4 Mar 2004http:// VERS: Victorian Electronic Record Strategy Digital Preservation Seminar ODU Spring 2004

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Project: Background 3-Stage Project 1.Investigation 2.Prototype 3.Implementation “Electronic records need enduring evidential status and long life, despite the fact that computing systems have short life and information can be easily corrupted.” (quoted from VERS final project report)

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Project Stage 1: Investigation Project began in 1995 by Public Record Office Victoria (Australia) as an investigation in “how to safeguard digital records against obsolescence caused by changes and developments in computer software, hardware and storage media.” –Evidentiary reliability one of many motivators –Participants included researchers (CSIRO, U Melbourne) and Industry (Ernst & Young) –Goal was to produce a conceptual answer: Recommend a solution/methodology Identify key issues Present a business case (but not cost estimates) –Recommendations published in 1997, “Keeping Electronic Records Forever” 115-page report by consultants Ernst & Young Notes that no satisfactory solution existed at the time Recommended encapsulation as suitable technique

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Project Stage 2: Prototype Archival System $500K funding in late 1997 to address an actual implementation of the original recommendations –Project was to be a proof of concept – more than a theoretical exercise –Address “the transfer, storage, preservation, access and disposal of [electronic] records” –Provide “for records to be maintained as evidence” –Examine feasibility as well as real costs –Assess impact of the switch to an electronic format on the on- going maintenance of paper records Are agencies sloppy? Is there significant or only minor loss of data? Can capture and preservation be automated (from proprietary apps like Word, Excel)?

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Project Stage 3: Implementation $4.8M funding for implementation at Department of Infrastructure (State of Victoria, Australia) –Website ( says nearly completehttp:// but overdue (was to be a 2 year project) Latest standards release was July 2003 –Project resulted in development of a VERS toolkit, an Australian government standard for the management of electronic records, and the “VERS Encapsulation Object” (among other things) –“Victoria is leading the world in e-government, with more than 150 transactions available to the public on the Internet” (Apr 2001 press release)

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Project: Rejected Strategies System Preservation –Keep the hardware & the software –Indefinite care and feeding… Emulation –Not practical over long-term –Issues similar to system preservation Migration –Depends on closely matching functionality of original –Requires active, systems-based approach –Might break “do minimal harm” rule of preservation Data modification may degrade the information element Sequential migrations have been shown to effectively lose data accessibility Standardization –Biggest issue is appropriateness of the standard preservation format –Evolution of standards poses risks similar to migration

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Project Results Defined a long term preservation format for electronic records. –Encapsulation was the preferred solution –recommended XML for metadata –PDF for content! Justification for PDF is that it passes the “public library test” Created the VERS Encapsulation Object – to wrap it all up nice and neat…

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Project: Encapsulation as Recommended Strategy Reasons for choosing this approach: –Simple & self-documenting (within limits) Text-based encoding for the wrapper Human-readable to some degree (except binary encoded portions) Simple to implement on a computer –Self sufficient All relevant information is enclosed within the object Metadata provides functional and organizational information –Tag names are meaningful –Content documentation Clear identification of data formats used in encoding content Widely available format specifications –Organizational Preservation Information about how the data is used or why it is important

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS Encapsulated Object

4 Mar 2004http:// VERS: Conclusion Victoria government took a practical approach to data preservation Sought to invest minimal effort in creating new elements Took advantage of widespread technologies that have some reasonable potential for longer-term survival (compared with others) Made credible efforts toward automated digital preservation