Born-digital archives:
a simple SWOT analysis
Simon Wilson, Senior Archivist
Overview
• born-digital archives
• the AIMS Project and White Paper
• SWOT analysis
- reflections on our capacity and capability
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Born-digital archives
Material created digitally – documents, images spreadsheets,
databases, e-mails, web pages, twitter etc etc
- need strategies for both media and the content
- archives have to be extracted/accessed
without affecting their authenticity
Not talking about digitisation where material is converted into
digital format, although many issues are similar
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The AIMS Project
and White Paper
The AIMS Project
• Two year project Oct 2009 – Sep 2011 funded by The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• Virginia (project lead), Hull, Stanford and Yale
• Digital archivist at each site & software developer at UVa
• Core project team also included lead archivist at each site
and involvement of digital repository experts
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AIMS Project – White Paper
Recommendations for good-practice,
based on partners shared experiences
- not based on specific infrastructure
or tools
- starts from ‘paper-based’ archival
principles
- technical and professional standards
- build-upon work of other projects
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AIMS Project – White Paper
Framework split the workflow into four main areas:
Collection Development
Accessioning
Arrangement & Description
Discovery & Access
With-in each section it identifies key factors for success,
pre-requisites, objectives, outcomes, tasks and decision points
http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/aims/whitepaper/
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SWOT analysis:
reflecting on the archive sector’s
capacity and capability
Strengths: they are still archives
We already possess most of the skills needed
- processes for accessioning
- principles for appraising material
- procedures for identifying/closing sensitive material
We each already have relationships with
hundreds of individuals & organisations
we might want to collect material from
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Strengths: free tools are available
Range of free software that we can use
- Karen’s Directory Printer - to create a file manifest
- OS Forensics
- DROID - for file identification
Some software is being developed to fill gaps in workflow
- Curator’s Workbench – collection preparation tool
- Hypatia – arrangement and description tool
- BitCurator – digital forensics tool
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Weaknesses: fear
Plenty of reasons not to do anything
- software/hardware is constantly changing
- range of media and formats
- OAIS terminology
Skills
- specialist skill by 1 person in the team,
but skills/experience must be shared
The transition from paper to hybrid & digital only collections
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Weaknesses: gaps
There are multiple routes to reach the same objective
- makes it confusing for those starting-off
- difficult to join the dots with all of the free tools into a
seamless operation (commercial products are available)
- dependant on institutional-specific ICT / infrastructure
Advocacy is needed with two key groups:
- depositors (ask different questions & work differently)
- funding bodies (align collecting with rescue archaeology)
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Opportunities: collaboration
With ICT colleagues
- forensic workstation for processing a range of media
- digital repository
With other archives
- share/exchange experiences but also technical capabilities
- potential for shared/comissioned services
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Opportunities: new tools for access
Empowering the user
- no-longer reliant upon an archivist’s description
- potential to conduct free text search of the archives directly
- GPS based search etc
New tools/ visualisation
- word clouds
- Muse tool (for email)
by us on behalf of our users
or by users directly on a
copy of the data/content?
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Threats: user expectations
User expectations
- of access and delivery online
- need to ensure security of data and compliance re copyright
- user community not yet well-formed – so we don’t know
what they might want
Interaction with users – register to gain access (online) or only
provide access in the searchroom?
Material collected much closer to creation - issues relating to
access to sensitive material & copyright etc remain unchanged
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Threats: scale of the task
Scale of the task
- is daunting and overwhelming
- we have to automate as much as possible
We are not collecting enough
- what has already been lost from the 1980s on
We need to make the case that born-digital archives aren’t
an optional extra, if we wish to remain a collecting repository
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Accreditation standard co-creation debate
Should digital preservation be a
distinct element or part of broader
collections policies/strategies ?
Not just about policy (s 2.4) or strategy (2.7)
Also impacts: collections development (2.2), cataloguing plans
(2.5), accessioning procedures (2.8), cataloguing (2.9),
security of collections (2.10), service development (3.1), access
(3.15), user-focused (3.2), user experience (3.3), remote access
(3.5) , legal obligations re access (3.6)
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SWOT analysis as a planning tool
Each institution needs to conduct its own SWOT analysis
- identify its particular strengths, opportunities etc
Accreditation Standard - planning/advocacy role
Sector needs a vision/roadmap
- where are we going, what is our target, how can we get there
AIMS White Paper: policies, issues, decisions, tasks etc
- what is feasible now, technically or operationally
- what is sustainable and scalable in the longer term?
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Things you can do tomorrow...
Use traditional survey skills
- identify born-digital material already held
- set initial priorities; media/file formats to support etc
Build-upon existing relationships
- depositors: initial conversations around b-d material
- ICT colleagues: transfer files from media to network storage
- other archives: making contacts, sharing experiences etc
Update existing policies/procedures
- integrate specific aspects relating to born-digital archives
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What is possible...
At Hull we have gone from having a handful of items and no
policies/procedures (in Jan 2010)
- 7 born-digital ONLY collections (122 GB)
- workflows, revised/updated policies etc etc
- ask each depositor about b-d material
AIMS provided the spring-board, now making
the transition so that b-d is included in our work as normal,
included in library objectives, institutional reputation etc
Learnt from others & reciprocate by sharing our experiences
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Conclusion
Nature (and format) of archives has changed dramatically, but
most of our professional skills are still relevant
Some new tools, new software, new terminology and more
acronyms to learn
Can’t “keep everything” and hope Google enables access
Trusted Digital Repository
- collaboration between organisations and allow archives to
develop capability and capacity - but needs political will
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Contact details
Simon Wilson
Tel 01482 317506
Email s.wilson@hull.ac.uk
www.hullhistorycentre.org.uk
Blog http://born-digital-archives.blogspot.com/
White Paper http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/aims/whitepaper/
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