Preserving the Union … J. Douglass Klein Associate Dean for Information Technology Union College

Preserving the Union … WEBSITE Preserving the Union... (and Amherst and Hamilton and Skidmore) J. Douglass Klein Associate Dean for Information Technology Union College

Acknowledgements – Tom McFadden; Ellen Fladger; Dave Cossey; Diane Keller; Tom Smith - Daria D'Arenzo; Susan Edelberg - Peter MacDonald; Ned Stankus – Leo Geoffrion … and many, many more. With funding from -

Primary Reference:

So, what did your website look like in…

1997 ?

1998 ?

2000 ?

2001 ??

2003 ?

Outline: Archiving the web What is the college website? Why do we care? - What do we want to save? - Who are we saving it for? How do we do it?

Outline1 Outline: Archiving the web What is the college website? Why do we care? - What do we want to save? - Who are we saving it for? How do we do it?

Original diagram

The Union web

Outline2 Outline: Archiving the web What is the college website? Why do we care? - What do we want to save? - Who are we saving it for? How do we do it?

Data Storage: Digits to Dust "Digital information lasts forever, or five years--whichever comes first," -- Jeff Rothenberg, senior computer scientist at RAND Corp.

LONGEVITY Magnetic tape breaks down from exposure to air, heat, and humidity; optical disks can decay and surface dyes can fade in sunlight, sometimes causing the loss of information stored on them. OBSOLESCENCE As UNIVAC drives or programs such as Word-Perfect 4.0 become obsolete, information stored when using them may be lost, too. MIGRATION Information can be lost or corrupted as it is transferred periodically from one type of media or computer system to a newer one....And That's Just One Problem (1998)

Digital Media Age Rapidly…

Dark Ages II “Author shows why our data is at far greater risk than we've ever imagined, and envisions a frightening future, where so much critical information is lost that civilization itself could collapse...” - amazon.com capsule review

NINCH Challenge of digital preservation versus Benefits of vast access versus Issues of intellectual property rights versus Legal incentives to delete digital data

Historians – the web in context; what was it, how was it used Institutional Records – College policies; curriculum; etc. Lawyers and Accountants – every individual transaction Historians – the web in context; what was it, how was it used Institutional Records – College policies; curriculum; etc. Lawyers and Accountants – every individual transaction Who wants to know?

Outline3 Outline: Archiving the web What is the college website? Why do we care? - What do we want to save? - Who are we saving it for? How do we do it?

Data Extinction Migration Emulation Encapsulation Universal Virtual Computer Claire Tristram, “Data Extinction,” MIT Tech Review, Oct Migration Emulation Encapsulation Universal Virtual Computer Claire Tristram, “Data Extinction,” MIT Tech Review, Oct. 2002

BTN archiving D-Space Web archive database (the Candle project) Video recording Wayback Machine Archiving Work in Progress

DSpace

Title : A name given to the resource. Creator : An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the resource. Subject : A topic of the content of the resource. Description : An account of the content of the resource. Publisher : An entity responsible for making the resource available Contributor : An entity responsible for making contributions to the content of the resource. Date : A date of an event in the lifecycle of the resource. Type : The nature or genre of the content of the resource. Format : The physical or digital manifestation of the resource. Identifier : An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context. Source : A Reference to a resource from which the present resource is derived. Language : A language of the intellectual content of the resource. Relation : A reference to a related resource. Coverage : The extent or scope of the content of the resource. Rights : Information about rights held in and over the resource. The Elements Also: Dependencies (HW & SW); Context

Archiving in the Digital Age: There’s a will, but is there a way? Kevin Guthrie, President, JSTOR Kevin Guthrie

Conclusion2 There are still many issues left to solve, among them insuring systematic migration to media (and software) that continue to be viewable; another is the thorny issues of web pages generated on-the-fly from underlying databases. Nevertheless, the first lesson is: Think about what it is that you need to preserve, and why. Then start asking the technical questions. Not the other way around. The solutions are not one-size-fits-all, because the problems are not. The second lesson is: The chances are good that nothing you do now, if you do not rethink, refresh, and migrate to newer media, will last more than a few decades at best. There are still many issues left to solve, among them insuring systematic migration to media (and software) that continue to be viewable; another is the thorny issues of web pages generated on-the-fly from underlying databases. Nevertheless, the first lesson is: Think about what it is that you need to preserve, and why. Then start asking the technical questions. Not the other way around. The solutions are not one-size-fits-all, because the problems are not. The second lesson is: The chances are good that nothing you do now, if you do not rethink, refresh, and migrate to newer media, will last more than a few decades at best.

Conclusion The problem – digital data, stored on complex networks, plus rapid obsolesce of hardware, software, and storage media The future – we will not be able to save everything; nor should we The solution – planning, prioritizing, commitment, continuous attention DON’T DO NOTHING The problem – digital data, stored on complex networks, plus rapid obsolesce of hardware, software, and storage media The future – we will not be able to save everything; nor should we The solution – planning, prioritizing, commitment, continuous attention DON’T DO NOTHING