Review, reflect, restate: The 2024 interim review of the Global List of Endangered Digital Species

William Kilbride is Executive Director at the Digital Preservation Coalition

This interim review of the DPC’s Global List of Endangered Digital Species (the Bit List) offers a moment to reflect on its purpose. The answer is simple: community. On this World Digital Preservation Day, as we ‘Celebrate Communities,’ it’s clear that the Bit List is made by the digital preservation community, for the digital preservation community.

Fundamentally, the purpose of the Bit List is advocacy, bringing attention to at-risk data and providing independently verified evidence to support action and investment. Entries are compiled by open nomination and are reviewed by the Bit List Council drawn from a global expert community. It represents the voice of those charged with ensuring the continuing access to digital materials beyond the limits of technical obsolescence, media degradation or organizational change.

In 2024, we are in an ‘interim’ year. Last year, the Bit List Council completed a full review resulting in the fourth revised edition (The Bit List 2023). Since then, the Council has been keeping a watching brief on the digital species to identify and record any significant innovations or aggravating factors that might affect entries. The Bit List 2024 synthesizes that review and offers an update on emerging risk trends. We are deeply grateful to the Council Members for their dedication and expertise in identifying these changes.

Emerging Themes

Cyber-warfare and disinformation continue to be significant threats, not least at a time of geopolitical instability. The risk of cyber-attack can be related to many, if not all, of the Bit List entries, especially in the form of ransomware attacks on connected devices and data.  This evolving threat has been met with necessary and large investments in cybersecurity. However, the Bit List Council has noted an unintended consequence for the longer term whereby increasingly strict security requirements make it harder to work with legacy content or applications.

AI’s rapid expansion has introduced new uncertainties. Concerns include users deleting content to prevent its use in training AI models and website blocking scrapers, which could hinder preservation efforts. The rise of unwanted AI-generated content, or ‘slop,’ (Willison, 2024) also presents challenges in identification and management, with environmental implications as server space fills with unnecessary data.

Copyright, intellectual property, and orphan works remain critical issues for many digital materials, not least in the world of video games. In the last 12 months, cultural classics have been taken off sale from digital stores, digital ownership has been challenged, and community-made emulators have been shut down in the wake of legal threats. A landmark survey on video game preservation, conducted by the NFSA in collaboration with BFI National Archive and The Strong Museum of Play in late 2023, has highlighted the ongoing challenges in preserving gaming heritage and calls for increased international collaboration to preserve our gaming heritage (Arneil, 2024).

Risk Trends in 2024

Having reviewed the entries in light of the contextual information gathered, the Bit List Council identified six entries where the trends associated with those entries had moved towards even greater risk:

• ‘Shut Down or Discontinued Video Games’
• ‘Always Online Games’
• ‘Consumer Social Media Free at the Point of Use’
• ‘Current Portable Magnetic Media’
• ‘Interpretive Materials’
• ‘Oral Histories’

Notably, the ‘Always Online Games’ and ‘Consumer Social Media Free at the Point of Use’ entries showed increased risk trends for the second consecutive year.

No entries were identified as having decreasing risk trends, where there is reason to believe trends towards reduced risk accelerated due to material improvements. All other entries remained unchanged from 2023, indicating that risk remains on the same basis as noted in 2023.

Calls to Action

With no identified decreases in risk over the last year and the continuation or increase of risk trends, it is clear that our actions must remain steadfast. We continue to call on our members, partners, and colleagues globally to:

For Our Members, Partners, and Colleagues Globally:

• Preserve Digital Protest Materials: Act urgently to safeguard digital materials emerging from political upheaval. These records are at immediate risk and need your support now.

• Protect Digital Cultural Heritage in Conflicts: Close the gaps in international treaties to protect digital cultural heritage during conflicts. Recognize that cyberwarfare turns every connected device into a battlefield and grant special legal protection to digital heritage.

• Remove Barriers to Social Media Preservation: Eliminate obstacles that hinder the preservation of social media. Enable trusted and legitimate actors to take necessary preservation actions.

• Expand Digital Preservation Research and Capabilities: Invest in and broaden research and resources dedicated to digital preservation. Ensure we have the tools and knowledge to protect our digital legacy.

For Auditors, Regulators, and Legislators:

• Demand Higher Standards in Digital Preservation: Insist on superior digital preservation practices in regulated industries and public authorities. Prevent data loss and protect the interests of stakeholders and future generations.

• Benchmark Digital Preservation Competence: Implement systematic benchmarking to ensure high standards of data management in regulated and statutory agencies.

• Challenge Short-Term Data Retention Policies: Combat short-termism in data retention. Ensure that minimum retention periods are not misinterpreted as maximum, allowing valuable data to be preserved and utilized.

For Data Controllers, CTOs, and Corporate Audit Committees:

• Leverage the Bit List: Use the Bit List to identify and tackle digital preservation risks head-on. Take decisive action to eliminate or mitigate these threats.

• Integrate Digital Preservation into Cyber-Resilience: Embed digital preservation policies within your cyber-resilience strategies to ensure robust protection.

• Commit to Long-Term Planning: Understand that long-term commitments can’t be achieved through short-term projects alone. Incorporate digital preservation into your strategic plans.

• Prioritize Resources: Invest in the necessary technologies, policies, and personnel to address digital preservation risks and prevent data loss.

• Benchmark Your Maturity: Regularly evaluate your organization’s digital preservation maturity. Ensure your capabilities align with your goals.

• Adopt Sustainable Technologies: Choose technologies based on their total cost of ownership. Opt for long-term solutions that may have higher initial costs but save money over time and avoid technical debt.

For Courts and Law Enforcement:

• Enforce Accountability: Use the full extent of the law to prosecute data losses resulting from criminal negligence or malfeasance, especially those that expose professional misconduct or undermine public trust.

For the Global Digital Preservation Community:

• Champion the Bit List: Advocate for digital preservation within your institutions using the Bit List. Share success stories of how it has supported your efforts.

• Contribute to the Bit List: Provide feedback on omissions and updates to keep the Bit List current and authoritative.

• Develop Innovative Solutions: Use the Bit List to guide the creation of tools and solutions that address the toughest technical issues in digital preservation.

• Support New Professionals: Leverage the Bit List to guide and mentor students and new entrants into the digital preservation field, preparing them for the challenges ahead.