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Research
Challenges in Digital Archiving
Research in almost every discipline
depends on well-managed, reliable, and readily accessible digital
resources. Many digital resources (scientific databases, medical
records, government statistics) are accumulated over long periods
of time at considerable expense. Some have long-term value for
monitoring changes in the natural environment, for analyzing the
effectiveness of policy interventions, and for producing a record
of scientific and artistic creativity. Many of the digital resources
we are creating today will be re-purposed and re-used for reasons
that we cannot imagine today.
Future research capabilities will be seriously compromised without
significant investments in research and the development of digital
archives. The current processes and technologies for digital archiving,
which attempt to replicate traditional practices for appraising,
acquiring, and managing archival materials, have not succeeded
because they are labor intensive and based on assumptions that
no longer hold in the digital environment. Digital technologies
are shaping creation, management, preservation, and access in
ways which are so profound that traditional methods no longer
are effective. These changes will require a paradigm shift in
research if it is to provide the innovations -- whether theoretical,
methodological or technical -- necessary to underpin long-term
access to digital resources.
Digital preservation concepts, methods,
and tools cannot accommodate the complexity and fluidity of dynamic
multi-media digital entities. There are no effective (or cost-effective)
methods to preserve dynamic databases, complex web sites, analytical
tools, or software for the long-term. Yet, increasingly, digital
resources are impossible to interpret or use without accompanying
tools for analysis and presentation. Home
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