Introduction

1. Audience and Purpose 

The Executive Guide on Digital Preservation (the Guide) is intended as a resource to help those people responsible for the preservation of digital materials inform senior members within their organization about the relevance and importance of digital preservation, and the opportunities the preservation of digital materials can create.

Users of the information within this Guide may belong to memory and heritage institutions, commercial or financial organizations, government bodies and not-for-profits. The development of this Guide has been supported by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Memory of the World PERSIST Project (UNESCO/MoW/PERSIST). UNESCO member states each have a role in implementing the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage Including in Digital Form.

The Recommendation is a useful reference document when reaching out to organizations where memory is not their primary focus. Indeed, all organizations - public, private, local, national or international - are involved with the production of documentary and digital heritage and should be involved actively in its identification, promotion and protection. These groups are all encouraged to consider the sustainability of their digital materials and develop mechanisms to extract and preserve content.

In order to support the UNESCO member states, and organizations of all types, in their mission to preserve our digital heritage the Guide aims to be as broad reaching as possible. It does, however, recognize that even within the same sector or state, every organization is different, has different priorities, risk factors and motivators. It therefore presents a set of generic and sector specific statements and documents, which may be selected and tailored by individual organizations to assist in their internal advocacy work and in the application of the UNESCO recommendations.

Intended to be interactive and customizable, the Guide is presented as an online and accessible collection of resources, and contains:

  • Generic statements which define digital preservation in a range of terms which may be understood by various organization types
  • Information relating to digital preservation in specific sectors and organization types
  • A summary of the importance of digital preservation generally and specifically
  • Key motivators for digital preservation which may be relevant to different organization types
  • Risks and opportunities associated with each of these key motivators
  • Downloadable and customizable presentations
  • Useful links to other related and relevant resources
  • Statistics and evidence to be used in informing others and making the case for digital preservation

While the content will predominantly be used by existing advocates of digital preservation within an organization, the ultimate target audience for information and the messages it contains, is that of senior executives, legislators and budget holders, as well as decision and policy makers.

2. How to Use It

Information contained within the Guide may be used to create and deliver the message about digital preservation in the most relevant and appropriate format for a user’s organization.

For example:

A policy officer working in an archive or at a ministry in a country that is only just beginning with digital preservation may take the generic statements, as presented within the PowerPoint template, to explain the high-level concept to management.

A corporate archivist who understands the requirement for the auditability of digital documentation might select some of the risks associated with the legal and regulatory compliance ‘motivator’ to demonstrate to senior management the implications of not preserving.

Custodians of research data may use some of the sector specific risks and opportunities as part of a Business Case explaining why there is a requirement for digital preservation within a funding application.

Once the concept has been understood and digital preservation is established as a practice within an organization, some of the reputational opportunities identified within the Guide may be used to convince executives about the importance of accreditation or certification.

Some of the statements contained within the Guide may be applicable to more than one sector. These statements are presented as one way of communicating the importance, risks, opportunities and needs associated with digital preservation – however, as each organization and the content it manages is different, it is expected that users will need to customise the messages, selecting the most appropriate statements from across the sectors presented.

3. Reuse and Updates

The Guide is a community owned resource. The content has been contributed by volunteer members of the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and aligned organizations and represents a small portion of our global digital preservation community. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the Guide will be still relevant to an international and cross-sector audience as much of the information is widely applicable and spans organization types and geography.

Once the messages contained within the Guide have been tailored for use within a specific organization, these customised messages are welcomed as updates for inclusion in future iterations of the resource, and their re-submission into the Guide is encouraged.

Where translations have been offered by DPC members and representatives of UNESCO member states these are provided as part of the Guide. Please note that not all parts of the Guide will have been translated into all languages, but requests to translate the Guide into other languages not currently offered are welcomed. Please email info@dpconline.org to talk about translating the Guide into other languages.

The content of the Guide is made available under an Open Government License v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ so that it can be re-used as widely as possible. Users are welcome to incorporate the information contained within the Guide locally into their own advocacy materials. Please use this form of acknowledgement in re-use: Executive Guide on Digital Preservation http://handbook.dpconline.org/ Digital Preservation Coalition, licensed under the Open Government License v3.0.

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Templates

Download editable PowerPoint and Word templates and customize them with statements and evidence from the Executive Guide.

PP thumbnail

'Digital Preservation is...' PowerPoint  [1.9 MB]

DPEG Letter Thumbnail

  'Letter to Executives' Template, Word  [25 KB]

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Facts and Figures

Supporting Evidence

Key motivators

BBC Domesday Project. Digital obsolescence because of proprietary storage formats. Rescued only partially through enormous effort. Obsolescence after fewer than 20 years.

