Jason Bell
Competency H
Be conversant with current information technologies and best practices relating to records preservation and security.
Introduction
With the advent of greater storage capacity, records are able to be retained longer and with less cost. From paper scrolls to magnetic tape to external hard drives, record keepers have always sought to develop a sense of order for the ease of access. However, there is a problem in that with each advent of newer and greater capacity storage devices it is continually seen that people tend to abuse the extra storage rather than make use of it. The main concern here is that good record management will decline as a result a “no worries there is plenty of room” attitude. Thus, with the advent of each new storage device—the floppy disc, zip drives, memory sticks, external hard drives and the cloud—the problem of proper record management policies may not be addressed. This will be tested greatly with cloud storage and use of personal devices to capture and produce e-records. More records are being produced in many different forms. When combined with fewer controls on how the records are managed the use of cloud storage, records managers are faced with impossible tasks when the time comes to implement a proper retention schedule.
On the other hand, as companies expand and develop more records than before, cloud storage can be a savior if done correctly and with slow, thoughtful steps. There is greater space, options for cloud customers to have control over how records are retained or destroyed, and a platform that allows for greater information sharing between departments. So long as there is continual attention given to the management of the storage of the records, the problems of cloud storage should be manageable.
PastPerfect, a web 2.0 based software program devoted to museums and archives, is able to manage the records format and host the information on their servers, thus they would be the ones updating the software as long as the subscriber pays for their software updates. With PastPerfect and other similar software programs archivist are relieved of having to take on the expense of maintaining their own server and updating digital records to insure their continued access.
Choosing a file format is a tricky thing. While it has become popular among archivist to create Tiffs, the amount of space needed can be extraordinary and these are specialized formats. I worry about two things: one is that specialized formats are not always save as programmers may focus on the most commonly types of files to develop their software around. For example, if in the future a software developer sees 10,000 jpegs and only 10 tiffs he will most likely not format his program to work with tiff files. Of course this is hypothetical and extreme but it is worth noting. Secondly, Tiffs take up much space, so organizations may not be able to manage their storage and migration.
Much like the Golden Gate Bridge, the job of keeping all information created in usable form is never done. Preserving information is a continual process that requires knowledge of the most current tools available as well as preserving the tools used in the past. This requires not only the hardware such as drives and disks but the software that the information was created on as well.
Supporting Evidence
To support my competency in this area I chose to use a preservation policy I created for a small historical society, a discussion regarding the limited lifespan of many of the storage devices, and a review of the work Brewster Kahle is doing and how he is doing it.
Preservation Policy for the Sonoma Valley Historical Society
Storage is an important thing regardless if your organization is small or large. There must be a policy in place that will account for technological changes over time. In this policy I recommend that we get as much material on PastPerfect as possible, since they will provide free updating of their software and a place to store Sonoma’s information offsite.
My review of the Internet Archive and their effort to recreate the “library of Alexandra in the digital world” shows my understanding of the importance of having multiple backups. At the time I reviewed the web site they had 4 plus servers all around the world. When you are trying to back up the entire internet and every book ever written you might want several backups.
Discussion Regarding Data Storage Mediums
This exercise consisted of selecting a specific storage medium and evaluating its long term potential. My contribution to the discussion was regarding Zip Drives. I learned much about the reliability of this means of storage; however, I learned much more from the other students as we all chose unique storage devices.
Conclusion
For every birth of storage medium there is a death of another. This hit home recently when I went to put a movie on and having just purchased a new laptop realized that I could no longer watch my movies as I had no DVD drive. So be careful when you sell your DVD players; they may come in handy someday. I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.