preservation!
What information should
we save?
Who gets to decide?
Conservation
Environmental
Control &
Monitoring
Emergency
preparedness
PRESERVATION
Re-housing
Reformatting
TRS-80
Key words
• SIGNIFICANT PROPERTIES: aspects of an
object that must be preserved over time in
order for the object to remain accessible and
meaningful
• METADATA: data about data; or, descriptions
about information
Wax cylinders
• Invented by Edison in 1880s
• Production ended in 1929
• UCSB
Your scenario
It is 2050. You are the curators at an American
history museum. You receive a box of random stuff
donated by the world-renowned usability expert
Randolph Bias. Your job is to decide what are the
important characteristics (or significant properties)
for your group's objects.
Things to consider:
 How would you describe the object physically?
 Does it matter who created it and who owned it?
 How are the texts, images, and files arranged on
the object or within it?