Digital Preservation
The active management of digital content over time to ensure it remains accessible and usable for the long term.
Also known as: Digital Archiving, Long-term Digital Storage, Digital Curation
Category: Concepts
Tags: archival, data-protection, long-term-storage, knowledge-management, formats
Explanation
Digital preservation encompasses the policies, strategies, and actions required to ensure that digital information remains accessible, usable, and authentic over extended periods of time - potentially decades or centuries. Unlike physical preservation, digital preservation must contend with rapidly changing technology, format obsolescence, and the fragility of digital storage media.
**Core challenges**:
- **Format obsolescence**: File formats become unsupported (WordPerfect, Flash, early image formats)
- **Software obsolescence**: Applications needed to open files are discontinued
- **Hardware obsolescence**: Storage media becomes unreadable (floppy disks, ZIP drives)
- **Bit rot**: Physical degradation of storage media over time
- **Link rot**: URLs and references becoming broken
**Preservation strategies**:
**Migration**: Converting content to new formats as technology changes
- Requires ongoing effort and monitoring
- May lose some fidelity or metadata
- Example: Converting Word docs to PDF/A for archival
**Emulation**: Running old software in simulated environments
- Preserves original experience
- Complex and resource-intensive
- Used for software, games, interactive content
**Normalization**: Converting diverse formats to a few standard ones upon ingest
- Simplifies long-term management
- May lose format-specific features
**Digital preservation for PKM**:
- **Use open, plain-text formats**: Markdown, plain text, and open standards (PNG, PDF/A) have better longevity than proprietary formats
- **Avoid vendor lock-in**: Tools that use open formats ensure your notes survive the tool
- **Document your system**: Future you (or your heirs) needs to understand your organization
- **Regular format audits**: Periodically check that all files can still be opened
- **Multiple copies in multiple formats**: Export important content to both original and preservation formats
**Institutional frameworks**:
- **OAIS (Open Archival Information System)**: ISO standard for archival systems
- **PREMIS**: Metadata standard for digital preservation
- **LOCKSS**: "Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe" - distributed preservation network
Digital preservation is an ongoing process, not a one-time action. The goal isn't just to keep bits intact but to maintain the ability to render them meaningfully.
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