Cloud-based Services and Communications Platforms
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Digital content produced, stored and accessed within commercial cloud-based services and communications platforms. This entry broadly includes services based on a costed subscription and contract business models, premium or institutional versions, and also free online utilities offered at no cost to end-users but with a business model based on gathering and reselling consumer insights. |
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Digital Species: Cloud |
Trend in 2023:
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Consensus Decision |
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Added to List: 2019 |
Trend in 2024:
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Previously: Endangered |
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Imminence of Action Action is recommended within twelve months. Detailed assessment is a priority. |
Significance of Loss The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world. |
Effort to Preserve | Inevitability Loss seems likely. By the time tools or techniques have been developed, the material will likely have been lost. |
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Examples Google services such as Drive, Docs, and Sheets; Microsoft services such as Sharepoint and Teams; Slack, Prezi, Yammer, DropBox. |
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‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Unstable business model from service providers; abandonment of the service due to various reasons (e.g., service provider bought over or pivots to new market opportunities); lack of export functionality; unstable terms and conditions; lack of onsite copy of key media; lack of investment in infrastructure; lack of strategic plan for IT provision; uncertainty over IPR or the presence of orphaned works; conflating preservation and access. |
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‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice Clear export and migration pathways; preservation responsibility shouldered by the service provider; offline backup for key media; fit to preservation and records management plan; strategic roadmap for adoption. |
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2023 Review This entry was added in 2021 as a merging of two separate 2019 entries, ‘Consumer Cloud-based Utilities’ and ‘Premium or Institutional Social Media’ to place emphasis on the similarities and common threats faced by services that are both ‘paid-for’ and ‘free-at-the-point-of-use’, namely similar aggravating conditions relating to increasing dependencies on the vendor’s business models and the terms and conditions imposed. The 2021 Jury also noted a trend towards increased risk in light of greater reliance on the cloud and localized disruptions to cloud services over the pandemic and wider (global) dependence on these services, especially Google Drive, for record-keeping and business workflows. The 2022 Taskforce agreed with the previous assessment, with no change to trend. The 2023 Council agreed with the Endangered classification with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (‘No change’ to 2023 trend), but also noted increases in imminence and effort to preserve, recognizing that while the need for major efforts to prevent or reduce losses continues, it is now much more likely that loss of material has already occurred, and will continue to do so, by the time tools or techniques have been developed. This entry was previously categorized under the Social Media digital species. The 2023 Council adjusted this and other social media entries in light of how web-based and cloud-based business products and services had developed in recent years. This included:
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2024 Interim Review The 2024 Council agreed these risks remain on the same basis as before, with no significant trend towards even greater or reduced risk (‘No change’ to trend). |
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Additional Comments Most platforms allow users to export their own data from them, which is helpful. Similar to the ‘Born Digital Photos and Video Shared on Social Media’ entry, significance and impact scores are high because some users exclusively create and store important content on these services but uses for these services vary greatly. Also, subscription services, such as Microsoft Teams, though far from having adequate preservation provision, will have more robust back-up and recovery governed by institutional contracts, whereas Google Drive / Google 'office' services free-at-the-point of use do not provide these mitigating measures. Dropbox is a content hosting/storage service and does support downloading a file the same quality as the file uploaded. If any one of these platforms disappeared overnight or put new restrictions on access to user content, it would certainly make headlines, as witnessed with Flickr's change in storage limit capacity for non-paying users. There are similarities and common threats faced by services that are both ‘paid-for’ and ‘free-at-the-point-of-use’, namely aggravating conditions relating to increasing dependencies on the vendor’s business models and the terms and conditions imposed. However, with digital materials from consumer cloud-based utilities, the business model and sustainability can only be presumed, and contracts tend to be asymmetrical in favour of the supplier. Moreover, because these services have a low barrier to entry, they may be favoured by agencies or individuals least able to respond to closure or loss. If referring to the entire platforms and the risk of the entirety of data on these, the concern is that the corporation providing the service suddenly decides it is no longer of value to them. In these circumstances, materials could be removed quickly. That has happened previously and will certainly be seen again. Preservation is not a commitment that most providers make. Existing tools could be modified to tackle some of the closed networks. Still, it is likely to require investments, perhaps related to corporate records in some cases (thinking about internal Slacks, for instance), and more education about the importance of preserving this material and not trusting the publishing platforms to host the content forever. Case Studies or Examples:
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No Change