Long-term Digital Preservation: Indian Scenario

Lon g-t er m Di gi t al Pr eser vat i on : I n di an Scen ar i o Mohd Shoaib Ansari DLIS, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005

Abstract The vast amount of information production draws a new challenge which is long term information preservation. Digital preservation is a trustworthy solution, ensuring long-term access to the past and contemporary digital information for use. Preservation is an ongoing process and it requires a long term planning. Analyze various factors of preservation and current preservation techniques. Discuss digital preservation in Indian context and evaluate some major initiative taken by Indian government. Keywords: Long-term preservation, Digital libraries, Digital information preservation, Digital Preservation Introduction Information preservation is one of the most important issues in human history, culture, and development of civilization. Earlier, information was recorded in carvings on stone, ceramic, bamboo, or wood. The development of civilization paved the way for new storage media and techniques for recording information, such as writing on leaves, silk or printing on paper. A revolutionary change occurred in the information storage field with the invention of electronic storage media. Digital technologies enable information to be created, manipulated, disseminated, located, and stored with increasing ease. Due to the low-cost, minimum space and little effort, there has been a fundamental change in the way we perceive information storage. It is extremely difficult to attempt to determine the size of this information production and storage. Initially, digital preservation was generally treated as a technology problem. Previous research tended to focus on the endurance of CD’s, DVD’s, tapes and other storage devices, and its artificial aging and how to keep them safely. The overall focus on preservation was as an ICT issue and thus its solution fell on ICT staff. However over the past few years, there is a growing awareness that this is a much more complex problem, technology is only one of its facets and it has different aspect too.

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The factors of preservation There are many and complex issues involved in long term digital preservation. Juan Voutssas divided these issues into six groups which are called “factors”. They are different aspect of digital information preservation but in general terms, these factors affect one another. These factors are; Technological factors These factors are related to rapid and unstoppable changing in technology. The challenge is not only to maintain the information bit chains, but to do so in such a way that they are readable and useful in the future. Technological factors are mainly related to obsolescence of computers, storage devices and media; changes in version of operating systems, formats, programs, interfaces, reading and reproducing devices; emerging new standards and methodologies to carry out the task. Information security is also a big issue and it has to do with the relationship among threats, risks, vulnerabilities, impacts, and control measures of digital objects assets. The challenge is how to keep those innumerable records from destruction or tampering due to accidents, negligence or hacking. In this sense, there is a technological dependence to solve these factors and leads to a more passive role in this subject. Methodological factors These are the most often neglected factors, particularly in archives. These factors are associated with the tools and standards used for appraisal among the different materials, proper selection and disposal, logical storing and future retrieval of documents. It is already known that just descriptive metadata like, author, title, keywords is currently not enough for proper future retrieval. We are moving towards the “Semantic Web” and from there to semantic libraries and archives. This system will require digital document has not just a simple set of metadata attached. It has too a semantically rich set of metadata. These new metadata allow to link and contextualize the document in relation with other documents enhancing its reuse, search, linking, weighting, integration, data mining and interoperability with other programs who could use them. In brief, they add ‘meaning’ or ‘context’ to the document in its relation to other digital documents and the user needs. Cultural factors These factors are related to the lack of awareness about the historical value and significance of their digital documentary heritage by large group of society, including planners and decision makers. Although we currently consider that we live in the information age, there exists a deep cultural problem regarding Changing Role of Library Professionals & Libraries in the Digital Age

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preservation of digital information. We produce a large number of digital information but there is not enough awareness of preserving it. This cultural factor is the main issue within developing countries like India, where the number or organizations that do not preserve digital materials properly or do not preserve them at all. Legal factors Information preservation has to do with achieving the appropriate and delicate balance between protecting copyrights and confidentiality while defending rights to information access. This is very challenging issue now days to keep information available without violation of intellectual rights. Another important legal issue is the right to privacy. This right in this legal context is concerned with identifiable data relating to a person that is collected and stored in digital forms. The concept of privacy may differ quite a lot from country to country. What is legally public in one country may not be in another. What is private or confidential at a particular moment may change over time and space. Although developing countries are leading the way in addressing these issues, it is important that this be addressed on a global level. Economic factors These are very important issue in long term information preservation. These include the cost of digitizing and preserving a document collection. The costs of preserving can be calculated as cost of digitizing (cost of scanning and/or producing a digital original); cost of editing (to prepare, assemble, alter, adapt and refine); cost of standard (to add the set of metadata pertinent to the digital object); cost of storing (cost to maintain in storage devices whether online or offline) and cost of updating (cost to copy, update, refresh, convert, and reshape digital documents to fulfill new requirements). A non-direct cost is training cost of staff to train them about these works. Additionally, preservation is an on-going process, there are some recurring costs which must be calculate before preservation project to deal with long term economical issues. Social factors These are some issues which are related to the sociological behavior of community. We must assure access and usability of documents after preserving them. It is important that future generations have effective and granted access to the information that we are preserving. There is no use in preserving if no one or just a few will have access to those documents. We are already dealing with “digital gap” or “digital divide” and it is very important that issues related to Changing Role of Library Professionals & Libraries in the Digital Age

