EAPSI: Understanding the Development of Sustainable Information Infrastructures for Digital Preservation to Support Marginalized Communities

数字信息的长期保存需要可持续的基础设施。社会和技术要素，包括人员、组织、硬件、软件和通信技术，结合在一起，形成了支持保存和访问研究数据和个人记录等数字信息的基础设施。这项研究试图了解数字保存项目的生命周期和结果，重点关注其目标包括支持经历身份、记忆和责任危机的社区的项目，如托管所的儿童。为了为未来的基础设施发展提供信息，本研究的目标是查明有助于成功可持续基础设施发展的因素，了解发展过程中出现的挑战类型以及如何克服这些挑战。这项研究将与澳大利亚墨尔本莫纳什大学的乔安妮·埃文斯博士合作进行。澳大利亚拥有强大的公共记录基础设施，使该网站成为该项目的理想地点。这项研究的发现可以为美国记录保存基础设施的发展和研究提供参考。本研究采用混合方法，将大规模调查与深入的半结构化访谈和观察相结合。本研究采用以基础设施发展理论为基础的理论框架，试图了解由澳大利亚国家数据服务中心(ANDS)资助的数字信息和研究数据管理项目的成果。这项对AND资助项目的研究将是第一批着眼于联邦资助项目的整个生态系统的研究之一，产生的基线数据将提供洞察哪些因素有助于成功的数字保存基础设施发展。该NSF EAPSI奖是与澳大利亚科学院合作资助的。

The long-term preservation of digital information requires sustainable infrastructure. Social and technical elements, including people, organizations, hardware, software, and communication technologies, combine to form infrastructures that support preservation and access to digital information such as research data and personal records. This research seeks to understand the lifecycles and outcomes of digital preservation projects, focusing on projects whose goals included supporting communities experiencing identity, memory, and accountability crises such as children in care. In order to inform future infrastructure development, the goals of this study are to identify those factors that contribute to successful sustainable infrastructure development, to understand the types of challenges that arise in the development process and how those challenges are overcome. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Joanne Evans at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Australia has a strong public records infrastructure, making this site an ideal location for this project. Findings from this research could inform the development and study of recordkeeping infrastructures in the United States.This research employs a mixed methods approach, pairing a large-scale survey with in-depth semi-structured interviews and observations. Using a theoretical framework based on theories of infrastructure development this study seeks to understand the outcomes of digital information and research data management projects funded by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS). This study of ANDS-funded projects will be one of the first to look at an entire ecosystem of federally-funded projects, generating baseline data that will provide insight into what factors contribute to successful digital preservation infrastructure development. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Sciences.