Technology

Reputation

NASA Viking Mars program had brittle tapes and couldn’t decode data formats from 1976 mission. Eventually found enough paper information that they re-keyed everything.

Technology

Hackers Who Recovered NASA's Lost Lunar Photos

Technology

Hurricane Sandy caused flooding in data centers resulting in potential loss of business data 

Business Continuity

High-quality footage of Apollo 11 moonwalk lost to history because backup tapes were lost/recorded over.

Corporate/Cultural Memory

BBC (and American networks) regularly re-used tapes. Many important programs like Dr. Who have lots of missing episodes.

Corporate/Cultural Memory

With the change in presidential administrations, web pages and data sets were removed from government agency websites.

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Reputation

Accountability

This is the oldest tech still used by the US government 

Technology

Five of the most outdated IT systems in the government 

Technology

Retail data, patient data, etc. might be manipulated without owners noticing. Good digital preservation is essential for discovering hacks and recovering data.

Security

Accountability

U.S. Nuclear System Runs on Early Computers and 8-Inch Floppy Disks 

Technology

Security

Business Continuity

As much as 80% of scientific data from the 1990s is irretrievable 

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Authenticity

Accountability

Reputation

Precedent-setting Supreme Court opinions contain links to online sources that are disappearing

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Authenticity

Accountability

Reputation

Meet the digital historians on a mission to preserve data for future generations 

Corporate/Cultural Memory

How Archivists Could Stop Deepfakes From Rewriting History 

Authenticity

Accountability

Reputation

Fake news

Authenticity

Accountability

Reputation

Future-Proofing Critical Digital Data in an Increasingly Complex Global Regulatory Environment , extract from report undertaken by the IGI https://iginitiative.com supported by Preservica.

Full report available here 

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Preserving history and ensuring citizen access to digital government records using the cloud extract from report undertaken by the IGI https://iginitiative.com supported by Preservica.

Full report available here 

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

A Practical Approach to Governing 170 Years of Critical Corporate Records extract from report undertaken by the IGI https://iginitiative.com supported by Preservica.

Full report available here 

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

In regulated industries such as financial services, digital archiving can help firms meet specific compliance needs. MiFID II, for example, requires that all firms keep unalterable records of all electronic communications intended to conclude in or confirm a transaction. The unalterable, date and time-stamped format of digital archives can also provide organisations with legally admissible records of all online activity, enabling disputes to be more easily resolved.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Accountability

Authenticity

Compliance

For brands and public sector organisations, digital archiving allows them to capture a permanent record of web and social media content, protecting it from alteration and unauthorised use. It also ensures that content continues to deliver value long into the future. The use of big data techniques such as sentiment analysis to understand customer engagement and brand perception over time, for example, could be used to inform future marketing strategy.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Authenticity

Reputation

Enabling Research

2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created online every single day. To try and conceptualise that, if you laid out 2.5 quintillion one pence coins, it would cover the surface area of Earth five times over.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Technology

Over 90% of all the data in the history of the world was generated in the last two years (although that window is shortening!).
Information provided by MirrorWeb

Corporate/Cultural Memory

52% of links to web pages of government departments quoted in Hansard between 1997 and 2006 were broken by 2007 Corporate/Cultural Memory

Every single minute:

  • 456,000 tweets are posted
  • 510,000 comments are posted on Facebook
  • Wikipedia undergoes 600 page edits
  • 154,200 Skype calls are made

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Corporate/Cultural Memory

95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram every day.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Corporate/Cultural Memory

The average size of a web page is approximately 3MB, and the average website is about 50/60MB. The time taken to crawl a website would depend on a number of factors, most notably on the make up of the URIs, i.e., how many media files, pages, images, PDFs etc. there are. The other major factor is the structure of the site in terms of links and the CMS used, as this has a significant impact on the current limitations of crawl technology such as Heritrix.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Technology

MirrorWeb recently worked with The National Archives to migrate the UK Government Web Archive, including Twitter and YouTube content, to the MirrorWeb cloud platform. It took two weeks to capture and transfer 120TB of data from 72 hard drives at The National Archives to internal hard drives, before transferring and hosting that archive in the cloud. To put that in perspective, 120TB of data is five and a half times the complete film catalogue on Netflix.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Technology

The average university website might be around 30-60GB, and this would take anything between 6-20 hours on average to crawl, dependent on the platform and makeup of the content and links within.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Technology

Enabling Research

The cloud does not need infrastructure to accommodate growth, cutting down on a lot of storage overheads and meaning less costs for customers. For MirrorWeb to archive 30GB of website data, it would cost just £650 for the year, and £300 for a social media account annually.

