Programme, which defines the priorities for 2009-2010, this research area is addressed under Challenge 4, Objective 4.1: 'Digital Libraries and Preservation'. The target outcomes for digital preservation are:
- Scalable systems and services for preserving digital content, handling end-to-end workflows for different types of digital resources, including demonstration in large scale testbeds;
- Advanced preservation scenarios: methods, models and tools for managing digital memory, focusing on challenging preservation problems which cannot be adequately handled by current models;
The first work programme under FP7 (2007-08) included the objective to promote new approaches to digital preservation, where advanced ICTs would have capacities such as: acting on high volumes of dynamic and volatile digital content (notably web content); safeguarding integrity, authenticity and accessibility over time; keeping track of contexts (evolving meaning and usage); enabling automatic and self-organising preservation.
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FP7 projects addressing digital preservation:
PROTAGE is building and validating software agents for long-term digital preservation and access that can be integrated in existing and new preservation systems.
SHAMAN is developing a next generation digital preservation framework including tools for analysing, ingesting, managing, accessing and reusing information objects and data across libraries and archives.
KEEP will create portable emulators enabling access to and use of digital objects stored on outdated computer media. The emulators will ensure accurate rendering of both static and dynamic digital objects.
PrestoPRIME will address long-term preservation of and access to digital audio-visual content by integrating media archives with European on-line digital libraries. Research will result in a range of tools and services, delivered through a networked Competence Centre.
Objectives under the 6th Framework Programme (2002-2006)
Digital preservation was one of the main strands envisaged for EU-funded research in the field digital culture in the IST Work Programme 2005-2006. It was addressed through the strategic objective 'Access to and preservation of cultural and scientific resources'.
Research on digital preservation implies exploring methods and systems for preserving the availability of digital resources over time, through novel concepts, techniques and tools. This includes, at one hand, empirical research, needed to develop test-beds and systems that will support the availability and accessibility of multi-sourced and multi-formatted and multi-distributed resources. Longer-term research, on the other hand, should address the preservation of complex, dynamic and very high volume digital objects, including those with high levels of interactivity.
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FP6 projects addressing digital preservation:Two large-scale projects are testing OAIS-based systems and tools to support longer-term availability and accessibility of multi-sourced and multi-formatted resources (CASPAR) and to integrate preservation functions and services into organisational workflows and processes (PLANETS).
The Coordination Action DPE - DigitalPreservationEurope has been working towards stronger synergies of digital preservation efforts and expertise, by focusing on awareness rising, exchange and skills development through training activities.
Last updated on: 2009-07-09