Taming the Monster

Presented for NEDCC Digital Directions, August 2019.

Transcript

1. Taming the Monster Dorothea Salo NEDCC Digital Directions 2019 Photo: “Happy Easter, to my Peeps” http://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00/449028423/ WorldIslandInfo.com / CC-BY 2.0
2. Why is this so scary? Photo: “Happy Easter, to my Peeps” http://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00/449028423/ WorldIslandInfo.com / CC-BY 2.0
3. Isn’t this just as scary? Photo: “News Paper Origami Dragon Monster” http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/3777343342/ epSos.de / CC-BY 2.0
4. Yet we persevere. Photo: “News Paper Origami Dragon Monster” http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/3777343342/ epSos.de / CC-BY 2.0
5. DIGITAL IS NO DIFFERENT. Photo: “559 - The Matrix - Seamless Texture” http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/4335531915/ Patrick Hoesly / CC-BY 2.0
6. •Planning and policy •Risk assessment •Risk management • (knowing that we can’t save everything) •Materials quality matters! •Problem discovery and remediation •Crisis management •Chief problems: staff, $$$, organizational commitment Photo: “Where I Teach” http://www.flickr.com/photos/eklektikos/2541408630/ Todd Ehlers / CC-BY 2.0 Many of the same ideas apply...
7. So, why do we have this… this… COMPLEX about it?
8. Maybe it’s…
9. The OAIS Model •OAIS = “Open Archival Information Systems” •Invented by NASA archivists to serve NASA archivists, inexplicably adopted as “standard” •IS NOT ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS •(personally? I greatly dislike it.) •Has become foundational jargon, which means •… some jerkish people write you off if you don’t know it •… some even more jerkish people try to use it to confuse you •So let’s look at it, as jerk repellent, okay? •Credit goes to Digital POWRR for next five slides
10. !10 Functional Model…. …still scary but let’s give it a chance.
11. MANAGEMENT !11 Actors…. …are just the folks* in your normal professional encounters. *and sometimes Systems
12. !12 Objects…. …are just the materials and the information about them that bounce around your world.
13. !13 Functional Entities…. …are just the activities that someone needs to do in your world.
14. Submission Information Package Archive Information Package Dissemination Information Package !14 Information Packages…. …are just a way to keep the materials and the necessary information about them together.
15. That’s enough. Really. It’s as much of the OAIS Spaghetti Monster as most people need to know to do their work and avoid snake oil.
16. NDSA Levels of Preservation •(presently under revision; keep an eye out) •Helps you ask two questions: •“How are we doing now?” •“How do we need/want to be doing?” •Can be useful as a reality check for those who think e.g. “it’s backed up; we’re good!”
18. You may well discover you’re not at Level 1 yet. That’s okay. Browbeating yourself is not the point! The point is self-assessment and setting goals.
19. Planning and assessment Photo: “Happy Easter, to my Peeps” http://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00/449028423/ WorldIslandInfo.com / CC-BY 2.0
20. ISO 16363 certification •“Audit and certification of trustworthy digital repositories” (formerly TRAC) •Despite the name, covers a LOT more than storage technology! •Budget •Staffing •Contingency plans •Great! So how do you get audited and certified? •Bluntly: you probably don’t. This is Big Time and Money. ✔
21. Threat model •“Preservation” means nothing unmodified. •This is why it becomes such a monster! •Two things you need to know first: •why you’re preserving what you’re preserving, and •what you’re preserving it against. •Libraries and archives: your collection policy should inform the first question. •The second question is your “threat model.” •Or your list of risks to manage. Whichever floats your boat.
22. Scene-setting •Rosenthal, David. “Requirements for Digital Preservation: a Bottom-Up Approach.” •http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november05/rosenthal/ 11rosenthal.html •If you’re new to this, or trying to find your feet, this is the best short introduction I know. •The list of threats is outstanding. Photo: “Bottoms Up! - Duck; San Anton Gardens, Malta” http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/3123113762/ John Haslam / CC-BY 2.0
23. Now... List important threats to digital materials… … and how you might mitigate them.
24. Natural disaster
25. Physical medium failure
26. “Bitrot”
27. File format obsolescence
28. Forgetting what you have
29. Forgetting what the stuff you have means
30. Rights and DRM
31. ? Ignorance
32. Apathy
33. Lack (or disappearance) of organizational commitment
34. Bad procedures. Accidents.
35. Malice. Evil. Ze’ev Barkan, “Black Hat Inverted,” https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeevveez/5542684970/ CC-BY 2.0
37. What we’re here to do •Show you that these risks are often avoidable. •You just demonstrated that you already know how to deal with several of them! •Show you that even should you fall prey to one or more of them, that doesn’t have to be the end of the story.
38. Last thoughts Photo: “Happy Easter, to my Peeps” http://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00/449028423/ WorldIslandInfo.com / CC-BY 2.0
39. If you can’t do everything... that’s okay. Who can? Image: “Confused” http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristiand/3223044657/ Kristian D. / CC-BY 2.0
40. DO SOMETHING. Photo: “Came hame háááá!” http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristiand/3223044657/ Guirí R. Reyes / CC-BY 2.0
41. The worst threat? INACTION. Photo: “Fatty’s role model” http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloudzilla/4910616774/ cloudzilla / CC-BY 2.0
42. Thank you! Photo: “Happy Easter, to my Peeps” http://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00/449028423/ WorldIslandInfo.com / CC-BY 2.0 This presentation is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.