Information provided by MirrorWeb

Technology

Costs

Image Bank

Why orgs keep data

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As a Minimum Digital Preservation Needs:

"...an enabling policy and regulatory environment including organisations and technical infrastructure which is appropriately resourced"

While each organization will robably prioritize these elements differently, essentially all organizations require the same four things to enable effective digital preservation:

  1. An Enabling Policy and Regulatory Environment

    including:
    1. Broad understanding of the issues - policy-makers, regulators, and legislators need to understand the importance of digital preservation and the potential impact of inaction on all areas of government and society, e.g. health, economy, culture.
    2. Supporting Legislation - absence of this creates a barrier which people, procedures and processes and technology cannot overcome. Digital preservation concerns must be folded into legislation covering issues such as copyright and legal deposit.
  2. Organizational Infrastructure

    made of:
    1. Institutional Buy-In – digital preservation must ultimately become core business, with project transitioning at the appropriate point in time. Effective digital preservation benefits the entire organization through sustained, efficient access to reliable, useful and useable data.
    2. People – a multi-disciplinary team is required with skills including information management and/or research data management, project and change management, software development, user engagement, and networking and storage maintenance amongst others.
    3. Procedure and Processes - identifying and developing policy, good practice and standards makes digital preservation achievable. It is essential to develop a risk management statement which supports prioritization of preservation actions and assigns roles and responsibilities for managing key digital materials in a transparent and professional manner.
  3. Technological Infrastructure

    made of:
    1. Systems and Services - maintain high quality and sustainable digital preservation services by understanding the shifting technological landscape, the options available, workflow management, and the people required to support the processes and systems.
    2. Information Security – ensure digital materials are stored securely, only accessed by authorized users, and authenticity and integrity are maintained.
    3. Accountability – digital preservation systems should support organizations in being transparent in how they deploy their strategies. Where contracts and procurement processes allow, communicate with other preservation stewards to understand the value and costs of services offered.
  4. Resources:

    1. Financial - sustainable, targeted and long-term funding is key to successful digital preservation. It must be funded as a part of core business rather than relying on grant/project funding to enable effective planning and consistency.
    2. Human - an appropriately skilled workforce must be created. Staff should have the skills to communicate their knowledge and the importance of digital preservation to different audiences. Invest in capacity, training and development to create a competent and responsive workforce ready to address the challenges of digital preservation. Ensure all staff have sufficient knowledge in digital preservation relevant to their roles to enable us to develop and maintain robust digital materials.

For hands-on practical guidance on getting started with digital preservation as well as an introduction to some of the organizational strategies you could adopt, take a look at the Digital Preservation Handbook.

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Opportunities

“Preserving digital materials creates opportunities – embrace them!”

These Opportunity statements are arranged by organization type so you could either select the relevant Opportunities within your type or, if you know that your organization is particularly concerned with ‘accountability’ for example, you could identify all of the statements associated with that Motivator.

Remember that some of the Opportunity statements for other organization types, with the same Motivator, might also hold significance in your organization.

Organization Type

Digital Preservation can…

Key Motivators

All organizations

demonstrate a commitment to transparency and accountability by sustaining an accurate digital record

Accountability

Authenticity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Reputation

All organizations

an investment in distinctiveness, competence and competitiveness by providing access to legacy data and digital systems which are essential for innovation, research, development

Enabling Research

Reputation

All organizations

protect investment by maintaining clear audit trails

Accountability

Compliance

Costs

All organizations

capture potential by providing greater scope for innovation and reuse of data

Enabling Research

Revenue

All organizations

transmit opportunities to future generations by ensuring the right data is available to the right people at the right time in the right format, for as long as necessary

Business Continuity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Revenue

All organizations

provide efficiencies of scale through shared services, resources and systems

Business Continuity

Costs

Technology

All organizations

provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion which results in reduced storage requirements

Business Continuity

Costs

Technology

All organizations

provide cost and operational efficiencies by allowing the consolidation of legacy systems

Business Continuity

Costs

Technology

All organizations

provide cost efficiencies through the greater automation of processes

Business Continuity

Costs

Security

Technology

Archives

hold governments to account by maintaining a clear and permanent audit trail

Accountability

Compliance

Archives

make available a dynamic, powerful information asset which represents an accurate social and cultural record

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Archives

demonstrate a commitment to core statutory function for collection, for present and future generations

Business Continuity

Compliance

Business

enable better cooperation with regulatory bodies by sustaining access to reliable records as evidence of actions.

