The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is pleased to make the OAIS Introductory Guide (2nd Edition) Technology Watch Report available as a preview to members.Writtenby Brian Lavoie, and published in association with Charles Beagrie Ltd., the latest report in the Technology Watch series looks back at the development of formal standards for the long-term storage of digital data outlining the history, features and impact the Open Archival Information System Model (OAIS) has had on digital preservation.
Research Scientist at OCLC, Brian identifies that perhaps “the most important achievement of the OAIS in this history is that it has become almost universally accepted as the lingua franca of digital preservation”
Describing its flexibility and conceptual nature, the report describes the OAIS, its core principles and functional elements, as well as the information model which support long-term preservation, access and understandability of data – highlighting the in-built level of abstraction which makes it the widely applicable foundation resource for digital preservation.
Brian adds “it is possible to identify a few limitations associated with the OAIS’s impact,” generally associated with the very conceptual nature of the model, and goes on to recommend that the digital preservation community would certainly “benefit from a careful assessment of where more precise and authoritative definitions of OAIS concepts and relationships would accelerate progress in achieving robust, widely applicable, and interoperable digital preservation solutions.”
Introduction to OAIS was the first of the DPC Technology Watch reports, and although it was first published a decade ago it has remained popular, noted Executive Director of the Digital Preservation Coalition, William Kilbride. “The report is an excellent introduction to the OAIS for those new to digital preservation, or as a resource for practitioners wishing to re-acquaint themselves with the basics of the model: but this new edition is more nuanced in approach, supplemented by the wisdom of a decade of research, development and implementation”
The OAIS Introductory Guide (2nd Edition) will be well received across the spectrum of the digital preservation community and across sectors, with a comprehensive and accessible overview of a model which is often viewed as complex and difficult to apply.
Brian Lavoie’s report OAIS Introductory Guide (2nd Edition) is available as a preview to members from the DPC website now (login required). It will be made freely available to all in December 2014.