It was a stimulating and well attended event. The auditorium at the National Library was near capacity to hear Speakers from New Zealand, Canada, USA, Australia, Finland, and Singapore.
A common theme that repeated throughout the day was that whilst storage space is plentiful and cheap at the moment, we still have the question of how to guarantee authenticity of the original.
- Will we be looking at the same item in 200 years time that was created today?
- Can we migrate safely and still maintain the integrity of an item?
- Has sufficient metadata been accurately collected?
Do file names clearly identify the items so they can be easily found when required?
The issue of hardware and software obsolescence continues to be an issue, leaving some vintage storage media unreadable. Storage media carry there own inherent risks and will in time fail. The National Library of Australia have been working on a database of storage media named "Mediapedia". It is going to be a valuable resource for assisting with collection planning, assessment, documentation, infrastructure and preservation.
Check this site http://www.nla.gov.au/mediapedia/
To find out more about the forum visit this webpage http://ndha-wiki.natlib.govt.nz/ndha/pages/InternationalPerspectives
All the presentations were recorded and will be uploaded to the NDHA site in the future.
A key message that I took from the day was that change is inevitable, we don't know what we don't know and will need to be flexible in our approach to facing the challenges posed by the fathomless quantities of digital material coming our way.
This was an exceedingly enjoyable day that, in addition to learning more about digital preservation, allowed me to reconnect with old friends /colleagues and make contact with others wading through the digital preservation quagmire.
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