Accountability

Compliance

Business

allow an organization to defend decisions and attribute responsibility by sustaining access to reliable records as evidence of actions for legal, regulatory and IPR cases

Accountability

Compliance

Business

enable the organization to respond more efficiently to legal holds by sustaining access to reliable records

Accountability

Compliance

Business

demonstrate increased transparency through improved access to records for stakeholders,

Accountability

Business

inspire brand evolution through an understanding of corporate history enabled by access to a complete set of reliable records

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Reputation

Business

inform business initiatives today through an understanding of previous decisions and rationale enabled by access to a complete set of reliable records

Business Continuity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Business

protect against financial losses by enabling the provision of evidence for legal and regulatory cases

Compliance

Costs

Business

add value and create opportunities for the business by leveraging corporate memory as an asset

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Business

provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion according to specified retention schedules, which results in reduced storage requirements

Business Continuity

Costs

Technology

Higher Education and Research

demonstrate, to funders, a commitment to the sustainability of their investment and the cultural record

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Costs 

Higher Education and Research

demonstrate compliance with institutional and funder policies on data management policies 

Compliance

Reputation

Higher Education and Research

create a pathway for smaller organizations to take advantage of enterprise level infrastructure through shared or cloud services

Costs

Technology

Higher Education and Research

reduce duplication of infrastructure and effort by sharing services, systems and storage with other institutions

Business Continuity

Costs

Technology

Higher Education and Research

demonstrate long term vision and planning

Business Continuity

Compliance

Costs

Higher Education and Research

provide opportunities for raising funds through the reuse of existing data

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

Higher Education and Research

generate income and new service models through the reuse of existing data

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

Higher Education and Research

provide opportunities for the reuse of historical research data for purposes not originally anticipated

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Reputation

Higher Education and Research

make the right information is available at the right time, by using the most appropriate service

Business Continuity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Technology

Higher Education and Research

save on storage costs by enabling documented appraisal, disposal and deletion procedures

Accountability

Costs

Higher Education and Research

increase the potential for the re-use of digital material though established IPR

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

Higher Education and Research

demonstrate greater transparency through documented audit trails

Accountability

Compliance

Higher Education and Research

support business continuity through sustained access to key business records

Business Continuity

Higher Education and Research

avoid wasted expenditure and reduce long-term operational costs by considering access and reuse at the stage of data generation, creation and system design.

Costs

Technology

Higher Education and Research

inform and educate the public by enabling access to diverse digital data and records

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Higher Education and Research

improve future policy formation by supporting robust strategy, processes and procedures

Business Continuity

Higher Education and Research

demonstrate, to the public purse, a commitment to maintaining the sustainability of the cultural record

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Higher Education and Research

inspire the trust and understanding of future users, by providing a complete digital record

Authenticity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Reputation

Higher Education and Research

improve knowledge transfer during staff turnover and exits by sustaining access to a complete digital record

Business Continuity

Higher Education and Research

enable informed and planned disposal as well as retention which mitigates the continuous increase in the volume of time-series data, as well as the cost of managing it

Costs

Technology

Higher Education and Research

remove the need for expensive and time-consuming data rescue and digital archaeology work on legacy data through appropriate planning and initial investment

Business Continuity

Costs

Libraries

help retain the archival and historical value of rich and diverse collections, ensuring they continue to be accessible for the long-term

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Libraries

earn the trust of the public through sustained access to documentary heritage which guarantees the integrity of digital holdings

Accountability

Reputation

Libraries

demonstrate a commitment to delivering on a public mandate, for present and future generations

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Libraries

maintain access to strategically important assets

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Libraries

demonstrate that the organization is meeting its obligations and mandate through documentary evidence of compliance to legislation

Accountability

Compliance

Libraries

help ensure that cultural and creative data, including the outputs of industry remains accessible, reusable and understandable

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Libraries

create greater scope for innovation and reuse by using cultural and creative data at scale

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Revenue

Libraries

maintain access to digital outputs of cultural and creative industries which are essential for innovation, research, development

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Revenue

Libraries

transmit opportunities to future generations by ensuring the right cultural and creative data is available to the right people at the right time in the right format, for as long as necessary

Business Continuity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Revenue

Libraries

instil trust in cultural and creative data by demonstrating a complete cultural record

Accountability

Authenticity

Museums and Galleries

demonstrate the fulfilment of a legal obligation to display and therefore preserve collection objects in perpetuity

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Museums and Galleries

prevent interruptions to service and loss of earnings through resilient processes and sustained access to information which enable hardware and software updates, upgrades, obsolescence, failures and stoppages

Business Continuity

Costs

Museums and Galleries

enable tracking of unauthorized changes, copies and access leading to greater trust and assurance

Authenticity

Reputation

Security

Museums and Galleries

enable robust and trusted iterations and audit trails, review and update to remain in line with the latest standards and best practices, safeguarding organizational reputation.