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preservation and long term access do not increase this divide. In the whole world, social inequality has been and still is a big social problem and we must considered our particular social issues when working towards an “information society”, in order to promote social equality of opportunities now and in the future. Long term preservation planning strategy Digital information preservation requires a long term planning. We must consider some key point before planning a preservation policy. These are some functional tools in the design and practical implementation of digital preservation efforts. These key points are;  Selection-selection of documents is the main issue related to preservation. We should identify a document by its documentary, academic, historical value and other issues such as use, condition, property, convenience, non duplication, among others.  Quality-Quality of document is another issue related to long term preservation. It deal with the quality of documents, media, which is in direct proportion with the degree that the digital document emulates an “original” and endows it with “usability”.  Permanence-This is related to the concept of the future existence of the digital document. We must assure about making the document available for the “long-term”.  Accessibility-Accessibility is now a day big issue related to long term preservation. We must make a strategy to make sure the accessibility our digital document in the future. We must assure that the digital document, while existing in the future, will still be accessible, i.e. it can be interpreted, read, executed and displayed again.  Availability-Availability deal with the policy related to user community of digital document. Availability determines who, how, where and when will be able to access the document; because of this, availability is also related with confidentiality and privacy.  Functionality-Functionality deal with the intrinsic characteristics of a document, which will help the ICT interfaces to search, find, and link a document. It is related to the creation of metadata of the document and also with its semantic issues like, interoperability factors, construction standards, context completeness, metadata relationships, and other factors.  Trustworthiness-Trustworthiness can be defined as the accuracy, reliability and authenticity of a digital document.. When a document has trustworthiness, it will have acceptability; i.e. it will be accepted for those who examine the record assuming it is trustworthy and thus it will be useful Changing Role of Library Professionals & Libraries in the Digital Age

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for the purposes that the record was created and also as a source of reliable information. Current Preservation Techniques There is no one single technique is followed by institutions to preserve their documents. The choice of technique is depend upon the nature of the material to be preserved, the purpose of preservation and the organizational policy. The major preservation techniques are;  Migration Migration is the transfer of digital materials from one hardware or software type to another or from one generation of computer to another. Migration can also be the transfer to non digital media such as paper to digital form, or the transfer to a more advanced storage medium; for example floppy disc to CD-ROM. Migration is a costly and time consuming process. Its use has also not been fully tested on complex file formats. The Process of migration can also include refreshing. Refreshing is copying digital information from one long term storage media to another without changing the object or the bit stream. Refreshing ensures that the information is stored on a newer media before the old media becomes obsolete.  Emulation Emulation is duplicating the functions of one system using a different system so that the second system behaves and appears to be the first system and the original digital material is thought to still be available in its original form. Emulation is a way to combat technological obsolescence as it provides a way of preserving the functionality of access to digital information which may be lost with the software or hardware when it becomes outdated. Emulation involves the creation of emulators, which are programs that translate code and instructions from one computing environment to be correctly executed in the other. This strategy of emulation can be a costly and time consuming process.  Encapsulation Encapsulation is the grouping together of digital objects and metadata needed to provide access to the object. It lessens the chances that components needed to decode the object will be lost. It is seen as a solution to technological obsolescence for file formats because all the information to interpret the ‘bits’ is available.

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 Universal Virtual Computer (UVC) Universal Virtual computer is a computer that creates a layer between the underlying computer platform and the underlying software. It is a form of emulation and all files are backed up in a way that they can be accessed by the universal computer. To read the data in the future would only require a single layer between the UVC and the computer at the time.  Normalization Normalization involves the migration of digital records to standard formats. Normalization is the most frequently used preservation strategy. What occurs is the data file format is detected and converted to an open format for preservation. Using this technique the records authenticity may be lost if during the conversion essential metadata is affected. It converts the record to an open standards based format that allows it to be documented and accessible. During the normalization process some information may be lost, thus the new version is not considered an original copy.  Bit Stream Preservation Bit stream preservation is to be used as a foundation for other preservation strategies, it is no stand alone. Bit Stream preservation is storing the binary code of the digital object. The object will not be viewable without the original creation hardware and software, thus it needs to be used in conjunction with other preservation strategies to ensure accessibility.  Durable/Persistent media Durable or persistent media is the use of media that is designed to be superior, for example using a gold CD because they are coated evenly and react slower to oxygen reducing CD rot and providing longevity. This technique reduced the need for regular refreshing and minimizes loss from media deterioration. This technique does not combat media obsolescence or physical loss; it largely means that the short term preservation or storage techniques will last minimally longer. Many libraries hope to postpone have to complete migration or emulation by using formats thought to have a longer shelf life.  Technology preservation This involves preserving working replicas of key computer hardware with the programs that run it and on it. This is not a viable preservation option in the long run due to the costs associated with maintaining the ageing computers and the staff and training required to maintain and run the technology.

