Subject: TWO REPORTS: Authenticity; Emulation
NINCH-ANNOUNCE (david@ninch.org)
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:21:29 -0400
Message-Id: <v04210124b5742a009e74@[192.100.21.22]> Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:21:29 -0400 To: ninch-announce@cni.org From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org> Subject: TWO REPORTS: Authenticity; Emulation
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
"Authenticity in a Digital Environment"
Council on Library & Information Resources
http://www.clir.org
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub92/pub92.pdf
"An Experiment in Using Emulation to Preserve Digital Publications"
by Jeff Rothenberg
The Networked European Deposit Library (NEDLIB)
http://www.kb.nl/nedlib/results/emulationpreservationreport.pdf
Below are two (delayed) announcements of recent reports of interest.
One on the slippery question of what an "authentic" digital object
is; the other, on an experiment to show the feasibility of using
emulation as a means of preserving digital publications in
accessible, authentic, and usable form within a deposit library.
David Green
>Council on Library & Information Resources
>
>For immediate release
>Contact: Abby Smith
>202-939-4758
>
>May 25, 2000
>
>Report Examines Authenticity in the Digital Environment
>
>
>Washington, D.C.-The Council on Library and Information Resources
>(CLIR) has published Authenticity in a Digital Environment, in which
>five experts from different domains of the information resources
>community address the question: What is an authentic digital object?
>The question has gained urgency and importance as information-from
>personal correspondence to medical and financial records-is
>increasingly created, stored, and transmitted electronically.
>
>For humanists and scientists, the question must be resolved before
>they can feel confident in creating and relying upon digital
>information. For custodians of information resources, the answer has
>profound implications for the task of cataloging and describing an
>item, and for setting the parameters of what is preserved and by
>what technique or series of techniques.
>
>"Authenticity" in recorded information connotes precise, yet
>disparate, things in different contexts. It can mean being original
>but also being faithful to an original; it can mean uncorrupted but
>also of clear and known provenance, "corrupt" or not. The word has
>specific meaning to an archivist and equally specific but different
>meaning to a rare book librarian, just as there are different
>criteria for assessing authenticity for published and unpublished
>materials. Behind any definition of authenticity lie assumptions
>about the meaning and significance of content, fixity, consistency
>of reference, provenance, and content. In the digital environment,
>we have yet to create a common understanding about the multiple
>meanings and significance of authenticity.
>
>The report is based on a workshop organized by CLIR in January 2000.
>Contributors include:
>* Charles Cullen, president and librarian of the Newberry Library;
>* Peter Hirtle, co-director of the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections;
>* David Levy, consultant and former researcher at the Xerox Palo
>Alto Research Center;
>* Clifford Lynch, executive director of the Coalition for Networked
>Information; and
>* Jeff Rothenberg, senior computer scientist at The Rand Corporation.
>
>A concluding essay by CLIR Program Director Abby Smith highlights
>the responses of workshop participants to the issues raised by the
>authors and identifies the key themes that emerged.
>
>Authenticity in a Digital Environment is available from the Council
>on Library and Information Resources for $20 prepaid, including
>postage and handling. Checks should be made payable to CLIR and
>mailed to CLIR Publication Orders, 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,
>Suite 500, Washington, D.C., 20036-2124. Credit card orders may be
>placed by calling CLIR at 202-939-4750, sending a fax to
>202-939-4765, or sending e-mail to info@clir.org. The full text of
>the document is also available on CLIR's Web site, www.clir.org.
>
>The Council on Library and Information Resources works in
>partnership with libraries, archives, and other information
>providers to advocate collaborative approaches to preserving the
>nation's intellectual heritage and strengthening the many components
>of its information system. It works to support institutions as they
>integrate audiovisual and digital resources and services into their
>well-established, print-based environments.
......................................................................
.....................
>Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 05:12:28 -0700
>From: Clifford Lynch <cliff@cni.org>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <cni-announce@cni.org>
>Subject: NEDLIB report on emulation test-bed
>X-Sender: clifford@mail.cni.org
>Status:
>
>
>ANNOUNCEMENT:
>
>The Networked European Deposit Library (NEDLIB) Report:
>"An experiment in using Emulation to Preserve Digital Publications"
>by Jeff Rothenberg
>
>is now available on the NEDLIB seb-site at:
>
>URL: http://www.kb.nl/nedlib/results/emulationpreservationreport.pdf
>
>
>REPORT SUMMARY
>
>The report presents the results of a preliminary investigation into
>the feasibility of using emulation as a means of preserving digital
>publications in accessible, authentic, and usable form within a
>deposit library. The study was commissioned by the Koninklijke
>Bibliotheek (KB), the National Library of the Netherlands, and
>jointly funded by the European Commission's Telematics for Libraries
>Programme.
>
>The report describes a prototype experimental environment for
>trying-out emulation-based preservation, using commercial
>off-the-shelf emulation tools to produce an initial proof-of-concept.
>
>Results include proposed data, metadata and procedural models to
>support emulation-based preservation. The analysis is presented in
>the context of the increasingly accepted Open Archival Information
>System (OAIS) as well as the NEDLIB adaptation of the OAIS, the
>Deposit System for Electronic Publications (DSEP).
>
>A specific, concrete proposal is presented for implementing
>emulation-based preservation: the various steps necessary for this
>preservation strategy are described and associated with the
>appropriate processes in the DSEP model.
>
>The results of this preliminary investigation indicate
>emulation-based preservation has significant potential and warrants
>further exploration. Recommendations for future experiments are
>made.
>
>CONTACTS:
>
>For more information concerning the NEDLIB emulation testbed activity,
>please contact:
>
>Jeff Rothenberg <jeff@rand.org>
>Titia van der Werf <titia@python.konbib.nl>
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