CAREER: Self-Preserving Digital Objects

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The prevailing model for digital preservation is that archives should be similar to a fortress: a large, protective infrastructure to protect a relatively small collection of data from attack by external forces. If data objects were not tethered to repositories, can we create objects that preserve themselves more effectively than repositories or web infrastructure can?Intellectual MeritThis project will advance the science and engineering of digital preservation in several areas: complex digital object metadata formats, web object design, P2P algorithms, automatic format migration and object repository interaction. Some areas, such as the format migration services and migration preference language will be new contributions. Other areas will be a matter of novel adaptation, integration and deployment. Technical highlights of this proposal include:i) Adopting flocking rules for data objects in digital libraries (DLs), thus allowing complex emergent behavior of the archived data objects from a small number of simple, easily implemented rules. ii) Making data objects responsible for the conversion and translation of their own holdings according to preferences that were specifed at creation time. The data objects will rely on transient, network-accessible services that are not attached to repositories. iii) Creating a preservation testbed with real content in self-preserving digital objects, repositories, and in the general web.Broader ImpactsIn many ways, creating and integrating the technology necessary for self-preservation will be straight-forward; raising peoples' expectations from passive digital objects to self-preserving digital objects will be the biggest challenge. For this reason, a series of longitudinal experiments about preservation in general as well as self-preserving digital objects will be integrated across the four-year undergraduate computer science curriculum at Old Dominion University. The complimentary relationship between preservation and software engineering will be stressed. The content will be of interest to students, thereby avoiding listless, perfunctory participation. One example will include preserving copies of old tests, assignments and projects content the students will be highly motivated to preserve. This kind of preservation (digital or nondigital) is already performed to some extent by fraternities and other memory organizations. This process will be codified and democratized with the appropriate information technology tools. The experiences reported by the students will be incorporated into future versions of the preservation software.