Dp Geosc Info Presentation Final Version 2

Digital Preservation of Geoscience Information Smita Chandra Librarian

Importance of Digital Information Preservation 1975 – Two Viking space probes sent to Mars by USA. Data generated by unrepeatable mission cost $1 billion. Recorded data on magnetic tapes was corrupted / unidentifiable after 2 decades despite being kept in climate controlled environment. Scientists could not access data, unable to decode the formats used.

Importance of Digital Information Preservation Original format developers not alive. Finally old printouts tracked and retyped. NASA therefore is the biggest supporter of Digital Preservation Projects. This illustrates wide gap in information generation and its management.

Outline of Presentation Digital information: forms and types Geoscience information Institutional Repositories (IR) Digital Preservation (DP); strategies for DP OAIS model & its implementation Indian scenario Research proposal & expected results

Digital Information Information in digital form Born Digital Converted from Analog Types of Digital Information Electronic Publications Organizational and Personal Records Data Learning Objects like articles, books Software Tools Unpublished Materials Electronic Manuscripts Entertainment Products Images (Digitally designed or digitized) Websites

Threats Media decay and failure Massive storage failures, outdated media Access Component Obsolescence Outdated formats, applications & systems Human and Software errors & External Events

Information Deluge Present & Future Projections Yawning gap between Our ability to create digital information Our infrastructure and capacity to manage and preserve it over time Cumulative effect foreseen as future “digital dark ages”

Need for Digital Preservation preserving natural/cultural heritages for promoting academic research enabling public access to legacy collections

Geoscience Information Encompasses complex human-natural system Storehouse of massive heterogeneous data sets, and a wide variety of content and data types which reflect the features of various research fields of study Every content holder aim at the needs of their particular community and work independently with a loose collaboration and integration Every content holder has their respective digital archive system with individual data structure, management policy and search interface, however, there is an inability to transform and integrate data with each other transparently Enabling and improving the interoperability for heterogeneous collections is important Source : Loudon, T.V. Geoscience after IT : Part A & Part B. Computers & Geosciences, 2000, 26 (3A), A1-13.

Institutional Repositories (1) Definition : An institute-based repository is a set of services that an academic institution offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members. Source: Clifford A. Lynch (February 2003), “Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age” ARL Bimonthly Report 226: 1-7. http://www.arl.org/newsltr/226/ir.html

Institutional Repositories (2) Main Objectives to create global visibility for an institution's scholarly research; to collect content at a single location; to provide open access to institutional research output by self-archiving it; to store and preserve other institutional digital assets, including unpublished or otherwise easily lost ("grey") literature (e.g., theses or technical reports).

Institutional Repositories (3) IR Softwares DSpace (dspace.mit.edu) Eprints.org Subject Specific IRs arXiv ( www.arXiv.org ) RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) ( www.repec.org ) CogPrints ( www.cogprints.org ) NASA Technical Report Server ( ntrs.nasa.gov ) Networked Computer Science Technical Reference Library ( www.ncstrl.org )

Institutional Repositories (4) An IR is a model for a preservation system It requires “most essentially an organizational commitment to the stewardship of … digital materials, including long-term preservation where appropriate, as well as organization and access or distribution” Attributes of a “Trusted Digital Repository” “… an organisation that has responsibility for the long-term maintenance of digital resources, as well as making them available [through time and across changing technologies] to communities agreed on by the depositor and the repository .” Research Libraries Group http://www.rlg.org/longterm/attributes01.pdf

Definition : Digital Preservation The maintenance of digital materials over the long-term with a view to ensuring its continued accessibility. It ensures that the digital resources are stored correctly and maintained adequately in the online world, such that they are available consistently for use over time. “ Long-term ” includes timescales of decades or even centuries

Preservation Strategies Technology preservation Keep the hardware alive Technology emulation Create an environment to be able to run the existing software Data migration Convert data to new formats to run in new applications

Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Published by Consultative Committee for Space Data System (CCSDS) 2002, ISO 14721 : 2003 standard An archive consists of an organization of people and systems with responsibility to preserve information and make it available to users. SIP = Submission Information Package AIP = Archive In formation Package DIP = Dissemination Information Package

