Merrilee on the hangingtogether blog, with a catchup post about the fall CNI meeting, drew our attention to a presentation by Susan Gibbons of Rochester, on studying next generation academics (ie graduate students), as preparation for enhancements to their repository system, ir-plus.
I shared a platform with Susan only last year in Sydney, and I was very impressed with their approach of using anthropological techniques to study and learn from their user behaviour. In fact, her Sydney presentation probably had a big influence on the ideas for the Research Repository System that I wrote about earlier (which I should have acknowledged at the time).
Now their latest IMLS-funded research project takes this even further, as preparation for collaborative authoring and other tools integrated with the repository. If you're interested in making your repository more relevant to your users, the report on the user studies they have undertaken so far is a Must-Read! I don't know whether the code at http://code.google.com/p/irplus/ is yet complete...
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Friday, 19 December 2008
The 12 files of Christmas
(Well, half a dozen, maybe.) OK, it’s Christmas, or the Holiday Season if you really must, and I may have a present for you!
My readers will know that I have an interest in obsolete and obsolescent data and files. I’ve tried in the past to get people to tell me about their stuff that had become inaccessible, with only limited success. So, after our work Christmas lunch, with the warm glow of turkey and Christmas pudding still upon me, and a feeling of general goodwill, I thought I’d offer you an opportunity to give me a challenge.
I will do my best to recover the first half dozen interesting files that I’m told about… of course, what I really mean is that I’ll try and get the community to help recover the data. That’s you!
OK, I define interesting, and it won’t necessarily be clear in advance. The first one of a kind might be interesting, the second one would not. Data from some application common of its time may be more interesting than something hand-coded by you, for you. Data might be more interesting (to me) than text. Something quite simple locked onto strange obsolete media might be interesting, but then again it might be so intractable it stops being interesting. We may even pay someone to extract files from your media, if it’s sufficiently interesting (and if we can find someone equipped to do it).
The only reference for this sort of activity that I know of is (Ross & Gow, 1999, see below), commissioned by the Digital Archiving Working Group.
What about the small print? Well, this is a bit of fun with a learning outcome, but I can’t accept liability for what happens. You have to send me your data, of course, and you are going to have to accept the risk that it might all go wrong. If it’s your only copy, and you don’t (or can’t) take a copy, it might get lost or destroyed in the process. You’ll need to accept that risk; if you don't like it, don't send it. I might not be able to recover anything at all, for many reasons. I’ll send you back any data I can recover, but can’t guarantee to send back any media.
The point of this is to tell the stories of recovering data, so don’t send me anything if you don’t want the story told. I don’t mind keeping your identity private (in fact good practice says that’s the default, although I will ask you if you mind being identified). You can ask for your data to be kept private, but if possible I’d like the right to publish extracts of the data, to illustrate the story.
Don’t send me any data yet! (It’s like those adverts: send no money now!) Send me an email with a description of your data. I’m not including my email address here, but you can find it out easily enough. Include “12 files of Christmas” in your subject line. Tell me about your data: what kind of files, what sort of content, what application, what computer/operating system, what media, roughly what size. Tell me why it’s important to you (eg it’s your thesis or the data that support it, your first address book with long-lost relative’s address on it, etc). Tell me if (no, tell me that) you can grant me the rights to do what’s necessary (making copies or authorising others to make copies, making derivative works, etc).
Is that all? Oh, we need a closing date… that had better be twelfth night, so 11:59 pm GMT on 5 January, 2009 (according to Wikipedia)!
Any final caveats? Yes; I have not run this past any legal people yet, and they may tell me the risks of being sued are too great, or come up with a 12-page contract you wouldn’t want to sign. If that happens, I’ll come back here and ‘fess up.
Ross, S., & Gow, A. (1999). Digital Archaeology: Rescuing Neglected and Damaged Data Resources (Study report). London: University of Glasgow.
My readers will know that I have an interest in obsolete and obsolescent data and files. I’ve tried in the past to get people to tell me about their stuff that had become inaccessible, with only limited success. So, after our work Christmas lunch, with the warm glow of turkey and Christmas pudding still upon me, and a feeling of general goodwill, I thought I’d offer you an opportunity to give me a challenge.
I will do my best to recover the first half dozen interesting files that I’m told about… of course, what I really mean is that I’ll try and get the community to help recover the data. That’s you!
OK, I define interesting, and it won’t necessarily be clear in advance. The first one of a kind might be interesting, the second one would not. Data from some application common of its time may be more interesting than something hand-coded by you, for you. Data might be more interesting (to me) than text. Something quite simple locked onto strange obsolete media might be interesting, but then again it might be so intractable it stops being interesting. We may even pay someone to extract files from your media, if it’s sufficiently interesting (and if we can find someone equipped to do it).
The only reference for this sort of activity that I know of is (Ross & Gow, 1999, see below), commissioned by the Digital Archiving Working Group.
What about the small print? Well, this is a bit of fun with a learning outcome, but I can’t accept liability for what happens. You have to send me your data, of course, and you are going to have to accept the risk that it might all go wrong. If it’s your only copy, and you don’t (or can’t) take a copy, it might get lost or destroyed in the process. You’ll need to accept that risk; if you don't like it, don't send it. I might not be able to recover anything at all, for many reasons. I’ll send you back any data I can recover, but can’t guarantee to send back any media.
The point of this is to tell the stories of recovering data, so don’t send me anything if you don’t want the story told. I don’t mind keeping your identity private (in fact good practice says that’s the default, although I will ask you if you mind being identified). You can ask for your data to be kept private, but if possible I’d like the right to publish extracts of the data, to illustrate the story.