Accountability

Compliance

Reputation

Museums and Galleries

create efficiencies in workflow and processes, as well as potentially creating income through data re-use

Business Continuity

Revenue

Museums and Galleries

maintain the cultural and monetary value of the collection, by sustaining access to it

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Reputation

Museums and Galleries

instil confidence in the ability to preserve digital collections

Accountability

Reputation

Museums and Galleries

cut the costs of viewing rooms open to the public by moving some collections into deep storage

Costs

Technology

Museums and Galleries

help visitors to gain a deeper understanding of our cultural heritage creating new learning experiences with existing data

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Museums and Galleries

reach new audiences by creating new learning experiences with existing data

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Museums and Galleries

ensure the collection remains relevant and accessible to generations to come by creating digital copies

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Museums and Galleries

be an investment in a high-quality service which enhances audience experience

Reputation

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Risks

“Failing to preserve digital materials renders them unusable”

These Risk statements are arranged by organization type so you could either select the relevant Risks within your type or, if you know that your organization is particularly concerned with ‘compliance’ for example, you could identify all of the statements associated with that Motivator.

Critically Endangered smallRemember that some of the Risks statements for other organization types, with the same Motivator, might also hold significance in your organization.

For more on the risks of failing to preserve digital materials, see the DPC's 'Bit List' of Digitally Endangered Species. By compiling and maintaining this list over the coming years, the DPC aims to celebrate great digital preservation endeavors as entries become less of a ‘concern,’ whilst still highlighting the need for efforts to safeguard those still considered ‘critically endangered.’ 

 

Organization Type

Risk

Potential Consequences

Key Motivators

All organizations

Data safety and security are compromised.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation
  • Loss/reduction in funding/revenue
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Compliance

Reputation

Revenue

Security

All organizations

Technologies used become obsolete; this may apply to elements such as hardware, software and file formats.

  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Required to maintain expensive legacy systems
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Unable to provide audit trails
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Accountability

Authenticity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Costs

Enabling Research

Technology

All organizations

The bits and bytes making up the digital information degrade over time.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Authenticity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

All organizations

Insufficient contextual information (metadata) to understand the information and for it to be useful.

  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Disruption of business/organization’s functions
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

All organizations

Lack of supporting legislation to facilitate preservation, particularly relating to copyright/IPR, privacy and legal deposit.

  • Unable to carry out necessary preservation actions
  • Data loss
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Business Continuity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

All organizations

Rate of data creation outstrips capacity for storage, processing and preservation.

  • Important digital objects are not captured within the preservation system
  • Data loss/corruption

Accountability

Business Continuity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Security

Technology

All organizations

Insufficient funding available to allow sustainable preservation procedures and systems to be established.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to carry out necessary preservation actions
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Business Continuity

Compliance

Costs

Revenue

Technology

All organizations

Insufficient staffing/skills to be able to carry out successful preservation.

  • Unable to carry out necessary preservation actions
  • Data loss
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Business Continuity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Costs

Enabling Research

Archives

Lack of collaboration behind different departments/areas of the organization

  • Unable to establish a sustainable, fit for purpose digital preservation programme
  • Efforts duplicated in different departments/areas
  • Inefficient use of resources

Business Continuity

Costs

Archives

Executive level support for digital preservation is not persistent

  • Unable to establish a sustainable, fit for purpose digital preservation programme
  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Accountability

Business Continuity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

Archives

Failure to engage with stakeholders at all stages of the record life-cycle

  • Lack of support for digital preservation work
  • System/procedures do not support user needs
  • Do not capture necessary documentation
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects in a useable format

Accountability

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Reputation

Archives

Failure to maintain preservation system and processes.

  • Preservation system/processes become redundant/ineffectual
  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • High cost of replacing/extracting data from outdated systems

Costs

Reputation

Technology

Business

Existing storage systems do not protect records from unauthorised change or corruption

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation
  • Loss/reduction in funding/revenue
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Compliance

Reputation

Revenue

Security

Business

Staff fail to comply with organizational policy and processes in relation to management of records (reliability, authenticity, usability etc.),

  • Important digital objects not captured in preservation system
  • Necessary documentation/metadata not created/captured
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Compliance

Costs

Reputation

Business

Inability to provide evidence of compliance with regulations

  • Loss of reputation and stakeholder confidence
  • Fines/sanctions

Compliance

Costs

Reputation

Business

Business processes rely on file formats and storage media that are becoming obsolete

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business’s functions
  • Increased costs

Business Continuity

Costs

Business

Inability to produce reliable and authentic records necessary to pursue or defend legal claims

  • Undermines ability to reach resolution
  • Unsatisfactory or expensive settlements

Authenticity

Compliance

Costs

Business

Loss of corporate memory

  • Unable to rely on past evidence to inform current decision-making
  • Insufficient resources to support branding and marketing

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Reputation

Revenue

Business

The archive team do not have the tools required for effective search and retrieval of digital holdings