OAIS: Definitions To define an Open Archival Information System The term 'open' means that the document was developed in an open way, and does not imply that access to any OAIS should be unrestricted An archive is defined as an "organization that intends to preserve information for access and use by a designated community." (p. 1-8) While an OAIS itself need not be permanent, the information being maintained has been deemed to need "Long Term Preservation" Long term = long enough for there to be a concern about the impact of changing technologies

OAIS: Purpose and Scope Primary focus on digital information Specific aims include: A framework for the understanding and awareness of the archival concepts needed for long term preservation (access) Terminology and concepts for describing and comparing : Architectures and operations Preservation strategies and techniques Data models Consensus on elements and processes for long term preservation A foundation for other standards

OAIS: Applicability Applicability : Applicable to any archive, but mainly focused on organisations with responsibility for making information available for the long term Of interest to those who create information Conformance An OAIS must support the information model - but does not specify any particular method of implementation Mandatory responsibilities (section 3.1)

Implementing OAIS (1) Summing up the fundamentals : OAIS is a reference model (conceptual framework), NOT a blueprint for system design It informs the design of system architectures, the development of systems and components It provides common definitions of terms, a common language and means of making comparison But it does NOT ensure consistency or interoperability between implementations

Summing Up : OAIS The OAIS model is a foundation stone for current and future digital preservation efforts It is already widely used to inform the development of preservation tools and repositories It could be used in the future as a basis for conformance

Indian Scenario (1) Open Digital Repository Indian Institute of Science ( http://etd.ncsi.ernet.in ) National Chemical Laboratory ( http://dspace.ncl.res.in/dspace/index.jsp ) Indian Statistical Institute ( http://library.isibang.ac.in:8080/dspace/index/jsp ) Social Science Data The Census of India M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation Museums and Art Galleries Ministry of Culture, GOI The National Archives

Indian Scenario (2) Oceanic data Ministry of Ocean Development (MOD) Meteorological and seismic data Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Satellite imageries, land use and wasteland maps on different scales National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) Geological maps on various scales, geological and seismic data Geological Survey of India (GSI) Topographical maps, geodetic trigonometric and levelling data, gravity & geomagnetic data, GPS data, tidal data, repetitive geodetic & geophysical data Survey of India (SOI) Soil maps and land use data National Bureau of Soil Survey and Soil Maps Command area maps Central Water Commission Resource Institute

Proposal for IRs in India Providing adequate financial and technical resources for ensuring “digital preservation” in IRs National Informatics Center (NIC) entrusted with framing guidelines and policy or establishing a new agency For handling digital preservation, for collaboration, sharing and avoiding duplication 3. Trusted Digital Repository for accurate and reliable information 4. Legally sustainable digital preservation policy Joining the Digital Preservation Consortium Attention to collection management of digital material in libraries Amendment of the Delivery of Books Act and Press and Registration Act to cover the digital material Training of manpower for the management and preservation of electronic records Research in the area of digital preservation

Research Objectives Testing a pilot IR in a stand alone mode Implement an OAIS-compliant layer to the IR drawing upon best practices To develop a preservation strategy and a custom made model addressing issues like planning and policy for preservation, the role of different players in the process, IPR and copyright, etc

Research Methodology Analog Materials Digital Preservation Converted Born Institutional Repository Digitization Process Digital Materials Material Selection Process Short Term Long Term

Expected Results This research would identify all the components necessary for the implementation of the OAIS model for a geoscience domain specific institutional repository

Annexure 1 Preservation Description Information Provenence Context Reference Fixity Content Data Object Representation Information Physical Object Digital Object

Annexure 2 OAIS Mandatory Responsibilities: Negotiating and accepting information Obtaining sufficient control of the information to ensure long-term preservation Determining the "designated community" Ensuring that information is "independently understandable" Following documented policies and procedures Making the preserved information available

Dp Geosc Info Presentation Final Version 2

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Dp Geosc Info Presentation Final Version 2