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 Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Open Archival Information System (OAIS) is the only official standard in digital preservation. A reference model is available that provides a model and framework for building and maintaining repositories for long term preservation and access to Digital material. Analysis for digital preservation in Indian context Digital preservation in India is a very recent concept that has not even been conceptualized properly. It is a very crucial field, yet it has not received much attention for long term digital information preservation. India has no well defined legal framework for digital preservation. Neither the technical nor the legal issues have been resolved in this regard so far. According to experts, digital preservation framework in India is missing as we do not have a specified techno legal digital preservation law. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are commonly found conflicting with digital preservation initiatives. We also need to change form of various IPRs protected works from one form to another. This sometimes results in IPRs violations. There are technological challenges have also to be managed by India in this regard. With the rapid advancement of technology day by day, old applications and methods are becoming obsolete. We need to upgrade them from time to time. Digital preservation in India is in its initial stage and there is lack of funds in this regard. The cost of technology for preservation is very high and it is an on-going process which need recurring fund. It requires a good economical planning to make a policy regarding digital preservation. Digital Preservation initiatives in India Digital preservation is a challenging issue in India now days. There are some discussions in this regard have been undertaken by some departments of Indian government yet they are far from satisfactory. There are some initiative has been taken by government regarding this issue but they are not enough. Some major initiatives are; National Digital Preservation Programme (NDPP) It is the flagship project under the National Digital Preservation Programme of Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India. It conducts research and development to produce best practices and spread awareness for digital preservation. Its objectives are as follows;  It conducts research and development in digital preservation to produce the required tools, technologies and guidelines for institutions.  It develops the pilot digital preservation repositories and provide help in Changing Role of Library Professionals & Libraries in the Digital Age

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nurturing the network of Trustworthy Digital Repositories (national digital preservation infrastructure) as a long-term goal It defines the digital preservation standards by involving the experts from stakeholder organizations, consolidate and disseminate the digital preservation best practices generated through various projects under National Digital Preservation Programme, being the nodal point for pan-India digital preservation initiatives. It provides inputs to Department of Electronics & Information Technology in the formation of national digital preservation policy and strategy by identifying and selecting the activities for the National Digital Preservation Programme. It spreads awareness about the potential threats and risks due to digital obsolescence and the digital preservation best practices.

Traditional knowledge digital library (TKDL) It is one of the most innovative and much needed initiatives undertaken by Indian government. It is a digital knowledge repository of the traditional knowledge, especially about medicinal plants and formulations used in Indian systems of medicine. Its objective is to protect the ancient and traditional knowledge of the country from exploitation through biopiracy and unethical patents, by documenting it electronically and classifying it as per international patent classification systems. The objectives and functions of this project is as follows,  It provides information on traditional knowledge existing in the country, in languages and format understandable by patent examiners at International Patent Offices to prevent the grant of wrong patents. it acts as a bridge between the traditional knowledge information existing in local languages and the patent examiners at IPOs  It involves documentation of the traditional knowledge available in public domain in the form of existing literature related to Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga, in digitized format in five international languages which are English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish.  Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification (TKRC), an innovative structured classification system for the purpose of systematic arrangement, dissemination and retrieval has been evolved for about 25,000 subgroups against few subgroups that was available in earlier version of the International Patent Classification (IPC), related to medicinal plants, minerals, animal resources, effects and diseases, methods of preparations, mode of administration, etc.

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Conclusion Digital Preservation facilitates us to keep information for long term access. Earlier it was generally treated as a technology problem and all research made in this regard. There are many complex issues involved in long term digital preservation apart from technological factors. They are different aspect of digital information preservation but these factors affect one another. Long term digital information preservation in India is facing many problems. The cost of technology for preservation is very high and India has no well defined legal framework for digital preservation. There are some initiatives are taken by Indian government but they need urgent reforms. The task is really difficult unless good experts are involved in these much needed projects. For the time being, digital preservation initiatives of India are falling well short of the desired actions. It would be a better strategy if the Indian government starts working in the direction of enacting a suitable techno legal framework for digital preservation in Indian as soon as possible.

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