  • Unable to provide access to information required to support business processes
  • Loss of productivity/revenue

Business Continuity

Costs

Revenue

Business

Inability to reuse valuable information

  • Unable to provide access to information required to support business processes
  • Loss of productivity/revenue
  • Limits innovation
  • Fall behind market/competitors

Business Continuity

Costs

Reputation

Revenue

Business

Volume of data continues to grow without action being taken

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business’s functions
  • Increased costs now and in the future
  • Loss of productivity/revenue

Business Continuity

Compliance

Costs

Reputation

Security

Higher Education and Research

Unable to fully capture and represent current events for future generations

  • Incomplete historical record
  • Future research flawed/unreliable/biased

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Higher Education and Research

Inability to access legal documentation, institutional history and decision-making precedents

  • Unable to rely on past evidence to inform current decision-making
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Accountability

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Higher Education and Research

The hardware or software required to interpret, and present digital information is no longer available

  • Unable to provide access to information required to support organizational processes
  • Disruption of organization’s functions
  • Increased costs now and in the future

Business Continuity

Costs

Enabling Research

Technology

Higher Education and Research

Research data not transferred to the relevant repository for preservation

  • Data loss
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Research repeated unnecessarily

Accountability

Costs

Enabling Research

Reputation

Higher Education and Research

Lack of vendor accountability

  • Unable to place trust in services provided
  • Services not fit for purpose
  • Poor customer service
  • Unable to plan for succession

Accountability

Business Continuity

Costs

Higher Education and Research

No active preservation carried out on data

  • Expensive procedures required to access legacy data
  • Lack of documentation

Costs

Enabling Research

Higher Education and Research

Data from an experiment that cannot be repeated is not preserved

  • Data loss
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of reputation

Enabling Research

Reputation

Higher Education and Research

Data is inaccessible due to lack of preservation

  • Inability to answer crucial research questions
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of scientific legacy and the associated research opportunities
  • Research repeated unnecessarily
  • Loss of potential opportunities for collaboration
  • Loss of reputation

Costs

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

Higher Education and Research

Data is not preserved with sufficient context, identifiers and documentation

  • Unique scientific datasets unknown and potential unrecognised questions
  • Field of research is set back/compromised

Enabling Research

Higher Education and Research

Data rendered usable through a lack of proactive use, updates, and checking

  • Inability to answer crucial research questions
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of scientific legacy and the associated research opportunities
  • Loss of potential opportunities for collaboration

Enabling Research

Revenue

Higher Education and Research

Litigation from consumers if data made available is not reliable and trustworthy

  • Requirement to pay fines/settlements/compensation
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of reputation

Authenticity

Compliance

Costs

Reputation

Museums and Galleries

Storage conditions are inadequate for preservation

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation

Business Continuity

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Reputation

Technology

Libraries

Preservation not carried out in a timely manner

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Costly interventions require to restore access

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Costs

Enabling Research

Libraries

No active programme/processes aimed at acquiring digital objects/collections

  • Data generated by the cultural and creative industries will be lost or inaccessible
  • Failure to protect the living national record
  • Primary sources for future research cannot be found, interpreted or re-used
  • Failure to meet organisational goals
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Business Continuity

Compliance

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

Libraries

Organisation does not move important digital/digitized objects into a preservation system

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Accountability

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

Libraries

Do not adequately consider the preservation needs of complex digital objects, including new publication formats

  • Data generated by the cultural and creative industries will be lost or inaccessible
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Reputation

Revenue

Technology

Museums and Galleries

Preservation processes do not adequately consider rendering and display.

  • Unable to correctly render files as originally intended
  • Additional work required to address issues, including consultation with experts/the artist
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Authenticity

Costs

Reputation

Revenue

Museums and Galleries

Digital objects/collections are not captured in a suitable preservation system

  • Digital objects are unusable and un-displayable
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Authenticity

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Reputation

Revenue

Museums and Galleries

Absence of appropriately skilled and invested people responsible for digital preservation

  • Incorrect/inadequate preservation
  • Preservation does not occur
  • Loss of ability to access/render digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Costs

Reputation

Revenue

Museums and Galleries

Absence of a documented workflow for the creation/acquisition and then maintenance of digital files

  • Incorrect/inadequate preservation
  • Preservation does not occur
  • Loss of ability to access/render digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Authenticity

Business Continuity

Corporate / Cultural Memory

Costs

Reputation

Revenue

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What is Digital Preservation?

Starting a converstion about digital preservation with Senior Executives can be difficult without first establishing a definition which can be relayed in language understandable to your audience. 

These definitions aim to do that. They are grouped by organization type but presented in no particular order. Select and use the statements which are most relevant to your organization. You may find that some statements categorised under a different organization type may still be relevant to you. You may wish to rank them according to your organization’s priorities or add more detail based on your context.