Don’t send me any data yet! (It’s like those adverts: send no money now!) Send me an email with a description of your data. I’m not including my email address here, but you can find it out easily enough. Include “12 files of Christmas” in your subject line. Tell me about your data: what kind of files, what sort of content, what application, what computer/operating system, what media, roughly what size. Tell me why it’s important to you (eg it’s your thesis or the data that support it, your first address book with long-lost relative’s address on it, etc). Tell me if (no, tell me that) you can grant me the rights to do what’s necessary (making copies or authorising others to make copies, making derivative works, etc).
Is that all? Oh, we need a closing date… that had better be twelfth night, so 11:59 pm GMT on 5 January, 2009 (according to Wikipedia)!
Any final caveats? Yes; I have not run this past any legal people yet, and they may tell me the risks of being sued are too great, or come up with a 12-page contract you wouldn’t want to sign. If that happens, I’ll come back here and ‘fess up.
Ross, S., & Gow, A. (1999). Digital Archaeology: Rescuing Neglected and Damaged Data Resources (Study report). London: University of Glasgow.
Sustainable preservation and access : Interim report
I'm a member of the grandly titled Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access, which has just released the interim report of its first year's scoping activity. Neil Beagrie spotted the press release, and blogged it earlier.
As the Executive Summary says
Just one last quote, this time from the Preface:
As the Executive Summary says
"There is general agreement that digital information is fundamental to the conduct of modern research, education, business, commerce, and government. Future accomplishments are accelerated through persistent access to data and digital materials, and their use, re-use, and re-purposing in ways both known and as yet unanticipated.So that's the focus of the Task Force. It's been a really interesting group to be on; for various reasons, I only managed to get to one of its 3 face to face meetings this year, but there's a wide range of views and skills there (ranging from economists, not at all dismal, to representatives from various digital communities). There was also the interesting approach of taking "testimony" from a number of experts in the field: asking them to come, make short presentations based around some questions we asked them, and to join in the debate. And of course, the inevitable regular telephone conference, as always at an inconvenient time (spanning so many time zones). But, as I say, the conversations have always been interesting, and the discussion yesterday on the methodology for the second year, leading to the final report, was fascinating.
"There is no general agreement, however, about who is responsible and who should pay for the access to, and preservation of, valuable present and future digital information. "
Just one last quote, this time from the Preface:
"The sustainability of the long-term access and preservation of digital materials is a well-known challenge, and discussion frequently focuses on the difficult technical issues. Less clearly articulated are the organizational and economic issues implicit in the notion of sustainability which, at the risk of over-simplification, come down to two questions: How much does it cost? and Who should pay?"I guess the over-simplified answer to the last question is: if we want it, we all will.
Survey on malformed PDFs?
A DCC-Associates member asks
"Does anyone know there has been a study to estimate how many PDF documentsI've not heard of anything, nor can I find one with my best Google searches, but it's a particularly hard question to ask Google! So, if you know of anything that has happened or is in progress, please leave a comment here. Thanks,
do not comply with the PDF standards?"
Saturday, 13 December 2008
What makes up data curation?
Following some discussion at the Digital Curation Conference in Edinburgh, how about this:
Data Curation comprises
Adding value will have many elements. I’m not sure if collecting and associating contextual metadata is part of adding value, or simply good data management!
Heard at the conference: context is the new metadata (thanks Graeme Pow!).
Data Curation comprises
- Data management
- Adding value to data
- Data sharing for re-use
- Data preservation for later re-use
Adding value will have many elements. I’m not sure if collecting and associating contextual metadata is part of adding value, or simply good data management!
Heard at the conference: context is the new metadata (thanks Graeme Pow!).
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
IDCC4: DCC Blawg "consent" post
Just a little plug here; my colleague Mags McGeever, who provides legal information for the DCC, has her own blog (The DCC Blawg), and has recently been providing a bit more comment and opinion rather than just information (that's not legal opinion, mind!). Her recent post on the variant of "informed consent" used by Generation Scotland, mentioned by David Porteous in his opening Keynote at the Digital Curation Conference, is interesting, and some of her other recent articles are worth a look, too.
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Comments on OAIS responses to our comments on OAIS
Yes, it sounds weird and it was, a bit. One of the workshops at the International Digital Curation Conference was to consider the proposed "dispositions" to the DCC/DPC comments on OAIS, made around two years ago! Sarah Higgins of the DCC and Frances Boyle of the DPC had an initial look and tried to work out which proposed dispositions we might have an issue with. A couple of the original participants made written comments in advance, but the rest of us (the original group or their successors, plus one slightly bemused visitor) had less than 3 hours to hammer through an see whether we could improve on the dispositions. The aim was to identify areas where we really felt the dispositon was wrong, to the extent that it would seriously weaken the standard, AND we were able to provide comments of the form "delete xxxx, insert yyyy". We did identify a few such, but were also pleased to discover that some areas where we thought there would be no change would in fact receive significant revision (although we haven't yet seen the revision).
We understand that the process now is for the OAIS group (MOIMS-DAI) to finalise their text, and then put it out for a second round of public comment early next year. After that, it will go through the CCSDS review process (ie it gets voted on by Space Agencies interested in Mission Operations Information), before going on to ISO, where it gets voted on by National Bodies involved in its Technical Committee! So, don't hold your breath!
We understand that the process now is for the OAIS group (MOIMS-DAI) to finalise their text, and then put it out for a second round of public comment early next year. After that, it will go through the CCSDS review process (ie it gets voted on by Space Agencies interested in Mission Operations Information), before going on to ISO, where it gets voted on by National Bodies involved in its Technical Committee! So, don't hold your breath!
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