Organization Type

Digital Preservation is...

All organizations

Planning and developing strategy and policy to sustain access to digital materials for as long as is required,

All organizations

Liaison with data creators, data users, solution providers, IT departments, records managers, marketing teams, policy makers and more, 

All organizations

A function which requires different areas of an organization and its stakeholders to work together with strong, enabling leadership,

All organizations

Actively monitoring, planning, administering and managing digital materials, systems and workflows to ensure their longevity beyond the limits of technology obsolescence and degradation,

All organizations

Assigning the appropriate level of preservation activity for a given set of digital materials,

All organizations

Capturing all necessary associated contextual documentation and metadata,

All organizations

Ensuring the continued integrity and authenticity of digital materials,

All organizations

Only keeping what is required through careful and informed appraisal and selection,

All organizations

Using appropriate standards to make digital materials more robust and resilient,

All organizations

Adding value to an organization’s digital materials over time,

All organizations

Keeping up with changes in the shifting technological landscape,

All organizations

Assisting access through the provision of supporting documentation and , where appropriate, for end users,

All organizations

A set of activities within any organization – as essential as the power grid or plumbing,

All organizations

A cross-organizational business culture - digital preservation should be ‘business as usual’,

All organizations

Providing appropriate access, which adheres to contextual security and sensitivity requirements,

Libraries and Archives

Part of an ongoing stewardship mission to ensure to the future of libraries and archives as memory organizations,

Libraries and Archives

Necessary for libraries and archives to tell the unbroken story of our communities and societies.

Business

Managing the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the organization’s records to ensure efficient and accurate access,

Business

Applying retention periods correctly, avoiding unnecessary risks.

Higher Education and Research

Planning and strategizing to sustain access to digital research data for as long as is required,

Higher Education and Research

Preserving continuity as well as functionality for future research,

Higher Education and Research

Ensuring data remains accessible and usable,

Higher Education and Research

Providing staff and users with sufficient digital preservation skills to fulfil their part of the data management process.

Museums and Galleries

Having the information required to install or perform an artwork according to an artist’s concept and specifications, technological context and historical accuracy.

Museums and Galleries

Having the information required to curate and display a digital object or collection in a way that provides an accurate and meaningful depiction of the object(s) and our cultural heritage.

 

Digital Preservation is not:

Organization Type

Digital preservation is more than...

All organizations

Digitization, backing up, storage, public access and discovery,

All organizations

Buying an off-the-shelf product and considering it ‘done,’

All organizations

A technical problem, it is also a cultural one, requiring leaders in this space to bring others on board to ensure solid preservation practice,

All organizations

A fashionable trend, it’s a continuing change for all organizations.

 

Read More

Technology

Any factor relating to the integrity and operation of the systems, storage, hardware or software required to preserve digital materials.

What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials? 

Organization Type

Risk

Potential Consequences

All organizations

Technologies used become obsolete; this may apply to elements such as hardware, software and file formats.

  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Required to maintain expensive legacy systems
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Unable to provide audit trails
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

All organizations

Rate of data creation outstrips capacity for storage, processing and preservation.

  • Important digital objects are not captured within the preservation system
  • Data loss/corruption

All organizations

Insufficient funding available to allow sustainable preservation procedures and systems to be established.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to carry out necessary preservation actions
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Archives

Failure to maintain preservation system and processes.

  • Preservation system/processes become redundant/ineffectual
  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • High cost of replacing/extracting data from outdated systems

Higher Education and Research

The hardware or software required to interpret, and present digital information is no longer available

  • Unable to provide access to information required to support organizational processes
  • Disruption of organization’s functions
  • Increased costs now and in the future

Libraries

Storage conditions are inadequate for preservation

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation

Libraries

Do not adequately consider the preservation needs of complex digital objects, including new publication formats

  • Data generated by the cultural and creative industries will be lost or inaccessible
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create?  

Organization Type

Digital Preservation can…

All organizations

provide efficiencies of scale through shared services, resources and systems

All organizations

provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion which results in reduced storage requirements

All organizations

provide cost and operational efficiencies by allowing the consolidation of legacy systems

All organizations

provide cost efficiencies through the greater automation of processes

Business

provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion according to specified retention schedules, which results in reduced storage requirements

Higher Education and Research

create a pathway for smaller organizations to take advantage of enterprise level infrastructure through shared or cloud services

Higher Education and Research

reduce duplication of infrastructure and effort by sharing services, systems and storage with other institutions

Higher Education and Research

make the right information is available at the right time, by using the most appropriate service

Higher Education and Research

avoid wasted expenditure and reduce long-term operational costs by considering access and reuse at the stage of data generation, creation and system design.

Higher Education and Research

enable informed and planned disposal as well as retention which mitigates the continuous increase in the volume of time-series data, as well as the cost of managing it

Museums and Galleries

cut the costs of viewing rooms open to the public by moving some collections into deep storage

Read More

Security

Any factor relating to the safety, security and integrity of the digital materials and the systems and architecture used to preserve them.

What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?

Organization Type Risk Potential Consequences

All organizations

Data safety and security are compromised.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation
  • Loss/reduction in funding/revenue
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

All organizations

Rate of data creation outstrips capacity for storage, processing and preservation.

  • Important digital objects are not captured within the preservation system
  • Data loss/corruption

Business

Existing storage systems do not protect records from unauthorized change or corruption

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation
  • Loss/reduction in funding/revenue
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Business

Volume of data continues to grow without action being taken

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business’s functions
  • Increased costs now and in the future
  • Loss of productivity/revenue

What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create? 

Organization type

Digital Preservation can…

All organizations

provide cost efficiencies through the greater automation of processes

Museums and Galleries

enable tracking of unauthorized changes, copies and access leading to greater trust and assurance

Read More

Revenue

Any factor relating to organizational income or earnings.

What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?

Organization type

Risk

Potential Consequences

All organizations

Data safety and security are compromised.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation
  • Loss/reduction in funding/revenue
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

All organizations

Insufficient funding available to allow sustainable preservation procedures and systems to be established.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to carry out necessary preservation actions
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Archives

Executive level support for digital preservation is not persistent

  • Unable to establish a sustainable, fit for purpose digital preservation programme
  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Business

Existing storage systems do not protect records from unauthorized change or corruption

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation
  • Loss/reduction in funding/revenue
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Business

Loss of corporate memory

  • Unable to rely on past evidence to inform current decision-making
  • Insufficient resources to support branding and marketing

Business

The archive team do not have the tools required for effective search and retrieval of digital holdings

  • Unable to provide access to information required to support business processes
  • Loss of productivity/revenue

Business

Inability to reuse valuable information

  • Unable to provide access to information required to support business processes
  • Loss of productivity/revenue
  • Limits innovation
  • Fall behind market/competitors

Higher Education and Research

Data is inaccessible due to lack of preservation

  • Inability to answer crucial research questions
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of scientific legacy and the associated research opportunities
  • Research repeated unnecessarily
  • Loss of potential opportunities for collaboration
  • Loss of reputation

Higher Education and Research

Data rendered usable through a lack of proactive use, updates, and checking

  • Inability to answer crucial research questions
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of scientific legacy and the associated research opportunities
  • Loss of potential opportunities for collaboration

Libraries

No active program /processes aimed at acquiring digital objects/collections

  • Data generated by the cultural and creative industries will be lost or inaccessible
  • Failure to protect the living national record
  • Primary sources for future research cannot be found, interpreted or re-used
  • Failure to meet organisational goals
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Libraries

Organization does not move important digital/digitized objects into a preservation system

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Libraries

Do not adequately consider the preservation needs of complex digital objects, including new publication formats

  • Data generated by the cultural and creative industries will be lost or inaccessible
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Museums and Galleries

Preservation processes do not adequately consider rendering and display.

  • Unable to correctly render files as originally intended
  • Additional work required to address issues, including consultation with experts/the artist
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Museums and Galleries

Digital objects/collections are not captured in a suitable preservation system

  • Digital objects are unusable and un-displayable
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Museums and Galleries

Absence of appropriately skilled and invested people responsible for digital preservation

  • Incorrect/inadequate preservation
  • Preservation does not occur
  • Loss of ability to access/render digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Museums and Galleries

Absence of a documented workflow for the creation/acquisition and then maintenance of digital files

  • Incorrect/inadequate preservation
  • Preservation does not occur
  • Loss of ability to access/render digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create? 

Organization Type

Digital Preservation can…

All organizations

capture potential by providing greater scope for innovation and reuse of data

All organizations

transmit opportunities to future generations by ensuring the right data is available to the right people at the right time in the right format, for as long as necessary

Higher Education and Research

provide opportunities for raising funds through the reuse of existing data

Higher Education and Research

generate income and new service models through the reuse of existing data

Higher Education and Research

increase the potential for the re-use of digital material though established IPR

Libraries

create greater scope for innovation and reuse by using cultural and creative data at scale

Libraries

maintain access to digital outputs of cultural and creative industries which are essential for innovation, research, development

Libraries

transmit opportunities to future generations by ensuring the right cultural and creative data is available to the right people at the right time in the right format, for as long as necessary

Museums and Galleries

create efficiencies in workflow and processes, as well as potentially creating income through data re-use

Read More

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